Montana Teen Rescues A Drowning Man!

Seventy Five Years Ago, The Bravest Woman

 Miss Housley, "Frankie," was a stewardess for National Airlines.  She was twenty-four years old and had been a stewardess for just four months. Frankie was called on January 13, 1951, and was on Flight 83, a DC-4, from Newark to Philadelphia on the 14th. Just after 2 P.M. they approached Philadelphia. There was a pilot, co-pilot and Frankie as the only crew, with twenty-five passengers. Conditions were near minimum and the runway was covered in ice. The plane went off the end of the runway, bridging a deep ditch and the left wing was torn open, spilling aviation gas. The fire started immediately. Frankie opened the door and saw the ten foot drop to the ground.  She could have left, but went back in the cabin and began bringing people out who weren't making it on their own. She made ten trips taking people to the door and getting them out of the cabin. She went in an eleventh time, and was found later with four month old Brenda Joyce in her arms. There were four other women and another infant who also did not get out. There were 21 survivors. You have to wonder how many people are alive today because of Frankie's bravery that day. She was called The Bravest Woman In America by MacKinlay Kantor and others, and I think that title is still solid today. What a true hero!  She is buried in Lynnhurst Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Vincent Speranza, Gone Two Years...

 

United States Marine Corps' 250th Anniversary

 Monday, November 10, 2025, the Marine Corp will be 250 years old. Fifty years ago in 1975 the Marines planted trees with school kids around the country to commemorate their bi-centennial. I was involved with their project at Pikeville, Kentucky.  You can see that tree project on Google Earth today!  There are white pines on the point behind Pikeville Elementary School visible in the aerial photo and the drive-by on Google Earth.  I would love to go up there and see how those trees are doing.  (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Eighty Years Ago...

 The Iwo Jima invasion was going on eighty years ago right now. I pulled O.T.'s Third Division book off the shelf yesterday to look up where he was, and on March 9, 1945, the 21st Marines, 3rd Division reached the north shore of Iwo, collecting a canteen of seawater to confirm that they had done that. That was one of the few things that he shared about his time on that island.

Jessamyn Harter is running a fine page of Facebook covering Iwo Jima during the eightieth anniversary. I highly recommend that you visit it regularly! CLICK HERE

Fascinating History: Horsa Gliders

 One of the foresters I knew flew a Horsa glider into Normandy on D-Day. It stopped in a hedgerow, breaking one of his legs. He was wounded by machine gun fire when he got out of his glider, and that was the end of the war for him. He was a fascinating man who grew up on a little 40 acre farm in Jefferson County, Illinois, and was well known in the field of conservation.  Look up Sylvan Runkel on the Internet.

Remembering Vincent Speranza On This Veterans' Day

 Vincent Speranza passed this year on August 2. What a fine example of an American hero.

Captain Carr, Tenth Illinois Infantry, 1862, New Madrid, Missouri

We are going back 150 years to see what the Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry regiments were up to.  From Matthew Jamison: " On the  12th of March, 1862, in the evening twilight, our brigade formed and silently moved out from camp, the artillery muffled, and the men cautioned against making unusual noise.  Conversation, when indulged was in undertones.  In the darkness of the moonless night the column moved like an immense serpent winding in and out through the openings of the forest.  I was in the file at the head of our company with Lieutenant Sam Wilson and Captain Carr, whose company (H) preceded us in the column.  That officer was a veteran of the Mexican War, of middle age, who had seen much of the world; was devoted to the service, and kept his men well in hand.  We chatted in low tones as we marched along, Captain Carr admonishing his men at intervals against the clatter of their canteens, or the querulous voice of some man who had difficulty in getting along amicably with his neighbor.  We passed rapidly along in the darkness, and soon debouched upon an open field.  Our engineers and staff officers were at hand and under their guidance we were drawn up in line facing the rebel works; stacked arms; and in the inky darkness found a line of rail-fence, which we lifted bodily, noiselessly,  and extended along our front as a base for a breastwork; then with our trenching tools, working like beavers, we soon had an effective defense against the enemy's siege guns, for at daylight we would be an easy mark for his trained gunners at the rebel fort.  We were now up against the first notable obstruction of the Mississippi south of Cairo, which consisted of a formidable earthwork and siege guns and a line of defense works for infantry, a fleet of gunboats on the river, and the fortifications on Island No. 10 above.  On the left of our line four siege guns were placed in position protected by a still heavier earthwork.  While we were engaged in this work not a shot had been exchanged.  If the rebel pickets heard us, they relied upon their ears rather than upon their rifles for entertainment.  The silence remained unbroken, 'til Captain Carr left his company at their work in the trenches and went out on our front to reconnoitre on his own account.  There was a lane running at right angles to our line of works, and along the "worm" fence the captain stole quietly.  He loved his pipe, and in an unfortunate moment stopped and struck a match! That was the rebel sharp-shooters' opportunity, and in the glare of that little blaze the veteran received a mortal wound.  He was carried to the farm-house near by, where he died shortly afterward.  In the early dawn, our earthworks having been completed, there was  lively exchange of Minie balls, and the gunners in the rebel fort, discovering a big black bunch in the corn-field which they had never seen before, trained some of the best rifled pieces on it and made the morning exercises interesting for Captain Joe Mower and his men.  The captain (later a major-general) in command of our division, and later of our corps, was a fighter, but he was outclassed with his little hunchback of earthwork and four guns against a deliberately built fort of approved pattern"

