Posted on 05/01/2018 9:10:04 AM PDT by fugazi
1898: U.S. Navy Commodore George Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron steams single file into Manila Bay and destroys the out-armored and out-gunned Spanish fleet in the Philippines. Despite the support of shore batteries, the Spanish lose all seven of their vessels and only six American sailors are wounded. The Spanish-American War will effectively end in August, and Spain will cede control of the islands to the United States.
1943: When his B-17 bomber is hit by German flak and Sgt. Maynard H. “Snuffy” Smith loses power in his ball turret gun, he climbs out to assist the other airmen. With a fire now burning in the fuselage, three of the crew had already bailed out. Smith treats two severely wounded comrades and begins fighting the fire that was melting holes in the aircraft.
For the next 90 minutes, Smith alternates between caring for the wounded, extinguishing the fire, and manning the .50 caliber guns against attacking German fighters. The plane makes it safely back to England, but breaks in half upon landing from the fire and 3,500 bullets and pieces of shrapnel. Smith is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1945: Eighth Air Force B-17s drop 700 tons of food over German-occupied Holland, whose residents are suffering from famine. The Germans told the Allies that their bombers would not be targeted so long as they remained within approved air corridors. Over the next week, Over the next week, Operation CHOW HOUND delivers 7,000 tons of food, bringing an end to the “Hunger Winter.”
1960: CIA pilot – and U.S. Air Force captain – Francis Gary Powers takes off from a military airbase in Pakistan on a secret reconnaissance overflight mission of the Soviet Union. His U-2 spy plane, flying some...
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
Was it a news event in school? Of course not...and I was a Senior at the time.
A few years later the Kennedys were afraid they were facing a similar problem at the Bay of Pigs.
Some Alabama Air National Guard pilots, who had been sent to Nicaragua to train anti-Castro Cubans, disobeyed the orders to stand down, and took off and bombed Cuba anyway. They were shot down, and at first, the US didn’t know if they were dead or alive.
Before it was learned that they had been killed, Bobby Kennedy in particular was worried. He said to Richard Helms, the CIA liaison, “Those pilots had better G**-d** well be dead.”
It took years to get pensions for the families, and that only after a prominent Kennedy donor put pressure on the Kennedys.
Never liked any of the Kennedy clan.
The more I learn about them the less I like them.
It took seven more years but Sirhan Sirhan made sure that Bobby boy was G**-D** dead.
Be careful what you wish for Bobby boy.
You see the same attitude in Teddy to Mary Jo Kopechne.
That turned into a catastrophe pretty fast.
Mission Accomplished!
“You see the same attitude in Teddy to Mary Jo Kopechne.”
Just another thing to be used and tossed away by a Kennedy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.