In the last half of December, Congress created our Navy, and, later the Medal of Honor. The US was recognized as an independent nation. The Christmas Truce took place during WWI, and Pan Am 103 was blown up over Lockerbe, Scotland.

 

On 17 Dec 1777, the French foreign minister, Charles Gravier, count of Vergennes, officially acknowledged the US as an independent nation. News of the Continental Army’s overwhelming victory against the British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga gave Benjamin Franklin new leverage in his efforts to rally French support for the American rebels. Although the victory occurred in October, news did not reach France until December 4th.

 

On 19 Dec 1776, Thomas Paine published these famous words: “These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

When these phrases appeared in the pages of the Pennsylvania Journal for the first time, General George Washington’s troops were encamped at McKonkey’s Ferry on the Delaware River opposite Trenton, New Jersey. In August, they had suffered humiliating defeats and lost New York City to British troops. Between September and December, 11,000 American volunteers gave up the fight and returned to their families. General Washington could foresee the destiny of a rebellion without an army if the rest of his men returned home when their service contracts expired on December 31. He knew that without an upswing in morale and a significant victory, the American Revolution would come to a swift and humiliating end.

Thomas Paine was similarly astute. His Common Sense was the clarion call that began the revolution. As Washington’s troops retreated from New York through New Jersey, Paine again rose to the challenge of literary warfare. With American Crisis, he delivered the words that would salvage the revolution.

 

On 20 Dec 1960, North Vietnam announced the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South at a conference held “somewhere in the South.” This organization, more commonly known as the National Liberation Front (NLF), was designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh, the umbrella nationalist organization that successfully liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule.

 

On 21 Dec 1861, Congress authorized the Medal of Honor to be awarded to Navy personnel that had distinguished themselves by their gallantry in action. The Navy and Marine Corps’ Medal of Honor is our country’s oldest continuously awarded decoration, even though its appearance and award criteria has changed since it was created for enlisted men by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles on 16 December 1861. Legislation in 1915 made naval officers eligible for the award. Although originally awarded for both combat and non-combat heroism, the Medal of Honor today is presented for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty. The design of our highest military decoration is rooted in the War Between the States. Crafted by the artist Christian Schuller, the central motif is an allegory in which Columbia, in the form of the goddess Minerva uses the shield of the republic to put down the figure of discord, plainly a reference to the unfolding split in our nation. The design is encircled by 38 stars, representing the states of the Union at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War.

 

On 21 Dec 1951, during the Korean War, General Matthew Ridgway broadcast a message requesting that the Red Cross be allowed to inspect communist POW camps.

 

On 21 Dec 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. A bomb that had been hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. All 259 passengers were killed in the explosion. In addition, 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed in the shower of airplane parts that unexpectedly fell from the sky. Authorities accused Islamic terrorists of having placed the bomb on the plane while it was at the low-security airport in Frankfurt, Germany. They apparently believed that the attack was in retaliation for something. Sixteen days before the explosion over Lockerbie, a call was made to the US embassy in Helsinki, Finland, warning that a bomb would be placed on a Pan Am flight out of Frankfurt. Though some claimed that travelers should have been alerted to this threat, US officials later said that the connection between the call and the bomb was purely coincidental. In the early 1990s, investigators identified Libyan intelligence agents Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah as suspects, but Libya refused to turn them over to be tried in the US. But in 1999-in an effort to ease UN sanctions against Libya-Colonel Moammar Gadhafi agreed to turn the suspects over to Scotland for trial in the Netherlands using Scottish law and prosecutors. Families of the victims were dissatisfied with this deal, however, complaining that it did not allow prosecutors to pursue the leads that suggested the bombing was planned and authorized by the highest levels of the Libyan government. The US did insist, though, that Libya pay compensation to the victims’ families before sanctions against Libya were lifted.

 

On 21 Dec 2003, Time magazine named The American soldier, who bears the duty of “living with and dying for a country’s most fateful decisions,” as Person of the Year.

 

On 22 Dec 1775, the Continental Congress created a Continental Navy, naming Esek Hopkins, Esq., as commander in chief of the fleet. Hopkins’ first assignment was to assess the feasibility of an attack on British naval forces in the Chesapeake Bay. After sailing south with his meager force of eight ships, Hopkins decided that victory in such an encounter was impossible. He sailed to the Bahamas instead, where he attacked the British port of Nassau, a decision for which he was relieved of his command upon returning to the continent.

 

On 22 Dec 1862, during the Civil War, Union General William T. Sherman presented the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Lincoln. Sherman captured Georgia’s largest city after his famous “March to the Sea” from Atlanta. Savannah had been one of the last major ports that remained open to the Confederates.

After Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, he cut free from his supply lines and headed south and east across Georgia. Along the way, his troops destroyed nearly everything that lay in their path. Sherman’s intent was to wreck the morale of the South and bring the war to a swift end. For nearly six weeks, nothing was heard from Sherman’s army. Finally, just before Christmas, word arrived that Sherman’s army was outside Savannah. A Union officer reached the coast and found a Union warship that carried him to Washington to personally deliver news of the success. Sherman wired Lincoln with the message, “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.”

 

On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. The long-term impact of the invasion and subsequent war was profound. First, the Soviets never recovered from the public relations and financial losses, which significantly contributed to the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991. Secondly, the war created a breeding ground for terrorism and the rise of Osama bin Laden.

 

On 25 Dec 1914, just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in WW I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their

enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of WWI erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable.

 

On 27 Dec 2001, we announced plans to hold Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

On 28 Dec 1945, Congress officially recognized the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

 

On 30 Dec 1944, during WWII, General Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, reported that the first two atomic bombs should be ready by1 Aug 1945.

 

 

On the weekend of Dec 23-24, PJ Lablonski will discuss church safety teams and the rise in anti-semitism. We’ll meet Bill and Mike Null, two brothers who were tried and acquitted in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And Gen Chris Petty will present the Battle of the Month.

 

And on the weekend of Dec 30-31, Army Chaplain Colonel Scott McChrystal will discuss our nation’s challenges. Then we’ll learn about Hanger 9. We’ll review the AF Academy’s Bowl Game. And Diane Raver will discuss the Movie of the Month.

 

A guy walked into a bar – and was disqualified from the limbo contest.

 

Dear Math, grow up and solve your own problems.

 

I thought the dryer was shrinking my clothes; turns out it was the refrigerator.

 

I tried to come up with a carpentry pun that woodwork. I think I nailed it, but nobody saw it.

 

Exaggerations went up by a million percent last year.

 

What sound does a nut make when it sneezes? Cashew.

 

I just saw a burglar kicking his own door in. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was working from home.

 

What sound does a 747 make during a bouncy landing? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.

 

I accidentally took my cat’s medication. Don’t ask meow.

 

Right now, I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.