9May 1945

At station off Okinawa, the US Fifth Fleet was struck again by kamikazes, with attacks striking a destroyer and destroyer escort and casualties of over 125. Both ships would be scrapped due to the extensive damage incurred.

USS Missouri arrived at Ulithi Atoll for replenishment with further instructions to steam to Guam where Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. would come aboard, making her the flagship of his U.S. Third Fleet Command. This change was made as Halsey's traditional flagship USS New Jersey was in Washington state for overhaul and, that move in part, would change the destiny of Missouri as the war concluded.

The fierce land battle for Okinawa continues to rage on with the desperate Japanese making themselves human bombs as they counter US troops.

 

1962: The Beatles sign their 1st contract with EMI Parlophone

 

On This Day In History
May 9, 1671
Irish Adventurer “Colonel Blood” Steals Crown Jewels

In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as “Colonel Blood,” is captured attempting to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

Blood, a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, was deprived of his estate in Ireland with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. In 1663, he put himself at the head of a plot to seize Dublin Castle from supporters of King Charles II, but the plot was discovered and his accomplices executed. He escaped capture. In 1671, he hatched a bizarre plan to steal the new Crown Jewels, which had been refashioned by Charles II because most of the original jewels were melted down after Charles I’s execution in 1649.

On May 9, 1671, Blood, disguised as a priest, managed to convince the Jewel Housekeeper to hand over his pistols. Blood’s three accomplices then emerged from the shadows, and together they forced their way into the Jewel House. However, they were caught in the act when the keeper’s son showed up unexpectedly, and an alarm went out to the Tower guard. One man shoved the Royal Orb down his breeches while Blood flattened the Crown with a mallet and tried to run off with it. The Tower guards apprehended and arrested all four of the perpetrators, and Blood was brought before the king. Charles was so impressed with Blood’s audacity that, far from punishing him, he restored his estates in Ireland and made him a member of his court with an annual pension.

Colonel Blood became a colorful celebrity all across the kingdom, and when he died in 1680 his body had to be exhumed in order to persuade the public that he was actually dead.

 

On this day in history, May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issues proclamation creating Mother's Day
The 28th president called for a public expression of the nation's 'love and reverence' for mothers.

President Woodrow Wilson, shown here, issued a proclamation regarding the public expression of reverence for mothers through the celebration of Mother’s Day.

 

May 10

1969 - Operation Apache Snow was launched in the A Shau Valley in western Thua Thien Province. (Hamburger Hill, Hill 937)

1972 - The U.S. used 150-175 planes to strike targets around Hanoi, Haiphong and rail lines that lead from China.

1972 - Air Force Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron recorded his first aerial kill. He earned a total of six, the most of any U.S. aviator, MiG kills during the Vietnam War.

 

On May 10, 2002, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison. He had been one of Moscow's most valuable spies for over 20 years.

There was no idealogy involved for this traitor - he admitted that he only did it for the money.

He is currently serving his sentence at the ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado, in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

The movie 'Breach' was based on his story.

 

1960: US atomic submarine USS Triton completes 1st submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

 

On This Day In History
May 10, 1775
Second Continental Congress assembles as Americans capture Fort Ticonderoga

On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, while the Second Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Congress faced the task of conducting a war already in progress. Fighting had begun with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, and Congress needed to create an official army out of the untrained assemblage of militia laying siege on Boston.

The transformation of these rebels into the Continental Army was assisted by the victory of the Vermont and Massachusetts militia under the joint command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold at the British garrison at Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Their major achievement was to confiscate enough British cannon to make the Patriot militias into an army capable of an artillery barrage.

Allen and more than 100 of his Green Mountain Boys had already decided to take the fort when Arnold arrived with formal military commissions from Massachusetts and Connecticut and a militia of his own. The Green Mountain Boys were unwilling to follow anyone but Allen into battle, so Allen and Arnold shared command as the Patriot militia surprised and overwhelmed the 50 Redcoats in the isolated garrison, who were completely unaware of the bloodshed in Massachusetts. The cannon seized at Ticonderoga and the next day at Crown Point, also on Lake Champlain, allowed the new Continental Army under General George Washington to drive the British from Boston the following spring.

Ironically, both Allen and Arnold would eventually be accused of treason against the Patriot cause they had served so well in its earliest and neediest moments. Allen avoided conviction for his attempt to reattach Vermont to the British empire in the unstable days of the new republic. Arnold’s name, however, became synonymous with traitor for his attempt to sell the fort at West Point, New York, to the British in 1780.

 

On this day in history, May 10, 1977, iconic American actress Joan Crawford dies in New York City
She was a Hollywood star with a lucrative career — and her legacy lives on.


Joan Crawford, known for her Oscar-winning role in "Mildred Pierce," a bitter feud with co-star Bette Davis and her controversial relationships with some of her children.

 

On this day in history, May 11, 1888, Irving Berlin, composer of 'God Bless America,' is born
Berlin wrote numerous American standards, including the beloved holiday song 'White Christmas'.

Irving Berlin circa 1935, Berlin was born in Temun, Siberia — his family immigrated to America to escape Russian persecution.

 

868: China printed the first known book. Pre-dating the Gutenberg Bible by almost six centuries, a copy of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra is created by woodblock printing on a 16-foot-long scroll and affixed with an exact date. The work will survive to become the oldest known printed and dated text in existence.

 

11th May

1961 - U.S. President Kennedy ordered the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam.

1967 - Nguyen Cao Ky announced that he would run for president of South Vietnam.

1972 - The North Vietnamese Army launched a massive infantry and armor assault on An Loc. The attack was repulsed.
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1944 - A major offensive was launched by the allied forces in central Italy.

1960 - Israeli soldiers captured Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.

