This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Historical

  • VJ Day celebration, Aug. 14, 1945

    This is from the National Archives;

    President Truman announces Japan’s surrender,
    at the White House, Washington, DC, August 14, 1945.

    At 7 pm on August 14, 1945, President Harry Truman stood before reporters gathered at the White House and announced the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Pacific War was over.

    Although the formal signing of the terms of surrender ending World War II would not occur until September 2nd, the announcement of Victory Over Japan Day, or V-J Day, sent millions of Americans— citizens and members of the armed forces, out into the streets of cities and towns across the country and around the world .

    This video is silent, but you can almost hear the sounds in the downtown DC scenes;

  • Mushrooms

    Today marks the sixty-eighth anniversary of the second – and, hopefully, last – use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind.

    At approximately 11:01 AM local time, the US Army Air Forces B-29 “Bockscar” – piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney – released a nuclear weapon (“Fat Man”) over Nagasaki.  Forty-three seconds later, the device exploded.  It is estimated that between 60,000 and 90,000 individuals were killed outright or died within 4 months due to acute effects directly attributable to bombing.

    Nagasaki was not the original target for the raid – that was Kokura.  However, Kokura’s weather that day prohibited visual bombing outright; Major Sweeny diverted to Nagasaki, his secondary target.  A last-minute break in weather there allowed Nagasaki to be bombed using visual bombing procedures.

    The Nagasaka bombing followed the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima by three days, two hours, and 46 minutes.  In that attack, the “Little Boy” device (a highly-enriched uranium gun design vice “Fat Man’s” more advanced implosion design using plutonium) was used.  This earlier attack effectively destroyed the city of Hiroshima, inflicting between 90,000 and 166,000 estimated deaths – again, either immediately or within 4 months due to acute affects directly attributable to the bombing.

    The use of these two weapons had the desired effect:  it broke Japan’s will to continue the war.  Within a week, the Japanese Emperor had decided to “endure the unendurable” and publicly announced acceptance of Allied surrender terms, ending hostilities.  A formal and unconditional surrender was signed by the Emperor of Japan 17 days later.

    . . .

    Some today question the need for – and the morality of – these two bombings.  Allow me to express my opinion on that issue.

    Such individuals are at best damned fools.  At worst, they are simply anti-American tools.

    The two nuclear attacks killed between 150,000 and 256,000 individuals.  The lower estimates for projected US casualties for the anticipated invasion of Japan necessary to end the war include about that many US dead alone; other estimates give a likely figure several times higher.

    These figures do not include Japanese casualties; deaths for the Japanese side during an invasion were estimated to be literally in the millions.  (On Okinawa and Iwo Jima, in excess of 90% of Japanese military personnel opposing Allied forces were killed or committed suicide – as did many in the civilian population.)  Other alternatives that would end the war without the use of nuclear weapons – increased conventional bombings, an enhanced naval blockade to starve the Japanese into submission – were also estimated to kill literally millions of Japanese.

    Yes, the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was horrific.  But war itself is by its very nature horrific.  Further, all available alternatives were even worse – and would have caused more pain, suffering, destruction, and death.

    To argue against using nuclear weapons to end World War II is, in effect, to argue that prolonging the war and causing several times more unnecessary deaths and grossly more destruction and suffering would have been morally superior.  I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy that.  I suspect the Deity doesn’t buy that, either.

    . . .

    Still:  if you’re inclined towards prayer, please take a moment today and say a prayer for the souls of those who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Allied, Japanese, and those of other nationalities.  Their deaths indeed were necessary for a swift end to the war; their deaths saved inestimable others elsewhere.  Mankind should forever remember and respect that.

    And while you’re at it, please add a second prayer.  Ask God to grant mankind the wisdom to ensure that Nagasaki forever remains the last use of nuclear weapons in human history.

  • Seventy Years Ago Today: Black Sunday

    We of the other services sometimes chide our Air Force brethren for not being “hardcore” enough. And in some respects, that’s certainly true.  The Air Force lifestyle is in general  considered the least stressful of any of the military services.  Ground combat it ain’t – by design.

    Still, some in the Air Force are certifiably hardcore at times.  And seventy years ago today, “hardcore” doesn’t even begin to describe the actions of a group of roughly 1650 Army Air Forces personnel.

    Today marks the seventieth anniversary of one of the most costly US operations in World War II:  Operation Tidal Wave.  This operation was a large-scale bombing raid on oil facilities near Ploesti, Romania.  It was executed by elements of the 8th and 9th Army Air Forces.

    As in many wartime operations, politics played a part.  The operation had been agreed to by the POTUS and British Prime Minister at their conference in Casablanca in January 1943.

    It wasn’t solely a political target, though.  The Ploesti oil facilities were chosen as the operation’s target as they were believed to be a critical part of the “Achillies heel” for the Axis war effort:  POL production.  Postwar analysis was to show that this assessment regarding Axis POL production was correct – even if for many reasons Ploesti turned out not to be a single point of failure.

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  • Sixty Years Ago Today . . .

    . . . at 2200 hrs local time (approximately 0900 Eastern), major hostilities in Korea ended.  The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed at 1000 local on 27 July 1953.  It became effective twelve hours later.

    The war had lasted 3 years, 1 month, and 3 days.  Negotiating the Armistice had taken slightly over two years.

    The Korean War claimed the lives of between 500,000 and 950,000 total KIA (total for both sides).  In excess of 1,200,000 individuals are estimated to have been WIA.  Among those casualties were 33,686 US battlefield dead (KIA/DOW/MIA-BNR) and 92,134 US WIA.

    The Korean War is technically still ongoing today, but suspended.  There never has been a formal peace treaty signed to end the conflict.

