Category: Historical

Today we celebrate George Washington’s 279th birthday (which is actually tomorrow).

Once the army was in mutiny, not against George Washington but against the Congress that had not paid the soldiers in months. The troops on their march against the Congress, were met by officers who promised a meeting the next day at 10:00 AM with the commanding general. Spirits were high and not friendly. Few thought that Washington would brave a confrontation with the mutinous troops. Indeed, the clock was about to strike 10:00 AM and there was no general in sight. Only seconds before the clock struck, the meeting house door slammed opened and George Washington briskly marched in. What followed was to me one of the most extraordinary speeches in history. General Washington in no way began in a conciliatory fashion. He was the general. He told the troops that the meeting would be held with full military discipline. The speech continued for some time when he picked up a letter with the troops demands. He squinted at the letter, then fumbled for his glasses and said that not only had he grown gray in the service of his country, but his eyes now needed glasses. The troops had never seen his glasses. He called to one veteran, and remembered an incident during a battle. He recognized another veteran, and briefly spoke to him. Was he not with them at all times especially the worst of times? When they were cold at Valley Forge, he was cold. When they were not paid, he was not paid. When they were hungry, he was hungry. When the battle was the worst he had been on the front line. He began to read the demands with some difficulty. The soldiers were embarrassed for, and saddened by their commander’s eyesight and difficulty. The eyes of many of the battle veterans began to water, and they stopped the general; apologized to him, and asked if he would take their grievances to the Congress. George Washington was in the hearts of his soldiers.

Carl Sandburg wrote of Washington;

The name of an iron man goes round the world.
It takes a long time to forget an iron man.

A young novice film maker and former Marine, Kevin Gonzalez, read our discussion about the phony member of the Black Sheep squadron and invited us all to San Diego to watch his first project entitled “Pappy Boyington Field“, a story about veterans getting Boyinton’s hometown airbase named for him;

Yeah, it’s tomorrow night, so it’s a little short notice, but if you can get away, please do. Kevin will be there to answer questions. I’m sure there will other showings so keep your eye for it. Here’s the trailer;

And here’s an abbreviated History Channel 15-minute video biography of Greg “Pappy” Boyington;

I heard the story throughout my career whenever a 1st Cav patch was near, but the Rumor Doctor roots out the origins of the “horse that was never ridden, the river that was never crossed and the color tells you why”;

The 1st Cavalry Division’s combat patch stands out from its peers: Its silhouetted horse and line on a yellow field is recognizable from far away. But urban legend has it that there was a time when soldiers in the unit were not allowed to wear the patch in the United States.

“Story is that the division lost its colors in Korea and since the division was ‘disgraced’ the patch could not be worn in the US,” one reader wrote in an e-mail to The Rumor Doctor. “During Vietnam the division ‘regained’ its honor, ending the ban.”

Read the rest.

So 20 years ago today, COB6 and I were in a port warehouse in al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Maybe it was twenty years ago yesterday. We were awoken at about 2AM local time to get into MOPP4 and go back to sleep. We were surrounded by our support battalion. They showed us how prepared they were for battle by spending the early morning hours sewing their combat patches on the right sleeve of their BDUs.

We still had woodland camo because the people who really needed desert camo, the support wienies, had already snatched ours. We wouldn’t get our desert camouflage uniforms until we returned from our first mission into Iraq a month later. But, all of the forklift drivers in al Jubail had theirs. In fact, we didn’t get desert camouflaged helmet covers until we got back to Germany, just in time for our :welcome home: parade.

When we went to chow that morning, a jet broke the sound barrier overhead prompting all of the support weinies to call out “Gas!” and masking themselves with trays of breakfast laying everywhere around the parking lot. The Sri Lankans who were serving us breakfast ran around with their hands over their mouths and noses searching frantically for their own masks. I noticed seagulls didn’t seem affected by the insanity, or by any nerve agent, so I called all clear and went to the head of the chow line.

Later that day, another female support wienie decided she should have her weapon loaded since Desert Storm had started and cleared her weapon by firing a round into the clearing barrel right by my head while I reading a book in my bunk.

On the other side of the warehouse, an M8 Chemical detector attracted the attention of another support wienie who wondered what “Test” meant…when he pushed the button labeled “Test” and the alarm sounded, he pulled on his protective mask and ran around yelling “Gas”.

Anyway, that was my first day of Desert Storm. I think we were in port for three more days unloading our vehicles from the ships as they arrived from the North Sea port of Bremerhaven in Germany, but the first day of Desert Storm solidified my intense dislike for support wienies.

At 0530 on December 16th, 1944, the Germans opened up with 1600 artillery pieces across an 80-mile front launching the last gasp attack from the Third Reich in a bid to end the war in their favor.

Tomorrow will mark the 66th anniversary of the Melmedy and Wereth massacres in which American soldiers were executed. About 150 at Malmedy and 11 Black soldiers tortured and then executed at Wereth.

ADDED Sporkmater: But there is another battle coming up on Jan 1st 1945 that was totally unexpected but not as well known. I am talking about Operation Bodenplatte

Well, actually, no one. Apparently she denied she was ever a Marine but over at the Smoking Gun someone found her records.

military records show that the actress Bea Arthur spent 30 months in the Marine Corps, where she was one of the first members of the Women’s Reserve and spent time as a typist and a truck driver.

She apparently didn’t do to bad.

Arthur’s rank went from private to corporal to sergeant to staff sergeant, the title she held upon her honorable discharge in September 1945

Possibly she hid it because she was disciplined once for getting VD. There is a quote that would surprise no one that it was “Maude” During a personality appraisal the appraiser desribed her conversation as:

“Argumentative” and her attitude and manner as “Over aggressive.” In a handwritten note, the Marine interviewer remarked, “Officious–but probably a good worker–if she has her own way!”

You learn something new every day.

Thank you for your service Ma’am!