A Brief History On October 24, 1990, the Italian Prime Minister addressed the Italian parliament about the existence of Operation Gladio, a NATO program in Italy and other countries, even some non-treaty nations, whereby a secret army would wage guerrilla war against the Soviets should they overrun any of these countries. Digging Deeper During World War II, the British set up their Home Guard to fill this role in case Britain was overrun by the Germans. The idea is to have loyal patriots spread throughout the land, trained in sabotage and communications skills with secret caches of arms conducting secret…
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A Brief History On October 23, 1983, 241 US servicemen (220 Marines of 1st Battalion 8th Marines Regiment, 18 US Navy sailors, and three US Army soldiers) were killed when a truck bomb was driven into the building where the men were quartered. Digging Deeper The Marines had been deployed to Beirut by President Ronald Reagan in response to turmoil within Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Reagan promised the Marines would stay no longer than 30 days. He lied. With no particular mission other than just to be there as a presence, the Marines…
A Brief History On October 22, 1707, four ships of the Royal Navy ran aground and sank near the Isles of Scilly near Cornwall in Great Britain. All four ships were lost with almost all hands, 1,550 (estimate) British sailors went to Davey Jones’s Locker that fateful day, including the fleet commander, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. Only 13 of the sailors survived. Digging Deeper Before we go any further, we have to seriously ask, “What kind of jerk names their kid ‘Cloudesley?’” You would have to home school the poor lad because other kids would brutalize him over that goofy…
A Brief History On April 26, 1859, Daniel Sickles, Congressman, Army general, and diplomat, became the first person to successfully use the “temporary insanity” defense to beat a murder rap. Digging Deeper While serving as a U.S. Representative from the state of New York, Sickles shot Phillip Barton Key II, District Attorney for Washington, D.C., who also happened to be the son of Francis Scott Key, the author of the lyrics in the American National Anthem. Sickles killed the man for having an affair with his wife. This provocation was considered sufficient by the jury to justify not punishing Sickles for his crime of passion, which of course…
A Brief History On October 19, 1950, the worst fears of President Truman came true, when despite General Douglas MacArthur’s confident assessment that the Chinese would not cross the Yalu River and interfere with the Korean War, 200,000 Chinese soldiers streamed across the river and attacked UN/South Korean forces. MacArthur had told Truman only about 100,000 Chinese soldiers were near the Yalu, a gross underestimate. Even after initial fighting with Chinese, MacArthur did not grasp the scope of the disaster. Digging Deeper North Korea had invaded South Korea earlier that year, surprising the US and its South Korean ally. Korea…