Tag: war

READ THIS

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READ THIS:

You don’t really “arrive” in Germany, as much as you are born there: naked, bleeding, in pain, unsure of your surroundings, not knowing anyone and wondering what in the hell just happened.

— Maj. Chuck Zeigenfuss, From My Position… On the Way!: “He has no personal effects…”

Then read this:

British officers in his unit, 2 Rifles, wanted to track their man every step of the way, and to ensure that his family was informed and supported in this time of high stress. Yet having their soldier suddenly in the American system caused a temporary glitch in communications with folks in Germany. The British leadership in Sangin could have worked through the glitch within some hours, but that would have been hours wasted, and they wanted to know the status of their soldier now. So a British officer in Sangin – thinking creatively –asked if I knew any shortcuts to open communications. The right people were only an email away: Soldiers Angels. And so within about two minutes, these fingers typed an email with this subject heading: CALLING ALL ANGELS.

Soldiers’ Angels Shelle Michaels and MaryAnn Phillips moved into action. Day by day British officers mentioned how Soldiers Angels were proving to be incredibly helpful. The soldiers expressed deep and sincere appreciation. Yet again, the Angels arrived during a time of need.

— Michael Yon, Do Americans Care about British Soldiers?

Maj. Zeigenfuss concludes his piece with this:

If you’ve not joined soldiers angels yet, please do so. There are many ways you can help, either through time, monetarily, visiting, writing a letter, or adopting one of over a thousand soldiers who have asked

* Donate a backpack
* Donate items for a backpack
* Make a Blanket of Hope

See why the Gun Blogger Rendezvous supports Soldiers’ Angels and Project Valour IT? And why you should, too?

August 6, 1945

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August 6, 1945


At 08:15 on this date in 1945, an atomic bomb was for the first time used against a wartime target – the city of Hiroshima on the island of Honshu, the largest of the Japanese Home Islands. At the time, the population of Hiroshima is estimated to have been 300-350,000.

Ever since the end of WWII, America has been excoriated for being the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in warfare, especially for using those weapons against civilian targets – cities – rather than strictly military targets. Most recently Jon Stewart expressed such an opinion, and essayist and now video star Bill Whittle took some time to explain to him how many ways he was wrong.

I want to do something similar, but I don’t have days to do interviews, much less access to quality video recording and editing hardware. However, via Blackfive I discovered that the Rome, Georgia Rome News-Tribune had done extensive video interviews with surviving WWII vets in their town, and produced some damned fine documentary shorts of those interviews. Fine enough that they ought to win that publication some prizes. Here are two of them, of survivors from the Pacific Theater. Watch and listen, and hear how these men felt about the atomic bombing of Japan.

http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/harrybattle0709b_F8_1Mb.flv

http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/atomicbombforweb_F8_1Mb_IVND.flv
The two atomic blasts killed between 250,000 and 300,000 people, but they ended the war. Estimates of American casualties alone, had we invaded the Japanese Home Islands, were on the order of 1 million. Japanese casualties, given the grim statistics of Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Okinawa, would have been at least 3-5 times higher, and would have included women, children, and old men.

My only question is when and where will the third atomic bomb used in war be detonated? Tel Aviv? Los Angeles? Paris? London? New York? Because it is going to happen, sooner or later.

No 24-Hour TV Coverage, No Obituaries in News Magazines

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No 24-Hour TV Coverage, No Obituaries in News Magazines . . .

I found out today via Irons in the fire that Darrell “Shifty” Powers passed away on June 17 of this year.

Who is Shifty Powers, you ask? (Well, some of you, I’m sure.) Perhaps this will jog your memory:


That’s Shifty on the left, as played by Peter Youngblood Hills in the 2001 HBO mini-series “Band of Brothers.” A pretty good job of casting, as here’s what Shifty looked like back in WWII:


And here’s what he looked like just a couple of years ago:


Quite simply, Darrell “Shifty” Powers was considered to be the best shot in all of Easy Company with his M1 Garand.

Firehand found out by email, and I suggest you read the whole thing, but here’s the part that I want to emphasize:

Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center.

No wall to wall back to back 24×7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

And that’s not right.

Let’s give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.

Rest in peace, Shifty.

One other thing: In March of 2006 a very dedicated man did a very nice thing for Shifty. You might want to read that, too:

A Rifle for Shifty

Machine Guns and Dead Nazis

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Machine Guns and Dead Nazis

My wife and I went to see Defiance yesterday afternoon. I was going to write a review, but – as is my wont – when someone else says something better that I can, I let them:

The basic plot (I won’t ruin it for you) is a gang of paranoid gun crazies who band together and terrorize a benevolent government that the crazies feel like are threatening them.

The crazies run off in the woods like crazies are prone to do, they don’t pay their taxes and are generally hostile to the various government folks trying to help them and solve their problems. It is set in the ancient past that no one cares about anymore. The crazies generally all have relatives that were justifiably killed by the benevolent government who was trying to help them, which makes them mad and what is a crazy if not mad about something.

RTWT, it’s not very long.