Denmark boosts Greenland's defenses.

Greenland's defenses are being boosted, something that Denmark claims is coincidental, but which comes hard on the heels of soon to be octogenarian president elect Donald Trump making sounds about the United States "needing" it, which is complete baloney and likely further evidence of his inability to contain his mental wonderings in the face of the onset, most likely, of dementia.

$1.5B in U.S. Dollars are to be spent, a major amount.

Expenditures will include two extra dog sled teams, two more inspection ships, two more long-range drones, two extra dog sled teams, funding for more staffing at Artic Command in Nuuk, and upgrades to airports.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen claimed the timing of the announcement is an "irony of fate" and was something that needed to be done for a long time.

On Greenland, it's worth noting that the US has a base there, Pituffik Space Base, which was an Air Force base before the Trump dribble the Space Farce was created.  Anyhow, the base, controlled by the absurdly named Space Base Delta 1, is there, but could just as easily be taken over by an adult nation, such as Canada, Denmark itself, or Norway.  Denmark and Greenland really ought to serve notice to the US that the US can move out on inauguration day.

Thursday, December 14, 1944. The tragedy of Lupe Vélez.

The great Mexican actress Lupe Vélez, pregnant with the baby of her recent fiance,  Harald Ramond (Harald Maresch) committed suicide after a dinner with friends in Los Angeles, leaving this note:

To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.

How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.

Ramond confessed confusion, declaring that even after their recent break up he had promised to marry her.  In spite of the official ruling of suicide, there has been ongoing speculation about her death.

She had, at one time, been married to Johnny Weismuller.

May God rest her soul, and that of her child.

The Japanese murdered 150 Allied Prisoners of war near Puerto Princesa in the Philippine province of Palawan to prevent their liberation by American troops.

The Japanese attempted, but failed, to mount a large scale air attack on the U.S. Navy's invasion task force heading to Mindoro.    The U.S. Navy hit airfields on Luzon.

The HMS Aldenham was sunk in the Adriatic by a mine.  It was the last Royal Navy destroyer lost in World War Two.

Congress authorized the five start senior officer rank to address American commanders technically being junior to high ranking British ones.

The Germans banned the use of electricity in Holland.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 13, 1944. USS Goshen commissioned.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, 1947, 1960s, 1968, 1970s, 1973, Battle of Kesternich, Battle of Metz, Battle of Mindoro, Blog Mirror, boats and ships, Imperial Japanese Navy, U.S. Navy, Weather, World War Two

U.S. Field Coats / Jackets.

Our Fearless Soon To Be President.

 

President Bone Spur has no vets in his family tree

King Henry V: What’s he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires:

But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:

God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour

As one man more, methinks, would share from me

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made

And crowns for convoy put into his purse:

We would not die in that man’s company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.

And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,

But he’ll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

Familiar in his mouth as household words

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,

Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remember’d;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

I was a soldier once. . .

Student Alan Canfora waves a black flag before the Ohio National Guard shortly before they opened fire at Kent State, May 15, 1970.

and never as part of that did I ever imagine being used in the US to round up immigrants.  

I have the strong feeling that if Trump attempts this, there's going to be a lot of men leaving the military, and a drop off of enlistment of epic proportions.  

Pandemic Part 10. A new paradigm?

 

February 17, 2022

The Center for Disease Control estimates that, taking the massive spread of Omicron around the country into account and the final relatively high vaccination rate in the country, 73% of the nation is now immune from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e. COVID 19.

Nobody is really sure exactly what that means.  But it might mean that we're entering a phase where the virus doesn't disappear, but it's much less disruptive to society.

It's still the case, however, that it remains a danger for the unvaccinated.

March 1, 2022

Wyoming's public health emergency shall expire on March 14.

March 21, 2022

A new variant of Omicron has developed, which is about 30% more transmissible than the already more transmissible Omicron.  It's spiking in Europe and in Hong Kong has caused an outbreak with a massive death rate, mostly concentrated in the unvaccinated elderly.

China has reported its first deaths in many months.

According to experts, the world is about 50% through the probable course of the pandemic.

April 14, 2022

Over 1,000,000 Americans have now died from the COVID 19.

