Victoria Cross: C. Bushell

CHRISTOPHER BUSHELL, DSO

Captain (Temporary Lieutenant Colonel), commanding 7th Battalion The Royal West Surrey Regiment

Born: 31 October 1888, Neston, Cheshire

Citation: For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in command of his battalion.
Lt.-Col. Bushell personally led "C" Company of his battalion, who were co-operating with an Allied Regiment in a counter-attack [on 23rd March, 1918, west of St Quentin's Canal and north of Tergnier, France], in face of very heavy machine-gun fire. In the course of this attack he was severely wounded in the head, but he continued to carry on, walking in front of both English and Allied troops encouraging and re-organising them. He refused even to have his wound attended to until he had placed the whole line in a sound position and formed a defensive flank to meet a turning movement by the enemy. He then went to brigade headquarters and reported the situation, had his wound dressed, and returned to the firing line, which had come back a short distance. He visited every portion of the line, both English and Allied, in the face of terrific machine-gun and rifle fire, exhorting the troops to remain where they were, and to kill the enemy.
In spite of his wounds this gallant officer refused to go to the rear and had eventually to be removed to the dressing station in a fainting condition.
To the magnificent example of energy, devotion and courage shown by their Commanding Officer is attributed the fine spirit displayed and the keen fight put up by his battalion not only on the day in question but on each succeeding day of the withdrawal.

(London Gazette Issue 30667 dated 3 May 1918, published 30 Apr 1918.)

Medal of Honor: J. P. Martinez

JOE P MARTINEZ

Private, U.S. Army; Company K, 32d Infantry, 7th Infantry Division

Born: Taos, N.Mex.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy [on Attu, in the Aleutian Islands]. Over a period of several days, repeated efforts to drive the enemy from a key defensive position high in the snow-covered precipitous mountains between East Arm Holtz Bay and Chichagof Harbor had failed. On 26 May 1943, troop dispositions were readjusted and a trial coordinated attack on this position by a reinforced battalion was launched. Initially successful, the attack hesitated. In the face of severe hostile machinegun, rifle, and mortar fire, Pvt. Martinez, an automatic rifleman, rose to his feet and resumed his advance. Occasionally he stopped to urge his comrades on. His example inspired others to follow. After a most difficult climb, Pvt. Martinez eliminated resistance from part of the enemy position by BAR fire and hand grenades, thus assisting the advance of other attacking elements. This success only partially completed the action. The main Holtz-Chichagof Pass rose about 150 feet higher, flanked by steep rocky ridges and reached by a snow-filled defile. Passage was barred by enemy fire from either flank and from tiers of snow trenches in front. Despite these obstacles, and knowing of their existence, Pvt. Martinez again led the troops on and up, personally silencing several trenches with BAR fire and ultimately reaching the pass itself. Here, just below the knifelike rim of the pass, Pvt. Martinez encountered a final enemy-occupied trench and as he was engaged in firing into it he was mortally wounded. The pass, however, was taken, and its capture was an important preliminary to the end of organized hostile resistance on the island.

This day in history: 8 Sep

1514: Forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, defeated a much larger Russian army in the Battle of Orsza.

1565: The Knights of Malta lifted the Turkish siege of Malta.

1755: British forces (including 200 Mohawks led by Theyanoguin, aka King Hendrick) under Sir William Johnson defeated a larger French and Indian army commanded by the Baron de Dieskau in the Battle of Lake George, in northern New York. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the British, and King Hendrick was one of those killed in the battle.

1831: William IV, who had been King of Great Britain since the death of his brother on 26 June 1830, was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

1855: The British attack on the Redan at Sevastopol failed, but nine men were awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the attack; amongst them were Bombardier Daniel Cambridge, Royal Artillery, and Assistant Surgeon Thomas E Hale, 7th Regiment (the Royal Fusiliers). The French attack on the same night was more successful, however, and the Russians successfully evacuated at night shortly afterwards, bringing an end to the eleven-month siege.

1863: Confederate forces under Lieutenant Richard Dowling defeated an invading Union army commanded by Major General William B Franklin at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass (Jefferson County, Texas).

1900: A hurricane made landfall at Galveston, Texas; over 6000 people were killed.

1910: The brand-new* battleship USS North Dakota (BB 29) suffered an oil-tank explosion and fire at sea. Six men - Chief Watertenders August Holtz and Patrick Reid, Chief Machinist's Mates Thomas Stanton and Karl Westa, Machinist's Mate First Class Charles C Roberts and Watertender Harry Lipscomb - each received the Medal of Honor "for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession" during the fire.

1914: Private Thomas James Highgate, the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed during World War I, was shot.

