Good Morning and God Bless Everyone !
Today is December 13, the 347th day of 2013 and there are 18 days left this year.
It is yet another beautiful and blessed day here in our work for the Lord at:
For God’s Glory Alone Ministries !!!
Another chilly day here in Albuquerque where we were suppose to have an inch of snow on the ground this morning but it’s arrival seems to have been delayed a bit.
Today is a little interesting for me as one of the items in today’s history involves a ship in the U.S. Navy I was stationed on for over 4 years during my career, the USS Nashville. The original USS Nashville (CL43), was attacked in WWII by Japanese kamikaze’s. She was a light cruiser back then but was later replaced by an amphibious warship, (LPD13), note the date & the number – interesting, which is what I was stationed on. The original Nashville won 10 Battle Stars in WWII and participated in the infamous Doolittle raid in 1942. In the course of her duties in WWII she sank two Japanese warships and actually took the 2nd & 3rd Japanese POW’s of the war. Funny how ‘things in history’ tie directly to us sometimes.
So, What Happened Today In 1974:
North Vietnamese General Tran Van Tra orders 7th Division and the newly formed 3rd Division to attack Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon.
This attack represented an escalation in the “cease-fire war” that started shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The North Vietnamese wanted to see how Saigon and Washington reacted to a major attack so close to Saigon. President Richard Nixon and his successor, Gerald Ford, had promised to come to the aid of South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese launched a major attack. With Nixon’s resignation and Ford facing an increasingly hostile Congress, Hanoi was essentially conducting a “test” attack to see if the U.S. would honor its commitment to Saigon. The attack was much more successful than the North Vietnamese anticipated: the South Vietnamese soldiers fought poorly and the U.S. did nothing.
The communists overran the last South Vietnamese positions in Phuoc Long on January 6, 1975. Emboldened by their success and by the American passivity, the North Vietnamese leadership decided that it was time to launch a major offensive. The next attack was launched in March, with Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands as the initial objective. Once again, the South Vietnamese forces were largely ineffective and the U.S. failed to respond. When the North Vietnamese intensified their efforts, the South Vietnamese, feeling abandoned by the United States, collapsed totally in just 55 days. On April 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the presidential palace and the South Vietnamese surrendered unconditionally.
Other Memorable Or Interesting Events Occurring On December 13 In History:
1577 – English seaman Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth England. Drake was the 1st captain to sail his own ship all the way around the world. Ferdinand Magellan’s ship had completed this before but Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines before his ship’s return home;
1636 – Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes 3 militia regiments to defend against the Pequot Indians. The organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard;
1642 – Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes 1st European explorer to sight South Pacific island group now known as New Zealand;
1774 – 1st incident of American Revolution when 400 attack Fort William & Mary, New Hampshire;
1776 – American General Charles Lee leaves his army in search of female sociability at Widow White’s Tavern in Basking Ridge, NJ and is captured by British forces on December 15;
1843 – “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is published;
1862 – Confederate General Lee’s army repulses a series of attacks by Union General Burnside at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The defeat was one of the most decisive loses for the union army;
1916 – Avalanche in WWI kills hundreds of Austrian troops in a barracks near Italy’s Mt. Marmolada. Over a period of 7 days an estimated 10,000 Austrian and Italian troops were killed in the alps by avalanches;
1918 – President Woodrow Wilson arrives in France to take part in WWI peace negotiations;
1925 – The quintessential “Nice Guy” actor Dick Van Dyke is born in West Plains, Missouri;
1937 – During Sino-Japanese war, Chinese capital of Nanking falls to Japanese forces. Japanese General Matsui ordered the city to be destroyed. The city was burned and an estimated 150,000 male ‘war prisoners’ were butchered along with 50,000 male civilians. At lease 20,000 women & girls of all ages were raped, then mutilated or killed. After WWII, Matsui was found guilty of war crimes & was executed;
1942 – German Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels expresses his contempt of Italians lax treatment of Jews in both Tunis & occupied France;
1944 – In WWII, USS Nashville, (CL43), is badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack killing 138 crewmembers;
1951 – John S Service is dismissed from the State Department following questionable investigations by Senator McCarthy into accused communist sympathizers. His, and others, dismissals assisted in a serious underestimation of China’s political investment in North Korea and Vietnam indirectly resulting in the military conflicts in both those countries;
1966 – U.S. forces bomb Hanoi Vietnam for the 1st time;
1972 – Vietnam peace negotiations deemed ‘deadlocked’ after a 6 hour meeting between North Vietnam’s negotiator Le Duc Tho & National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger;
2000 – Al Gore concedes the presidential election to Texas Governor George W Bush following numerous recount issues and a Supreme Court decision on the matter;
2003 – Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. forces. He was later found guilty of ‘crimes against humanity’ and was hanged in 2006;
2010 – In China, a 2,400-year-old ‘pot of soup’ is discovered near the countries ancient capital of Xi’am.
Today’s Inspirational Music Video:
You are awesome in this place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmESDqq6Axw
Today’s Founder’s Quote:
“A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.” –Alexander Hamilton, Essay in the American Daily Advertiser, 1794
Today’s Political Quote:
“Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” – George Orwell
Today’s Funny Bulldog:
Today’s I Wonder Why:
Why do supermarkets and pharmacy’s make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes and liquor at the front?
Today’s Faithful Thought:
Words that do not give the light of Christ, increase the darkness. – Mother Teresa
Today’s Word Of The Day:
Hermetic – is an adjective, and it is used to described something made airtight by fusion or sealing. It can also be used more broadly to indicate anything isolated from external factors. The adverb is hermetically.
Today’s Funny Headline:
“Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges” (You mean there’s something stronger than Duct Tape?)
Today’s Did You Know:
Early aircraft throttles had a ball on the end of it. In order to go full throttle to take off the pilot had to push the throttle all the way forward to the instrument panel. Hence, “balls to the wall” for going very fast.
Today’s Do You Remember What These Are For:
Placed inside a ‘cap gun’ and when fired it sounds like a real gun; (yes they were legal when I was a child).
Today’s Inspirational Thought:
UNTIL TOMORROW – GOD BLESS TO ALL !!!