July 22, 2022

President Biden has COVID 19.

At this point, two members of our four member family also have, with one having had it quite recently and finding it awful, but being grateful accordingly for having been vaccinated.

A new, more traditional type of vaccine, has now been approved.

September 20, 2022

On 60 Minutes over the weekend, President Biden stated; "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over."  The HHS Secretary later confirmed that position.

Epidemiologically, it isn't over, but then neither is the plague's pandemic either.  The statement has been criticized, with 400 people per day dying of the disease, but by and large it reflects the mood of the public which has largely gone back to a new post Covid introduction, world in which COVID 19 is part of the background.

December 15, 2022

The new defense spending authorization includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense rescind vaccination requirements for troops because, well because that's the idiotic sort of thing that politicians like to stick into bills.

All of the troops should be vaccinated.

December 24, 2022

China, which has not accepted western vaccines, reported 37,000,000 new vaccinations in a single day.

January 2, 2023

A new variant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, now makes up 40% of the new cases in the U.S.

And Covid is still killing.

January 20, 2023

Governor Gordon Tests Positive for COVID-19

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon has received results of a COVID-19 test that showed he is positive for the virus. The Governor is experiencing only minor symptoms at this time and will continue working from home on behalf of Wyoming. 

March 1, 2023

The Washington Post broke a story that the Department of Energy issued a report believing, with "low confidence", that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in a Chinese lab.

A really good analysis of this story can be found here:  

Why Scientists, Lawmakers & Diplomats Care Where COVID Began

In actuality, the Biden Administration early on ordered governmental intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of the virus' origin.  Eight intelligence agencies were assigned to the tasks, two of which have concluded, but with confidence doubts, that the virus was natural in origin. Two, we know now, felt the opposite, with it already known since 2021 what the FBI felt, with "moderate confidence" that the origin was a Chinese lab.  Two just haven't reported.

None of this kept some from claiming that it's now proven that the virus originated in the lab.

FWIW, private scientists, as opposed to intelligence agencies, overwhelmingly feel that it originated due to animal transfer in the Wuhan market.

March 18, 2023

Recent evidence points to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market as the source.

April 11, 2023

President Biden declared the COVID emergency to be over.

August 22, 2023

Declared over or not, two new strains are on the loose and a new booster should be available mid September.

April 12, 2024

The CDC has found there's no link between the COVID vaccines and cardiac arrest in young people.

Not that this is a surprise.

It'll make no difference in the anti-scientific atmosphere of the day. A society that can believe that legalizing marijuana, which is largely untested and wholly unregulated, and that Donald Trump won hte 2020 election, will still believe that the vaccine is risky, but cause it wishes to.

June 15, 2024

Reuters has revealed that during the height of the pandemic, the US ran an anti-vax campaign in the Philippines to try to undermine Chinese efforts there.

There's no excuse for that whatsoever.

November 18, 2024

Is it the flu or is it COVID? One at-home test can tell you

Last prior installment:

Pandemic Part 9. Omicron becomes dominant

Half Tracks. National Museum of Military History.

 

Last edition:

Tank Retrievers, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, Armor, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Weapons, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Tank Retrievers, National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Last edition:

M3 Grant. National Museum of Military History

Labels: 1940s, Armor, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Wyoming (Dubois)

M3 Grant. National Museum of Military History

 I should have  posted this photograph earlier, but this is a very nice example of a M3 Grant.

Last edition:

Artillery and Prime Movers. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, Artillery, Military, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, Trucks, Weapons, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Artillery and Prime Movers. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

 Last edition:

SPW 152 "Iron Pig" (BTR 152). National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Location: 6419 US-26, Dubois, WY 82513, USA

Central World War Two Display, U.S. Armored Cars: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

The U.S. M3 Scout Car was produced by White Motor Company from 1939 to 1944.  The early version, the M3, was made in only limited numbers, but the successor M3A1 was fairly widely produced.

Envisioned as a cavalry vehicle, it really wasn't up to the task and therefore while produced, it was arguably obsolete from the onset.

The M8 was introduced in 1943 and picked up where the M3 left off, being a much more combat worthy vehicle.  It remained in service into the 1950s in the US but had a long life in other countries, with some still being used.

