Lost and Found – June 30th Edition

What to remember about June 30th…

• 1775  Continental Congress establishes 69 Articles of War
• 1859  Charles Blondin 1st person to cross Niagra Falls on a tightrope
• 1908  Huge atmospheric explosion above Tunguska region of Russia
• 1943  MacArthur launches Operation Cartwheel in the South Pacific
• 1953  1st production Chevy Corvette driven off the assembly line
• 1971  All 3 cosmonauts of Soyuz 11 mission die on re-entry
• 1985  Remaining 39 hostages released from TWA flight 847; passenger and U.S. Navy diver Robert D. Stethem was tortured and murdered by the Hezbollah / Islamic Jihad hijackers on June 15th
• 1997  United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to People’s Republic of China (PRC)
• 1998  Defense Department announces that Vietnam War service member buried in the Tomb of Unknowns has now been identified as USAF 1lt Michael J. Blassie; his remains are returned to his family

Lost and Found – June 29th Edition

What to remember about June 29th…

• 1613  Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is destroyed by fire
• 1776  Constitution of Virginia is adopted
• 1861  Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning dies
• 1886  Famed African-American photographer James Van Der Zee is born in Lenox, MA; leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance
• 1897  Chicago Colts (Cubs) set record for most runs scored in a single game; 36-7 vs. Louisville
• 1927  U.S. Army Air Corps Bird of Paradise completes 1st flight from U.S. mainland to Hawaiian Islands
• 1967  Israel removes barricades in Jerusalem reuniting the city
• 1972  SCOTUS rules in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty unconstitutional; in 1977 new guidelines make it legal once again
• 1974  World-renowned ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from Soviet Union while touring with Bolshoi Ballet
• 2003  Actress Katharine Hepburn dies at 96 in Connecticut

A Country Founded by Geniuses but Run by Idiots

by Jeff Foxworthy:

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you MUST show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman or a three-year-old girl who is confined to a wheelchair can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion, while not working is rewarded with Food Stamps, WIC checks, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to provide incentives for not working, by granting 99 weeks of unemployment checks, without any requirement to prove that gainful employment was diligently sought, but couldn’t be found — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, time shares, a wall-sized do-it-all plasma screen TV and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If being stripped of your Constitutional right to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

What a country!

How about we give God a reason to continue blessing America!

__________________________________________________________

(Sent to me on Facebook.  Thanks to E.B.)

Lost and Found – June 28th Edition

What to remember about June 28th…

• 1776  Thomas Hickey convicted and executed for mutiny, sedition, and conspiring with the enemy; Washington signs the death warrant
• 1778  Mary “Molly Pitcher” Hays replaces her wounded husband on the battlefield as cannon crew helping win the Battle of Monmouth
• 1836  James Madison dies; 4th President of the United States, “father” of the Constitution; husband of Dolley Madison
• 1914  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is shot to death beginning a chain of events leading to World War I
• 1919  Future 33rd President of the United States Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace; afterward they lived in her mother’s house
• 1919  Treaty of Versailles is signed; ends World War I
• 1953  Assembly begins in Flint, MI on the 1st Chevrolet Corvette
• 1965  3000 troops from the 173rd Airborne assault Viet Cong positions north of Saigon; 1st major offensive of the Vietnam War
• 1978  SCOTUS rules in University of California v. Bakke that he be admitted to the medical school; ruled against reverse discrimination
• 1997 Boxer Mike Tyson bites off ear of Evander Holyfield’s ear
• 2000  6-year old Elián González sent back to Cuba
• 2004  Sovereign power is transferred from the Coalition Provisional Authority to Iraq’s interim government
• 2005  Navy Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy is killed in Afghanistan calling in support for his surrounded unit; he will receive the Medal of Honor
• 2012  SCOTUS rules that Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is constitutional as a tax and not under Commerce Clause; largest tax increase in history of the world goes forward

INS Border Patrol agents take 6-year old into “protective custody”

Lost and Found – June 27th Edition

What to remember about June 27th…

• 1829  James Smithson dies leaving his estate to the United States of America; leads to establishment of the Smithsonian Institution
• 1844  Founder and leader of the Mormon religion Joseph Smith Jr. and his brother Hyrum are murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois
• 1864  Battle of Kennesaw Mountain; Union forces defeated but Confederate forces must withdraw towards Atlanta once more
• 1880  Author/activist/lecturer Hellen Keller born in Alabama
• 1923  American aviators Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter successfully complete 1st aerial refueling of a plane
• 1927  Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan born in Lynbrook, New York
• 1942  FBI arrests the last of 8 Nazi saboteurs sent to the U.S.
• 1950  President Truman announces U.S. forces will move in support of a U.N. resolution to aid South Korea repel invasion by North Korea
• 1973  John Dean tells Senate Watergate Committee about the “enemies” lists kept by the Nixon White House
• 2005  Serial killer Dennis Rader pleads guilty and confesses to 10 murders in the “BTK” case; sentence is 175 years without parole

Warbirds – F6F Hellcat

June 26th, 1942 marks the first flight of Grumman’s F6F Hellcat.  Designed as the replacement for the F4F Wildcat, the Hellcat became the U.S. Navy’s premier carrier-based fighter aircraft.

Though Grumman was already working on the design to replace the Wildcat, the contract for the first prototypes wasn’t signed until June of 1941.  Using the design of the F4F as their starting point, the entire aircraft was re-engineered with one thing in mind – defeating the Japanese Zero.  Improve mechanical systems, a 25% more powerful engine, an armored cockpit with better visibility, more potent weaponry, and later even radar were added to this new Warbird.  Night-fighting capability and even a 2000 pound bomb payload capacity would enhance later versions of the F6F.

