A Brief History On November 7, 2000, the US DEA made a drug bust of one of the largest illegal LSD labs in the United States. What made this bust significant was that it was located in a retired ICBM missile silo in Kansas. Digging Deeper During the 1960’s the US, Russia, and eventually other countries constructed mass numbers of underground missile launch facilities to protect their nuclear armed ICBM’s (InterContinental Ballistic Missile) from enemy nuclear weapons in order to insure the ability to conduct a counter strike if the enemy struck first. Such was the nature of the Cold…
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 November 6, 1995, owner of the Cleveland Browns, Art Modell, made an announcement that broke the heart of Cleveland football fans, that he was moving the team to Baltimore. Ironically, the fans in Baltimore had lost their own beloved Colts after the 1983 season when they moved to Indianapolis. Digging Deeper Clevelanders should have known better than to think their Browns were sacred, since back in 1945 the NFL franchise Cleveland Rams announced a move to Los Angeles for the 1946 season. Incredibly, this came right after the Rams had won the NFL Championship in 1945! …
A Brief History On November 5, 1943, despite explicit orders from Allied and Axis commanders, four bombs from a bomber airplane were dropped on the Vatican. A few months later, on March 1, 1944, it happened again. Apparently during wartime, nothing is sacred. Digging Deeper The first incident was reported to be a single plane that had been circling the Vatican that night. Its identity has never been proven, with speculation that it may have been an Italian plane trying to take out the Vatican radio tower. Various theories present US, UK, German, or Italian responsibility. Despite heavy damage, no…
A Brief History On November 4, 1962, 69,000 feet above Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean a nuclear armed Nike Hercules anti-aircraft missile was detonated in the last atmospheric nuclear test by the United States. These nuclear warhead tipped missiles used to be deployed across the US, just waiting to blast the expected hordes of Soviet bombers from the sky as they swarmed over US targets. Digging Deeper If you were born after the Baby Boom, you probably do not remember major cities having anti-aircraft missile sites. Our local site was in Parma, Ohio (suburban Cleveland), and became a city…
A Brief History On November 3, 1957, before any chimpanzee, any man, any woman, any Russian, any American went into space, the Soviet dog Laika became the first astronaut (cosmonaut in Soviet terms) in history, an indication of just how important dogs are to people. Digging Deeper Unfortunately, poor Laika was on a one way mission, as the fledgling space programs of the day did not include the technology for a safe return to Earth. A stray found roaming the streets of Moscow, Laika was an 5 to 6 kilogram mixed breed dog. (Note: We say mixed breed instead of…