1917: Men of the North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) were digging a new trench near Zwarteleen, Belgium, when a grenade was unearthed and the fuze started to burn. Serjeant John Carmichael ran to the grenade, but realised that throwing it clear would have endangered the lives of the men working up top; he therefore placed his helmet on top of the grenade, then stood on the helmet. No-one in the working party was killed when the grenade exploded, but Carmichael was severely injured. Carmichael was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1923: Seven US Navy Clemson-class destroyers - USS Delphy (DD 261), S P Lee (DD 310), Young (DD 312), Woodbury (DD 309), Nicholas (DD 311), Fuller (DD 297) and Chauncey (DD 296) - were lost when they ran aground in heavy fog off Honda Point (Point Pedernales), near Lompoc, California. Two others - USS Farragut (DD 300) and Somers (DD 301) - also struck, but were only damaged. The remaining five ships with them managed to avoid grounding. Amazingly, only 23 men were lost: 20 in Young and 3 in Delphy.


1934: 135 people died in a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle.

1935: US Senator Huey "Kingfish" Long (D, LA) was shot in the Louisiana capitol building by Doctor Carl Weiss. Long died two days later.

1941: The Siege of Leningrad began when the last land connection to the city was blocked by German forces. The siege was not lifted until 27 January 1944, by which time at least 641,000 people had died in the city.

1943: USAAF aircraft bombed German and Italian headquarters in Frascati, near Rome. One bomber and around thirty defending fighters were lost.

That same day, the Italian armistice (which had been signed on 3 September) was publicly announced.

1944: Six people were killed in southeastern Paris by the first successful V-2 rocket, launched from a site near Houffalize, Belgium. Later that day, three people were killed in Chiswick, London, by a V-2 launched from Wassenaar, the Netherlands. A third rocket, also fired from Wassenaar, hit Epping, Essex, 27 kilometres north of London.

1951: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations signed a peace treaty with Japan, in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.

1962: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway's Pines Express made its last run between Bournemouth and Manchester, pulled by British Rails 2-10-0 No 92220 (Evening Star).

1966: "The Man Trap", the first episode of the science-fiction television series Star Trek, was broadcast on NBC.

That same day, the Severn Bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

1974: US President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes the latter may have committed whilst in office.

2004: The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-landed after its parachute failed to open.

In addition to King Hendrick (c 1680-1755) and Highgate (1895-1914), Enoch Poor (1736–1780), Richard Strauss (1864–1949), Bud Collyer (1908–1969), Alexandra David-Néel (1868-1969), Zero Mostel (1915–1977) and Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003) died on this date.

And happy birthday to Richard I Cœur de Leon (1157–1199), Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1621–1686), Joshua Chamberlain (1828–1914), Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933), Frank Cady (1915-TBD), Sid Caesar (1922-TBD), Peter Sellers CBE (1925–1980), Harlan Howard (1927-2002) and Patsy Cline (1932–1963).


* Commissioned 11 Apr 1910.

Rare but tasty

ZUI this article from National Geographic:

One of the world's rarest creatures, Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, appears to be alive and well, conservationists say. It is also reportedly quite delicious.

The animal, native to the island of New Guinea in the South Pacific, was feared to be extinct (see a map of Papua New Guinea).

But scientists' concerns were allayed—somewhat—when hunters on the island reported that they had seen the echidna and "the meat was very greasy and extremely tasty."

*******

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, a primitive, egg-laying, spiny mammal related to the platypus, is so rare that no scientist has ever seen one alive.

Named in honour of the naturalist Sir David Attenborough, the echidna is thought to live on only one mountain peak in New Guinea's Cyclops Mountains.

H/T to Darren Naish at Tetrapod Zoology.

Forty years

It's hard to believe it's been this long, but forty years ago, plus or minus a day or few, I met my best friend.

1967 was The Summer of Love, but it was also a time of unrest - there were race riots in Newark, Detroit and Milwaukee, amongst other places. I don't recall my mother's ever showing any signs of prejudice, despite having grown up in Florida and Georgia during the '20s, and there wasn't much going on in Waukegan*, but she was still a little nervous about having me walking to school by myself. Fortunately for her peace of mind, one of the ladies she worked with had a son who was also starting eighth grade, and they lived just a few blocks away, on a reasonable route to school.

So early one September morning I presented myself at Gary's house, to walk the rest of the way to school. But Gary already had a friend he walked to school with, so our first stop was at his house.

And thus it began....

Turned out that the friend shared my interest in the military, as well as other things, and we hung out together all the rest of the way through school. We'd go to one of the local cinemas (there were three, plus the X-rated one) to see films like A Stranger in Town, The Hell with Heroes, Two Mules for Sister Sara, or Chrome and Hot Leather. We'd sit at his house and watch Ray Rayner or Garfield Goose on telly, or play game after game of Scrabble, or The Game of Life. We'd wander around the malls, or downtown, or one of Waukegan's great city parks.

I dropped out of high school in '72. He (two years younger than I, but only one year behind in school) graduated in '73, then joined the Army later that summer. We lost track of each other for a few years after I moved to Iowa; by the time we hooked up again he was in Rhodesia and I was married. We kept in touch by post during the next few years, while he roamed the world and I stayed at home in Iowa. Then I joined the Navy, and a few years after that he settled down. The last time I actually saw him was in the spring of '87, when he had a brief stop in Honolulu on his way home to Australia, but we still keep in touch, by mail and e-mail (and sometimes even by way of this blog).

