Wednesday, October 25, 1944. The biggest day of the biggest naval battle in history.

The USS St. Lo, the first  U.S. ship to be sunk by a kamikaze during World War Two, moments after being hit.

The heaviest fighting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese effort to draw the U.S. Navy off of support for the invasion of Leyte and to destroy it, occurred.  The Battle  off Samar occurred as part of it.

The first mass use of kamikazes occured as part of the Japanese effort.   The escort carrier USS St. Lo was sunk by kamikazes, the first of 47 ships to be lost to such attacks during the war.

The U.S. escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters during the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944.  Japanese shells are splashing near the USS White Plains (CVE-66) in the background.  A rare example of an aircraft carrier launching aircraft while a surface vessel shells another one.

The Imperial Japanese Navy lost the aircraft carriers Chitose, Chiyoda and Zuikaku, battleships Fusō and Yamashiro, cruisers Chikuma, Chōkai and Suzuya and the destroyers Akizuki, Asagumo, Michishio, Wakaba and Yamagumo.

Lowering the flag on Zuikaku as she sinks.  She was the last of the aircraft carriers that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor still afloat.  Half the crew would survive.

The Americans lost the escort carriers USS Gambier Bay and USS St. Lo and destroyers USS Hoel and USS Johnston. 

The Japanese battleship Yamato and a heavy cruiser at Samar.

The scale of the battle, and the intense fighting it involved, can hardly be imagined today.

The Red Army took the port town of Kirkenes, Norway.

Soviet forces completed clearing the Transylvania region of Romania.

8in howitzer being laid into place in France, October 25, 1944.

The Italian government of Ivanoe Bonomi was recognized.

Dog faces, October 25, 1944.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 24, 1944. Leyte Gulf, day two.

Labels: "Wacht am Rhein", 1940s, 1944, Adolf Hitler, Australian Navy, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle of the Bulge, China Burma India Theater, Imperial Japanese Navy, Kamikaze, Philippines, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Today in World War II History—October 25, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—October 25, 1939 & 1944: 85 Years Ago—Oct. 25, 1939: First main kamikaze attacks occur in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the ground at Leyte, Japanese take attack US ground troops.

Monday, October 25, 1824. Davy Crockett announces for office.

Davy Crockett announced his intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives for Tennesee.

He lost the election.

Last edition:

Monday, October 4, 1824. The first Mexican Constitution.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, law, Mexico

Tuesday, October 25, 1774. Edenton Tea Party

Fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina, met and agreed to uphold the non-importation resolves passed in August 1774 by the North Carolina Provincial Congress in what is known as the Edenton Tea Party.

Last edition:

Friday, October 14, 1774. The Declaration of Resolves.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, First Continental Congress, Intolerable Acts

Saturday, October 25, 1924. Contrasts.

 

Last edition:

Friday, October 24, 1924. Republicans, Monarchs and Fascists.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Belgium, Communism, Fascism, Germany, Ireland, Irish Free State, Monarchy, Romania, United Kingdom

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Back in the Saddle

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Back in the Saddle: The day finally came for me to get literally back in the saddle.  I have hardly ridden a horse this summer. New responsibilities have played...

Small Arms and Light Crew Served Weapons Collection, National Museum of Military Vehicles Dubois Wyoming.

This is a sample of the collection.  The collection is much larger than this.

Tuesday, October 24, 1944. Leyte Gulf, day two.

It was a major day of naval maneuvering off of Leyte Gulf.

The USS Princeton was hit by kamikazes and so badly damaged that it had to be scuttled.  The Japanese destroyer Wakaba was sunk by aircraft from the USS Franklin.  The Musashi was sunk in the Sibuyan Sea by U.S. aircraft.  T he USS Shark was sunk by Japanese warships.  The USS Darter ran aground in the Palawan Strait and was scuttled.

The Japanese prison ship Arisan Maru was sunk in the South China Sea by an American submarine. Only nine of the 1,781 Allied and civilian prisoners of war survived the sinking.

The 1st Cavalry Division landed on Samar.

Martial law was lifted in Hawaii.

The Soviets prevailed in the Riga Offensive.

The British entered Lamia, Greece.

The China Burma India Theatre was divided into the India-Burma Theater and the China Theater.

Hitler announces his intent to launch an offensive in the Ardennes.