    Korea is often called our “Forgotten War”.  It was also a war for which we were horribly unprepared at the outset.  We damn near lost that war before we could get our act together.

    May we never forget that key lesson from the “Forgotten War”.  We certainly never need to experience another fiasco like Task Force Smith.

  • A Marine “Sergeant” Honored

    Yesterday, the Commandant of the Marine Corps honored a “Marine” from the “Forgotten War” – Korea.  A statue was dedicated in her honor at a park near the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

    Yes, you read that correctly – “her”.  The statue was of “Sgt. Reckless”.  She had four feet – or, more precisely, four hooves.

    “Sgt. Reckless” was a war horse.  Literally.

    Though not today particularly well-remembered, pack animals were used by the US military in both World War II and the Korean War.  They were at times literally lifesavers.

    For the Marines fighting near Outpost Vegas in March 1953, “Sgt. Reckless” was indeed a lifesaver.  (emphasis added)

    When the Chinese first attacked, lighting up the sky with tons of incoming fire, Reckless was frightened. She ran to a bunker, where the Marines found her covered with sweat. But the Marines calmed her and sent her on her mission.

    Reckless is credited with making 51 trips in a single day from the ammunition point to the recoilless rifles, which were firing continuously as Marines fought to push the Chinese back.

    She carried 386 rounds of ammunition totaling more than 9,000 pounds and walked over 35 miles. Most of the time she walked alone, knowing the route by instinct. “Her gun crew kept firing,” Wadley said.

    Outpost Vegas was retaken after a five-day battle.

    The Army Times has an excellent story on the dedication, giving additional background.  It’s well worth taking the time to read it.

    And in case you’re wondering:  yes, the USMC did indeed bring her back to the US at the end of the war.  She died at Camp Pendleton in 1968.

    Well done, “Sgt. Reckless”.  Damn well done.

  • Merrill’s Maurauder inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame

    Vincent Melillo

    The Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer reports that among this year’s 16 inductees into the Ranger Hall of Fame is retired 94 year-old Master Sergeant Vincent Melillo, an original member of the famed Merrill’s Marauders. Their actual designation was the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) or Unit Galahad.

    They began as 3,000-man force in India where they began their training in October 1943. In February, 1944 they marched 1000 miles from India, over the Himalayas into Burma and behind Japanese lines with their 700 pack animals. By the time they finished operations in August, 1944, they had only 130 men left who could be considered combat effective, only two of those had not been wounded or ill.

    In August 1944, the 5307th became the 475th Infantry and ten years later, the 75th Infantry, and therefore the predecessors of today’s 75th Ranger Regiment. According to the Ledger-Enquirer article, MSG Melillo was awarded his Ranger tab earlier this year, I guess he earned it.

    MSG Melillo retired from the Army in 1965. There are only 18 surviving members of the Marauders.

    Other Rangers inducted this year;

    Gen. Peter Schoomaker; retired Lt. Gen. Gary Speer; retired Lt. Cols. James Dabney and Frederick Spaulding; retired Maj. Carleton Vencill; retired Command Sgt. Majs. Andrew McFowler, Doug Greenway, Bill Smith, Charles Williams, Robert Gilbert and Joe Mattison; retired Sgt. Majs. Matthew Berrena and Pat Hurley; and retired Master Sgts. Howard Mullen and Thomas Bragg.

  • A Promise Kept

    Two days ago, a US Korean War veteran landed in Pyongyang, Korea.  His name is Thomas Hudner.

    Hudner was a Naval aviator during the Korean War.  On 4 December 1950, his wingman – Jesse Brown – was shot down near the Chosin Reservoir.

    Hudner located the crash site, and noted his wingman was still alive. He then crash-landed his own aircraft near the remains of Brown’s plane.  He attempted to save his wingman.

    Sadly, Brown was severely injured – possibly fatally.  And in any case, Hudner was unable to free him, even after air-rescue arrived.

    Hudner stayed with his wingman until he’d lost consciousness.  The he departed with search and rescue.

    Brown’s last words to Hudner were a whispered, “If I don’t make it, please tell Daisy I love her.”  (Daisy was Brown’s wife.)  Hudner agreed. 

    Hudner’s last words to Brown were, “We’ll come back for you.”

    Hudner indeed kept the first promise: he sought out and told Mrs. Daisy Brown her late husband’s final words. And although it’s taken over 62 years, he’s now kept both promises.

    Hudner is in Pyongyang with a JPAC search party. They have secured permission to search for Ensign Jesse Brown’s body near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea.

    . . .

    For the record: ENS Jesse L. Brown was the first African-American Naval Aviator. He was also the first US Navy officer killed in Korea. Obviously, that means that LT(JG) Thomas Hudner was white.

    Doug Sterner’s excellent site “Home of Heroes” has a wonderful article that gives much more background on LT(JG) Hudner and ENS Brown. Go there and read it; it’s definitely worth your time. Keep a kleenex or two handy.

    Doug’s article is entitled “No Man Should Die Alone”. I probably don’t need to explain what that means to anyone reading this site.

    For his actions that day, ENS Jesse Brown was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Sadly, it also came with a posthumous Purple Heart.

    For his actions that day, LT(JG) Thomas Hudner was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

  • Perhaps the Biggest “Shaft Job” in Baseball History

    Somewhat over twenty-three years ago, one of the strangest games in baseball history occurred.  A man pitched a complete game.  He gave up no hits.

    He lost the game 4-0.  And although he was originally credited with pitching a no-hitter, in a final ironic after-the-fact shafting that credit was taken away from him about a year later.  Today he is not even officially recognized as having pitched a no-hitter.

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