Tuesday

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

While being asked about the weight of William “Refrigerator” Perry (360 pound defensive lineman from Clemson) who ran for a Chicago Bears touchdown in Super Bowl XX he said: “When the Fridge goes home to South Carolina the chicken population goes down measurably.”

                                               Mike Ditka

Trivia question of the day:

In their adolescence Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart were cousins living close to each other in Louisiana/Mississippi border area and would frequently get together and jam musically. There was a biopic made about Jerry Lee titled “Great Balls of Fire” in which Dennis Quaid played Jerry Lee...who played Jimmy Swaggart? Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is a moment in time:
On April 1, 1945 the American 10th army arrived at Okinawa commanded by Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner. By evening of that day 60,000 troops had been put ashore. What followed was one of the bloodiest battles in recorded history. Okinawa is the last island before the Japanese mainland and the soldiers were fighting for there homeland. After suffering enormous casualties on both sides victory for the American troops was in sight. On June 18 General Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery. On Jun21 the troops had sealed the island. On June 22 the Japanese commander General Ushijima and his staff committed suicide and all hostilities ceased. There was 120,000 Japanese soldiers killed and there was none captured. Those left alive killed their wounded and committed suicide. Included in this was 2,000 Japanese kamikaze pilots that attacked the ships in support of the attack and 36 ships were lost. The US lost 13,500 killed and 35,000 wounded. The plan was to launch an attack from Okinawa onto the southernmost island of Japan with an estimated 1,000,000 casualties to capture the whole of Japan. However, on August 6 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and August 9 another one was dropped on Nagasaki and the next day Japan surrendered making the attack on Okinawa unnecessary. God works in mysterious ways.

              This Date in History   June 26

1541 Earlier Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro had made a deal with another conquistador to split what they found while plundering what is now Colombia, South America. While raping and pillaging the natives in Colombia, Pizarro saw evidence of very rich civilization further south but did not discuss it with his partner. What he saw was evidence of the mighty Inca in Peru. Pizarro went around his partner, Diego de Almagro, and made a deal with King Charles V of Spain that granted Pizarro rights to the plundering the Inca if a percentage of the booty went to King Charles. Pizarro invaded Peru and captured the Inca king Atahualpa. He asked ransom for Atahualpa to the tune of a room full of gold. Incredibly, this demand was met but Pizarro killed Atahualpa anyway. Pizarro continued his slaughter, rape and enslavement of the Inca and was given the title of Governor. Lima, the city that became the capital of Peru was founded by Pizarro. Anyway, Pizarro’s erstwhile partner Diego de Almagro became very jealous of Pizarro’s success and demanded a piece of the action so Pizarro took out a map and drew out a sketch of the lands that he granted to de Almagro. Diego was displeased with the amount of land given and planned revenge and Diego de Almagro seized the city of Cuzco. Pizarro sent his half brother to take the city back which he accomplished with ease. On this date three years later some of the accomplices of Diego sneaked into Pizarro’s mansion and skewered him with a sword while he dined. The next day Diego de Mansa, Almagro’s son, declared himself as Governor of Peru.

1957 On this date Margaret Harold of Annapolis, Maryland decided to take ride in her car with her boyfriend. All of a sudden a car whipped in front of Margaret and stopped. The driver got out carrying a .38 revolver, shot and killed Margaret but her boyfriend managed to escape. In an abandoned building a short distance away the police found the walls plastered with porno of the most gruesome type. Two years later the Jackson family of Fredericksburg, Virginia was out riding down a dirt road in a rural area when a car cut them off and a man got out carrying a .38 revolver. The father, mother, a two year old girl and a five year old boy were killed but not before the mother was brutally raped. She was raped in the same abandoned building that the police had found all the porno. Word leaked out to the press and tips began flooding in and one of them pointed to a man named Melvin Rees. Rees was eventually located in West Memphis, Arkansas and his apartment was searched and a .38 revolver was found. But the most damning evidence was a handwritten note paper clipped to a newspaper article about the Jackson family killing. The note described in gruesome detail how he had raped the mother. Further evidence implicated Rees in the murder of four other young women in the Virginia/Maryland area. This monster was tried and convicted of three murders and was sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life without parole. He died in prison in 1995. I wonder where he is now.

1862 On June 1 the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Joseph E. Johnston was replaced by General Robert E. Lee. Johnston had been severely injured at the Battle of Fair Oaks. On this date the Army of Northern Virginia encountered the enormous Army of the Potomac, US General George McClellan commanding, near a small town southwest of Richmond called Mechanicsville. The Battle was the first of the so-called Battle of the Seven Days. The Confederate cavalry commander Colonel J.E.B. Stuart had ridden completely around McClellan’s army and brought back information that the Union left flank was “in the air”. This meant that there was no natural barrier like a mountain or river protecting the left end of line of infantry. Lee sent CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson and his corps to attack the Union left. Jackson had just caught up with Lee after his brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign. For reason known only to Jackson, he was slow in developing his attack and was discovered which allowed the Union troops to reinforce. The battle was a short but bloody one and was essentially a draw. The difference was that General McClellan was really unnerved at the sight of the carnage and his tactics softened. Lee jumped at this chance and aggressively drove the Union army backward to the end of the James River peninsula where they boarded ships and got their Yankee asses back to the house.

Born today:

1824 Lord Kelvin, Irish scientist. He said “A heavier than air flying machine is impossible.” Hey Kelvin, you were a brilliant man but had no vision.

1904 US actor Peter Lorre. When attending the funeral of Bela Lugosi who played a vampire in many movies he said “Do you think we should drive a stake in his heart just to be sure.”

1931 English writer Colin Wilson. He said “This new civilization bears a new type of hostility. To say it is the law of the jungle is being unfair to the jungle.” I understand, Colin.

Answer to the trivia question:

In the movie “Great Balls Of Fire” Jimmy Swaggart was played by Alec Baldwin, believe it or not.

Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow