December 07, 2025
84 Years
U.S.S. Nevada (BB36) burns after having beached herself on Ford Island. The only ship to get underway during the Pearl Harbor attack, she made break for the ocean under the command of her critically wounded Officer of the Deck, (Ensign Joseph Taussig) but the battleship was caught in the Pearl Harbor channel by the second wave of torpedo bombers and hit multiple times. Taussig beached the vessel to keep from blocking the channel (and thereby granting the Japanese total victory) before he was drug from the bridge to receive life-saving medical attention which resulted in his leg being amputated.
Taussig Returned to duty 3 days later. He retired from the navy in 1954.
U.S.S. Nevada was repaired, and despite being quite old went on to a rather...active....career for the next few years.
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June 06, 2025
81 Years Ago Today
Do watch the whole thing. It is a product of it's time (Near the climax of the Cold War). It is also one of the most eloquent missives on the acts and consequences of that desperate day.
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May 26, 2025
Between Beer & Barbecue, do Ponder
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae, 1915
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I went into a public 'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap.
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!
Rudyard Kipling, 1890
******************************
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Variously attributed to Winston Churchill or George Orwell
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June 06, 2021
77 Years Later
Normandy is a rather less hellish place.
The U.S. cemetery Colleville-sur-Merat at Point Du Hoc. Here, 9387 white crosses mark the final resting places of men who climbed the cliffs overlooking what was once designated Omaha Beach.
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November 11, 2020
Some, Like me Never Saw any Excitement, But Many did and Deserve Our Thanks For Keeping The Excitement at Bay
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September 24, 2019
Relevant Filk
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April 28, 2019
We Interrupt Our Current Hiatus to Bring You, Gentle Reader, This Vitally Important Public Service Announcement
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February 18, 2019
Balls of Brass
Mike Ritland has an interview with CBS's Laura Logan about her wide ranging journalistic career starting with her days in South Africa. While most coverage of the interview is focusing one three minute segment, the whole three and a half hour interview is really fascinating and worth a look.
Be advised that around 2:46 she also opens up in considerable detail about her 2011 gang rape in Egypt. Be aware that even giving the disturbing subject matter, it's a very grim segment.
That said this is a really really good interview, with a very substantial woman who has lived a hell of a life.
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January 21, 2019
Do Not Forget That The Three Day Weekend Some Enjoy is Here For a Reason
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December 26, 2018
A Reminder That Tomorrow is the 27th (UPDATED)
...and will see the last of the two showings of They Shall not Grow Old in the U.S.
If you're in Hampton Roads, the only showings are at McArthur Center and Greenbriar 13. Both are at 1PM.
UPDATE: It was all that and a bowl of grits.
I'm very glad that I bought my tickets online as it had completely sold out, despite being shown in three theaters in the local multiplex.
Peter Jackson is an exceptional fimmaker, but the idea that he could take a bunch of frequently unrelated 100 year old film clips taken by the British military and make it work in a narrative form is far fetched.
It's also exactly what he did.
This film is incredibly powerful. It is gut wrenching and horrifying at times, but it is a masterpiece. It is not a technical or historic analysis of any particular battle, but it is a deeply compelling, and often disturbing overview of what it was like to serve in the B.E.F. on the Western Front in the Great War.
The restored and colorized footage (taken from hand cranked cameras over a century ago) translates quite well to the big screen.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough. When this comes up for sale on DVD or Blue Ray, buy it.
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November 24, 2018
Whelp....
I know what I'm doing on the 27th of next month...
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July 04, 2018
It's Been 242 Years
Let us not muck it up now.
more...
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December 07, 2016
Culture is a Signal
The animated short in the post below sums up the attitude of much of the United States in the early 1940's. It's not an unreasonable point of view. War is an obscene thing. 24 years earlier the country had entered a "War to End All Wars" which had, in the intervening years provided, as a case study in the wretchedness of war, thousands of men in what should have been the prime of their lives, missing limbs, blind or otherwise maimed by bullets, shrapnel, fire, and gas. The intervening years had seen numerous "police actions" in Central America, each of which had looked an awful lot like a war; ie; that thing those men had been maimed in the hopes of ending for all time.
Most Americans with names not ending in Roosevelt wanted nothing to do with war. And so the pacifists, with help from the German American Bund and the communists (well, until 22 June 1941) all loudly proclaimed the disdain the American people had for war. From the papers to the radio to films as seen below and even the pulpits, the cry of "No More War!" was heard throughout the land.
