Comments on: October 25th

By: mike

mike — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:42:49 +0000

“Dammit, boys, they’re getting away!” – Unknown Signalman, Taffy 3

By: bc QM3

bc QM3 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:53:16 +0000

Back in 1970 my ship the USS King DLG-10 was transiting from San Diego to Subic Bay to participate in the Viet Nam war. The Captain was D. M. Jackson. He had planned a slightly different route than the previous cruises I had been part of. The usual route was south of the Philippines. Capt. Jackson went through.

It was the mid-watch and the Captain was on the bridge wing, an unusual occurrence during a transit. Being the quartermaster of the watch I viewed our track as an interesting night navigation problem. We had good water and wide enough channels so I felt comfortable. But I didn’t understand why the Captain was on the bridge wing and just sitting quietly.

Many years later the puzzle started to come together when I learned of the battle of Leyte Gulf. The linked chart confirmed what I had thought. The Captain had planned a night transit of the area of the battle. Now I understand why he was sitting quietly on the wing. A historic naval battle was fought at night in those waters 26 years earlier.

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:22:32 +0000

Oh, yeah, the Battle off Samar! Sammy B. went down with safety valves screwed shut on boilers for max speed, and with Gunner’s Mate Carr dying with the actual last round in his hands. I believe he had a ship named after him.

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:31:28 +0000

Uh-Oh! Major Harvey is on to me!
My folks were from South Carolina, and moved to Georgia, about 1830 or so. It’s true about the S.C. weird craziness; I have an uncle who is a shrink and an AF officer.

At least Mom’s side of the family, the Mississippi side, are mostly Marines and quite scary.

P.s. for Jeff: The nice old lady who used to live around the corner had a grandfather in the Blues, in the Heavy Brigade. She said that family tradition had it, that he was never the same afterwards.

I remember reading Woodham-Smith’s book about that, and her description of the cussin’ of the Heavy Brigade, which could be heard far away, as they tried to slash through the Russian troopers’s greatcoats to get to the meat.

P.p.s. She gave me her crumbling old copy of Kipling, from the ’20s, with the Swastika and elephant on the cover

By: SSG Jeff (USAR)

SSG Jeff (USAR) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:53:43 +0000

Do not forget The Charge of the Heavy Brigade – apparently their poem was not as well written, and General Scarlett was competent, resulting in a successful charge, things that those who whose nerve would not allow them to soldier fear – and would like to forget.

By: badbob

badbob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:41:22 +0000

So you ain’t calling it the “Civil Wa”r but the “War of Northern Aggression”, eh?

As a modern day naval aviation carpetbagger I have heard that many times over a Moon Pie and RC Cola…

IMO, it’s simpler than all that above. The conditions were set as far back as the origins of the nation. On one side you have planter-farmer who wouldn’t give up tradition vs. tradesman and developing industrial society that didn’t care about traditions…Moving west was part of it, though by 1860 everybody knew cotton wouldn’t grow west of the Mississippi and slavery would never thive there.

IMO, slavery was the central catalyst of the Civil War even if it wasn’t the most compelling reason at the time. Without slavery you couldn’t have had the south and without the south we probably wouldn’t have a nation…History is as it is.

All that being said all who read here understand that the left will correct the record about the South- every day on college campuses they forward the premise that the south was evil because Slavery was evil. There are clear lines drawn in their minds about the Confederacy, the Romans and Nazi Germany (notice Saddam and the Taliban and Stalin, Pol Pot don’t join that list). Inevittably With all the Yankees & immigrants from elsewhere pouring into the south all vestiges of southern culture will be gone in 50 years..Personally, I don’t think that is a good thing.