Airborne Combat Engineer

Shootout on 125th anniversary of Jesse James' death

One hundred twenty-five years ago the Liberty Weekly Tribune’s headline read: “JESSE JAMES. The Great Outlaw Killed at His Home in St. Joseph.”

His life and death have been commemorated ever since. Events like festivals, black powder shootouts, re-enactments and even reburials bring people from far and wide to remember the outlaw who became infamous for his 1866 daylight bank robbery in Liberty.

The life of this legendary man will be commemorated again Saturday, April 7, at his birthplace in Kearney. The Friends of the James Farm will host a black powder shootout starting at 9 a.m. The shootout will test the skills of each shooter using a cap-and-ball revolver or Old West-style cartridge.

[KC Community News]

Looking back

Two years ago yesterday, Brian Nichols, killer of a GA judge and several other people, surrendered to police. [A-C-E, 12MAR05]

His trial is in progress now.

One year ago, it was noted al Qaeda had turned to the media and the net to get its propaganda out. [A-C-E, 13MAR06]

Kamikaze boats in WWII

"In my time in the South Pacific, we sailors generally welcomed the night, because the Japanese had no night fighters. That gave us a respite from the daily daytime plane kamikazes.

Soon that respite was over, because the use of small boats loaded with explosives became common at heavily fortified Japanese islands like the Philippines and Okinawa. The only defense against those boats was turning all the searchlights on the ship onto the surrounding water and trying to shoot or crash such boats.

A limitation of this method was that we had few guns that we could train on an approaching boat. Most of our armament was for shooting at planes, and the guns could not train low enough to hit boats unless the boats were far away. We had to rely on smaller guns, like .50-caliber machine guns, and even pistols, like the inaccurate .45-caliber."

[Gene Moore, Town Online]

Pilgrims, Indians formed food, firearm pact

The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, under the leadership of Massasoit, formed a pact based on survival, according to Philbrick [author of Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War].

The Pilgrims needed the Wampanoag for food. The Wampanoag needed the Pilgrims for their firearms, should they need to defend themselves against the more powerful Narragansett tribe, which occupied much of what’s now Rhode Island.

“I grew up, like most people, learning about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving,” Philbrick says.But, he says, contrary to what he learned, “It was not a benign embrace between two cultures.”

Bryan Rourke, Providence Journal, 21 NOV 2006

Plymouth Rock hardly seems large enough to be a landmark.
 

Rare Pearl Harbor photos

[LINK] Strategy Page

Some photos you might not have seen before

Nobody took color photos back then, so you'll have to imagine them in color.

Why didn't we bring the troops home when it was obvious we were losing?

On July the Fourth, 1863 ...

... General Lee began his retreat from Gettysburg.

Both sides lost at least 23K men killed, wounded, or missing over the 3-day battle.

[LINK] History Channel

The war would go on for just under 2 more years, until June 23, 1865, when Confederate Brig. Gen. Stand Watie (who was also a chief of the Cherokee Nation) rode into Doaksville near Fort Towson in Indian Territory and surrendered his battalion of Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, and Osage Indians to Lt. Col. Asa C. Matthews, appointed a few weeks earlier to negotiate a peace with the Indians. Watie was the last Confederate general officer to surrender his command.

The war was over for all intents and purposes with the surrender of Lee and Johnston in April.

Some then probably wondered if two factions who fought each other so bitterly for so many years could ever live peacefully together under one government, but it's worked out rather well.

The Thule Society

[LINK] answers.com

Military power driven by beliefs about religion or the supernatural can be the hardest to fight.

Did you know about the occult beliefs behind Nazism?

More here

Today, some would say we have the so called Islamic fascists against the so-called Neo-cons (both of which strongly believe the supreme being is on their side).

Yet, against the background of this global struggle of ideas; Americans are impatient that we haven't achieved clear results in Iraq (the current front stage battleground) after three years.

Goodbye to the Black Watch, after 266 years

[LINK] Evening Telegraph and Post

Proud veterans, local politicians and Fair City [Perth] residents were all on hand to pay tribute to the world-famous regiment, which is now part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland (RRS).

The merger may have caused massive divisions, but locals stood united at a service to mark 266 years of distinguished service.

Black Watch website

Back in the mid-80s, Coach Bill Curry at GT named his Defense the Black Watch, out of respect for this unit. They wore black GT logos, rather than the standard white ones, on the gold helmets.

25 years ago (yesterday)

(this post is an hour late, but what's an hour in a quarter century?)

[LINK] Image, bullet paths, and video clip

Can you name the weapon the SS agent is holding? (That was the first time we'd seen such a weapon around the President.)

Does anybody know that agent's name? I know the agent with the pistol (whose light blue blazer can be seen behind this agent) was Danny Spriggs, SS Deputy Director. He can be clearly seen in this image. Jerry Parr, the head of the SS unit of duty, pushed Reagan into the limo.

Historical wall charts of interest

Murdoc recommended the wallchart showing American divisions in WWII. The company has since been advertising on blogs that feature advertising.

You can save eight bucks if you also order the History of the Confederate Army. HistoryShots provides more info here.

The two charts depicting the history of political parties are also interesting. Every high school and library should have these on a wall somewhere.

Many consider a chart showing the attrition of Napolean's forces during his Russian campaign as the greatest statistical/historic graphic ever designed. The Confederate chart seems to have been inspired by it.

I'm very tempted to buy these prints, but since I don't have a place to display them, I know they'll end up stored rolled up in a closet or storage unit, along with a myriad of other posters and coffee table photo books I've purchased over the years (which is why I didn't buy a huge book of Vietnam photos which I saw on sale yesterday).

That and the fact the current war gives me more than enough angst, without going back and revisiting Vietnam.