A Brief History On February 27, 1902, a British firing squad carried out the execution of convicted war criminal, Australian Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant. A rare thing indeed for the British Army to prosecute one of their own for war crimes in those days, Morant and fellow soldier Lt. Peter Handcock stood accused of the murders of several South African (Boer) prisoners of war and civilians. Digging Deeper The Second Boer War between the British and Dutch settlers of South Africa (Boers) started in October of 1899 and was near its end when Morant and Handcock were tried and executed. …
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 February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, aka Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, escaped from his forced exile on the island of Elba and made his way back to France, seeking to regain his throne. Digging Deeper Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Corsica, had parlayed his spectacular military successes during and immediately after the French Revolution to becoming a General by the age of 24, and seizing the opportunity to mount a coup and take virtual control of France in 1799. Never bashful, Napoleon crowned himself L’ Empereur in 1804 and led his Empire in a series of…
A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt of Hartford Connecticut made good on the “All men are created equal” theme by making sure they stayed that way. Colt did this by patenting his famous revolving cylinder pistol. Digging Deeper The revolving pistol was not a new concept, and previous efforts using flint lock pistols were attempted with uneven results. The loose powder in the pan of a flintlock made “chain firing” all too possible and keeping the powder in the pan as the cylinder rotated was also difficult at best. Once the percussion cap was invented and reached…
A Brief History On February 24, 1942, the government passed a law under the “War Measures Act” allowing the government to relocate and intern citizens of Japanese origin. The government that enacted this law was the Canadian federal government! The sorry history of the United States treating its own Japanese citizens in such a hysterical and racist manner is far more well documented and familiar to Americans, and little attention is paid to the fact our genial neighbors to the North did the same thing. Digging Deeper On February 24, 1983, the United States Congress Special Commission passed a resolution…
A Brief History On February 23, 2008, a US Air Force B-2 “Spirit” bomber crashed while attempting a take-off on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The stealth jet bomber was totally destroyed, but the 2 man crew safely ejected. The B-2 bomber is far and away the most expensive airplane ever built, costing somewhere between $1 billion and $2.1 billion apiece, depending on how you account for the price per aircraft. Digging Deeper The most modern bomber in the world, and the only large “stealth” aircraft, the Northrup Grumman B-2 is not all that new, having…