Happy anniversary, mate!


* Though there'd been a riot there the preceding summer.

More VCs to be awarded for Afghanistan?

ZUI this article from The Telegraph:

Two soldiers are in line to receive the Victoria Cross for their actions in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, it has emerged.

The first is L/Cpl Oliver "Teddy" Ruecker from the 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment, who is believed to have been recommended for Britain's highest award for gallantry by his commanding officer.

During a fierce fire-fight in Helmand province in May, the 20-year-old ran back to pull his critically injured friend from a burning armoured vehicle that contained plastic explosives.

Capt David Hicks, 26, is also believed to be in line for the award.

He died hours after being wounded and refusing morphine so he could lead a counter-offensive of 50 men against a rocket position.

The Peterborough Evening Telegraph has more about Captain Hicks, who was also with the 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment:

Cpt Hicks would become the first officer to win the VC since Falklands hero Leiutenant-Colonal Herbert 'H' Jones.

*******

The final decision about the VC medals will be made later this year.

New dinosaur-killer theory

ZUI this article from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Now comes a team of planetary scientists who say they've pinned down the specific space object that did in all those dinosaurs, and killed off half of all the other species on Earth at that time.

It was, say the scientists, one huge asteroid that broke up in a violent collision 160 million years ago, sending a massive fragment careening out of the asteroid belt and eventually into the Earth's crust. The impact kicked up a storm of dust, cold and darkness that shrouded the world like a nuclear winter - and goodbye dinosaurs.

*******

In the journal Nature today a group headed by William F. Bottke, an asteroid expert at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., traces that impact back to one giant asteroid named Baptistina nearly 100 miles in diameter. Baptistina, the team of scientists say, was rammed by an unnamed asteroid at least 35 miles in diameter in a violent collision about 160 million years ago - give or take 20 million years.

The collision showered nearby space with at least 300 fragments bigger than 20 miles in diameter and more than 140,000 smaller asteroids, each one more than 3 miles around, Bottke contends.

The smaller asteroids are now known as the Baptistina family, and according to Bottke and his colleagues - David Vokrouhlicky of Chares University in Prague and David Nesvorny of Bottke's institute - it was one of those "refugees" from Baptistina that created the 110-mile-wide Chicxulub crater.

ZUI this article from Scientific American, as well.

The researchers say the same bombardment may also have blasted the 53-mile-wide lunar crater Tycho, formed about 109 million years ago during the shower's calculated peak.

This day in history: 4 Sep

476: Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by the Scirian chieftain Odoacer, who proclaimed himself King of Italy.

1781: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula, in southern California, was founded by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.

1862: A railroad train guarded by about sixty Union soldiers on flatcars was sidetracked by a misplaced switch into a guerilla ambush at Boutte Station, Louisiana. Private Lewis K Ingalls, Company K, 8th Vermont Infantry, ran under heavy fire to another switch and, despite being wounded, opened it, enabling the train and the surviving guards to escape. Union losses were fifteen killed, twenty wounded. Ingalls was awarded the Medal of Honor.

1864: Confederate cavalry leader Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan was killed during a Union cavalry raid on the town of Greenville, Tennessee.

1886: Apache leader Geronimo and his remaining warriors surrendered to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.

1923: USS Shenandoah (ZR 1), the US Navy's first airship, made its maiden flight.



1940 - Despite US neutrality, German submarine U 652 (Oblt Georg-Werner Fraatz) attacked USS Greer (DD 145). Greer responded with depth charges. Neither ship was damaged in this incident, the first German attack on US armed forces of World War II.

1942: At Milne Bay, in New Guinea, Australian forces attacking the Japanese east of Buna Mission were held up by three machine-gun posts. Corporal John A French, 2/9th Battalion (Queensland), Australian Military Forces, destroyed the first two with grenades and the third with a Thompson submachine gun. After firing ceased, French's section advanced, to find that all the Japanese had been killed and that French had been killed in front of the third enemy position. French was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

1944: The British 11th Armoured Division liberated the city of Antwerp, Belgium.

1948: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated for health reasons. She was succeeded by her daughter, Juliana.

1950: A comic strip by Mort Walker, about a college boy named Beetle Bailey, made its first appearance, in 12 newspapers. The following year, during the Korean War, Beetle dropped out of college and joined the Army, where he has been serving ever since. (In 1954, Beetle and his friends visited Beetle's sister, Lois, leading to a spin-off strip written by Walker and drawn by Dik Browne.)

1957: Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, called out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School, Little Rock.

