Tag: SOT

U.S. Military History: The Star-Spangled Banner

Ross Dunfee At the outset of the 19th century, Great Britain was locked in a long and bitter conflict with Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. Both France and Great Britain attempted to block the United States from trading with the other, and restrict the USA from westward expansion. Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first…

Military History: Women in War

Ross Dunfee Women have been participants in war since time began. In colonial days women used firearms to protect home, property, and loved ones. During the Revolution, Civil War, World Wars, and multiple other skirmishes, women often fought quietly alongside male comrades, but not as part of the uniformed services. During WWII able-bodied men were…

Memorial Dat Poppies

Ross Dunfee World War I concluded with about 10 million military personnel killed, and a like number of civilians. One particularly bloody battle during WWI was at the Second Battle of Ypres (Belgium) where, on April 22, 1915, Germany fired 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French and Algerian Divisions and two days…

U. S. Military History: Some U.S. Coast Guard History

Ross Dunfee Lighthouses On Aug. 7, 1789, in the ninth act of the first U.S. Congress, 12 lighthouses were transferred to the federal government, and the United States Lighthouse Establishment (USLHE) was created under the Department of the Treasury, then Revenue, then Treasury. Because of poor management and poor lighting at lighthouses, the Lighthouse Board…

U.S. Marines—Flag and Seal, Song, and Motto

Ross Dunfee Flag and Seal: Marines used the Grand Union flag, and possibly the Gadsden flag (yellow flag with a “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake), during the assault on New Providence Island, The Bahamas, March 3, 1776. During the 1830s and 1840s, the flag consisted of a gold fringed white field centered with an eagle and…

U.S. Military History

Marine Corps History Ross Dunfee What is a Marine? A sailor, a soldier, or an infantry or amphibious assault member? They are all soldiers serving on ships ready for land action. Their history, etched in antiquity, has records in ancient Greece and Rome. In the 17th century, the English, in its wars with the Dutch,…

U.S. Military History: U.S. Army—Flag, Song, Motto, and Oath

Ross Dunfee Flag—The Army Seal was used originally during the American Revolution to authenticate documents. It displayed the designation “War Office,” which was synonymous with Headquarters of the Army, and the Roman year MDCCLXXVIII (1778), the first time it was used. It remained unchanged until 1947, when the War Office banner was replaced with “Department…

U.S. Military History: Independence Day

Ross Dunfee The first successful English colony settled in America was at Jamestown, Va. in 1607—and the migration was on—primarily of British, German, and Dutch extraction, but immigrants arrived from throughout Europe. Communities principally were settled and financed by privately-organized British settlers or families using free enterprise without any significant English royal or Parliamentary government support…

U.S. Military History: D-Day

Ross Dunfee So, what does the “D” stand for in D-Day? Stop! Do not keep reading until you attempt to answer the question. Okay, now you can read on. Most people who celebrate the holiday do not know the answer. Some people believe it is in reference to June 6, 1944, when, in World War…