Yeah, one of my grandfathers was at Normandy and the other on Guadalcanal. The one on Guadalcanal was a staff sergeant with an army artillery battery of 105 mm howitzers attached to the 1st Marine Division. He never talked about it much as he often had to take count of the enemy's casualties and saw some pretty bad stuff. One evening, because the snipers were so bad, he crawled out of his tent to use the bathroom and a mortar shell hit the tent while he was out. I have his overnight kit that was scorched as a result. He ultimately came down with a severe case of malaria. One of my wife's grandfathers was in the Navy prior to WWII. When the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, they also attacked the island he was on. He and 250 men surrendered without a fight as they had no weapons. He spent the entirety of the war as a POW. He typed out a 4-page description of his time a few years later. Said that his group was not treated badly. Only a few died but many went crazy. He said he had a very difficult time becoming acclimated to society again because he had learned to live like an animal. Many of his fellow captives committed suicide upon their return to the states.
I had a relative that faced similar problems upon his return, although his treatment was something you wouldn't believe in a movie. I've only heard through the grapevine how he was treated. He was captured in the Philippines and sent to Japan to work in the coal mines. The men that returned couldn't deal with the constant questioning and discussion about how "grateful" people were for their sacrifices. Some committed suicide, others like my relative, just did everything in their power to live away from society.
Meaning treated better than most American prisoners. Plus, this particular man was about the furthest thing from a pussy you could ever meet. He was tough as hell. He probably would not have admitted that it was hard on him because he would view that as weakness.
Yeah, wife's grandfather lived out on a farm in the middle of nowhere North Carolina. He was a forced laborer but was not beaten or tortured. Came back weighing a little over a 100 lbs.
I've heard a few times the Soviets made it to the moon first but the lander crashed into the moon, killing the cosmonauts.
That's awesome as hell. Those Japs were a proud and tough bunch. Watching them finally have to admit that they were no match for the USA, that their island was not protected by a divine wind, that their emperor was not a god, and that from now on whenever we look their way they will be looking down submissively, had to be awesome.
Have heard it all my life. And I can promise that AU guy that that one is not one of the "few last standing" ones around. Maybe in Alabama but the woods is full of them around here.
P sure we'd have seen the wreckage also, unless they sent another crew up there to successfully land on the moon, clean up the wreck, and never say anthing about it.
you say American rockets? Von Braun in this mothafucker NASA source, he is "without doubt, the greatest rocket scientist in history. His crowning achievement ... was to lead the development of the Saturn V booster rocket that helped land the first men on the Moon in July 1969." http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/vonBraun/
Probably already posted, and probably most of you already know if you like history, but here are a few awesome pics Then-CIA Chief George HW Bush chillin with General Manuel Noriega. By the time Panama was invaded in 1989, Noriega had been a CIA asset for 22 years. He was paid between $100k and $200k a year to basically give intelligence on other Latin American states. He was a well-known drug trafficker. Bush Sr didn't even want to invade but he had to look tough because Bob Dole connected Bush's relationship with Noriega to being soft on drugs, which obviously couldn't fly because this was around the height of the idiotic War on Drugs hysteria. Ronald Reagan hosting Mujahideen leaders. These guys now shoot the Stinger missiles we gave them at our helicopter pilots. Reagan and Mubutu. He embezzled something like $5 billion from Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo). He more or less played the anti-communist card to get IMF funding and then just pocketed it. He was relatively brutal. In 1992 he had troops gun down about a dozen peaceful protesters who were marching with rosaries and Bibles. Kissinger and Augosto Pinochet. Pinochet is as brutal as they come. He and Saddam would get along nicely. He was Kissinger's guy and his coup was backed, funded, and organized by the CIA. His troops attacked the presidential palace with tanks and the extremely popular (and socialist) President Salvadore Allende committed suicide *allegedly* during the attack. Pinochet is infamous for "disappearing" political dissidents and other typical targets of paranoid dictators. Obama and Muammar Gaddaffi (Libya). He's strafing protesting crowds with jets and sending tanks after civilians to put down insurrection. Enough said. Obama and Hosni Mubarak (Egypt). "If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear — never to see them again - you send them to Egypt." -CIA case officer Bob Baer. Mubarak is rumored to be worth around $70 billion.
Awesome pics Pesci. Could you recommend a book or two to get started learning stuff about the CIA like this?
Don't know if already posted but this is a video of the bat bomb. The Bat Bomb They would attach small incendiary bombs to the bottom of these bats, they would release these bomb casings filled with these "bat bombs" that would come apart on it's way down and release the bats right above these Japanese towns. The bats would then seek shelter in the attics of the Japanese houses which were very flammable and cause devastation. Since it wasn't ready to use until the end of the war, it was only used once one Japan before the A-bombs were dropped.
I love Patton stuff. I was watching this show the other night on the first black tank division in WW2. They were somewhere in Europe when Patton gave them a visit. He said something along the lines of " I don't give a damn what color you are. I only have the best in my army and if you kill every kraut eating son of a bitch you see, then you are good enough for me."
I read Legacy of Ashes about the CIA awhile ago and I thought it was good until I had these two assigned for one of my classes last term. These are really, really good: -Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II by William Blum. Blum is an anti-imperialist to give a sense of where he's coming from, but the book is exhaustively researched. Full of references if you care to check them. -Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA by John Prados. Prados is a historian at the National Security Archive and a former CIA intelligence analyst I'm pretty sure (I know he worked for the CIA). His job is basically to read official CIA and US military documents all day and make sense of them.
Just had to read "Ghost Wars" for one of my polisci classes. Its a class on terrorism/counterterrorism. It is the best class. Had to read the book for my research paper on the rise of Al-qaeda and the failure of the CIA to stop bin Laden. Its long, but it is a mindfuck.
"Dear Margie, I'm sending you something from the war. Keep an eye on your mail and when you get it, just set it on your desk and think of me." "Thanks?"
Ark I checked it out from the library haha, but I'm about to turn it back in though. You'd thoroughly enjoy it.
First one did not have the ceremony necessary. Interesting point though, the heart made it though both burnings, albeit as a lump of charcoal.
That was the name of the album too (first one), and honestly I figured everyone in this thread would know that except you. Good job I will now answer a question about albums from the 60s if you wish
I am old not dead, was a controversial album and not just for the cover. OK, I will not go back too far. What song, now an iconic rock phase, was released as a single, bombed, was not part the original album release, took off when the BBC banned it, then later added on the re-release. Hints, Britain, & 1970"s.
There is a relationship between this Singer & his Band to the Clash, similarities in genre, but it is not the Clash. And London Calling is not an iconic phase, or at least of this magnitude. Another hint, Dazed and Confused is a song & iconic phrase, although there is not an absolute relationship between the song and the intent of the phrase today.
I have not read that book, but I have read the original newspaper articles it came from. I was so fucking shocked when I first heard about that. Could not believe that happened and people just forgot all about it. Excellent post
i am not sure if this has been posted or not, but i thought it was pretty cool. not technically a picture but whatever http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/04/08/134597833/cosmonaut-crashed-into-earth-crying-in-rage
I was thinking it was a Black Sabbath but I don't think any of their songs. Maybe God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols? I know that pissed a lot of people off
No, you are in the right genre, but thinking of too big a name group, specially in the US. Was part of the Punk/New Wave bands in England, but popularity was mainly in England, very highly regarded critically. The album is in the list of Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums, and England's 100 greatest albums, very underrated band & singer. Explain? Think of a phrase iconic to Rock & Roll fans at a young age, the band will follow from the phrase. May need a google though.