july 19 – Mark Loves History!

Today in History, July 19, 1942:

Admiral Karl Donitz is forced to call off “Operation Drumbeat”, recalling Nazi U-Boats assigned to the American coast.

In the months after America’s entry into the war, there were no convoys along the coast and coastal cities did not engage in “black outs”. This meant merchentmen sailing the American coastline were sillouetted by city lights, making them easy targets.

Donitz ordered the long range submarines he had at hand to attack merchant shipping along the coast, and they sank 297 merchantmen by June.

The Americans finally got a convoy system in place, utilizing destroyers and patrol craft. As it became increasingly difficult for U-Boats to prey on US merchants, and as the patrol craft began taking the fight to the Nazis, Donitz called his subs off, sending them back to the North and Mid-Atlantic.

Today in History, July 19: 1879 – “I’m your Huckleberry..” John Henry “Doc” Holliday kills his first man. Holliday was a former dentist, a gambler, a heavy drinker, and was slowly dying of Tuberculosis. He was co-owner of a saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico when a former army scout tried talking one of the “girls” working in the saloon into running off with him. When he was rebuffed, he became angry and began firing into the saloon from the street. Doc calmly stood, walked out onto the porch, and shot Mike Gordon down with one shot before Gordon could get off a second shot. While Doc was involved in many gunfights, including the OK Corral, he only killed two men. An aside—was not a big fan of Val Kilmer, until Tombstone.

By the way. “I’m your Huckleberry” simply means, I’m your man; I’m the right person for the job. I’m willing, let’s go.