Browsing: Military

A Brief History On March 31, 1992, the U.S. Navy decommissioned the USS Missouri, the last of the Iowa-class battleships.  The Mighty Mo, also known as BB-63, gained immortality by being the host for the signing of the Japanese surrender in World War II on September 2, 1945.  The fact that President Truman was from Missouri probably had some influence on the choice of the ship for the signing!   The Missouri now resides at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii as a museum/memorial ship.  Digging Deeper First fielded during World War II, the Iowa class was an improvement over the South Dakota and…

A Brief History On March 29, 1911, the Colt M1911, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was adopted as the first semi-automatic service pistol for regular use by the U.S. military. Digging Deeper  Last year we first told you the tale of this great pistol, but today we will compare the relative merits of the semi-automatic pistol vs. the merits of the revolvers that preceded it. (Semi-automatics are usually called “pistols” to differentiate them from revolvers.) Originally, revolvers were built with a “single-action” mechanism, which means that prior to firing the handgun, it had to be cocked by pulling back the hammer.  Those were later made…

A Brief History On March 25, 1865, the long drawn out series of battles known to us as The Siege of Petersburg ended in Union victory by the forces under the command of Lt. General US Grant.  General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia could no longer withstand the pressure of almost 10 months of trench and raid warfare by superior Union forces, and the under-supplied Confederates had to abandon Richmond, the Capital City of the Confederate States of America, and Petersburg, a nearby city vital to the supply lines into Richmond. Digging Deeper Starting on June 9,…

A Brief History On March 24, 1958, Elvis Aron Presley, the “King of Rock and Roll,” was drafted into the U.S. Army and served his country in Germany, on the front lines of the Cold War.  Millions of Americans have been drafted and responded obediently, and, of course, millions more have served voluntarily.  On the other hand, many American men of draft age or at least of age to serve during a war or conflict chose not to defend their country with their own blood but stayed on the sidelines, only later to pretend to be patriots.  Most of these phony patriots…

A Brief History On March 19, 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps activated the famed African-American aviation unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen.  Digging Deeper Consisting of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Medium Bombardment Group, the connection with Tuskegee University’s involvement with the Civilian Pilot Training Program is how the units got their colloquial name. Also known as “Red Tails” or “Red Tail Angels” due to the markings on their planes, the Tuskegee Airmen were pioneers in aviation, as prior to their formation the U.S. military had not allowed pilots of African descent to fly military planes.  In…