In the last half of November,

 

On 16 Nov 1961, President John Kennedy decided to increase military aid to South Vietnam without committing US combat troops. Kennedy was concerned at the advances being made by the communist Viet Cong but did not want to become involved in a land war in Vietnam. He hoped that the military aid would be sufficient to strengthen the Saigon government and its armed forces against the Viet Cong. Ultimately it was not, and Kennedy ended up sending US military advisors and American helicopter units. By the time of his assassination in 1963, there were 16,000 US soldiers in South Vietnam.

 

On 19 Nov 1915, during WWI, in one of the most exciting episodes of the air war, British airman Richard Bell Davies performed a daring rescue, swooping down in his plane to whisk a downed fellow pilot from behind the Turkish lines. A squadron commander in the Royal Naval Air Service, Davies was flying alongside Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert Smylie on a bombing mission. Their target was the railway junction, located near the Aegean Sea. When the Turks hit Smylie’s plane with anti-aircraft fire, he was forced to land. As he made his way to the ground, Smylie was able to release all his bombs but one before making a safe landing behind enemy lines. Smylie was then unable to restart his plane and immediately set fire to the aircraft to disable it. Meanwhile, Davies saw his comrade’s distress from the air and quickly moved to land his own plane nearby. Seeing Davies coming to his rescue and fearing the remaining bomb on his plane would explode, injuring or killing them both, Smylie took aim at his machine with his revolver and fired, exploding the bomb safely just before Davies came within its reach. Davies then rushed to grab hold of Smylie, hauling him on board his aircraft just as a group of Turkish soldiers approached. Davies took off, flying to safety. Calling Davies’ act a “feat of airmanship that can seldom have been equaled for skill and gallantry,” the British government awarded him the Victoria Cross.

 

Legend holds that on 21 Nov 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Lydia Bixby, a widow and mother of five men who had been killed in the Civil War. A copy of the letter was then published in the Boston Evening Transcript on 25 Nov and signed “Abraham Lincoln.” The original letter has never been found. The letter expressed condolences to Mrs. Bixby on the death of her five sons, who had fought to preserve the Union in the Civil War. The author regretted how “weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.” He continued with a prayer that “our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement [and leave you] the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.”

 

On 22 Nov 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. First lady Jacqueline Kennedy was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 pm, Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46.

 

On 24 Nov 1944, during WWII, 111 US B-29 Superfortress bombers raided Tokyo for the first time since Capt. Jimmy Doolittle’s raid in 1942. Their target: the Nakajima aircraft engine works. Fall 1944 saw the sustained strategic bombing of Japan. It began with a reconnaissance flight over Tokyo by Tokyo Rose, a Superfortress B-29 bomber who grabbed over 700 photographs of the bomb sites in 35 minutes. Starting the first week of November, came a string of B-29 raids, dropping hundreds of tons of high explosives on Iwo Jima, to keep the Japanese fighters stationed there on the ground and useless for a counteroffensive. Then came Tokyo. The raid, composed of 111 Superfortress four-engine bombers, was led by Gen. Emmett “Rosie” O’Donnell, piloting Dauntless Dotty. Unfortunately, even with the use of radar, overcast skies and bad weather proved an insurmountable obstacle at 30,000 feet: Despite the barrage of bombs that were dropped, fewer than 50 hit the Nakajima Aircraft Works, doing little damage. The upside was that at such a great height, the B-29s were protected from counter-attack; only one was shot down.

 

On 25 Nov 1783, nearly three months after the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution, the last British soldiers withdraw from New York City, the last British military position in the US. After the last Redcoat departed, General George Washington entered the city in triumph to the cheers of New Yorkers. The city had remained in British hands since its capture in September 1776.

 

On 25 Nov 1918, a full two weeks after an armistice ended WWI in Europe, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck of Germany surrendered his forces in German East Africa. A master of guerrilla warfare known for his brave and honorable conduct, Lettow-Vorbeck emerged from the war as the only undefeated military commander on either side of the conflict.

