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
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