The Hellcat’s first saw enemy action on September 1st, 1943 when a pair from the USS Independence downed a Japanese “flying boat”.  Operational tempos increased rapidly for the Hellcats.  Engagements at Tarawa, Rabaul, and the Battle of the Philippine Sea saw kill counts soar.  With over 65,000 sorties flown by Hellcats during the war, F6Fs were responsible for over 5,000 downed enemy aircraft.  With only 270 Hellcats lost, they were responsible for over 50% of all U.S. aerial victories – an almost 19:1 kill-to-loss ratio.  Allied versions of the F6F build on this legacy.  Overall, 29 Navy, 2 Marine Corps aces, and one Medal of Honor recipient flew the F6F Hellcat.

The John Wayne film Flying Leathernecks (1951) features quite a bit of combat footage of the Hellcat in action even though F4U Corsairs were supposed to be the stars.  Spoilers like to point out that much of the footage is post-WWII and some even Korean War vintage.  Korea war the last theater of war in which U.S. F6Fs would see combat.

 

 

Lost and Found – June 26th Edition

What to  remember about June 26th…

• 1804  Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches the mouth of Kansas River
• 1819  Major General Abner Doubleday born (d. 1893); popularly believed to be the inventor of baseball
• 1844  President John Tyler marries Julia Gardiner in New York
• 1862  Confederates attack Mechanicsville; Seven Days’ Battle begins
• 1917  American Expeditionary Forces arrive in Europe
• 1918  Conflict that begins June 1st ends today with victory of General Pershing’s American Army and Marine forces at Battle of Belleau Wood
• 1942  1st flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat carrier-based fighter
• 1945  50 delegates sign charter forming the United Nations
• 1948  In response to Soviet blockade of West Berlin the 1st planes depart from England and West Germany for the Berlin Airlift
• 1963  President John F. Kennedy speech at Berlin Wall declaring “Ich bin ein Berliner”; grammar mistake translates to “I am a donut”;  meant to say “I am also a citizen of Berlin.”
• 1975  2 FBI agents and member of American Indian Movement die in shootout at Pine Ridge Reservation; Leonard Peltier convicted of murders
• 1996  SCOTUS orders Virginia Military Institute to admit women
• 2000  Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics announce “working draft” of the human genome
• 2008  In District of Columbia v. Heller SCOTUS rules that 2nd Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms

Lost and Found – June 25th Edition

What to remember about June 25th…

• 1788  Virginia becomes 10th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution
• 1868  Florida conditionally re-admitted to the United States
• 1876  Battle of Little Bighorn;   Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat Custer led forces in Montana
• 1900  English Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten is born
• 1910  Congress passes the Mann Act; makes it illegal to transport any girl or woman across state lines for “any immoral purpose”
• 1942  Lt. Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower takes command of U.S. forces in Europe; later becomes commander of all allied forces for D-Day
• 1950  North Korean Peoples (KPA) army crosses the 38th parallel and invades South Korea; Korean War begins
• 1991  Slovenia and Croatia both declare their independence and secede from the formerly Soviet controlled Yugoslavia
• 1993  Kim Campbell sworn in as 1st female Canadian prime minister
• 1996  Islamic terrorists from Hezbollah detonate truck bomb outside barracks at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; 19 killed and 372 injured
• 2006  Hamas terrorists kidnap Israeli Defense Force Corporal Gilad Shalit near Gaza border; held hostage until October 18, 2011
• 2009  Singer Michael Jackson dies at age 50 in Los Angeles

Remembering Custer’s Last Stand – Encyclopedia Britannica

Lost and Found – June 24th Edition

What to remember about June 24th…

• 1314  Robert the Bruce leads Scottish forces to victory over Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn
• 1779  American allies France and Spain begin almost 7 month-long Great Siege of Gibraltar; largest action of the Revolutionary War
• 1885 Future 28th President Woodrow Wilson marries Ellen Axson
• 1901  1st exhibition of works of Pablo Picasso begins in Paris
• 1941  President Franklin D. Roosevelt pledges all possible support for the Soviet Union
• 1948  Soviet Union begins blockade of all rail and road traffic to West Berlin; massive airlift will supply city until siege ends May 12, 1949
• 1953  John F. Kennedy and Jaqueline Bouvier announce their engagement
• 1957  SCOTUS rules in Roth v. United States that obscenity is not protected by the 1st Amendment
• 1987  American actor, comedian, and musician Jackie Gleason dies (b. 1916)
• 1993  Yale professor David Gelernter is 2nd injured in just two days by a mail-bombing; leads to formation of Unabomber Task Force

Lost and Found – June 23rd Edition

What to remember about June 23rd…

• 1845  Congress of Texas votes in favor of annexation by U.S.
• 1862  Confederate General Robert E. Lee meets with his corps commanders to plan his assault on the Army of the Potomac
• 1865  In Oklahoma Territory, General Watie surrenders last Confederate Army almost two months after the War ended
• 1931  Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty begin first flight around the world in a single engine aircraft
• 1940  Hitler tours Paris; orders destruction of WWI monuments
• 1956  Gamal Abdel Nasser elected 1st president of Egypt; Egyptian constitution ratified and Islam becomes official state religion
• 1961  Antarctic Treaty designates continent as non-territorial scientific preserve; bans military activity
• 1972  Title IX of the Higher Education Act is signed by President Nixon; requires “fair and equal treatment of sexes” even in sports
• 1989  Tim Burton’s movie “Batman” released; Michael Keaton stars
• 1993  Lorena Bobbitt “mutilates” her husband after alleged assault
• 2005  SCOTUS rules in Kelo v. New London that local governments can seize property for private development under the 5th Amendment