A Brief History On December 10, 1997, Ukrainian paralympic World Record holder and Gold medalist swimmer, Viktoriia Savtsova, was born, taking her place among the many distinguished Ukrainians throughout history. Today, we take a look at another famous Ukrainian hero, known as The Ghost of Kyiv. Digging Deeper Our title Ghost is a product of the current war between Russia and Ukraine and is reputed to be the pilot of a MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jet. While admitted by the Ukrainian government to be a myth, the stories about this intrepid pilot who reportedly shot down 6 of the invading Russian…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On December 8, 2022, we take the opportunity to review a new book by Stephen Dando-Collins, an author we have become familiar with through previous reviews. This latest work, Rebels Against Rome, sub-titled 400 Years of Rebellions against the Rule of Rome, is another winner in our estimation, excellently written in a manner easy and pleasing for academics and casual readers of history alike. Digging Deeper Dando-Collins, an Australian, does not get bogged down in incessant citing of sources and references often found in more academic treatments, instead relying on end notes for citations, a method we…
A Brief History On December 2, 1954, the United States and the Republic of China, known to us today more familiarly as “Taiwan,” signed a mutual defense treaty that was really just the US promising to ensure the integrity of the island of Taiwan which claimed to be the “legitimate” government of China against any invasion or aggression from mainland/Communist China or perhaps the USSR. Digging Deeper A Cold War arrangement, this treaty became obsolete because of a change in the relationship between the US and Communist China during the 1970s and by 1980 the treaty was nullified. The treaty…
A Brief History On November 25, 1851, the first YMCA located in North America was organized in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The organization, originally titled Young Men’s Christian Association, though better known by its initials, was founded in London, England, back in 1844. Digging Deeper The Montreal chapter was soon followed by the first American chapter, located in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1851. The organization made famous by the disco era song with the eponymous name, “Y.M.C.A.,” brought a lot of attention to the organization, but with about 10,000 US branches of various types, we believe “The Y” has plenty…
A Brief History On November 23, 2022, American audiences will have the opportunity to see a new motion picture we got to pre-screen the other day, a Korean War era historical/biographical film about the first African American Naval aviator, a man named Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), touching on the struggles with racism in the recently integrated US military as well as his loving family and devoted White friend, fellow pilot Tom Hudner. Digging Deeper Devotion features thrilling flight scenes of US Navy fighter aircraft in peacetime and in combat, which for me was portrayed in brilliant cinematic fashion, though not…