The M20 Armored Utility Car was another US armored vehicle that came in and supplemented the M3.  

 

Last edition:

Allis Chalmers M7 Snow Tractor. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1940s, 1943, 1944, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Transportation, Wyoming (Dubois)

Early Jeeps: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

There are a lot of Jeeps depicted in this series of posts, with a fair number being World War Two Willys and Ford Jeeps.  This museum, however, has a collection of the very early Jeeps that preceded the Willys MB patter standariation.

The request for a 1/4 ton truck came out just before World War Two and one of the company's that responded was Bantam, a vehicle manufacturer which specialized in small cars.  Their introduction was very much like what the MB would become, except it was lighter.

Bantam always felt cheated by the military for not securing the contact, which they really couldn't fulfill.  The company ceased to exist in 1956.

Willys Overland specialized in in "overland" vehicles to start with, and  came up with what was really the best design for the competition, although it was submitted later than Bantam's.

Ford also competed, putting in an entry that was much like Willy's.

Last edition:

World War Two U.S. Motorcycles: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, Dubois Wyoming, Military, Motorcycles, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Transportation, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

World War Two U.S. Motorcycles: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

At one time, decades ago, I know a lot about motorcycle, but that's no longer the case, so I can't really comment that much.

World War Two was the golden age of the US military motorcycle.  Other armies made very extensive use of motorcycles in World War One and World War Two, with the Germans being particularly notable.  The US experimented with motorcycles early on, but they never took off in U.S. use they did in other armies.  The military continues to experiment with them off and on today.

Depicted above is a Harley Davidson WLA.  A Harley Davidson with  a side car is just to its right, but I failed to get a photo of it.

I unfortunately didn't get the data on all three of these motorcycles.  The one on the far right is an Indian, and the one in the middle might be as well.

Last edition:

World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, 4x4, 6x6, Automobiles, Dubois Wyoming, Jeep, Military, Trucks, United States, wepaons, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

The 6x6 2 1/2 ton truck was, in my view, the greatest military implement of World War Two.  It's role in supply troops and logistical support was so significant that it cannot be overestimated, and proved more decisive in the Allied victory than any weapon or weapons system that a person can name.

The General Motors Corporation CCKW, depicted above, was the most common 2 1/2 truck used by the Western Allies.

The American made Studebaker was another example of a 6x6 2 1/2 ton truck, but it was rarely used by the Western Allies.  It was primarily used by the Soviets, without which they frankly would have been significantly horse drawn.

The father of the Dodge Power Wagon, the 1/2 ton truck, a fair number of examples of which can be found in the Rocky Mountain West in spite of the small number produced, was in addition to being too light, too top heavy.

The 3/4 ton WC 52 replaced the WC 40 fairly rapidly in terms of production.  A great 4x4 pickup, it's the direct progenitor of the post war Dodge Power Wagon and the post war M-37, the latter of which remains the best 4x4 truck the U.S. military has every fielded, outside of the HumVee.

The US military fielded an entire series of 6x6 trucks that were heavier than 2 1/2 tons, making the 6x6 picture somewhat confusing.  4 ton and 6 ton examples are depicted above.  Good trucks, there were too many types and after the war the Army settled on 5 ton 6x6 trucks, which were used well into the 2000s.

The WC-63 wsa frankly not a successful truck.  The engine was the same as the WC-52, that being a high compression flat head 6 cyl. While a good engine in its own right, that would be used for decades by Dodge, it was underpowered for this application.

In spite of this, after the war, Dodge made a small number of 6x6 civilian Power Wagons that utilized the same engine.  The Army variant was rapidly phased out of service.

An example of a 6x6 that I didn't know even existed.

The 3/4 ton version of the command car.

This photo features a 3/4 ton Dodge Carryall, a vehicle that would also see a civilian variant after the war.  Also depicted is a M3 half track, which we'll deal with separately, and a Willys MB Jeep, which we will also deal with separately.

Last edition:

World War Two Vehicles in Marine Corps use: National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

Labels: 1940s, 4x4, Army, Automobiles, National Museum of Military Vehicles, United States Marine Corps, Weapons, World War Two