Wednesday Windage: Revolutionary Rifle Tactics

 We never heard about this in history classes.  Disney ran a short series about the Swamp Fox back around 1960. I doubt it was an accurate portrayal, and I don't remember any of the episodes, sixty six years after!  Here's History Underground.

Changing Everything!

Click The Pic for fascinating history. Back To The Old Grind!

 

Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10, 1975

 

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.)

Iwo Jima Holdouts

 

Japanese Sword Information?

Susan's father brought this Japanese sword home from Guam, where he fought in 1944. Do any of our readers know how to decipher the markings? We know only a little from doing an internet search, and it is probably information to date the blade. The oxidation makes me think that it may be an old blade, and not war production. 

UPDATE: Detail Photos of Blade

 

Nagasaki Suffered, Too. History We've Never Heard

 

August 6, 1945, City Of Death, History Underground

Bill Whittle On The Atomic Bombs

Tinian, The Forgotten Invasion, From The History Guy

 

Susan's father, O.T. Bentrup, was fighting on Guam at the time. O.T.'s brother Lloyd Bentrup, serving on the U.S.S. Colorado, was mortally wounded and evacuated to Saipan, where he passed a week later.

Weekend Steam: First Passenger Train To Russell Springs, Kansas

First passenger train to Russell Springs, Kansas, July 4, 1911. Regular passenger service began August 1. The population of Russell Springs is now down to about 24 souls. Here is a website that makes this a worthwhile side trip if we ever go out through northwest Kansas.  Lots of little boom towns all over the country are disappearing. Look quick if you have some in your neighborhood.  CLICK

 

One Hundred Sixty Years Ago...

 

April 19, 1775...

 The revolution began 250 years ago today. The shot heard 'round the World.

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

The Seabees On Iwo Jima

This video documentary grabbed my attention because O.T.'s brother Maurice was in the Seabees, and they actually got to meet up on Guadalcanal for a brief visit. 

Robert Service Favorites For Armistice Day....

 Performed by Country Joe McDonald.

Plus, a bonus Robert W. Service poem for you to read.

The Odyssey of 'Erbert 'Iggins

 Me and Ed and a stretcher
 Out on the nootral ground.
 (If there's one dead corpse, I'll betcher
 There's a 'undred smellin' around.)
 Me and Eddie O'Brian,
 Both of the R. A. M. C.
 "It's a 'ell of a night
 For a soul to take flight,"
 As Eddie remarks to me.
 Me and Ed crawlin' 'omeward,
 Thinkin' our job is done,
 When sudden and clear,
 Wot do we 'ear:
 'Owl of a wounded 'Un.

 "Got to take 'im," snaps Eddy;
 "Got to take all we can.
 'E may be a Germ
 Wiv the 'eart of a worm,
 But, blarst 'im! ain't 'e a man?"
 So 'e sloshes out fixin' a dressin'
 ('E'd always a medical knack),
 When that wounded 'Un
 'E rolls to 'is gun,
 And 'e plugs me pal in the back.

 Now what would you do? I arst you.
 There was me slaughtered mate.
 There was that 'Un
 (I'd collered 'is gun),
 A-snarlin' 'is 'ymn of 'ate.
 Wot did I do?  'Ere, whisper . . .
 'E'd a shiny bald top to 'is 'ead,
 But when I got through,
 Between me and you,
 It was 'orrid and jaggy and red.

 "'Ang on like a limpet, Eddy.
 Thank Gord! you ain't dead after all."
 It's slow and it's sure and it's steady
 (Which is 'ard, for 'e's big and I'm small).
 The rockets are shootin' and shinin',
 It's rainin' a perishin' flood,
 The bullets are buzzin' and whinin',
 And I'm up to me stern in the mud.
 There's all kinds of 'owlin' and 'ootin';
 It's black as a bucket of tar;
 Oh, I'm doin' my bit,
 But I'm 'avin' a fit,
 And I wish I was 'ome wiv Mar.

 "Stick on like a plaster, Eddy.
 Old sport, you're a-slackin' your grip."
 Gord!  But I'm crocky already;
 My feet, 'ow they slither and slip!
 There goes the biff of a bullet.
 The Boches have got us for fair.
 Another one—WHUT!
 The son of a slut!
 'E managed to miss by a 'air.
 'Ow!  Wot was it jabbed at me shoulder?
 Gave it a dooce of a wrench.
 Is it Eddy or me
 Wot's a-bleedin' so free?
 Crust! but it's long to the trench.
 I ain't just as strong as a Sandow,
 And Ed ain't a flapper by far;
 I'm blamed if I understand 'ow
 We've managed to get where we are.
 But 'ere's for a bit of a breather.
 "Steady there, Ed, 'arf a mo'.
 Old pal, it's all right;
 It's a 'ell of a fight,
 But are we down-'earted?  No-o-o."