Blood plasma refrigeration unit above was mounted on wheeled machine gun mount by enlisted men serving in France with the 1st Army since D-Day. S/Sgt. Homer N. Shrimplin, of Jelloway, Ohio, and Pvt. Frank Bozoyak, of Bordentown, N.J., are hitching the unit to their truck. 24 October, 1944.

Japanese-American infantrymen attend church services outside their billet in France. 24 October, 1944. 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Last edition:

Monday, October 23, 1944. The Largest Naval Battle In History.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Australian Navy, Battle of Leyte Gulf, boats and ships, France, German Kriegsmarine, Imperial Japanese Navy, U.S. Navy, Volkssturm, World War Two

Saturday, October 24, 1874. Domestic terrorists.

 

October 24, 1874 political cartoon by Thomas Nast decrying the alliance between the White League and the Ku Klux Klan in the South.

Last edition:

Monday, September 28, 1874. The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Army, Battle of Palo Dura Canyon, Cheyenne, Comanche, Indian Wars, Kiowa Tribe, Personalities, Ranald Mackenzie, Red River War, Texas

Friday, October 24, 1924. Republicans, Monarchs and Fascists.

Éamon de Valera was arrested in Newry as he arrived at a meeting of the Sinn Féin. He was charged with entering a prohibited area under the Civil Powers Act.

Romanian fascist Iron Guard leader Corneliu Codreanu assassinated Constantin Manciu, the police chief of the city of Iași, and shot several other policemen. 

He would be acquitted on the grounds that he had acted in self-defense, despite entering the meeting and shooting Manciu from behind.

The British Foreign Office released the Zinoviev letter. The letter purported to be a directive from the Soviets addressed to the Communist Party of Great Britain to increase labor unrest in the UK.  A protest was lodged with the Soviet Embassy.

Belgium signed the Geneva Protocol.

Crown Princes Wilhelm of Germany and Rupprecht of Bavaria reconciled.

The Prince of Wales ended his visit to the United States and Canada.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 23, 1924. Beijing Coup.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, China, Chinese Army, Chinese Warlord Era, Ontario, Prohibition, Republic of China

Blog Mirror: Fernando Valenzuela, 1960-2024

 

Fernando Valenzuela, 1960-2024

Blog Mirror: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke on Voting.

As Election Day approaches, many have raised serious moral questions regarding how to vote. Sadly, in our great nation, we confront a situation in which both major political parties espouse certain agenda which are flagrantly contrary to the most fundamental tenets of the moral law, agenda against the inviolable dignity of innocent and defenseless human life, agenda against the integrity of marriage and its fruit, the family, and agenda against the free exercise of the virtue of religion. As Catholics, we should be clear that the moral law is certainly binding for us, but it is, likewise, binding for all men and women because it is written upon the human heart by God. For Catholics, as for all men and women of good will, the question is: In fulfilling our civic duty to vote, how can we be obedient to the law of God written upon our hearts in the present situation of deplorable moral and therefore cultural decline and decay.

In attempting to answer the question of how to vote in good conscience, I refer to the Pastoral Letter, “On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good,” which, as Archbishop of Saint Louis, I published on October 1, 2004. A PDF version of the Pastoral Letter is accessible at the following link:

On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good

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While I recommend the study of the Pastoral Letter, I offer the following indications for the question of how to vote with moral integrity.

1. First and foremost, let us pray and fast for our nation that it will once again serve the good of all its citizens, especially of those who are threatened by the present prevalent anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religion agenda, by obedience to the moral law. Let us pray for the conversion of our national culture from violence and death to peace and life.

If you are not already participating in the Nine-Month Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe – Mary Immaculate, Mother of God and Mother of America – , “Return to Our Lady,” invoking her intercession for the conversion of countless souls in our homes and in our nation to faith in God and obedience to His law, I invite you to join now, especially as we approach Election Day. The prayer of the Nine-Month Novena and spiritual reflections regarding our response to the current moral crisis in our nation can be found at the following site:

Nine-Month Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe

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2. Secondly, we must be abundantly clear and tirelessly steadfast in our opposition to the anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religion agenda which are destroying families, communities, and our nation. No candidate for public office should confuse a vote for him or her as support of the policies and programs of these iniquitous agenda.

