Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Thursday, July 3, 1924. Linking electricity.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover submitted a paper before the World Power Conference in London urging American power plants to be linked together to save energy.

Hoover was, legitimately, a genius.

Oath taking ceremony, Citizens Military Training Camp, Camp Meade, Md., 7/3/24.

Citizens Military Training Camps were part of a Federal program that offered basic military instruction to civilians who were not part of the Army's reserve system, which principally consisted of the National Guard. First authorized in 1921, they continued through 1940.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 1, 1924. Airmail.


Friday, July 3, 1874. Writing to Ft. Abraham Lincoln.

 . . Yesterday was a hard day on the trains. The recent rains had so softened the ground that the heavily-loaded wagons sunk to the hubs, and instead of getting in camp by noon as we expected, one battalion did not get in until after dark. But we had a good dinner, and every one is feeling well this morning. I am making a late start in order to give the mules a chance to graze.

I send you by bearer a young curlew, as a playmate to the wild-goose. Should it live, its wings had better be clipped. Grasshoppers are its principal diet.

Our mess is a great success. Last night, notwithstanding the late hour at which we reached camp, Johnson, our new colored cook, had hot biscuit, and this morning hot cakes and biscuit. We will not be over twenty or twenty-five miles from the post to-night. The men are standing around waiting to take down the tents, so I must say good-bye.

George A. Custer to Libby Custer, on this day in 1874

Last edition:

Thursday, July 2, 1874. The Black Hills Expedition Departs

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Somehow, we sort of ended up back here.

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Sunday, July 2, 1944. Plots in motion and the SS Jean Nicolet

The I-8 sank the SS Jean Nicolet, a liberty ship, and then engaged in what can only be the torture and murder of its survivors.  The atrocities were interrupted by Allied aircraft, allowing some men to survive as the I 8 dived away.

The I-8 had been involved in a prior atrocity.  It would be sunk near the end of the war.

Not too surprisingly, Gerd von Rundstedt was relieved of command and replaced by Günther von Kluge as Oberbefehlshaber West . The day prior, von Rundstedt had expressed the situation in the war as hopeless.   Additionally, on this day, he sought permission from Hitler to withdraw from the present German lines.

It wasn't the first time he'd been relieved, and he would be brought back.

The replacement would be a bit ironic in that von Kluge participated in the July 20 plot.

Concerning that, the prior day, July 1, Claus von Stauffenberg was appointed Chief of Staff to General Fromm at the Reserve Army headquarters.  The appointment meant that he would be in close proximity to Hitler frequently.

The British 8th Army captured Foiano, Italy.

U.S. and Australian troops landed on Numfoor Island, New Guinea.

The U-543 was sunk off of Tenerife by aircraft.

An interesting issue of Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—July 2, 1944

Fighting continued on Saipan, with the Japanese withdrawing to their last defensive line.


US ace and former member of the RCAF Ralph K. Hofer was killed in action over Budapest.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 1, 1944. Bretton Woods.

Labels: 

Thursday, July 2, 1874. The Black Hills Expedition Departs


Today In Wyoming's History: July 2:  1874  7th Cavalry left Ft. Abraham Lincoln to scout the Black Hills.

The 7th Cavalry, with a number of native scouts, left Ft. Abraham Lincoln bound for the Black Hills in what is recalled as the Black Hills Expedition.

The expedition was economic in part, in that it was to look for gold in the Black Hills, and military in part, in that it was to look for suitable fort locations.  Its organization was as follows:

The table of organization for the 7th Cavalry for the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 was as follows.[15]

Field and staff officers:

Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, 7th Cavalry.

Lt. Colonel Frederick D. Grant, 4th Cavalry and acting aide

Major George A. Forsyth, 9th Cavalry commander

First Lieutenant James Calhoun, 7th Cavalry adjutant

First Lieutenant Algernon E. Smith, quartermaster

Second Lieutenant George D. Wallace, commander of Indian scouts

Cavalry companies

Company A - Captain Myles Moylan and Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum

Company B - First Lieutenant Benjamin H. Hodgson

Company C - Captain Verling Hart and Second Lieutenant Henry M. Harrington

Company E - First Lieutenant Thomas M. McDougall

Company F - Captain George W. Yates

Company G - First Lieutenant Donald McIntosh

Company H - Captain Frederick W. Benteen and First Lieutenant Francis M. Gibson

Company K - Captain Owen Hale and First Lieutenant Edward S. Godfrey

Company L - First Lieutenant Thomas W. Custer

Company M - Captain Thomas French and First Lieutenant Edward Gustave Mathey

Medical staff

Dr. John W. Williams, chief medical officer

Dr. S. J. Allen, Jr. assistant surgeon

Dr. A. C. Bergen, assistant surgeon

Engineering

Captain William Ludlow, chief engineer

W. H. Wood, civilian assistant

Mining detachment

Horatio Nelson Ross

William McKay

Scientist

George Bird Grinnell

Newton Horace Winchell

A. B. Donaldson

Luther North

Photographer

William H. Illingworth

Correspondents

William E. Curtis, Chicago Inter-Ocean

Samuel J. Barrows, New York Tribune

Sygurd Wiśniowski, New Ulm Herald

Nathan H. Knappen, Bismarck Tribune

Last edition:

Saturday, June 27, 1874. The Second Battle of Adobe Walls

Monday, July 1, 2024

"Conclusive and preclusive."

We thus conclude that the President is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for conduct within his exclusive sphere of constitutional authority. 

But of course not all of the President’s official acts fall within his “conclusive and preclusive” authority. 

Trump v. United States, which was just issued. 

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Saturday, July 1, 1944. Bretton Woods.

Morgenthau opening conference.