 Now war is a funny thing, ain't it?
 It's the rummiest sort of a go.
 For when it's most real,
 It's then that you feel
 You're a-watchin' a cinema show.
 'Ere's me wot's a barber's assistant.
 Hey, presto!  It's somewheres in France,
 And I'm 'ere in a pit
 Where a coal-box 'as 'it,
 And it's all like a giddy romance.
 The ruddy quick-firers are spittin',
 The 'eavies are bellowin' 'ate,
 And 'ere I am cashooly sittin',
 And 'oldin' the 'ead of me mate.
 Them gharstly green star-shells is beamin',
 'Ot shrapnel is poppin' like rain,
 And I'm sayin':  "Bert 'Iggins, you're dreamin',
 And you'll wake up in 'Ampstead again.
 You'll wake up and 'ear yourself sayin':
 'Would you like, sir, to 'ave a shampoo?'
 'Stead of sheddin' yer blood
 In the rain and the mud,
 Which is some'ow the right thing to do;
 Which is some'ow yer 'oary-eyed dooty,
 Wot you're doin' the best wot you can,
 For 'Ampstead and 'ome and beauty,
 And you've been and you've slaughtered a man.
 A feller wot punctured your partner;
 Oh, you 'ammered 'im 'ard on the 'ead,
 And you still see 'is eyes
 Starin' bang at the skies,
 And you ain't even sorry 'e's dead.
 But you wish you was back in your diggin's
 Asleep on your mouldy old stror.
 Oh, you're doin' yer bit, 'Erbert 'Iggins,
 But you ain't just enjoyin' the war."

 "'Ang on like a hoctopus, Eddy.
 It's us for the bomb-belt again.
 Except for the shrap
 Which 'as 'it me a tap,
 I'm feelin' as right as the rain.
 It's my silly old feet wot are slippin',
 It's as dark as a 'ogs'ead o' sin,
 But don't be oneasy, my pippin,
 I'm goin' to pilot you in.
 It's my silly old 'ead wot is reelin'.
 The bullets is buzzin' like bees.
 Me shoulder's red-'ot,
 And I'm bleedin' a lot,
 And me legs is on'inged at the knees.
 But we're staggerin' nearer and nearer.
 Just stick it, old sport, play the game.
 I make 'em out clearer and clearer,
 Our trenches a-snappin' with flame.
 Oh, we're stumblin' closer and closer.
 'Ang on there, lad!  Just one more try.
 Did you say:  Put you down?  Damn it, no, sir!
 I'll carry you in if I die.
 By cracky! old feller, they've seen us.
 They're sendin' out stretchers for two.
 Let's give 'em the hoorah between us
 ('Anged lucky we aren't booked through).
 My flipper is mashed to a jelly.
 A bullet 'as tickled your spleen.
 We've shed lots of gore
 And we're leakin' some more,
 But—wot a hoccasion it's been!
 Ho!  'Ere comes the rescuin' party.
 They're crawlin' out cautious and slow.
 Come!  Buck up and greet 'em, my 'earty,
 Shoulder to shoulder—so.
 They mustn't think we was down-'earted.
 Old pal, we was never down-'earted.
 If they arsts us if we was down-'earted
 We'll 'owl in their fyces:  'No-o-o!'"

Weekend Steam: War Talk...

 Merle found a great photo on FBook, well worth sharing, illustrative, and food for serious thought. Thank You, Merle!

"US Soldier examines a blown up boiler on a locomotive in Canisy Normandy - July / August 1944

LIFE Magazine Archives - Frank Scherschel Photographer WWP-PD"

One of my thoughts when seeing this was whether the enginemen were part of the German army, or Frenchmen who had no choice but to continue their jobs under the control of their invaders. Sober business for those who have to go....

Don't Cheer, Robert W. Service

Don't cheer, damn you! Don't cheer!
Silence! Your bitterest tear
Is fulsomely sweet to-day. . . .
Down on your knees and pray.

See, they sing as they go,
Marching row upon row.
Who will be spared to return,
Sombre and starkly stern?
Chaps whom we knew; so strange,
Distant and dark with change;
Silent as those they slew,
Something in them dead too.
Who will return this way,
To sing as they sing to-day.

Send to the glut of the guns
Bravest and best of you sons.
Hurl a million to slaughter,
Blood flowing like Thames water;
Pile up pyramid high
Your dead to the anguished sky;
A monument down all time
Of hate and horror and crime.
Weep, rage, pity, curse, fear -
Anything, but . . . don't cheer.

Sow to the ploughing guns
Seed of your splendid sons.
Let your heroic slain
Richly manure the plain.
What will the harvest be?
Unborn of Unborn will see. . . .

Dark is the sky and drear. . . .
For the pity of God don't cheer.
Dark and dread is their way.
Who sing as they march to-day. . . .
Humble your hearts and pray.

Paul Harvey: The Declaration Of Independence

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.

Memphis Belle, Real History!

 We liked the 1990 movie, but there are many inaccuracies when compared to the actual events. This video corrects much of that!