That same day, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel, which came in four models: the Mercury-based Citation and Corsair, and the more affordable Ford-based Pacer and Ranger.*

1967: The US 1st Marine Division engaged North Vietnamese troops in the Que Son Valley (Operation SWIFT). Hearing that Marines from M Company, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, were in danger of being overrun by an enemy assaulting force, Lieutenant Vincent R Capodanno, US Navy Chaplain Corps, left the relative safety of the company command post and ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon. Disregarding intense enemy fire, he moved about the battlefield, administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded. When an exploding mortar round inflicted multiple wounds to his arms and legs, and severed a portion of his right hand, he refused all medical aid, continuing to direct the corpsmen and to move about the battlefield, providing encouragement by voice and example. Seeing a wounded corpsman lying in the direct line of fire of a nearby enemy machine gunner, Capodanno made a daring attempt to assist him, but was killed by a burst of machine gun fire. Capodanno was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor, as was Sergeant Lawrence D Peters, an M Company squad leader. A total of 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese died in the ensuing four-day battle.

1972: Swimming in the 400-metre medley relay, Mark Spitz won his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics, in Munich, Germany. The first Olympic athlete to win seven medals in one games, Spitz swam in only seven events, setting a world record in each one.

In addition to General Morgan (1825-1864), Edvard Grieg (1843–1907), Albert Schweitzer OM (1875–1965), Creighton Abrams (1914–1974), Dottie West (1932–1991) and Steve Irwin (1962–2006) died on this date.





And happy birthday to Mary Renault (1905–1983), Paul Harvey (1918-TBD) and Dick York (1928–1992).


* Photo shows a 1958 Citation convertible.

Top 100 songs of 1972

It's simple: What songs did you like the year you graduated from high school?

Bold = I loved it!
Italics = I liked it.
Strikeout = I hated it!

List of songs from here (way down near the bottom of the page).


Top 100 Songs of 1972

1. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack
2. Alone Again (Naturally), Gilbert O'Sullivan
3. American Pie, Don McLean
4. Without You, Nilsson
5. Candy Man, Sammy Davis Jr.
6. I Gotcha, Joe Tex
7. Lean On Me, Bill Withers
8. Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me, Mac Davis
9. Brand New Key, Melanie
10. Daddy Dont You Walk So Fast, Wayne Newton
11. Let's Stay Together, Al Green
12. Brandy (You're A Fine Girl), Looking Glass
13. Oh Girl, Chi-Lites
14. Nice To Be With You, Gallery
15. My Ding-A-Ling, Chuck Berry
16. If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right, Luther Ingram
17. Heart Of Gold, Neil Young
18. Betcha By Golly, Wow, Stylistics
19. I'll Take You There, Staple Singers
20. Ben, Michael Jackson
21. The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Robert John
22. Outa-space, Billy Preston
23. Slippin' Into Darkness, War
24. Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress), Hollies
25. How Do You Do, Mouth and MacNeal
27. Song Sung Blue, Neil Diamond
28. A Horse With No Name, America
28. Popcorn, Hot Butter
29. Everybody Plays The Fool, Main Ingredient
30. Precious And Few, Climax
31. Last Night I Didn't Get To Sleep At All, 5th Dimension
32. Nights In White Satin, Moody Blues
33. Go All The Way, Raspberries
34. Too Late To Turn Back Now, Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
35. Back Stabbers, O'Jays
36. Down By The Lazy River, Osmonds
37. Sunshine, Jonathan Edwards
38. Starting All Over Again, Mel and Tim
39. Day After Day, Badfinger
40. Rocket Man, Elton John
41. Rockin' Robin, Michael Jackson
42. Beautiful Sunday, Daniel Boone
43. Scorpio, Dennis Coffey and The Detroit Guitar Band
44. Morning Has Broken, Cat Stevens
45. The City Of New Orleans, Arlo Guthrie
46. Garden Party, Rick Nelson
47. I Can See Clearly Now, Johnny Nash
48. Burning Love, Elvis Presley
49. Clean Up Woman, Betty Wright
50. Hold Your Head Up, Argent
51. Jungle Fever, Chakachas
52. Everything I Own, Bread
53. In The Rain, Dramatics
54. Look What You Done For Me, Al Green
55. The Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A., Donna Fargo
56. Bang A Gong (Get It On), T. Rex
57. Mother And Child Reunion, Paul Simon
58. Where Is The Love, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
59. I'm Still In Love With You, Al Green
60. Layla, Derek and The Dominos
61. Day Dreaming, Aretha Franklin
62. The Way Of Love, Cher
63. Black And White, Three Dog Night
64. Sylvia's Mother, Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show
65. Hurting Each Other, Carpenters
66. Coconut, Nilsson
68. Puppy Love, Donny Osmond
69. You Don't Mess Around With Jim, Jim Croce
70. Hot Rod Lincoln, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
71. A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done, Sonny and Cher
72. Joy, Apollo 100
73. Anticipation, Carly Simon
74. Never Been To Spain, Three Dog Night
75. Kiss An Angel Good Morning, Charlie Pride
76. School's Out, Alice Cooper
77. Saturday In The Park, Chicago
78. Drowning In The Sea Of Love, Joe Simon
79. Use Me, Bill Withers
80. Family Affair, Sly and The Family Stone
81. Troglodyte, Jimmy Castor Bunch
82. The Witch Queen Of New Orleans, Redbone
83. Freddie's Dead, Curtis Mayfield
84. Power Of Love, Joe Simon
85. Ain't Understanding Mellow, Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager
86. Taxi, Harry Chapin
87. Don't Say You Don't Rememeer, Beverly Bremers
87. Sealed With A Kiss, Bobby Vinton
88. I Saw The Light, Todd Rundgren
89. Motorcycle Mama, Sailcat
90. Day By Day, Godspell Soundtrack
91. Roundabout, Yes
92. Doctor My Eyes, Jackson Browne
93. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, New Seekers
94. Vincent / Castles In The Air, Don Mclean
95. Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms), Detroit Emeralds
96. Speak To The Sky, Rick Springfield
97. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, Hillside Singers
98. Walking In The Rain With The One I Love, Love Unlimited
99. Good Foot, Pt. 1, James Brown
100. Pop That Thang, Isley Bros.