Many young folks today may not be familiar with the expression "Three On A Match," and probably haven't been around pipe smokers.  The third man lighting a cigarette off of a match was likely to be hit by enemy snipers during WWI.  The above passage illustrates that one man could suffer the same fate if his smoke was a pipe.  I can remember my dad's step-father lighting his pipe when I was a little tyke.  A pipe is rather dramatic when it is being fired up with an Ohio Blue Tip match.  Every draw pulls the flame down into the bowl, and then the flame flares up big and bright before the next puff.  Captain Carr learned the hard way that you can't do that in front of soldiers armed with rifled muskets.  It was a sad end to an experienced veteran of the Mexican War.  During that war, muskets were smooth bores, and the Captain may have gotten away with taunting the enemy while lighting up at night.  I bet that no-one in the Tenth and Sixteenth regiments repeated his mistake during the next three years of war.

A Brief Reading From Ernie Pyle

 I always like to pull Ernie Pyle from the bookshelf on Veterans' Day and reflect a bit on the experiences of World War II vets. Here is a brief excerpt from Ernie's time at Anzio. It's not the stuff of movies or war novels, but it's real. From Hospital Ship in Brave Men, (At Anzio) "Once out there we had to lie off and wait for an hour or so while other LCTs finished unloading their wounded. As we lay at anchor, the officer in charge decided to transfer the walking wounded off another LCT onto ours. So it drew alongside, threw a line, and the two ships came against each other. The slightly wounded and sick men jumped across whenever the ships hit together. 

A heavy swell was running and the ships would draw a few feet apart and then come together with a terrific bang. It was punishing to the wounded men. I stood among them, and every time we hit they would shut their eyes and clench their teeth. 

One man, nearly covered with a cast, looked at me pleadingly and said, "Don't those blankety-blank so and sos know there are men here who are badly hurt?"

Occasionally shells screamed across the town and exploded in the water in our vicinity. The wounded men didn't cringe or pay any attention to this near danger, but the pounding of the ships together made them wild."

Veterans'/Armistice/Remembrance Day

 If you haven't heard Vincent J. Speranza's story, now is the time to fix that!

Raul Mendez: You Probably Did Not Hear His Name In The News

Cover Them Over...

 Cover them over with beautiful flowers, Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours, Lying so silent by night and by day Sleeping the years of their manhood away. Give them the meed they have won in the past; Give them the honors their future forcast; Give them the chaplets they won in the strife; Give them the laurels they lost with their life.

Another History Changing Raid, Eighty Years Ago...

 The St. Nazaire Raid rendered the German battleship Tirpitz impotent. This raid was planned hurriedly, and was made just three weeks before the Doolittle raid on Tokyo.

Doolittle Raid On Tokyo, Eighty Years Ago

 We missed this anniversary by just a week. The raid was done on April 18, 1942. This documentary, narrated by Gary Sinise, breaks it all down for us.

Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning? Alan Jackson

Seventy Years Ago, Mary Frances Housley Was Called To Work

Miss Housley, "Frankie," was a stewardess for National Airlines.  She was twenty-four years old and had been a stewardess for just four months. Frankie was called on January 13, 1951, and was on Flight 83, a DC-4, from Newark to Philadelphia on the 14th. Just after 2 P.M. they approached Philadelphia. There was a pilot, co-pilot and Frankie as the only crew, with twenty-five passengers. Conditions were near minimum and the runway was covered in ice. The plane went off the end of the runway, bridging a deep ditch and the left wing was torn open, spilling aviation gas. The fire started immediately. Frankie opened the door and saw the ten foot drop to the ground.  She could have left, but went back in the cabin and began bringing people out who weren't making it on their own. She made ten trips taking people to the door and getting them out of the cabin. She went in an eleventh time, and was found later with four month old Brenda Joyce in her arms. There were four other women and another infant who also did not get out. There were 21 survivors. You have to wonder how many people are alive today because of Frankie's bravery that day. She was called The Bravest Woman In America by MacKinlay Kantor and others, and I think that title is still solid today. What a true hero!  She is buried in Lynnhurst Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee.

George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

 "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789." G. Washington

My Buddy, Frederic Fradkin

Tuesday Torque: Charles Mohrle, WW II Fighter Pilot...

He flew P-47s.  2000 Horsepower.  That qualifies for a Torque post!  You are going to love this visit with a great man.

We Remember...

...Lloyd Bentrup, the uncle we never knew, mortally wounded July 24, 1944 as he served on the USS Colorado.

Buried at St. Joseph, Missouri with a brother and his parents.

His Mother's flowers still honor his memory.