Delegates from forty-four nations met at the secluded Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to participate in the Bretton Woods Conference. The conference met to establish the post-war economic order and was one of the most significant events of the 20th Century.

Henry Morgenthau was the chief U.S. delegate to the conference, and was rapidly elected its presiding officer.  Harry Dexter White, who was a Soviet spy, was the chief US delegate in fact and a major factor in the resulting plans.

The II SS Panzer Corps attacked British positions around Caen but was repulsed.  Gerd von Rundstedt phoned Berlin to report the failure to which Chief of Staff Wilhelm Keitel purportedly asked, "What shall we do?", to which Rundstedt replied, "Make peace, you fools! What else can you do?"

The U.S. 133d Infantry Regiment captured Cicina, Italy.

The Red Army took Borisov.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Public Health Service Act and the Renunciation Act of 1944.  The latter allowed people physically present in the U.S. to renounce citizenship when the country was at war.  It required an application to the Attorney General of the United States in order to do so.

The act sought to have Japanese Americans do that very thing, sot hey could later be deported to Japan.  A total of 5,589 American citizens availed themselves of the act, 5,461 coming from the Tule Lake Segregation Center.  Many came to regret their decision, and some of the renunciations were reversed.

Internees at Tule Lake.

Formation of the anti-Soviet Lithuanian Partisans occured.

Partisans in 1947.

They'd fight on after World War Two.

Anti Soviet Estonian Forest Brothers re formed on the same day.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 1, 1924. Airmail.



Regular U.S airmail commenced with a fully established Transcontinental Airway System at New York City; Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; Cleveland and Bryan, Ohio; Chicago; Iowa City; Omaha and North Platte, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Rawlins and Rock Springs, Wyoming; Salt Lake City; Elko and Reno; and San Francisco.

President Coolidge held a press conference:

Press Conference, July 1, 1924

Japan held a national day of protest over the new US immigration act.

Last edition:

Monday, June 30, 1924. Teapot Grand Jury comes in.

Saturday, July 1, 1899. "Birth" of Indiana Jones.

According to George Lucas, this is the birthdate for his fictional character, Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.

Last edition:

Friday, June 30, 1899. Safe passage for Spanish troops at Baler.

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Monday at the Bar: The Tiresome Claim that Pro-Life Legal Measures Violate the Establishment Clause

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Sunday, June 30, 2024

The Aerodrome: AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Na...

The Aerodrome: AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Na...:

AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Natrona County International Airport.

I heard them flying over downtown and looked up and saw them flying, but didn't notice the Japanese markings.  After realizing what they were, I went out the next day and to see if they were still there, and they were.

These are the SNJ's that were altered and remodeled to closely resemble Japanese Navy A6M's (Zeroes) and Nakajima B5N's (Kates) for the 1970s movie Tora! Tora! Tora!.  The resemblance to the Japanese aircraft is truly remarkable.


The Commemorative Air Force maintains and flies this team of aircraft today, preserving the excellent replica work done for the film.

In this instance, these aircraft were on their way to an airshow in Salt Lake City.

AT-6 in original markings.

AT-6 alte4red to resemble B5N.






SNJ rebuilt to resemble A6M.





The Work Truck Blog: 1955-59 GMC Pickup Truck.

The Work Truck Blog: 1955-59 GMC Pickup Truck.:  

1955-59 GMC Pickup Truck.


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Catholic Cowboy

Friday, June 30, 1944. Epsom halted.

After a night in which German positions were pounded by Allied aircraft, Gen. Montgomery brings Operation Epsom to a halt.

By this point, the Western Allies had landed 630,000 troops in Normandy, and sustained 10% casualties.


The US broke diplomatic relations with Finland.

Sarah Sundin notes that Biak was secured:

Monday, June 30, 1924. Teapot Grand Jury comes in.

The chips were falling in the Teapot Dome Scandal.


President Álvaro Obregón of Mexico announced that Mexico was suspending further payments to the International Committee of Bankers on Mexico (ICBM), abrogating the De la Huerta–Lamont Treaty of 1922.

Calvin Coolidge Jr, age 16, played a tennis match at hte White House in which he wore shoes, but no socks, causing him to have a toe blister.

Now, that wouldn't matter.

Then, as events will show, it did.

Dutch Jewish poet Jacob Israël de Haan was assassinated in Jerusalem by the Avraham Tehomi who was acting upon  orders from the Haganah.  Israël de Haan was opposed to Zionism and had friendly contacts with Arab leaders.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 28, 1924. Retrograde.

Friday, June 30, 1899. Safe passage for Spanish troops at Baler.

In a somewhat bizarre episode of the Spanish American War/Philippine Insurrection, on this day in 1899, the Spanish soldiers at Baler, who had held out for a year in a fortified church, were recognized as friend of the Filipino people and granted safe conduct.

A film about this event was earlier reviewed by us here:

1898:  Our Last Men In the Philippines

Baler had been under siege from June 26, 1898, until June 2, 1899, which exceeded the period of time during which Spain was at war with the United States. The troops under siege had not realized that Spain had departed, and when informed, they refused to believe it and kept fighting.  Ultimately, the besieging Filipinos became concerned for the garrison and began to supply it with food, beverages and cigarettes.  An American expedition to relieve the garrison was launched and failed.

Finally, on June 2, 1899, the garrison surrendered.

The surviving Spanish troops upon their return to Spain.

The Spanish troops were lauded by Aguinaldo, but two Franciscan Priests who had been at the church, Fr. Félix Minaya and Fr. Juan López, plus a captured Yorktown seaman, George Arthur Venville, were kept as prisoners.  The priests were freed when the US occupied the town on June 3, 1900 but Venville was executed by Filipino tribesmen.

Last edition

Monday, June 26, 1899. Birth of Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.