Browsing: Military

A Brief History On December 9, 1917, British forces under the command of Field Marshall Allenby captured the city of Jerusalem, then in the territory known as Palestine. Fighting in and around the city would continue for another three weeks between the British and the forces of Ottoman Turkey, the Yidirim Army Group (“Thunderbolt” Army Group).  The World War I battle for Jerusalem is just one in the long history of battles for this city that is holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, a bloody history that goes back thousands of years.  Today Jerusalem is back in the news with…

A Brief History On December 3, 1997, a conference of countries of the world decided on conditions to draft a treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.  Although 121 nations signed the so called Ottawa Treaty (because it was signed in Ottawa, Canada), the United States, along with China, India, Israel, Iran and Russia refused to sign the humanitarian pact.  When the largest or most powerful countries refuse to sign a treaty, what good is the treaty?  Here we list some of the treaties the US has refused to join, despite nearly universal acceptance by other countries. Digging Deeper…

A Brief History On November 21, 1916, in the waters of the Aegean Sea near the Island of Kea, the British hospital ship HMHS Britannic struck a naval mine and sank, becoming the largest vessel sunk during World War I.  A sister ship of the RMS Titanic and the third ship in the Olympic Class of ocean liner, Britannic is the largest ship on the floor of the sea (being slightly larger than the Titanic). Digging Deeper Incredibly, although Britannic sank quickly, only 55 minutes after striking the mine, only 30 people lost their lives of the 1065 that had…

A Brief History On November 11, 1993, a sculpture honoring the women that served in the Vietnam War was dedicated at the site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  The two acre site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was established in 1982, and consists of “The Wall,” “The Three Soldiers,” and since 1993, the “Vietnam Women’s Memorial.” Digging Deeper The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is a sculpture by Glenna Goodacre (nee Maxey), of Lubbock, Texas.  She is a graduate of Colorado and has lived in New Mexico since 1983.  (She is now 78 years old.)  The sculpture consists of…

A Brief History On November 10, 1865, the long sad saga of the Camp Sumter prisoner of war camp located in Andersonville, Georgia finally came to a conclusion of sorts when the Camp Commandant, Confederate Major Henry Wirz was hanged for the crimes of conspiracy and murder for his terrible treatment of Union soldiers held captive at the camp popularly known as “Andersonville.” Digging Deeper The name, Andersonville, has become synonymous in the US as being a hell-hole of a prison camp, a place where men starved and died of disease every day.  Heinrich Hartmann Wirz was born in Switzerland…