However, when a sincere desire for peace becomes a nationwide cry from the rooftops it can be misinterpreted. Trotsky's quip, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. " is quite true, and war is especially interested in places where pacifism becomes loud virtue signaling, as it can signal, instead of virtue, cowardice, or at the very least a lack of resolve.
And so, those who looked for such signals interpreted them accordingly. The Americans were not going going to sell them oil because Americans did not want to support those who waged war...because Americans hated war....Americans hated war...so this was the time to strike.
And strike they did, 75 years ago today.
U.S.S. California goes down. Note the sailors in the water.
14inch guns of U.S.S. Pennsylvania silhouetted by the explosion of U.S.S. Shaw.
Battleship Row Burns.
Identifying the bodies pulled from the sunken ships.
Within a few years, those men, and far too many of their subjects discovered to their horror that a disdain for war is not a sign of cowardice, or weakness.
Too loudly proclaiming it however, can cary a terrible price for everyone involved.
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July 04, 2016
HAPPY FOURTH!
Army veteran rescues bald eagle dangling upside down from a rope in 75-foot tree by 'mowing down the branches' with his rifle...Galvin spent 90 minutes firing 150 shots into tree branches to free [the] bird. The eagle, now named Freedom, is recovering at a rehabilitation center.
I love this country.
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December 07, 2014
73 Years
...have passed since a quiet December morning in paradise was disrupted by the din of 183 planes. They were the first wave of an attack that would turn Battleship Row into an abattoir.
One of the Battleships, U.S.S. Arizona, remains today on the harbor bottom as a memorial to those that died on that terrible day, which unleashed such fury upon the Pacific. Every year on this date, survivors of that ship's last terrible moments have met to reminisce.
This will be the last time. Today marks the last official reunion of the Arizona's final crew.
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November 11, 2014
11/11
Cdr. Salamander has some thoughts on the day. You should read them.
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June 06, 2014
70 Years Later
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May 26, 2014
Enjoy the Holiday, But Forget Not Why You Have It.
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November 14, 2013
A Bit of Perspective on Any Number of Things
I just saw this below the fold at Ace of Spades, in tonight's open thread.
It REALLY deserves to be spread around. I'd heard the name and knew what she'd done, but I did not know about the sheer audacity of HOW she'd pulled it off.
Wow.
There's more on this remarkable heroine here, here and here.
This is a profound reminder that great deeds can be done even by those with no power or riches if they do not lack for courage and wits.
It REALLY deserves to be spread around. I'd heard the name and knew what she'd done, but I did not know about the sheer audacity of HOW she'd pulled it off.
Wow.
There's more on this remarkable heroine here, here and here.
This is a profound reminder that great deeds can be done even by those with no power or riches if they do not lack for courage and wits.
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July 29, 2013
The Thin Goering
OK this is bizarre.
It seems that Reichmarshall Hermann Goering, the right hand of evil, had a brother. His name was Albert. He was an urbane, cultured sociallite with a reputation as a lady's man. He was svelte. Also, in further contrast to his zeppelenesque sibling, he also seems to have privately despised Hitler and led a secret life saving a large number of Jews and dissidents at great personal risk.
It seems that Reichmarshall Hermann Goering, the right hand of evil, had a brother. His name was Albert. He was an urbane, cultured sociallite with a reputation as a lady's man. He was svelte. Also, in further contrast to his zeppelenesque sibling, he also seems to have privately despised Hitler and led a secret life saving a large number of Jews and dissidents at great personal risk.
Goering was incarcerated by the US as a Class A War Criminal after the war. However, he was tentatively released to Czechoslovak custody (being a resident of Prague) when one person on a list of 34 names he had given as character witnesses was tracked down and corroborated his story. Czechoslovakia ended up on the wrong side of the Iron curtain however, and so in 1947 Albert Goering found himself on trial for his life anyway. His workers were brought before the court as witnesses, but instead of struggling against him, they testified on his behalf, as did grateful Jews, dissidents and resistance fighters. Goering was eventually released, but had a very hard time of it after the war, due to...well...his last name being Goering. His wife left him and took their daughter to Peru. Albert struggled for many years before getting a job at a construction firm in Munich where he died in 1966.
It seems that Israel is now looking into whether to posthumously award Goering their Righteous Among the Nations award for his actions.
Decency can appear the strangest places.
It seems that Israel is now looking into whether to posthumously award Goering their Righteous Among the Nations award for his actions.
Decency can appear the strangest places.
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