Recently in History Category

I love to learn and this story is about a little thought of aspect of war. I hope you read the full article and enjoy it as much as I have.

http://www.eaglespeak.us/2009/02/sunday-ship-history.html

"AOGs- gas pipeline at sea"
Napoleon said, "An army travels on its stomach," referring to the need to keep an army in the field fed so it can keep moving. By World War Two the saying had expanded to include the "beans, bullets and black oil" needed to keep a fleet at sea. The logistics work behind keeping thousands of ships, hundreds of thousands of men and tens of thousands of aircraft fueled and supplied is, perhaps, not as exciting a tale as the landings at Iwo Jima, but it is an important story. A tiny portion of that tale should be carved out for the men who sailed and worked on the ships known as "AOGs"- or gasoline tankers.

Unlike the big fleet oilers designed to replenish carrier task forces at sea, the AOG was designed to transfer fuel to shore stations, though some could conduct replenishment at sea.

Not generally considered "front line" duty, the role of AOGs during wartime has been underreported. For example, off Iwo Jima, some AOGs carried potable water for use by the Marines ashore, a job which required the AOG to close the beach in close proximity of the fighting.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Giant-Snake-Fossils-Unearthed-103808.shtml

It's official! The oldest snake fossils known to date belong to those of a new species, whose fossils have been discovered in Colombia. The animal named Titanoboa cerrejonensis (the titan boa) is a predecessor of today's boa constrictor, one of the largest snakes in the world. Its ancestor had a length of 42 feet, weighed up to a ton, and lived more than 60 million years ago, after the disappearance of the dinosaurs. The snake was apparently a force to reckon with, as discoverers say that it's main course was crocodile meat, and the only way to get it was to actually go out and eat a crocodile.

Besides shedding some light on the evolution of snakes to their modern adaptations, the new find also offers a priceless insight into how the rain forests handled the climate at the time, as it's a well known fact that all those years ago the planet was a lot warmer than it is today. Experts say that it's reassuring to learn that the forests are able to withstand increased temperatures. This discovery will most likely calm those who maintain that the current level of emissions will result in the drying up of the rain forest.

When the Holocaust survivors are preparing to flee Europe a second time you might think that the Europeans might be a little embarrassed, but I think they are looking forward to getting rid of the perennial scapegoats. The Muslims will miss them, a little, but that is just because they will need to find a new group to harass.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/print/the-magazine/features/3276096/the-terrible-warning-of-a-holocaust-survivor.thtml

At my dinner table on Friday night, a holocaust survivor admits that she is trying to persuade her son to take his family out of Europe to America, Canada, Australia, Canada, Australia, Israel...'They say they can't leave me, but I tell them: "Go, get out. My parents left my grandparents behind in Berlin and brought me to safety in England. Now I want you to leave so that my grandchildren will be safe."' There is an unbearable desperation in her plea. But she has a point.

As tens of thousands of demonstrators march through the streets of Europe, the chants are modified but the message remains substantially intact: 'Hamas, Hamas, Hamas -- Jews to the Gas'. Or, more simply: 'Death to the Jews'. Many European Jews, even well-established, affluent Jews, have been checking the suitcase they keep packed under the bed. They have been here before and many are (albeit reluctantly) reading the writing on the wall.

To some extent I thought I was inured. I grew up in postwar apartheid South Africa where a subtle undercurrent of anti-Semitism was a fact of everyday life. So while I was disturbed by manifestations of mob anti-Semitism, I was also less vulnerable to shock. That's just how people are. Living in genteel, leafy Hampstead Garden Suburb provides an additional layer of protection from such crass outbursts.

But my sanguine state ends abruptly when I am out walking on Saturday. A hundred yards from my front door, I encounter the slogan, freshly painted in yellow, across the pavement: 'Kill the Filthy Jews'. I am shocked. And shocked that I am shocked. The message is too close for comfort. The leafy gentility is, after all, an illusion.

Those who study these matters tell me that the current convulsion of anti-Semitism is the worst in a generation. They also say that there is a direct, causal link with the Israeli military operation against Hamas in Gaza. Once upon a time, anti-Israel protesters insisted they were motivated by political animus against Zionism rather than racial prejudice against Jews. The Hamas Charter, which sets out of the guiding principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement -- xenophobic, racist and anti-Semitic -- removes the distinction.

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/tsnews.aspx?ArticleID=429300&pubdate=1/3/2009

Roy Boehm of Punta Gorda, a cantankerous retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who fought three wars, started the Navy's first SEAL team and shared his harrowing adventures --and his battles against military bureaucracy --in an autobiography, has completed his last mission.

Roy Boehm, who had struggled with health problems for many years, died at home Tuesday night. He was 84.

His widow, Susan Boehm, declined to be interviewed about her husband. In fact, she pleaded that no story be written.

Susan said she was trying to carry out her husband's last wish, that his death not be publicized.

He wanted no obituary, no funeral service and no fanfare over his death, Susan said.

"He just wanted to go in peace," she said.

Boehm, however, had become a legend nationally for the historic role he played in pioneering unconventional warfare tactics.

You really need to go and read the full story and follow the links that Linda has on her site. This made me almost cry and I don't do that!

Just go read it. It would be sullied by my attempts to add to it.

http://www.lindasog.com/archives/2008/11/it_came_from_within.html

Seventy years ago, on November 9, 1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in what became known as "Kristallnacht."

The term "Kristallnacht" ('Night of Broken Glass") refers to the organized anti-Jewish riots in Germany and Austria, November 9-10, 1938. These riots marked a major transition in Nazi policy, and were, in many ways, a harbinger of the "Final Solution."

I was reading todays Day by Day cartoon and the quote from Davy Crockett made me think about what a great guy he was. He rose from truly humble beginnings and became a living legend. He would not have stood for the corruption we are faced with in the modern world.

http://www.qsl.net/w5www/alamo.html

The battle of the Alamo conjures up images of Davy Crockett's coonskin cap and Jim Bowie's famous Bowie knife. Everyone is familiar with the famous rallying cry, "Remember the Alamo!" But how many people honestly know what the battle was about? Who fought it? Or even who won?

The story of the Alamo is one that has been passed down through the years, embellished by generation after generation, until history and legend have become nearly indistinguishable. At times, it takes on the flavor of a tall tale, but in reality we know that things are not always as they seem. Heroes are not always so heroic...selfless sacrifice is not always so selfless. But more often than not, the truth is infinitely more fascinating than the myth.

But my favorite quote from Senator Crockett is

We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.
Davy Crockett

Senator Crockett has always been a hero of mine. I wish we had more like him today.

Another True Hero passes on. The Lord has a special place of Honor for guys like this and I wish I could qualify someday.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446140,00.html

Retired Marine Col. John Ripley, who was credited with stopping a column of North Vietnamese tanks by blowing up a pair of bridges during the 1972 Easter Offensive of the Vietnam War, died at home at age 69, friends and relatives said Sunday.

Ripley's son, Stephen Ripley, said his father was found at his Annapolis home Saturday after missing a speaking engagement on Friday. The son said the cause of death had not been determined but it appeared his father died in his sleep.

In a videotaped interview with the U.S. Naval Institute for its Americans at War program, Ripley said he and about 600 South Vietnamese were ordered to "hold and die" against 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers with about 200 tanks.

"I'll never forget that order, 'hold and die'," Ripley said. The only way to stop the enormous force with their tiny force was to destroy the bridge, he said.

"The idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous," Ripley said. "When you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you're going to save your butt."