Actually, I didn't graduate, but this is the year I should have. A lot of these song titles don't mean anything to me; by the end of the year I was pretty much listening to nothing but country. There are other songs that I like now, but don't think I liked them - or even noticed them - back in '72. And a lot more of them should probably be struck out, but luckily they're amongst the ones I don't remember the names of.

H/T to Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy.

Victoria Cross: W. Babtie

WILLIAM BABTIE, CMG

Major, Royal Army Medical Corps

Born: 7 May 1859, Dumbarton, Scotland.

Citation: At Colenso [South Africa], on the 15th December, 1899, the wounded of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, were lying in an advanced donga close in the rear of the guns without any Medical Officer to attend to them, and when a message was sent back asking for assistance, Major W. Babtie, R.A.M.C., rode up under a heavy rifle fire, his pony being hit three times. When he arrived at the donga, where the wounded were lying in sheltered corners, he attended to them all, going from place to place exposed to the heavy rifle fire which greeted anyone who showed himself.
Later on in the day, Major Babtie went out with Captain Congreve to bring in Lieutenant Roberts, who was lying wounded on the veldt. This also was under a heavy fire.

(London Gazette Issue 27184 dated 20 Apr 1900, published 20 Apr 1900.)


Note: A donga is a gully made by soil erosion.

Captain Walter N Congreve, The Rifle Brigade; Captain Harry N Schofield, Royal Field Artillery; Captain Hamilton L Reed, Royal Field Artillery; Lieutenant the Hon Frederick H S Roberts, Bengal Artillery; and Corporal George E Nurse, Royal Field Artillery, also received the Victoria Cross for their actions on this occasion.

Medal of Honor: W. L. McGonagle

WILLIAM LOREN MCGONAGLE

Captain (then Commander) US Navy; commanding USS Liberty (AGTR 5)

Born: 19 November 1925, Wichita, Kans.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sailing in international waters [in the eastern Mediterranean, on 8-9 June 1967], the Liberty was attacked without warning by jet fighter aircraft and motor torpedo boats which inflicted many casualties among the crew and caused extreme damage to the ship. Although severely wounded during the first air attack, Capt. McGonagle remained at his battle station on the badly damaged bridge and, with full knowledge of the seriousness of his wounds, subordinated his own welfare to the safety and survival of his command. Steadfastly refusing any treatment which would take him away from his post, he calmly continued to exercise firm command of his ship. Despite continuous exposure to fire, he maneuvered his ship, directed its defense, supervised the control of flooding and fire, and saw to the care of the casualties. Capt. McGonagle's extraordinary valor under these conditions inspired the surviving members of the Liberty's crew, many of them seriously wounded, to heroic efforts to overcome the battle damage and keep the ship afloat. Subsequent to the attack, although in great pain and weak from the loss of blood, Captain McGonagle remained at his battle station and continued to command his ship for more than 17 hours. It was only after rendezvous with a U.S. destroyer that he relinquished personal control of the Liberty and permitted himself to be removed from the bridge. Even then, he refused much needed medical attention until convinced that the seriously wounded among his crew had been treated. Capt. McGonagle's superb professionalism, courageous fighting spirit, and valiant leadership saved his ship and many lives. His actions sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

RIP: Michael Jackson

ZUI this article from the International Herald-Tribune:

Michael Jackson, a leading world beer critic known as "the beer hunter," has died, a colleague said Friday. He was 65.

Jackson collapsed at his home in west London, and his body was found by his housekeeper Thursday morning [30 August], said Tim Hampson, the chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers.

Hampson, who said he has been in touch with Jackson's staff, said the cause of death was not immediately known.

And this, from the Philadelphia Daily News:

Though he was not a brewer, Jackson was responsible for more good beer than anyone. His tools were not the malt shovel and mash tun but a ballpoint pen and small notebook in which he scribbled tasting notes and interviews during four decades as a newspaperman.

Jackson's books and countless newspaper and magazine articles explored the far-reaching world of beer, from classic styles to obscure recipes.

