Posted on 08/28/2019 7:46:20 AM PDT by fugazi
Today's post is in honor of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dennis H. Laffick of the Oklahoma National Guard who was killed on this day in 1995 when his OH-58 Kiowa helicopter struck power lines during a counter-drug operation in Bixby, Okla.. The 48-year-old Chicago native previously served with the 114th Aviation Helicopter Company in Vietnam and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
1862: One year after the Confederacy's "glorious but dear-bought victory" over the Union in the First Battle of Bull Run, the two (significantly larger) armies meet again on the same battleground. 70,000 soldiers of Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia engage Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's 50,000-man Army of Northern Virginia, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's five divisions (25,000 men) execute the largest mass assault of the war, smashing their opponents' left flank and forcing and the Union to once again withdraw.
1944: Army Air Force pilots Maj. Joseph Myers and 2nd Lt. Manford Croy, Jr., flying P-47 Thunderbolts, become the first fighter pilots to score a victory over a jet aircraft when they shoot down German pilot Hieronymus Lauer's Me 262.
Meanwhile, the First Army crosses the Marne River in France just days after the liberation of Paris, and to the south, the coastal towns of Marseilles and Toulon surrender to the Allies.
1945: An advance party of 150 soldiers - the first American troops to set foot in Japan - land at the naval airfield at Atsugi to prepare for the 11th Airborne Division's arrival in two days.
1952: Off the Korean coast, USS Boxer launches the first "guided missile" ever fired from an aircraft carrier - a radio-controlled F6F-5K Hellcat
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
If anyone wants to read a good book about 2nd Bull Run, try this:
Return To Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas by John J Hennessy
So did the confederates have 50,000 men or 75,000 men? (50,000 plus 25,000 or is Longstreet’s 25,000 men included in Lee’s 50,000) ?
So confused ...
The Confederates had a combined total of 50,000.
Jackson commanded one wing of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia during Second Mannassas and Gen. James Longstreet commanded the other. So Jackson’s 25,000 soldiers was roughly half of Lee’s total of 50,000.
Also on this day, President Richard Nixon announces that the military draft will end by July of 1973.
I personally think this was a HUGE mistake - as now, less than 1% of the US population actually serves in uniform. This has bred the current attitude in both my generation (Gen-X, born in 1970), and those after, have toward this country.
A good debate topic to be sure... I think the generational problem that faces our society is bigger than a draft would be able to fix, but it would be fascinating to have a human simulator to see how reinstating the draft would affect modern America.
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.