Are there faint echoes of Vietnam in modern migrations? In the late 70s and the 80s, “Vietnamese” was almost invariably followed by the term “boat people”. Between 1975 and…
Vietnam
An American Boat Sailed to Vietnam During the War. Then It Disappeared | Atlas Obscura
The Phoenix of Hiroshima has had a long, strange trip.
Source: An American Boat Sailed to Vietnam During the War. Then It Disappeared | Atlas Obscura
A Vietnam War Sniper Crawled for 3 Days Across 2000m of Open Field, Killed NVA General With One Shot, Then Crawled Back
“She was a bad woman,” Carlos Hathcock once said of the woman known as ‘Apache.’ “Normally kill squads would just kill a Marine and take his shoes or whatever, but the Apache was very sadistic. She would do anything to cause pain.” This was the trademark of the female Viet Cong platoon leader. She captured Americans in the area around Carlos Hathcock’s unit and then tortured them without mercy.
“I was in her backyard, she was in mine. I didn’t like that,” Hathcock said. “It was personal, very…
U.S. National Maritime Day, 22 May
***
May 22nd is the date when the American ship Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia in 1819 and became the first transoceanic voyage ever made under steam power. Hence the day was chosen for the date of tribute.
In 2002, the Military Sealift Command held a memorial service in Washington D.C. Rear Admiral David Brewer III and Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, tossed a wreath into the Anacostia River at the Washington Navy Yard in honor of the fallen mariners.
Capt. Susan Dunlap & Capt. Robert Burk during ceremonial in Hawaii
In 2013, National Maritime Day was celebrated with picnics and tours at the Port of San Diego; maritime career fairs in Seattle and Baltimore, as well as the traditional memorial ceremonies.
Merchant Marine cap insignia
############################################################################################
For A striking story sent to us from fellow blogger, Argus, we have the story of the N.S. Savannah.
View original post 222 more words
What Happened on May 11th – Hamburger Hill
1969 – US troops begin attack on Hill 937/Hamburger Hill
Maj. Gen. Melvin Zais
View original post 67 more words
Forty Five Years Ago – Kent and Jackson State
This Monday, May 4, marks the 45th anniversary of the Kent State shootings involving the killing of 4 unarmed university students by the Ohio National Guard.
Jeffrey Glenn Miller was 20 years old. He was 265 feet from the National Guard and was shot through the mouth, He was killed instantly.
Allison B. Krause, 19 was 343 feet away and died from a fatal chest wound.
William Knox Schroeder, 19, was 383 feet away and was shot in the back. He died in hospital.
Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, was 390 feet away from the Guard and was shot in the neck. She bled out while lying on the ground.
Nine other students were wounded, including one permanently paralyzed from the chest down.
The record states that the Guardsmen fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds.
Several days before the campus protests over the expansion of the war into Cambodia, President Nixon…
View original post 433 more words
Tearless the Enemies of Peace
Dalton Trumbo with his wife Cleo at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1947.
“World War I began like a Summer festival – all billowing skirts and golden epaulets. Millions upon millions cheered from the sidewalks while plumed Imperial Highnesses, Serenities and Field Marshals and other such fools paraded thorugh the capital cities of Europe at the head of their shining legions.
It was a season of generosities, a time for boasts, bands, poems, songs, innocent prayers. It was an August made palpitant and breathless by the pre-nuptial nights of young gentlemen officers and the girls they left permanently behind. One of the Highland regiments went over the top in its first battle behind forty kilted bagpipers skirling away for all they were worth – at machine guns.
Nine million corpses later, when the bands stopped and the Serenities started running, the wail of bagpipes would never again sound…
View original post 424 more words
On this day: The Mỹ Lai Massacre
![Vietnamese women and children in Mỹ Lai before being killed in the massacre, March 16, 1968.[13] According to court testimony, they were killed seconds after the photo was taken.](https://firstnighthistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/vietnamese-women-and-children-in-me1bbb9-lai-before-being-killed-in-the-massacre-march-16-1968-13-according-to-court-testimony-they-were-killed-seconds-after-the-photo-was-taken.jpg)
Apparently taken moments before they were killed.
I’m not even going to try and summarise this one. Below is a little bit from an article about it:
The Mỹ Lai Massacre was the Vietnam War mass killing of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968. It was committed by U.S. Army soldiers from the Company C of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (America) Infantry Division.
Women and children killed.
Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated.
One soldier shot himself in the foot; another sets a building on fire.
Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offences, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted.
Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three…
View original post 7 more words
The Mad Monarchist: Monarch Profile: Emperor Thieu Tri of Vietnam
As the son and heir of Emperor Minh Mang, Thieu Tri had a tough act to follow. Vietnam had achieved its peak in size and influence but the “Great South” stood precariously on this historical apex. The French were becoming increasingly interested in the region and the slightest mistake could upset the balance and plunge the country into a struggle it could not hope to win. However, when Prince Nguyen Mien Tong came to the throne in 1841, taking the era name of Thieu Tri, this looming threat was not outwardly apparent. The reign of his father had not been free of trouble by any means but it had been great and glorious and it seemed that all Emperor Thieu Tri had to do was follow in his footsteps, steering a steady course and the power and prestige of the Nguyen Dynasty would continue. The country seemed to be in good hands as Emperor Thieu Tri was similar to his illustrious father in many ways. He was highly educated, very intelligent, devoted to traditional Confucian values, a lover of nature, artistic and intellectually curious. He was open to learning from the west but like his father was also determined to keep western influence out of Vietnam and maintain the close relationship with the Great Qing Empire.
In the early days of his reign, everything appeared tranquil. There were no major problems and the reign of the…
Read more: The Mad Monarchist: Monarch Profile: Emperor Thieu Tri of Vietnam.
First Night History 
