Category: History

Army Air Service Formed

Today in History, July 18, 1914:

“Be it enacted…, that there shall hereafter be, and there is hereby created, an aviation section, which shall be a part of the Signal Corps of the Army, and which shall be, and is hereby, charged with the duty of operating or supervising the operation of all military aircraft, including balloons and aeroplanes, all appliances pertaining to said craft, and signaling apparatus of any kind when installed on said craft; also with the duty of training officers and enlisted men in matters pertaining to military aviation.Public Law 63-143, July 18, 1914”

By an act of Congress, the Aviation Section of the US Army Signal Corps is created…Grandfather to the US Air Force, separated only by the US Army Air Corps? The members of this poorly paid, poorly funded, poorly equipped group fought in Mexico against Pancho Villa and then in WWI.

The Bivouac of the Dead

Today in History, July 17, 1862:

President Lincoln signs a Congressional act authorizing National Cemeteries across the nation.

The huge numbers of dead from the Civil War battles were buried pretty much where they fell. After the national cemeteries were established, they were moved to more honorable resting places…it took five years to accomplish.

Many of the national cemeteries are in the Southeastern US, where so many of the Civil War battles were fought, like this one at Stones River, Tennessee. God bless the men and women that have made our freedom possible. It is up to us to ensure they did not give up their lives in vain.

A Name Change

Today in History, July 17, 1917:

The British Royal family, previously know by their family name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, linked with their cousins of the German and Russian monarchies, changed their name to Windsor, a specifically English surname.

The change was made because Britain was at war with Germany and were bombing England with a bomber named the Gotha.

A Family of Heroes

Today in History, July 16, 1862:

In spite of naval heroes like Capt. John Paul Jones, the first Rear Admiral in the US Navy is commissioned on this date…Rear Admiral David Farragut.

What an amazingly important family! Farragut had been orphaned at the age of nine, when his mother died from yellow fever.

Navy Capt. David Porter took him in, and at the age of 9, Farragut was at sea as a midshipman. He served in the Pacific, commanded a captured ship at the age of 12…wounded at Val Paraiso, Chile in a battle…fought in the War of 1812 as a boy….fought pirates in the West Indies, and was the famous Captain who at Mobile Bay during the Civil War, while standing on the rigging of his ship, shouted, “Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead!” His foster father, David Porter, foster brothers David Dixon Porter and William Porter would also be Naval war heroes.

This is Russia

Today in History, July 16, 1918:

The Russian Imperial family, The Romanov’s, are executed by communist Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Czar Nicholas II was not cut out to be an Imperial ruler, as his ancestors had been.

After the disaster of the Russo-Japanese War and entry into WWI, the communists had their opening to start a revolution and take over. When the anti-Bolsheviks began to close in to rescue the royal family, the local communists were ordered to prevent their rescue….which in commie speak meant to murder the royal family.

The mother, father and children were told to dress and assemble in the basement of the home they were being held in for a photograph…then they were shot to death by a dozen gunmen.

Quentin Roosevelt

Today in History, July 14, 1919:

US Airman Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt, dies when he is shot down over France in WWI.

He and his brothers, who all served in WWI were very competitive in the voracity of their service, trying to live up to their father’s exploits…a father who also wanted to serve but was refused due to President Wilson’s fear that TR’s service might lead to a run for President in 1920. TR wouldn’t live that long…and he spent his last years heartbroken over the loss of his youngest son.

TR Jr. would die of a heart attack just weeks after leading his division in the Normandy invasion of 1944…again living up to his father’s legacy. A family of immense wealth; several generations of which dedicated their lives to service to their country.

NYC Draft Riots

Today in History, July 13, 1863:

Just days after men had died fighting at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Irish immigrants began rioting in New York City against a draft.

The poor immigrants, who had recently come to America to escape the famines in Ireland, and who were living in poverty, were not happy to be drafted into military service when rich men could buy their way out of the draft for $300.

They were also competing directly with black freedmen for jobs, so the riot soon took on a racial component…even a black orphanage was burned.

Those men that had fought at Gettysburg? They had to leave their dead and move quickly to New York City to put down the insurrection. The NYC Draft Riots remain the most damaging in our history.

As an aside, to remain true to history…my favorite President’s father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was one of the wealthy men that bought his way out of service. Making up for that is part of the reason TR gave up a safe position as Under Secretary of the Navy to head up the Rough Riders in Cuba.

Mr. President, Mr. Chief Justice

Today in History, July 11, 1921:

Former President William Howard Taft is sworn in as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, his dream job.

He had been a jurist in several different posts, Governor-General of the Philippines, Secretary of War and finally President. His former friend Theodore Roosevelt had tried to appoint him to the court several times, but he had refused because he felt responsibilities to the positions he filled at the time.

He never really wanted to be President, but Chief Justice had been his life long dream. President Warren G. Harding gave it to him, making him the only person to hold both jobs, and the only former President to swear in future Presidents.

Consequences of Propaganda

Today in History, July 9, 1944:

Victory at the Battle of Saipan. The US Marines defeat the Japanese military on Saipan, the first island with Japanese civilians to be taken by the US.

It was a difficult battle, made all the more so by the existence of a civilian population. The Marines set up well lit camps for the civilians to be safe from battle.

Fearing that his citizens would find out that the Americans were not the vicious, heartless enemy projected by propaganda, the Emperor issued a communique to the civilian population of Saipan, telling them that if they committed suicide they would receive the same treatment in the afterlife as Japanese soldiers that died in battle.

American servicemen were horrified as Japanese civilians threw their children from cliffs, then followed them to the rocks below. The newly won island would be used as an air base for B-29 Superfortress bombers that would bomb the Japanese mainland.

The US Forces Japan into the Modern World in 1853…Less than a Century before WWII

Today in History, July 8, 1853:US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his fleet arrive in Edo Harbor (Tokyo) Japan and by threat of force, demand that the Japanese contemplate relations with the US. Faced with the threat of bombardment from Perry’s ships, the Japanese accepted a letter from President Millard Filmore. When Perry returned the next year, the offer of open relations was accepted. The rest of the story is that Commodore Perry also pioneered steam power in the Navy, served under his famous older brother Oliver Hazard Perry (“We have met the enemy and they are ours!”) during the War of 1812, was a hero in the Mexican-American War, and he and his brother were direct descendents of William Wallace. Wow. The irony cannot be ignored that America dragged Japan kicking and screaming into the modern industrial world, and less than a century later would have to fight a thoroughly modern Japanese military in a world war. And then would drop an Atomic bomb on their homeland.