Random News and Notes 25 October
On this date:
- 1415 – An English army under Henry V defeats the French at Agincourt, France. The French had out numbered Henry’s troops 60,000 to 12,000 but British longbows turned the tide of the battle.
- 1760 – George III of England crowned.
- 1853 – Members of the Paiute Indian Tribe attack U.S. Army Captain John W. Gunnison and his party of 37 soldiers and railroad surveyors near Sevier Lake, Utah. Gunnison and seven other men were killed, but the survey party continued with its work and eventually reported its findings to the United States Congress.
- 1854 – In an event alternately described as one of the most heroic or disastrous episodes in British military history, Lord James Cardigan leads a charge of the Light Brigade cavalry against well-defended Russian artillery during the Crimean War.
- 1916 – German pilot Rudolf von Eschwege shoots down his first enemy plane, a Nieuport 12 of the Royal Naval Air Service over Bulgaria.
- 1923 – The Teapot Dome scandal comes to public attention as Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, subcommittee chairman, reveals the findings of the past 18 months of investigation. His case will result in the conviction of Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, and later Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, the first cabinet member in American history to go to jail. The scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming, involved Fall secretly leasing naval oil reserve lands to private companies.
- 1940 – German troops capture Kharkov and launch a new drive toward Moscow.
- 1944 – The Japanese are defeated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the world’s largest sea engagement. It was the first recorded successful use for Kamikaze tactics by the Japanese. From this point on, the depleted Japanese Navy increasingly resorts to the suicidal attacks of Kamikaze fighters.
- 1950 – Chinese Communist Forces launch their first-phase offensive across the Yalu River into North Korea.
- 1951 – In a general election, England’s Labour Party loses to Conservatives. Winston Churchill becomes prime minister, and Anthony Eden becomes foreign secretary.
- 1954 – President Eisenhower conducts the first televised Cabinet meeting.
- 1962 – In South Africa, civil rights activist Nelson Mandela is sentenced to 5 years in prison for terrorism.
- 1962 – Adlai Stevenson shows photos to the UN Security Council that prove Soviet missiles have been installed in Cuba.
- 1971 – United Nations expels the Republic of China (Taiwan) and seats the People’s Republic of China.
- 1983 – 1,800 U.S. troops and 300 Caribbean troops land on Grenada. U.S. forces soon turn up evidence of a strong Cuban and Soviet presence–large stores of arms and documents suggesting close links to Cuba.
- 1994 – Susan Smith reports that she was carjacked in South Carolina by a Black man who took her two small children in the backseat of her car. Although authorities immediately began searching for 3-year-old Michael and 1-year-old Alex, they could find no trace of them or of Smith’s car. After nine days of intense national media attention, Smith finally confessed that the carjacking tale was false and that she had driven her Mazda into the John D. Long Lake in order to drown her children.
We start the news with an update on the monument that was decapitated outside of Quantico. It seems that there will be no government money used for the restoration of the Iwo Jima monument. The monument was erected with private funds and not by the Corps itself. The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation in association with the Base Commander and Marine Corps Headquarters is holding a fundraiser to repair it.
. . . In cooperation with the Base Commander and Marine Corps Headquarters, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation has launched a fundraising campaign to support the restoration of the monument. Their goal is to start restoration efforts as soon as possible.
I’m sharing this for all my Marine Corps, brothers and sisters who might want to help rebuild this monument and for any other American who would like to see it rebuilt.
This seems like a decent way to spend some money.
On October 16, Coast Guard rescue swimmer Josh Law was lowered into rough nighttime waters 140 miles off Mexico’s Baja California coast after a boat capsized near Ensenada. Working solo for nearly two hours amid turbulence and no moonlight, he used a buddy tow to bring 16 people to the rescue basket, then provided medical care on the flight to San Diego as fuel ran low. 24 years old Law was he only rescuer in the water. Fighting 8 foot waves for well over an hour, he swam from one survivor to the next, flipping each onto their back, towing them through the swells, and getting them into the rescue basket. As his dry suit slowly filled with water
Several survivors had shark bite injuries. All were Mexican nationals, with about half returning home while 11 others remain missing.
I expect an award ceremony is in this young man’s future. What’s the old saw about the Coasties? You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back. Semper Paratus young man!
From the MVAP sports desk we have a World Series update. The Brewers rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to beat the Rays 5-4 in Milwaukee last night. They lead the series 2-0. The Rays jumped out to a 4-0 lead with Liam Hicks’ two-run homer off starter Logan Henderson, but the Brewers chipped away with two first-inning runs and kept fighting back. Sal Frelick’s solo shot tied it in the sixth and Cooper Pratt’s RBI single gave The Brew Crew the lead in the seventh. The Milwaukee bullpen—led by Aaron Ashby’s scoreless October frames—held firm for the win.
The series heads to Tampa and Tropicana Field for Game 3 on Monday. Milwaukee is two victories from its first title and setting postseason merchandise sales records. The opener of the series was the most watched WS game in recent memory, besting even the Yankee-Dodger matchup from two years ago.
So much for the small market argument. . .
An apparent explosion ignited a fire at the Quaker Oats facility in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday afternoon around 4:45 p.m. Heavy plumes of smoke were visible from highways. The Cedar Rapids Fire Department, aided by neighboring crews, contained the blaze by early evening with no injuries reported—all workers were safely accounted for. Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell called the empty product-handling area at the time a blessing.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
The Desert Shield and Desert Storm memorial opened on the National Mall yesterday. The quarter-acre site at Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street NW features a 250-foot Storm Wall with sculptures of troops and a 28-foot Unity Shield fountain listing coalition nations. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum gave the keynote, praising the courage of those who served and the families who supported them, while Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Desert Storm veteran, offered a prayer.
Crowds of veterans in uniform and civilians lined up to view the privately funded tribute to nearly 700,000 U.S. service members.
Most of you know that your editor is a Veteran of that conflict. In fact, his unit at the time – 4/325th Infantry (Airborne) – was the Ready Battalion and the first US unit on the ground. He has Opinions™ about the war itself. It was the last conflict the US was involved in that had a defined and fixed objective. It is also the last clear victory the US military had. Take what you will from that. I have other issues with Colin Powell, but his handling of the political side of Shield/Storm was a master class. The Generals involved, overall commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, Lieutenant General Charles A. Horner Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC), Vice Admiral Henry H. Mauz Jr. U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), Lieutenant General John J. Yeosock (ARCENT / Third Army), Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer (I Marine Expeditionary Force) and the Saudi and Egyptian Multinational Force commanders Major General Mohammed al-Bawardi (Saudi National Guard and Gulf coalition force), General Prince Khalid bin Sultan (Saudi Arabia) and General Salah Halabi (Egypt) were outstanding. The tactical plan was brilliant and the individual units involved performed flawlessly. It is about time there was a monument for everyone involved. Now it seems I have to take a trip to the District to see it.