 

On 25 Nov 1941, Adm. Harold Stark, US Chief of Naval Operations, told Adm. Husband Kimmel, commander of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, that President Roosevelt thought a Japanese surprise attack a distinct possibility. “We are likely to be attacked next Monday, for the Japs are notorious for attacking without warning,” Roosevelt had informed his Cabinet. “We must all prepare for trouble, possibly soon,” he telegraphed British Prime Minister Churchill. Kimmel’s command was specifically at the mid-Pacific base at Oahu, which comprised, in part, Pearl Harbor. At the time he received the “warning” from Stark, he was negotiating with Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short, commander of all US forces at Pearl Harbor, about sending US warships out from Pearl Harbor to reinforce Wake and Midway Islands, which, along with the Philippines, were possible Japanese targets. But the Army had no antiaircraft artillery to spare. An intercepted Japanese diplomatic message, which gave November 25 as a deadline of sorts. If Japanese diplomacy had failed to convince the Americans to revoke the economic sanctions against Japan, “things will automatically begin to happen,” the message related. Those “things” were becoming obvious, in the form of Japanese troop movements off Taiwan apparently toward Malaya. In fact, they were headed for Pearl Harbor, as was the Japanese First Air Fleet. Despite that so many in positions of command anticipated a Japanese attack, especially given the failure of diplomacy (Japan refused US demands to withdraw from both the Axis pact and occupied territories in China and Indochina), no one expected Hawaii as the target.

 

On 26 Nov 1950, during the Korean War, in some of the fiercest fighting of the Korean War, thousands of communist Chinese troops launch massive counterattacks against US and Republic of Korea (ROK) troops, driving the Allied forces before them and putting an end to any thoughts for a quick or conclusive US victory. When the counterattacks had been stemmed, US and ROK forces had been driven from North Korea and the war settled into a grinding and frustrating stalemate for the next two-and-a-half years.

 

On 26 Nov 1968, during the Vietnam War, while returning to base from another mission, Air Force 1st Lt. James Fleming and four other Bell UH-1F helicopter pilots got an urgent message from an Army Special Forces team pinned down by enemy fire. Although several of the other helicopters had to leave the area because of low fuel, Lieutenant Fleming and another pilot pressed on with the rescue effort. The first attempt failed because of intense ground fire, but refusing to abandon the Army green berets, Fleming managed to land and pick up the team. When he safely arrived at his base near Duc Co, it was discovered that his aircraft was nearly out of fuel. Lieutenant Fleming was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

On 28 Nov 1941, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat fighters to Wake Island. This mission saved the carrier from destruction when the Japanese attacked. On 29 Nov 1947, despite strong Arab opposition, the UN voted for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state. The modern conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine dates back to the 1910s, when both groups laid claim to the British-controlled territory. The Jews were Zionists, recent emigrants from Europe and Russia who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state.

 

On 30 Nov 1864, during the Civil War, the once proud Confederate Army of Tennessee suffered a devastating defeat when its commander, General John Bell Hood, ordered a frontal assault on strong Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee. The loss cost Hood six of his finest generals and nearly a third of his force. Hood assumed command in late July 1864 while the Confederates were pinned inside Atlanta by the armies of Union General William T. Sherman. Hood made a series of desperate attacks against Sherman but finally relinquished the city in early September. No longer able to wage an offensive against the massive Yankee force, Hood retreated into Alabama to regroup. In early November, he moved north into Tennessee to draw Sherman out of the Deep South. By now, Sherman had enough troops to split his army. He dispatched General George Thomas to the Nashville area to deal with Hood’s threat while he took the rest of the force on his infamous March to the Sea.

 

COMING UP ON FRONTLINES OF FREEDOM

 

On the weekend of Nov 18-19, Gen Gregg Martin will discuss being bipolar.

Then Army vet and MD John Hugues will present his book, American Doctor Coming Home to War. Next, Quinton Roberts will discuss last weekend’s Service Academy Football games. And Gen Chris Petty will present the Battle of the Month.

 

And on the weekend of Nov 25-26, Gen Arnold Punaro will discuss our nation’s challenges. West Point grad, Dr. John Hughes will discuss the MacArthur Society, West Point grads seeking to return the academy to former values. Quinton Roberts will discuss last weekend’s Service Academy Football games. Diane Raver will present the Movie of the Month.