Friday

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness, poverty and wealth have both failed.”

                              Frank McKinley “Kin” Hubbard

Lest we forget the bravery of our military heroes, here is a Medal of Honor citation:

                        Lt. John Tomniac, U.S Army

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company I, 15th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Saulx de Vesoul, France, 12 September 1944. Entered service at: Conemaugh, Pa. Birth: Conemaugh, Pa. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 12 September 1944, in an attack on Saulx de Vesoul, France 1st Lt. Tominac charged alone over 50 yards of exposed terrain onto an enemy roadblock to dispatch a 3-man crew of German machine gunners with a single burst from his Thompson sub-machine gun after smashing the enemy outpost, he led 1 of his squads in the annihilation of a second hostile group defended by mortar, machine gun automatic pistol, rifle and grenade fire, killing about 30 of the enemy. Reaching the suburbs of the town, he advanced 50 yards ahead of his men to reconnoiter a third enemy position which commanded the road with a 77-mm. SP gun supported by infantry elements. The SP gun opened fire on his supporting tank, setting it afire with a direct hit. A fragment from the same shell painfully wounded 1st Lt. Tominac in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. As the crew abandoned the M-4 tank, which was rolling down hill toward the enemy, 1st Lt. Tominac picked himself up and jumped onto the hull of the burning vehicle. Despite withering enemy machinegun, mortar, pistol, and sniper fire, which was ricocheting off the hull and turret of the M-4, 1st Lt. Tominac climbed to the turret and gripped the 50-caliber antiaircraft machine gun. Plainly silhouetted against the sky, painfully wounded, and with the tank burning beneath his feet, he directed bursts of machine gun fire on the roadblock, the SP gun, and the supporting German infantrymen, and forced the enemy to withdraw from its prepared position. Jumping off the tank before it exploded, 1st Lt. Tominac refused evacuation despite his painful wound. Calling upon a sergeant to extract the shell fragments from his shoulder with a pocketknife, he continued to direct the assault, led his squad in a hand grenade attack against a fortified position occupied by 32 of the enemy armed with machine guns, machine pistols, and rifles, and compelled them to surrender. His outstanding heroism and exemplary leadership resulted in the destruction of 4 successive enemy defensive positions, surrender of a vital sector of the city Saulx de Vesoul, and the death or capture of at least 60 of the enemy.

        This Date in History  May 13

1568 On this date the forces of Scotsman James Stewart and his Protestant army met the army of Catholics led by Mary Queen of Scots in the suburbs of Glasgow called Landside. James delivered a flank attack with his hidden cavalry and swept the Catholics from the field. Mary fled to England and sought protection from her cousin Queen Elizabeth I and is welcomed. Both Mary and Elizabeth are blood kin descendants of Tudor King Henry VIII. We all know about Henry VIII and all his wives so I will not go into it. When Mary was just six days old she became the Queen of the Scots upon the death of her father James V, King of Scotland. Upon reaching adolescence she was sent to France to be educated in the ways of royalty as was the custom in those days. While in France she met and married the French dauphin, the next in line for the French throne. And sure enough in 1559 he became Francis II, the King of France. Unfortunately Francis II died a year later and Mary returned to Scotland to claim the throne. In 1565 Mary married her cousin Lord Darnley also a Tudor which strengthened her claim on the English throne. Needless to say Queen Elizabeth was not pleased. However, two years later Lord Darnley was killed in a mysterious explosion. Three months later Mary married James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell. Upon this obvious lack of class by Mary, the Scottish lords raise almighty hell and accuse Bothwell of killing Lord Darnley so he can have Mary. In fact the nobles laid so much heat on Mary that she was forced to abdicate and be imprisoned in favor of her son by Darnley, James who would be known as James VI. She escaped prison and raised an army of Catholics to try to take the crown back by force. It was then that her army was beaten at Landside and she booked out to England. In 1586 Mary was found to be involved in a Catholic plot to kill Protestant Queen Elizabeth so that the next in line, Mary, a Catholic, would rise to the throne of England. Elizabeth had Mary captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. In 1587 Mary lost her head (literally) at Fotheringay Castle. Her son James VI just cooled his heels in Scotland where he was already King waiting for Queen Elizabeth to die and then he would become the King of England also. Sure enough, Elizabeth died in 1603 and James VI of Scotland became James I, King of Great Britain, meaning the king of Scotland, England and Ireland.

1607 Just four years after taking the throne of England, James I sent three ships and 100 settlers to the new land known as America. The three ships were the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. On this date the ships landed on a small peninsula on what is now the James River in Virginia. After landing, under the instructions of King James, a sealed box was opened and seven men were named as administrators with Edward Wingfield as President. About two weeks later the settlers were attacked by the members of the native Indian tribes especially the Algonquins. But the first few attacks were repulsed because the Indians had never seen a firearm before. But later on they got used to it and inflicted many casualties. But the settlers fought back but not with the tools of war, they distributed measles, tuberculosis and smallpox, etc. among the tribes though not intentionally. But settlers took advantage of these events and told the Indians that they could administer the sickness at will. This threat was more of a deterrent than guns. The settlers named the river and the settlement after King James I.

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1940 On this date Sir Winston Churchill took power as Prime Minister of Great Britain. This was a difficult time for England because just across the English Channel (22 miles) the German army and air force were ravaging the European continent and England had already declared war on Germany. An attack on England by the Germans was imminent. He made a short speech before Parliament saying in part “My policy will consist of nothing less than to wage war, by sea, by land and air with all our might and all our strength that God can give us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime.” He followed that with “Britain’s aim is victory, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be.” He ended his speech with “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” There was short moment of stunned silence and then all of Parliament rose to its feet in great shout. What a great leader Winston Churchill was and what a way with words he had.

Born today:

1907 English writer Daphne du Maurier. She said “Poets should be read, but neither seen or heard.”

1914 American boxer Joe Louis. He said “I don’t care for money, but actually it quiets my nerves” Mine too.

              Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow