Browsing: March 17

A Brief History On March 17, 2020, the United States of America and Ireland both have cancelled virtually all St. Patrick’s Day festivities, absolutely destroying one of the jolliest holidays in either country.  For this disappointment, we have to thank the coronavirus, or more correctly COVID-19, the mysterious flu like illness believed to have originated in Wuhan, China only a few months earlier. Digging Deeper While the world has experienced many pandemics throughout history, the last several decades have been marred by only a few breakouts of illness that garnered a lot of attention, including the AIDS/HIV pandemic, the Swine…

A Brief History On March 17, 1891, a civilian ocean liner, the steamship SS Utopia of the Anchor Line ran into the moored battleship, HMS Anson in Gibraltar Bay, causing the ill-fated steamer to sink taking 562 of the 880 passengers to Davy Jones Locker!  We have frequently written about naval and maritime disasters, and today we include another one of those times a ship’s captain would love to have a “do over.” Digging Deeper As stated above, the British battleship HMS Anson (the 6th Royal Navy ship to bear the name, but not the last!) was anchored in Gibraltar…

A Brief History On March 17, 2017, much of the English speaking world celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in honor of the English (possibly of Roman descent) missionary and Bishop that brought Christianity to much of Ireland. Recognized as a saint by the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches, St. Patrick is remembered on March 17 as the supposed day of his death, although his birth and death dates are lost to history, his life most likely having occurred during the 5th Century A.D.. Digging Deeper Born in England of English and probably Roman descent sometime in the 5th Century,…

A Brief History On March 17, 1970, the US Army charged 14 officers with suppressing information about the My Lai Massacre that took place in South Vietnam in 1968, a horrible atrocity in which between 347 and 504 Vietnamese civilians, including women, children and babies, were slaughtered by C Company, 1st Bn 20th Regt of the 11th Brigade of the 23rd Infantry Division of the US Army. Allegations included gang rape, shooting women with babies, bayoneting and clubbing people, using grenades and burning occupied dwellings. Digging Deeper Probably the best known and worst atrocity committed by US military troops during…

A Brief History On March 17, 1968, the US Army proved just how dangerous it is to play with weapons of “maaaass” destruction!  (Yes, we went there…) Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Army operating Dugway Proving Ground in Utah starting in 1941, a top secret testing area for chemical and biological weapons. The terrible effect of various poison gas weapons in World War I by both sides caused nervousness during World War II that somebody would once again initiate their use, especially when desperate.  The US supposedly contemplated using poison gas against Japanese dug in deeply in islands…