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Military Quotes
Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
-- Lieutenant General V.H. Krulak
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Great Britain London Downing Street, Sept. 27 I have the honor to communicate to your Lordship, that on the night of the 24th instant, after defeating the army of the United States that day, the troops under my command entered and took possession of the city of Washington. It was determined between Sir A. Cochrane and myself, to disembark the army at the village of Nenedict, on the right bank of the Patuxeut, with the intention of Co-operating with Rear-admiral Cockburn, in an attack upon a flotilla of the enemy's gun boats, under of the command of Com. Barney.
Note: by Major General Robert Ross 11805 Reads

This guy was ROTC and technically he was green to RVN but not green to combat. He had been in Israel working with the IDF when the June '67 war broke out.
Note: by Craig E. Thompson 8760 Reads

I was just closing a letter to my family when I felt the crash of the explosion. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing sound, or roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was succeeed by a metallic sound - probably of falling debris - a trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, then an impression of subsidence, attended by an eclipse of the electirc lights and intense darkness within the cabin.
Note: recounted by Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, USS MAINE, Commanding Officer. 14285 Reads
Buffaloe November 27, 1812 My Dear Wife, It is with a degree of satisfaction I inform you of my health and the greatest part of the Company. Tomorrow at 7 o'clock we embark for Canada - consequently it will be liberty or death - You must excuse me for not writing you more as I am officer of the day and guard both, therefore, I am obliged through necessity to wright at 12 o'clock to night.
Note: During Ens. Warner's tour of duty he wrote letters home to his wife, five of which have been preserved. From these letters one may follow Ens. Warner's progess from Baltimore, through Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to the shores of Lake Ontario. From camp at Sacketts Harbor, Warner's unit proceeded to the Battle of York (now known as Toronto), the capitol of Upper Canada, fought in late April, 1813. Under the leadership of the adventurous Brigadier General Zebulon Pike, for whom Pike's Peak is named, the American forces scored a victory, but lost their General, killed in battle.
After that battle, Warner's unit apparently re-crossed Lake Ontario to camp outside Fort Niagara and presumably later participated in the taking of Fort George from the British. 9809 Reads

I was lucky enough to be stationed at a field hospital in Qui Nhon for a couple of months. QN was known by many to be an unofficial in-country R&R center. The town was pretty large, had quite a few GI's, and set right on the beach. Inland was a rather large mountain range that was the home of one of the many ROK divisions that were in-country at that time. In other words, a pretty nice place to be.
Note: By Jim Calbreath 8850 Reads

I've not much memory for accurate dates. I know I received my call up papers in early 1939 and with the assistance of Maples, where I was working at the time on MOD work, cutting out and making black out blinds by the hundred, I managed to get a years exemption.
Note: by Frederick James Pearce 9892 Reads

The 29th Field Artillery Battalion, along with the 8th Infantry Regiment, made up the 8th Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, whose mission was to make the H-Hour landing on Utah Beach. A, B, and C batteries had been equiped with M-7 armored 105mm howitzers, instead of conventional truck-drawn artillery pieces which were standard issue for infantry divisions. Each gun battery was equipped with 4 guns.
Note: by Irving Smolens, B Bty, 29th FA Battalion 8604 Reads

My tour as a Helicopter crew chief in South Vietnam was not one to be remembered by anyone other than myself, certainly not a tour that made me a hero in anyone’s eyes nor my own eyes. It was an interesting experience, one marked by extreme excitement at times and one also marked by extreme boredom and tedious monotony.
Note: by Frank Drinkwine, 187th AHC Tay Ninh RVN 9-70 9-71 22126 Reads

The following is a summation of my recollections of the Korean War while stationed at Kimpo Air Force Base. I was assigned as a radio man to the 45th
Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron a photo reconnaissance squadron. The squadron flew the World War II P-51's which were actually designated RF-51
(Reconnaissance Fighter) but we always referred to them as P-51's or Mustangs.
Note: by Herbert A (Art) Rideout, Kimpo AFB, Korea 1952, 45th TRS 67th TRW. 13183 Reads

20 Oct 68
Dear everybody,
Well it's another rainy day in Vietnam. When they say its been known
to rain 40 days and nights you can believe it.
Today I had to fill sandbags and build a bunker where a mortar round
came in last night. No big worry. It was at least 300 yards away. That's for
really!
8748 Reads

We had a new guy in our mortar platoon I will call Joe C. He was a Chicano from East L. A. He was friendly, and fun loving but liked to take chances. In the world of mortars, one of the top rules, is not to have a round in each hand while firing a mortar tube. It is nearly impossible to keep track of where the round in the barrel is.
Note: by Larry Nuckolls, 81MM + 4.2", B Co., 2/22 (M) 25TH INF DIV., 1970. 9185 Reads

I was a 1stLt. copilot in HMH463, and had only been in-country for a month at the time. I was assigned to the flight schedule for the nape drop, and was very excited to be going on one. I had heard about them, but this was going to be the biggest. Charlie Ridge was our target. The NVA there were in tight, and didn't want to move. Attempts to clear the area with fixed wing bombs had failed. Marines were taking heavy casualties.
Note: by Skip Burns 8803 Reads

We are stubbornly trying to force the Turks up out of the ground, but they stick in well. Once we get them on the run, they seem to think we will progress quickly. The only thing I wish is that I was able to say I was in the landing at Gaba Tepe on April 25th.
Note: A letter by Corporal Alf. Birkhill, who is now at Anzac, pays warm tribute after seeing the heroic Australians who scaled the heights at Gaba Tepo.
8199 Reads

Immediately after the Battle of Kwajalein, the sailors aboard the USS Washington received orders to fuel the destroyers. After fueling the destroyers, dusk turned into the blackest of nights. Tired and battle-weary, I began to look for a place to sleep on the main deck but was unable to because several sailors were putting away the fueling gear. Finally, I had to resort to my own bunk over #4 machinery space. The temperature was about 110 degrees causing me to fall asleep fast.
Note: by Francis E. Tellier, EM 3/C - E Div. 12045 Reads
United States Brig Enterprise Portland, September 1813 Sir, In consequence of the unfortunate death of Lieutenant Commandant William Burrows, late commander of this vessel, it devolves on me to acquaint you with the result of our cruize, after sailing from Portsmouth on the 1st instant.
Note: by Edward R. McCall, Senior Officer 13130 Reads
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This Day in History
1863:
Seven solid days of bombardment ended at Charleston, S.C. The Union fired some 1,307 rounds.
1864:
Eight days of cavalry clashes in Georgia come to an end when Union General Judson Kilpatrick and Confederate General Joseph Wheeler skirmish for a final time at Waynesboro. Although the Rebels inflicted more than three times as many casualties as the Yankees, the campaign was considered a success by the Union because it screened Wheeler from the main Union force.
1864:
U.S.S. Moose, Lieutenant Commander Fitch, U.S.S. