Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

raratt

raratt

Well-Known Member
BarnBuster said:
www.sandboxx.us

Project Oxcart: Why you had to be married to fly the CIA’s fastest plane - Sandboxx

The SR-71 Blackbird remains the fastest operational military aircraft in history to this day, despite leaving service more than two decades ago, but its Lockheed predecessor in the A-12 was actually faster. The A-12 that would ultimately lead to the missile-packing Mach 3 interceptor YF-12 and...
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They had to machine out the ribs in the engine bay because they didn't know hot to cast them, from what I was told. They were about 4" wide and there were triangles machined out of them, possibly for weight? With that kind of thrust weight doesn't mean that much, so who knows.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
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In action on October 22, 1965 near Phu Cuong, about 35 miles northwest of Saigon, PFC Milton Lee Olive III of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, throws himself on an enemy grenade and saves four soldiers, including his platoon leader, 1st Lt. James Sanford.

The action came during a patrol that made contact with Communist forces on the southern fringes of the infamous “Iron Triangle,” a traditional Communist stronghold. Private Olive’s body absorbed the full, deadly blast of the grenade and he died saving his comrades. Lieutenant Sanford later said of Olive’s act that “It was the most incredible display of selfless bravery I ever witnessed.”

Olive, a native of Chicago, was only 18 years old when he died; he received the Medal of Honor posthumously six months later. The city of Chicago honored its fallen hero by naming a junior college, a lakefront park, and a portion of the McCormick Place convention center after him.

At a ceremony on the steps of the White House, on April 21, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Olive's Medal of Honor to his father and stepmother. Also in attendance were two of the four men whose lives were saved by Olive's actions.

He was the first African-American recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War.


The Citation​

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Olive was a member of the 3d Platoon of Company B, as it moved through the jungle to find the Viet Cong operating in the area. Although the platoon was subjected to a heavy volume of enemy gunfire and pinned down temporarily, it retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions, causing the enemy to flee.​
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As the platoon pursued the insurgents, Pfc. Olive and 4 other soldiers were moving through the jungle together when a grenade was thrown into their midst. Pfc. Olive saw the grenade, and then saved the lives of his fellow soldiers at the sacrifice of his own by grabbing the grenade in his hand and falling on it to absorb the blast with his body.​
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Through his bravery, unhesitating actions, and complete disregard for his safety, he prevented additional loss of life or injury to the members of his platoon. Pfc. Olive's extraordinary heroism, at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.​
 
growerNshower

growerNshower

Well-Known Member
BarnBuster said:

In action on October 22, 1965 near Phu Cuong, about 35 miles northwest of Saigon, PFC Milton Lee Olive III of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, throws himself on an enemy grenade and saves four soldiers, including his platoon leader, 1st Lt. James Sanford.

The action came during a patrol that made contact with Communist forces on the southern fringes of the infamous “Iron Triangle,” a traditional Communist stronghold. Private Olive’s body absorbed the full, deadly blast of the grenade and he died saving his comrades. Lieutenant Sanford later said of Olive’s act that “It was the most incredible display of selfless bravery I ever witnessed.”

Olive, a native of Chicago, was only 18 years old when he died; he received the Medal of Honor posthumously six months later. The city of Chicago honored its fallen hero by naming a junior college, a lakefront park, and a portion of the McCormick Place convention center after him.

At a ceremony on the steps of the White House, on April 21, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Olive's Medal of Honor to his father and stepmother. Also in attendance were two of the four men whose lives were saved by Olive's actions.

He was the first African-American recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War.


The Citation​

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Olive was a member of the 3d Platoon of Company B, as it moved through the jungle to find the Viet Cong operating in the area. Although the platoon was subjected to a heavy volume of enemy gunfire and pinned down temporarily, it retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions, causing the enemy to flee.​
​
As the platoon pursued the insurgents, Pfc. Olive and 4 other soldiers were moving through the jungle together when a grenade was thrown into their midst. Pfc. Olive saw the grenade, and then saved the lives of his fellow soldiers at the sacrifice of his own by grabbing the grenade in his hand and falling on it to absorb the blast with his body.​
​
Through his bravery, unhesitating actions, and complete disregard for his safety, he prevented additional loss of life or injury to the members of his platoon. Pfc. Olive's extraordinary heroism, at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.​
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A special human being.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:

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The body of the Unknown Soldier chosen by Sergeant Edward F. Younger is loaded on the train in France.(World War I Signal Corps Collection).​

Inspired by both Britain and France honoring their unknown warriors, the U.S. Congress approved Public Resolution 67 in 1921 and the process of locating U.S. unknown soldier for burial in Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) began. On October 23, 1921, in the French town of Chalons-sur-Marne, an American officer selects the body of the first “Unknown Soldier” to be honored among the approximately 77,000 United States servicemen killed on the Western Front during World War I.

According to the official records of the Army Graves Registration Service deposited in the U.S. National Archives in Washington, four bodies were transported to Chalons from the cemeteries of Aisne-Marne, Somme, Meuse-Argonne and Saint-Mihiel.

All were great battlegrounds, and the latter two regions were the sites of two offensive operations in which American troops took a leading role in the decisive summer and fall of 1918. As the service records stated, the identity of the bodies was completely unknown: “The original records showing the internment of these bodies were searched and the four bodies selected represented the remains of soldiers of which there was absolutely no indication as to name, rank, organization or date of death.”

The four bodies arrived at the Hotel de Ville in Chalons-sur-Marne on October 23, 1921. At 10 o’clock the next morning, French and American officials entered a hall where the four caskets were displayed, each draped with an American flag. Sergeant Edward Younger, the man given the task of making the selection, carried a spray of white roses with which to mark the chosen casket. According to the official account, Younger “entered the chamber in which the bodies of the four Unknown Soldiers lay, circled the caskets three times, then silently placed the flowers on the third casket from the left. He faced the body, stood at attention and saluted.”

The casket was inscribed: 'An Unknown American who gave his life in the World War.' The coffin was sealed and then draped with the Stars and Stripes. The original spray of white roses was laid upon the new casket and, as the strains of Chopin's 'Funeral March' broke upon the silence, the pallbearers lifted the casket and bore it to the catafalque in a shrine erected in the center of the large hall facing the principal gate of the Hotel de Ville."

After the selection of the Unknown Soldier, the remaining three caskets were immediately loaded onto a waiting tuck and taken to Romagne Cemetery where they were reburied in grave numbers 1, 2 and 3. The casket lay in state until late afternoon when it was loaded onto a special train and taken to Paris where it remained overnight. On the morning of October 25, the train carried the Unknown Soldier to the port of Le Havre where the casket was transferred to the American cruiser "Olympia for the final journey home:

"As the body was being transferred to the vessel, the band of the Olympia played the 'Marseillaise' and the 'Star Spangled Banner.' The American Marines were lined on the Quai d'Escale and presented arms as the pallbearers with the Unknown passed.

The casket was placed on the stern of the cruiser, which had been beautifully decorated with wreaths, flowers and flags. The school children of Le Havre went aboard and banked flowers around the casket. During the ceremonies, the two French destroyers, which had been acting as escorts to the American cruiser, were pulled out beyond the breakwater. Silently, the Olympia moved slowly from the pier and steamed out into the bay. She was met by a salute of 17 guns from the French destroyer in honor of America's Cherished hero, to which she promptly responded. The Nameless Warrior was leaving for his last resting place in the land of his birth."

The Olympia was Admiral Dewey's Flagship during the Spanish-American war. She served in the Mediterranean during World War I. Transporting the Unknown Soldier back to the US was her last mission.

Once back in the United States, the Unknown Soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

(The United States Army was given the honor of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1926, as the Army is the oldest of the military services. Prior to 1926, there were no military guards posted at the Tomb. In fact, after the internment of the Unknown Soldier in 1921, the Tomb remained unguarded until 1925, when a civilian guard would be present during the day. The military posted its first guard on March 25th, 1926. These guards were troopers from the 3rd Cavalry, "Brave Rifles", who were posted nearby on Fort Myer. Since April 6, 1948, (known then as "Army Day"), when the regiment was reactivated, it has been guarded by soldiers from 3rd Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard". The first 24-hour guard was posted on midnight, July 2, 1937. The Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since that time. Inclement weather, terrorist attacks, et cetera, have never caused the watch to cease. It is considered one of the highest honors to serve as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Fewer than 20 percent of all volunteers are accepted for training and of those only a fraction pass training to become full-fledged Tomb Guards.

The Tomb Guard Identification Badge (TGIB) is awarded after the Sentinel passes a series of tests. The TGIB is permanently awarded after a Sentinel has served nine months as a Sentinel at the Tomb. As of August 2021, 688 soldiers have been awarded this badge since its creation in the late 1950's (on average 10 per year), the badge has also been revoked for 23 people. And while the TGIB can be revoked, the offense must be such that it discredits the Tomb of the Unknowns. Revocation is at the 3rd Infantry Regimental Commander’s discretion and can occur while active duty or even when the Sentinel is a civilian. It is the third-least awarded badge in the US Military, after the Military Horseman Identification Badge and the Astronaut Badge.)



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The World War I Unknown is below the marble sarcophagus. Other Unknowns are beneath the white slabs on the ground (World War II, right; Korean War, left). A Vietnam War Unknown was under the middle slab until 1998, when he was identified.​

 
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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
This week in Military History:

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USS Enterprise under Kamikaze attack​

The Battle of Leyte Gulf is considered to have been the largest naval battle of World War II and is, by some criteria, a contender for the title "largest naval battle in history", with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia which were a vital source of industrial and oil supplies.

By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) left than the Allied forces had total aircraft carriers, underscoring the disparity in force strength at this point in the war. Regardless, the IJN mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but it was repulsed by the U.S. Navy's Third and Seventh fleets.

The battle consisted of four main separate engagements: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño and the Battle off Samar, as well as lesser actions.

This was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks, and the last naval battle between battleships in history. The IJN suffered heavy losses and never sailed in comparable force thereafter, stranded for lack of fuel in their bases for the rest of the war and were unable to affect the successful Allied invasion of Leyte.

This decision to employ suicide bombers against the American fleet at Leyte, an island of the Philippines, was based on the failure of conventional naval and aerial engagements to stop the American offensive. Declared Japanese naval Capt. Motoharu Okamura: “I firmly believe that the only way to swing the war in our favor is to resort to crash-dive attacks with our planes…. There will be more than enough volunteers for this chance to save our country.”​
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The first kamikaze force was in fact composed of 24 volunteer pilots from Japan’s 201st Navy Air Group. The targets were U.S. escort carriers; one, the St. Lo, was struck by a A6M Zero fighter and sunk in less than an hour, killing 100 Americans. More than 5,000 kamikaze pilots died in the gulf battle-taking down 34 ships.​
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For their kamikaze raids, the Japanese employed both conventional aircraft and specially designed planes, called Ohka (“cherry blossom”) by the Japanese, but Baka (“fool”) by the Americans, who saw them as acts of desperation. The Baka was a rocket-powered plane that was carried toward its target attached to the belly of a bomber.​
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All told, more than 1,321 Japanese aircraft crash-dived their planes into Allied warships during the war, desperate efforts to reverse the growing Allied advantage in the Pacific. While approximately 3,000 Americans and Brits died because of these attacks, the damage done did not prevent the Allied capture of the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.​

In one morning sortie, “Ace of Aces” David McCampbell had shot down nine enemy planes, an unparalleled achievement in American fighter aviation.

Dave McCampbell

acesofww2.com

Read about USS Tang (SS-306) one of the most successful US subs during WW2 and her skipper Richard H. O'Kane (MOH)
www.businessinsider.com

How the most successful submarine in US Navy history ended up sinking itself

By October 1944, the USS Tang had racked up the best record of any US Navy submarine, but its own torpedo brought the run to an end.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
www.defense.gov

Medal of Honor Monday: Navy Rear Adm. Richard O'Kane

Navy Rear Adm. Richard H. O'Kane is considered the most successful submarine commander of World War II, sinking and damaging several Japanese warships in the Pacific, and his leadership earned him the
www.defense.gov

The Battle of Leyte Gulf ; the death knell of the Japanese fleet / Edwin P. Hoyt

Battle of Leyte Gulf

www.cs.mcgill.ca www.cs.mcgill.ca
www.usni.org

Greatest of All Sea Battles

The fight for the Philippines 50 years ago in and around Leyte Gulf involved 300 ships, 200,000 men, snap decisions, and geographic luck.
www.usni.org www.usni.org
 
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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:

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"On October 26, 1942, the last U.S. carrier manufactured before America’s entry into World War II, the Hornet, is damaged so extensively by Japanese war planes in the Battle of Santa Cruz that it must be abandoned.

"STRIKE - REPEAT - STRIKE"
Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, October 26, 1942​

The battle for Guadalcanal was the first American offensive against the Japanese, an attempt to prevent the Axis power from taking yet another island in the Solomon chain and gaining more ground in its race for Australia. On this day, in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz Islands, two American naval task forces had to stop a superior Japanese fleet, which was on its way to Guadalcanal with reinforcements. As was the case in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the engagement at Santa Cruz was fought exclusively by aircraft taking off from carriers of the respective forces; the ships themselves were not in range to fire at one another.

Japanese aerial fire damaged the USS Enterprise, the battleship South Dakota, and finally the Hornet. In fact, the explosions wrought by the Japanese bombs that rained down on the Hornet were so great that two of the Japanese bombers were themselves crippled by the blasts, and the pilots chose to dive-bomb their planes into the deck of the American carrier, which was finally abandoned and left to burn. The Hornet, which weighed 20,000 tons, had seen battle during the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo (its commander at the time, Marc Mitscher, was promoted to admiral and would be a significant player in the victory over Japan) and the Battle of Midway.

While the United States losses at Santa Cruz were heavy, the cost in aircraft to the Japanese was so extensive—more than 100, including 25 of the 27 bombers that attacked the Hornet—that they were unable finally to reinforce their troops at Guadalcanal, paving the way for an American victory.

By many reasonable measures the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands marked a Japanese victory—and a strategic one. The Imperial Japanese Navy had pursued Kinkaid’s retiring fleet, indeed forced it away from the battle zone. The day after the action, the Japanese possessed the only operational carrier force in the Pacific. In addition to having sunk more ships—of greater combat tonnage—the Japanese had more aircraft remaining and were in physical possession of the seas. Although a big share of credit goes to Japanese aviators and even American destroyermen, the sinking of a U.S. fleet carrier, the Hornet, by surface torpedo attack was also a notable achievement. Arguments based on aircrew losses or who owned Guadalcanal are about something else—the campaign, not the battle. Admiral Yamamoto and the Combined Fleet failed to exploit the success at Santa Cruz, but the fact that the naval effort later went sideways cannot diminish the Imperial Japanese Navy’s achievement on 26 October 1942."

www.usni.org

Solving the Mysteries of Santa Cruz

It was a key engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, but the 1942 Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands has yet to yield all its answers to history.
www.usni.org www.usni.org

Santa Cruz: October 26, 1942

At the end of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942, Enterprise CV-6 was the last US carrier left in the Pacific.
www.cv6.org

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

www.cs.mcgill.ca www.cs.mcgill.ca
 
raratt

raratt

Well-Known Member
GreatwhiteNorth said:
I remember living on SAC bases as a kid & we'd hear them do it quite often - I believe there is now a regulation regarding that?
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Yup, homeowners don't like their windows broken. The SR did a flyover for an air show here and broke it at altitude, but the atmosphere attenuates it to a certain extent. One accidentally did it when I was out fishing in a canyon, he was at a relatively low level and I about shit myself. I was watching for rock slides from it. The Sr made a double boom when breaking it, I guess from the nacelles on the engine and the nose.
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
GreatwhiteNorth said:
I remember living on SAC bases as a kid & we'd hear them do it quite often - I believe there is now a regulation regarding that?
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Frowned on over the contiguous US.

raratt said:
Yup, homeowners don't like their windows broken. The SR did a flyover for an air show here and broke it at altitude, but the atmosphere attenuates it to a certain extent. One accidentally did it when I was out fishing in a canyon, he was at a relatively low level and I about shit myself. I was watching for rock slides from it. The Sr made a double boom when breaking it, I guess from the nacelles on the engine and the nose.
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Hmmmm, now to arrange one and 'accidentally' break all my windows :) Homeowner's insurance to the rescue. :lol:
 
GreatwhiteNorth

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
doublejj said:
‘She was just doing her job’: Homeless vet loses service dog during arrest for panhandling
www.armytimes.com

‘She was just doing her job’: Homeless vet loses service dog during arrest for panhandling

An Iraq War veteran said he was wrongfully arrested and his service dog tased by police, causing the animal to run away and be hit by a car.
www.armytimes.com www.armytimes.com
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I just don't have the words to describe how I feel about this.

Yes I do. "Mag Dump" seems appropriate
 
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