He is primarily credited with establishing the language and identification of beer styles. Before Jackson, all beer was essentially the same; today, beer authorities recognize more than 100 major styles, defined by their cultural and technical characteristics.

And this, from the AP:

He worked as a beer critic for more than 30 years, writing in newspapers and gastronomic magazines, holding seminars and giving speeches, appearing on U.S. talk shows and writing books about beer and whiskeys published in 18 languages.

Jackson knew he would never be as famous as Michael Jackson the rock star, and that was reflected on the beer critic's Web site. "Hello, my name is Michael Jackson. No, not that Michael Jackson, but I am on a world tour. My tour is in pursuit of exceptional beer. That's why they call me the Beer Hunter," it says.

Personally I can't stand beer - I think it's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted, even worse than Brussels sprouts - but Jackson also wrote Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, which I've found to be a most useful and interesting book. I bought my copy at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre, in Edinburgh (just down the block from the main gate of the castle), but of course it's also available from Amazon.

Book list - Aug 07

Night Watch - fantasy, by Robin Wayne Bailey
Robert Adams' Book of Alternate Worlds - AH/fantasy (short stories), edited by Robert Adams, Martin H Greenberg and Pamela Crippen Adams
Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby - biography, by Kevin H Siepel
The Demon Breed - SF, by James H Schmitz
The End of the Bronze Age - history, by Robert Drews
Scenes of Crime - mystery, by Lesley Egan
A Dream Apart - mystery, by Lesley Egan
The Hunters and the Hunted - mystery, by Lesley Egan
A Cat in a Glass House - mystery, by Lydia Adamson
A Choice of Crimes - mystery, by Lesley Egan
Chain of Violence - mystery, by Lesley Egan

Only 11 books this month. Didn't read any Newbery Medal winners, so I'm still at 29 of 86.

The Egans were all rereads, but the other books were new to me. Really enjoyed The Demon Breed; only other book I've read by Schmitz was The Witches of Karres, and I liked that one, too, so I guess I'll have to go looking for more....

Top 15 great science-fiction books

The List Universe has posted a list of the top 15 great SF books. In their opinion, that is. You can see their comments (as well as those of dozens of other folks) at the link above. Here are mine.

1. The Time Machine - H G Wells
This was one of the books I had in comic-book format back when I was a kid (lo, these many years ago), along with The First Men in the Moon and The War of the Worlds, by the same author. TWotW is the only one of the three I've gone on to read as actual books, though I keep meaning to do so with the other two.

2. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A Heinlein
One of only two books by RAH I've started but been unable to finish). I think I got a few pages into the second chapter the second time I tried it. The phrase "incredibly, unutterably boring" doesn't come close to describing it.... (The other book I didn't finish was Job: A Comedy of Justice; I got about halfway through it before losing interest.)

3. The Lensman series - E E “Doc” Smith
I've read Triplanetary, the first book in this series; can't remember what I thought of it at the time (~35 years ago), but I didn't go on to read any of the other six books. I did, on the other hand, enjoy The Skylark of Space and its three sequels.

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
This was originally a short story called "The Sentinel," which I really enjoyed; the book was okay. I'm ambivalent about the movie version, which had a great sound track and opening sequence (the apes) but left me totally confused at the end.

5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
I've read this one twice, once back around 4th grade and once a year or two ago. Enjoyed it rather more the first time round.

6. The Foundation series - Isaac Asimov
I enjoyed these, at least as far as I got with them. I read the first one (Foundation), and started the second (Foundation and Empire) but didn't finish it - not because I didn't like it, but because I was distracted by other books. Someday I really will go back and finish it. (I do prefer Asimov's non-fiction to his SF, though.)

7. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
I've only read one book by Vonnegut: The Sirens of Titan. That was enough to keep me from ever developing any interest in any of his other works.

8. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
My roommate in the barracks at Pearl Harbour had a single-volume collection of the Hitchhiker books. I read the introduction, which talked about ths history of the stories - books, radio, telly, &c - and found it fascinating. Then I tried reading the book itself, and couldn't work up any interest at all. Not sure if I finished the first chapter or not.

9. Dune - Frank Herbert
I bought this book and what at the time were its only sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, as a set from the SF Book Club back around '78 or '79. Still haven't read them.

10. Neuromancer - William Gibson
I'm not real big on cyberpunk, so this is another book I've never been tempted to read.

11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
I've seen a few minutes of Blade Runner, the film based on this book. (Thanks to being on submarines, I've seen a few minutes each of many, many movies, glimpsed as I passed through the mess decks either on watch or whilst getting coffee.) Never have gotten around to reading the book. Dick also wrote "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," which I loved (it had a much better ending than the film version, Total Recall), and The Man in the High Castle, which I didn't (boring, though at least I did finish it).

12. Gateway - Frederik Pohl
The cover, as shown in the Wikipedia article about the book, looks familiar; I think it's another book I started but didn't finish because I was sidetracked by other books.

13. Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
I read and enjoyed the original novelette, but wasn't interested enough to pick up the novel or any of its sequels.

14. 1984 - George Orwell
Ah - at last, another book I've actually read! And liked! I think I liked Orwell's Animal Farm a little better, though on the other hand I've reread 1984 but not AF.

15. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Read this one back around high school, too, and thought it was all right - not as good as 1984, though.

Yes, I freely admit that I'm not one to read books just because they're considered classics, or because of the awards they get....*

The folks who wrote this list admitted that they would have included something by Jules Verne if they'd been able to decide on a single book. I would have included a different book by RAH, as well as books by Anderson and Piper.

H/T to Sherry at Semicolon.


* Okay, so I'm reading my way through the Newbery Medal winners, and considering going on to the Caldecott Medal winners. Sue me.

Rum and Coke JWL

Many, many years ago, when I was stationed in Hawai`i, I was fond of rum and Coke. I'd use Bacardi 151 rum, and I'd substitute Jolt for the Coke. Then one day I was discussing this habit with my two-bit senior chief, and he offered me his recipe for rum and Coke, which I'm going to share with you now.

• Pour eight ounces of rum into a glass.

• Show the glass a picture of a bottle of Coke.

• Drink and enjoy.

I'm not sure what rum he preferred, but I would use Pusser's or Myers's. The real key here, as he pointed out, is in step two: Make sure you only show the glass a picture of a bottle of Coke. If you show it a real bottle, the rum gets diluted too much....

This day in history: 30 Aug

1813: Hundreds of settlers, mixed-blood Creeks, and militia were killed by Creek Red Sticks at Fort Mims, Alabama.

1862: Confederate forces under Major General Edmund Kirby Smith routed a Union army under Major General William "Bull" Nelson in the Battle of Richmond. Estimated casualties were some 4900 Yankees, and only 750 Rebels.
That same day, Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia (USA) was defeated in the Second Battle of Bull Run by Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (CSA). Private Richard Conner, 6th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, returned with a single companion, under heavy fire, to retrieve his regiment's colours, which had been abandoned on the field; the other man was killed, but Conner successfully off the flag. Private Myron H Ranney, 13th New York Infantry, despite being wounded, also rescued his regimental colours after the colour bearer was shot. Conner and Ranney, along with three other men, were awarded the Medal of Honor.

1909: The Burgess Shale fossils were discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.

1942: The Battle of Alam Halfa, between Montgomery's Eighth Army and Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika, began.

1943: First Lieutenant Kenneth A Walsh, Marine Fighting Squadron 124, flying a Chance Vought F4U Corsair, developed engine trouble during an escort mission in the Solomons. Walsh landed at Munda, acquired another plane, and proceeded to rejoin his flight. He was still separated from the rest of the escort group when he encountered approximately 50 Japanese Zeros. He attacked without hesitation, destroying four of the enemy before being forced to make a dead-stick landing off Vella Lavella. For this, and for previous actions at Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943 (when he shot down two Japanese dive bombers and a fighter), Walsh was awarded the Medal of Honor.

1945: British forces liberated Hong Kong, which had been occupied by the Japanese since 25 December 1941.




1983: Guion S Bluford Jr, a former USAF fighter pilot*, became the first black astronaut to reach space, aboard the space shuttle Challenger (mission STS-8). With him were mission commander Richard H Truly, pilot Daniel C Brandenstein, and mission specialists Dale A Gardner and William E Thornton.

1984: The Space Shuttle Discovery (Henry Hartsfield Jr, Michael Coats, Judith Resnik, Steven Hawley, Richard Mullane and Charles Walker) took off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage, mission STS-41-D.

Theodoric the Great (454-526), Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), John Bell Hood (1831–1879), Charles Bronson (1921–2003) and Glenn Ford (1916–2006) died on this date.






And happy birthday to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851), Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM PC FRS (1871-1937), Joan Blondell (1906–1979), Fred MacMurray (1908–1991), Nancy Wake AC GM (1912-TBD), Kitty Wells (1919-TBD), John Phillips (1935–2001), Jean-Claude Killy (1943-TBD), Molly Ivins (1944–2007) and Gary Gordon (1960–1993).


* An F-4 pilot, Bluford flew 144 combat missions, including 65 over North Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.

This day in history: 29 Aug

1350: The English fleet under King Edward III defeated a Castilian fleet of 40 ships, commanded by Don Carlos de la Cerda, at the Battle of Winchelsea (or Les Espagnols sur Mer).

1526: The Ottoman Turks, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, defeated and killed Louis II Jagiellon, the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia, at the Battle of Mohács.

1533: Inca emperor Atahualpa was executed in Cajamarca by Spanish Conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro.

1862: Confederate General James Longstreet's corps arrived on the field on the second day of the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Battle of Manassas).

1907: 75 workers were killed when the Quebec Bridge collapsed during construction.

1911: Ishi, the last member of the Yana tribe, emerged from the wilderness near Oroville, California.

