Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
Future
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal was aboard a ship offshore from
Iwo Jima during that epic battle. Shortly after the Marines had
landed and endured an avalanche of slaughter delivered by the
Japanese, a squad of Marines fought their way to the top of the
extinct volcano known as Mount Suribachi and raised an American flag.
All of the ships blew their ship's whistles and horns and there was
a loud shout from all the Marines on the island. Forrestal said
“That will ensure existence of the United States Marines for the
next 500 years.” The image of the flag raising on Suribachi is the
soul of the United States Marines. Iwo Jima is the only battle where
the US Marines suffered more casualties than they inflicted.
Trivia
question of the day:
“Who
was the German commander of their lead tank column in the beginning
of the Battle of the Bulge?” Answer at the end of the blog.
Speaking
of combat here is something I did not know.
There
are 14 nations that have women in combat units, the United States is
not one of them until very recently. There were two women attempting
to become a US Army Ranger. The could not handle the physical
requirements of the final test but they made them Rangers anyway.
The reason that if it became US policy that women are required to
fight in combat units then they would have to register for the draft
like the men and would not have a choice. The politicians don't want
to see their sweet little girls in the draft in time of war.
This
Date in History December 26
2004 On this date at 8:06a Indonesian time a large
slip in the earth’s crust occurred when a continental plate
southwest of the Indonesian archipelago, dropped about 15 feet for a
length of about 50 miles. This event generated an enormous amount of
energy that spread rapidly throughout the Indian Ocean and displayed
itself as one of the most devastating series of tsunamis or tidal
waves in recorded history. The hardest hit was several different
beaches in Thailand which was just a short distance north and east of
the tectonic event. Then the waves traveled across the Indian Ocean
and came ashore on the east coast of India and Bangladesh and
traveled on to the east coast of Africa to a lesser extent. There
were many home movies made at the resorts in Thailand and it was
scary to watch as the water on the beaches retreat to the horizon and
then come storming back with a vengeance in three or four waves. I
have a mental image a little kid on the beach after the water had
disappeared and then when the tsunami arrived it washed that kid
inland like a rag doll. She did not survive. I fact there was in
the vicinity of 350,000 deaths attributed to these tsunamis world
wide. We will never know exactly because the small villages up and
down the coast that simply disappeared. One strange thing was the
people on the beaches in Thailand saw their dogs, cats and even goats
and cattle run for high ground even before the water retreated. They
knew what was going on.
1908 On this date the first black American Jack
Johnson won the World Heavyweight boxing title by knocking out
Canadian Tommy Burns in 14 rounds near Sydney Australia. Johnson
held the title until 1915 and was hated and reviled by boxing fans in
the United States because he did not fit in the typical “Jim Crow”
image Americans had of the back man. Johnson drove fancy cars and
wore fancy clothes and had a white wife, flashed gold teeth and had
several overlapping affairs with different women, all white, which
further inflamed the prejudiced. Johnson was born in Galveston,
Texas in 1878. He dropped of the school in the fifth grade and began
working on the docks in Galveston. Not long thereafter he began his
career as a boxer. In those days boxing was divided into black and
white divisions and Johnson became the “Black Heavyweight Champion”
on 1903. In 1904 Johnson issued a challenge to the White Heavyweight
Champion, Jim Jefferies. Jefferies was not interested. It was not
until 1908 that White Heavyweight Champion Tommie Burns granted
Johnson the match in Australia which Johnson won. It wasn’t long
before the sports reporters began writing about a “Great White
Hope” to get the Heavyweight Championship back into white hands.
Johnson was one of the best defensive boxers in history. He was also
a devastating slugger when the opportunity presented itself. In 1910
Jim Jefferies agreed to come out of retirement and challenge Johnson.
Johnson was the only boxer that Jefferies ever faced that knocked
him off his feet. In the 15th
round Jefferies’ corner threw in the towel and it was all over.
Johnson faced several challengers and defeated them all. In 1912
Johnson was convicted of transporting an unmarried woman across state
lines for “immoral purposes”. This law was implemented to stop
prostitution and white slavery not to stop a night club owner and
World Champion from taking his white secretary out for a weekend
tryst. This was clearly an instance of law enforcement using the law
for their own prejudicial purposes. Johnson was released pending an
appeal. Johnson decided to get the hell out of Dodge and fled to
Europe where he lived in exile for seven years and continued to
defend his title in Europe and he became a very rich man. In 1915 he
fought Jess Willard in Havana and was defeated. Some thought that he
had thrown the match hoping the charges against him would be dropped.
He returned to the United States into the waiting arm of U.S.
Marshals. He did a year of hard time in a prison in Kansas then he
was released and he tried boxing again but he had lost a step and was
not effective. His fortune went away and he ended up working in
carnival side shows. He died in an automobile accident in 1945. He
was 67 years old. I don’t know what lesson we can learn from this
man’s life except “Don’t flaunt it and take the money and run.”
1820 On this date Moses Austin received permission
from Spanish officials to bring 300 families into Spanish territory
and establish a settlement. Initially the Spanish refused but after
further persuasion by Austin they agreed to grant 200,000 acres for
this settlement. Delighted, Austin went back into the United States
and began recruiting families to his settlement which was in the
lower reaches of the Colorado and Brazos rivers. Unfortunately,
Moses died before he could get back to his proposed settlement so his
son Stephan F. Austin stepped in and continued fulfillment of his
fathers dream. The first settlers arrived in December of 1821 and
within a decade the settlement numbered 25,000 people. As you might
suspect, the settlers had no love for the Spanish and in 1836 they
became part of the Republic of Texas and eventually one of these
United States. By the way, the settlement is now the Texas state
capitol of Austin.
1944 On this date tank units of General George
Patton’s 3rd Army
broke through the German army encirclement of the Belgian city of
Bastogne. This city was a major objective of the German Army when
they launched a surprise assault out of the Ardennes Forest that
later became know as the Battle of the
Bulge. The city was defended by
18,000 Americans mostly of the 101st
Airborne. During the encirclement the troops defending Bastogne
eventually very nearly ran out of food, water and ammunition at the
same time. They also were ill-dressed for the bitterly cold weather.
After the breaking of the siege the long hard task of pushing the
Germans back to where they came from began. Patton pulled off one of
the greatest maneuvers in military history. His 3rd
army was driving east toward Germany 100 mile south of Bastogne when
the German assault began out of the Ardennes. Patton was able to
turn his army 90 degrees to the left and attack the German
encirclement of Bastogne. That was an amazing feat considering the
logistics involved making that happen. In spite of the brilliance of
Patton in rescuing the 101st
many of those proud paratroopers said “We were not f----k---g
rescued, we were relieved.”. By the way, if I am not mistaken, the
leader of the tank column that broke through to the city was Colonel
Creighton Abrams, later to become a four star General and has a
modern tank model named for him.
Answer to the trivia question:
The leader of the tank column in the German breakout
in the Battle of the Bulge was Joachim Peiper. He was tried for
crimes against humanity in the Nuremburg trials because of the
Malmedy massacre. (look it up).
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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