Today, there is an urgent need for individuals and associations of individuals to raise the consciousness of the citizens of our nation to the manner in which these agenda threaten the common good, the good of individuals, of families, of local communities, of the nation. We must use all the means of communication at hand to speak to the hearts of our fellow citizens, for God has written on every human heart his law which serves human life, marriage and the family, and the practice of religion.

3. We must study carefully the agenda of each candidate to see whether a candidate, even though he or she espouses morally objectionable programs and policies, will, in some way, limit the evil. If a candidate will, at least, limit the evil, we must support the limitation while insisting on the need to eradicate the evil altogether.

4. We must further consider whether it is reasonable to hope that a candidate in question will, at least, hear the voice of a rightly-formed conscience on questions like procured abortion, sexual reassignment, and religious persecution, that is, whether there is hope that our opposition, as indicated in no. 2, will receive any hearing at all.

While the agenda of both major political parties is so fundamentally objectionable, we must ask ourselves whether there may be some ray of hope to advance the transformation of our national politics in accord with the moral law by voting for a particular candidate.

5. Before the desperate situation of our national politics today, some have concluded that they cannot vote for any candidate, but, if there is even the smallest ray of hope to effect some change in view of effecting ever greater change for the common good, it is not right for us to fail in responding to the ray of hope. Only if no candidate provides any ray of hope of serving, at least in some part, the common good, especially in what pertains to human life, marriage and the family, and the practice of religion, are we justified in not voting at all.

Yes, the present situation of national politics is morally disgusting, but we are a people of hope and can never excuse ourselves from continuing the daily work of seeking the conversion of our personal lives and the transformation of our national culture.

It is my hope that the above indications will help you in fulfilling your duty as a citizen to vote for the candidates who will most support the common good. Be assured of my prayers for you and your homes.

Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE

October 22, 2024 – Feast of Pope Saint John Paul II

Today in World War II History—October 23, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—October 23, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Oct. 23, 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins as Japanese fleet lures the US Third Fleet away from the landing beaches at Leyte in the Philippines.

Last edition:

Today in World War II History—October 22, 1939 & 1944

Labels: 1930s, 1939, 1940s, 1944, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Imperial Japanese Navy, Philippines, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, October 23, 1944. The Largest Naval Battle In History.

The largest naval battle in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, began in the Leyte Gulf with the submarines Darter and DAce sinking the Japanese cruisers Atago and Maya.

The U-985 was irreparably damaged by a mine off of Lista, Norway.

The Provisional Government of the French Republic was recognized by the Allies.

German radio reported great success in raising Volkssturm volunteers.

Japanese-American GIs bring in wounded Jerries in Bruyeres, France. Here, one gets a free ride, probably his last of the war, via the back of one of his comrades. 23 October, 1944.  442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Last edition:

Sunday, October 22, 1944. Smokey Smith.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Leyte, Battle of Memel, Belgium, Canadian Army, Catholic, Christianity, Clothing, Finland, Heroes, Imperial Japanese Navy, Italy, Norway, Philippines, Red Army, religion

Thursday, October 23, 1924. Beijing Coup.

General Feng Yuxiang carried out the Beijing Coup overthrowing President Cao Kun and installing Huang Fu as the new Chinese president.

Ontario's voters rejected a proposal to end prohibition.

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 22, 1924. Toast.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, baseball, Calvin Coolidge, Professional Organizations

Some election predictions.

If I were to predict who would win the election right now, I think it'll be Trump.

I dread the thought of a second Trump term, and I think he was an embarrassment to the nation in his first, but  that would be my guess.

Anyhow. . .

1.  If Trump wins J. D. Vance ends up President in 2026.

If Trump wins, J. D. Vance will end up President in 2026.

Indeed, I think National Conservatives are planning on it.

Trump already sounds really weird a fair amount of the time.  By 2026, he'll be issuing some unmistakably demented proclamations, and his cabinet will declare him unfit to serve.

And then we'll really be off in a new direction.

2.  If Harris wins, the Trumpites won't accept the results

First of all, they'll be violence for sure. Trump is already priming his most fanatic followers for the concept that the 2024 election will be stolen. The Big Lie No. 2.  

And there will be all sorts of challenges to the results.

Once that is all sorted out, Harris won't turn out to be the extreme leftist that's claimed.  She'll probably a about the same, perhaps a bit more effective, than Biden.