2009 - John Demjanjuk was deported from the U.S to Germany. He was a suspected Nazi death camp guard.

 

On May 11, 1969, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin met at a tandoori restaurant in Hampstead UK and formed Monty Python.

Nobody really knows what happened to the comedy troupe after that.
Lol...

 

11 May 1945

In Berlin, Germany, Soviet military doctors determined that a burned body near the Chancellery was that of Adolf Hitler.

At station off Okinawa, two kamikaze suicide bombers struck the fleet carrier USS Bunker Hill, flagship of Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher, Fast Carrier Task Force (TF-58) commander, forcing Mitscher to transfer himself and his flag command to fleet carrier USS Enterprise. Casualties were over 650 including 12 from Mitscher's staff. Kamikazes also struck two destroyers and a landing craft, resulting in both destroyers being ultimately scrapped due to the enemy action against them and over 170 casualties.

The fleet carrier USS Yorktown departed Okinawa for Ulithi Atoll to receive scheduled maintenance and replenishment.

While at this point, a planned invasion of Japan proper was still the top plan for defeating the Japanese with an alternative being a blockade along with strategic bombing, another alternate came into play. Robert Oppenheimer, led a team that determined which cities would be best targets should the atomic (nuclear) option be used. The initial cities considered were Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and Kokura.

 

On This Day In History
May 11, 1812
British prime minister Spencer Perceval assassinated

In London, Spencer Perceval, prime minister of Britain since 1809, is shot to death by deranged businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham, who was inflamed by his failure to obtain government compensation for war debts incurred in Russia, gave himself up immediately.

Spencer Perceval had a profitable law practice before entering the House of Commons as a Tory in 1796. Industrious and organized, he successively held the senior cabinet posts of solicitor general and attorney general beginning in 1801. In 1807, he became chancellor of the exchequer, a post he continued to hold after becoming prime minister in 1809. As prime minister, Perceval faced a financial crisis in Britain brought on by the country’s extended involvement in the costly Napoleonic Wars. He also made political enemies through his opposition to the regency of the Prince of Wales, who later became King George IV. Nevertheless, the general situation was improving when he was assassinated on May 11, 1812. His assassin, though deemed insane, was executed one week later.

 

12th May

1971 - In the A Shau Valley, North Vietnamese forces attacked the same South Vietnamese battalion twice in one day. This was the first battle of Operation Lam Son 720.

1972 - The North Vietnamese Army launched another infantry and armor assault on An Loc. The attack, as well as the one the previous day, was repulsed.

1940 - The Nazi conquest of France began with the German army crossing Muese River.

1942 - The Soviet Army launched its first major offensive of World War II and took Kharkov in eastern Ukraine from the German army.

1943 - The Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.

1949 - The Berlin blockade by Soviet forces ended.

 

1820 - Florence Nightengale was born in Florence, Italy.

1907 - Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, CT.

1925 - Yogi Berra was born in St. Louis.

1937 - George Carlin was born in NYC.

 

May 12

1972 -The Rolling Stones released "Exile on Main Street"

1949 - The Soviet Union lifted its blockade of Berlin

1846 - The ill destined Donner party left Independence, Missouri.

 

On May 12, 1965, The Rolling Stones entered RCA Hollywood studios and recorded the song that would become their first number #1 hit single in the US - (I can't get no) Satisfaction. It held the #1 spot for 4 weeks.

Legend has it that Keith Richards had come up with the iconic guitar riff in the middle of the night a week earlier.

On a side note, this 45 rpm single was the first recorded music I ever bought. The B-side was 'The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man.'

 

On This Day In History
May 12, 1963
Bob Dylan walks out on “The Ed Sullivan Show”

By the end of the summer of 1963, Bob Dylan would be known to millions who watched or witnessed his performances at the March on Washington, and millions more who did not know Dylan himself would know and love his music thanks to Peter, Paul and Mary’s smash-hit cover version of “Blowin’ In The Wind.” But back in May, Dylan was still just another aspiring musician with a passionate niche following but no national profile whatsoever. His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, had not yet been released, but he had secured what would surely be his big break with an invitation to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. That appearance never happened. On May 12, 1963, the young and unknown Bob Dylan walked off the set of the country’s highest-rated variety show after network censors rejected the song he planned on performing.

The song that caused the flap was “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” a satirical talking-blues number skewering the ultra-conservative John Birch Society and its tendency to see covert members of an international Communist conspiracy behind every tree. Dylan had auditioned “John Birch” days earlier and had run through it for Ed Sullivan himself without any concern being raised. But during dress rehearsal on the day of the show, an executive from the CBS Standards and Practices department informed the show’s producers that they could not allow Dylan to go forward singing “John Birch.” While many of the song’s lyrics about hunting down “reds” were merely humorous—”Looked up my chimney hole/Looked down deep inside my toilet bowl/They got away!“—others raised the fear of a defamation lawsuit in the minds of CBS’s lawyers. Rather than choose a new number to perform or change his song’s lyrics, Dylan stormed off the set in angry protest.

Or so goes the legend that helped establish Dylan’s public reputation as an artist of uncompromising integrity. In reality, Bob Dylan was polite and respectful in declining to accede to the network’s wishes. “I explained the situation to Bob and asked him if he wanted to do something else,” recalls Ed Sullivan Show producer Bob Precht, “and Bob, quite appropriately, said ‘No, this is what I want to do. If I can’t play my song, I’d rather not appear on the show.'” It hardly mattered whether Dylan’s alleged tantrum was fact or reality. The story got widespread media attention in the days that followed, causing Ed Sullivan himself to denounce the network’s decision in published interviews. In the end, however, the free publicity Bob Dylan received may have done more for his career than his abortive national-television appearance scheduled for this day in 1963 ever could have.