1916: USS Memphis (CA 10)* and USS Castine (Gunboat #6), at anchor off Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, were attempting to get under way to avoid heavy seas, when a tsunami struck. Castine, though badly battered, got clear, but Memphis was driven ashore. Lieutenant Claud A Jones, Chief Machinist's Mate George W Rud and Machinist Charles H Willey were awarded the Medal of Honour (posthumously, in Rud's case) for their heroic efforts in Memphis's fire room after her boilers burst.


1917: The 11480-ton SS Milazzo - the largest ship claimed by an Austrian submarine - was sunk by the U 14 (commanded by Linienschiffsleutnant Georg Ritter von Trapp).

1943: Germany dissolved the government of occupied Denmark. Most of the Danish navy was scuttled to prevent its being taken by the Germans for their own use.

1949: The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, a 22-kiloton device called Joe-1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

1958: The 1145 cadets of the United States Air Force Academy class of 1959 - its first graduating class - moved to the new site in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1967: Dr Richard Kimble finally caught up with the one-armed man, in the final episode of The Fugitive.




1982: The element Meitnerium (symbol Mt, atomic number 109) was first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, West Germany.

2005: Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, flooding New Orleans, killing more than 1836 people and causing an estimated 81.2 billion dollars in damage along the Gulf coast.

In addition to Louis II (1506-1562) and Atahualpa (ca 1502-1533), Edmund Hoyle (1672-1769), Brigham Young (1801–1877), William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Lowell Thomas (1892–1981), Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) and Lee Marvin (1924–1987) died on this date.

And happy birthday to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr (1809–1894), Charles Franklin Kettering (1876–1958), Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982), Isabel Sanford (1917-2004), Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920–1955), John Sidney McCain III (1936-TBD) and Elliott Gould (1938-TBD).


* Memphis was commissioned 17 July 1906 as USS Tennessee (ACR 10). She was renamed Memphis on 25 May 1916 so that the name Tennessee could be used for a new battleship (BB 43).

Æthelmearc War Practice 2007

This year's Pennsic (XXXVI) was held earlier than has been the practice in the past, and pictures are already appearing on the 'web. It just occurred to me that I hadn't looked at Darter the Chronicler's pictures from Æthelmearc War Practice yet. They're here.* Beautiful....

* Go here and you can see all of Darter's SCA photo galleries from the past few years.

Victoria Cross: Willis, Richards and Keneally

RICHARD RAYMOND WILLIS

Captain, 1st Battalion The Lancashire Fusiliers

Born: 13 October 1876, Woking, Surrey


ALFRED JOSEPH RICHARDS

Serjeant, 1st Battalion The Lancashire Fusiliers

Born: 21 June 1879, Plymouth, Devon


WILLIAM KENEALLY

Private, 1st Battalion The Lancashire Fusiliers

Born: 26 December 1886, Wexford, Ireland


Joint Citation: On the 25th April, 1915, three Companies and the Headquarters of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the West of Cape Helles, were met by a very deadly fire from hidden machine guns which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained.
Amongst the many very gallant Officers and men engaged in this most hazardous undertaking, Captain Willis, Serjeant Richards and Private Keneally have been selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty.

(London Gazette Issue 29273 dated 24 Aug 1915, published 24 Aug 1915.)

Captain Willis's medals

Serjeant Richards's medals

Note: Willis, Richards and Keneally were elected under Rule 13 of the Royal Warrant of 29th January 1856. Captain C Bromley, Sergeant E E Stubbs and Corporal J Grimshaw, also of the 1st Bn the Lancashire Fusiliers, were later awarded VCs for their parts in this same action. (Grimshaw originally received a DCM, but this award was cancelled when he was awarded the VC.)

Medal of Honor: C. A. Jones

CLAUD ASHTON JONES

Commander (then Lieutenant), US Navy; USS Memphis (CA 10)

Born: 7 October 1885, Fire Creek, W.Va.

Citation: For extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession as a senior engineer officer on board the U.S.S. Memphis, at a time when the vessel was suffering total destruction from a hurricane while anchored off Santo Domingo City, 29 August 1916. Lt. Jones did everything possible to get the engines and boilers ready, and if the elements that burst upon the vessel had delayed for a few minutes, the engines would have saved the vessel. With boilers and steampipes bursting about him in clouds of scalding steam, with thousands of tons of water coming down upon him and in almost complete darkness, Lt. Jones nobly remained at his post as long as the engines would turn over, exhibiting the most supreme unselfish heroism which inspired the officers and men who were with him. When the boilers exploded, Lt. Jones, accompanied by 2 of his shipmates, rushed into the firerooms and drove the men there out, dragging some, carrying others to the engineroom, where there was air to be breathed instead of steam. Lt. Jones' action on this occasion was above and beyond the call of duty.


Note: USS Claud Jones (DE 1033) was named in his honour.
Chief Machinist's Mate George W Rud and Machinist Charles H Willey also received the Medal of Honor for their actions in Memphis's engine room.