News & Updates
Please do plan to vote in the upcoming election—and encourage others to do so, too. If you can, volunteer to work at polling places and where votes are counted. This election is very, very important to the future of our nation.
Want to know what the flattest country in the world is? It’s the Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands; it’s a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean astride the equator. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 450 miles from Asian’s mainland. It has 1192 islands and a population of just over ½ million. And it’s flat. Most of the islands are just 5-feet above the ocean level. Oh, and they’ve been there for centuries and haven’t been eliminated by any rising sea water. Maybe we don’t need to spend so much time and money worrying about that.
In late Sept: Our Constitution was signed. The 26th “Yankee” Division was our Army’s first unit to arrive in Europe during WWI. The position of Secretary of Defense was created and the Army Air Corps became the US Air Force.
On Sep 16, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service and Training Act, which requires all male citizens between the ages of 26 and 35 to register for the military draft, beginning on Oct 16. The act had been passed by Congress 10 days earlier.
On 16 Sep 1965, the Watts riots ended in south-central LA after six days with the help of 20,000 National Guardsmen; the riots left 34 dead, 857 injured, over 2,200 arrested, and property valued at $200 million destroyed. The riots started when police on August 11th brutally beat a black motorist suspected of drunken driving in Watts area of LA.
On Sep 17, 1787, the Constitution of the USA was signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 US states.
On Sep 17, 1862, Confederate General Robert Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac fought to a standstill along a Maryland creek on the bloodiest day in American history. Although the battle was a tactical draw, it forced Lee to end his invasion of the North and retreat back to Virginia.
On 17 Sept 1916, the German air ace Manfred von Richthofen—known to history as the “Red Baron”—shot down his first enemy plane over the Western Front during WW I.
On 18 Sep 1944, during WWII, Operation Market Garden continued. The British 30th Corps reached the troops of our 101st Airborne Division at Eindhoven and Veghel. There was increasing resistance from German forces. To the north, our 82nd and British 1st Airborne Divisions continued to resist.
On 18 Sep 1947, the National Security Act went into effect. It created a Cabinet secretary of defense and unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force into a National Military Establishment. The act established the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
On 18 Sep 1947, the US Air Force was formed as a separate military service out of the old Army Air Corps. The Air Force’s motto is: “Uno Ab Alto” (One over all). At the same time the Air National Guard was created as a separate reserve component under control of the National Guard Bureau.
On 18 Sep 1954, the US, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, France, Thailand and the Philippines signed a treaty providing for the creation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), a collective defense pact. The organization was created in response to events in Korea and Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos).The pack formally ended in 1977.
On 19 Sep 1959, in one of the more surreal moments in the history of the Cold War, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev exploded with anger when he learned that, for security reasons, he could not visit Disneyland. The incident marked the climax of Khrushchev’s day in Los Angeles, one that was marked by both frivolity and tension.
On 20 Sep 1797, the US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) was launched in Boston.
On 20 Sep 1806, after nearly 2 ½ years spent exploring the western wilderness, the Corps of Discovery arrived at the frontier village of La Charette, in what is now Missouri, the first white settlement they had seen since leaving behind the outposts of eastern civilization in 1804. Entirely out of provisions and trade goods and subsisting on wild plums, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their men were understandably eager to reach home. Upon arriving at La Charette, the men fired a three-round salute to alert the inhabitants of their approach and were answered by three rounds from the trading boats moored at the riverbank. The people of La Charette rushed to the banks of the Missouri to greet the returning heroes. “Every person,” Clark wrote with his characteristic inventive spelling, “both French and Americans Seem to express great pleasure at our return and acknowledge themselves astonished in Seeing us return. They informed us that we were Supposed to have been lost long Since.” The Lewis and Clark mission had been a spectacular success. With the aid of friendly Native American tribes, the explorers had charted the upper reaches of the Missouri, proved there was no easy water passage across the Continental Divide, reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and made the first major step to opening of the trans-Mississippi West to the American settlement. After spending the evening celebrating with the people of La Charette, the next day the expedition continued rapidly down the river and after two more days reached St. Louis, the city where their long journey had begun. Lewis’ first act upon leaping from his canoe to the St. Louis dock was to send a note asking the postmaster to delay the mail headed east so he could write a quick letter to President Jefferson telling him that the intrepid Corps of Discovery had, at long last, come home.
On 20 Sep 1917, the 26th “Yankee” Division (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) became the first American division to arrive in Europe during WWI. Over one million American soldiers and Marines joined them by war’s end in November 1918. All 18 National Guard divisions served in France, but only 11 saw combat as intact units. Six others served as a source of replacements for casualties suffered by the frontline divisions. One, the 93rd Division, composed of all of the Guard’s African American units, had each of its four regiments parceled out to three different French divisions because American army leadership did not want to mix black and white soldiers together.
On 20 Sep 1951, in Operation Summit, the first combat helicopter landing in history, US Marines were landed in Korea.
On Sep 21, 1780, during our Revolutionary War, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor.”
On 23 Sep 1779, during the American Revolution, the US ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, won a hard-fought engagement against the British ships of war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough, off the eastern coast of England.
On Sep 24, 1941, the Japanese consul in Hawaii was instructed to divide Pearl Harbor into five zones and calculate the number of battleships in each zone–and report the findings back to Japan. Relations between the US and Japan had been deteriorating quickly since Japan’s occupation of Indo-China and the implicit menacing of the Philippines, an American protectorate. American retaliation included the seizing of all Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, Roosevelt issued a statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that threatened war between the US and Japan should the Japanese encroach any farther on territory in Southeast Asia or the South Pacific.
On 28 Sep 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, began the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.
On 29 Sept 1965, Hanoi published the text of a letter it had written to the Red Cross claiming that since there is no formal state of war, US pilots shot down over the North will not receive the rights of prisoners of war (POWs) and would be treated as war criminals.
On 30 Sep 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine, was commissioned by our Navy.
On 30 Sep 1964, the first large-scale antiwar demonstration in the US was staged at the University of California at Berkeley, by students and faculty opposed to the war. Nevertheless, polls showed that a majority of Americans supported President Lyndon Johnson’s policy on the war.
COMING UP ON FRONTLINES OF FREEDOM
On the weekend of Sept 21-22: Mark Cook will discuss cyber security and election integrity. Iraq vet Mike Kubiska will discuss his book on Iraq. Football Cohost Quinton Roberts will review the previous weekend’s Service Academy Football games, and Gen Chris Petty will present the Battle of the Month.
And on the weekend of Sept 28-29: Congressman Guy Rschenthaler will discuss his naval service and our nation’s challenges. Our Football Cohost Quinton Roberts will first interview a special guest and then review the previous weekend’s Service Academy Football games And Diane Raver will present the Movie of the Month.
One time I tripped while walking through Paris. Eiffel over.
Finally, the inventor of the clock has released his autobiography. It’s about time.
Somebody asked me what represents S in morse code. I said…
Chocolate is one of the best possible investments. You buy pound & you gain two.
Why don’t some couples go to the gym? Because some relationships just don’t work out.
What do you get if you cross minks and pines? Very expensive fur trees.
Are giraffes intelligent? Yes. They’re one of the highest forms of animal life.
If the engine has horse-power, why don’t you yell “Giddy Up” when you step on the gas?
Do rabbits use combs? No. They use hare brushes.
~ Interesting Quote ~
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
-John F. Kennedy
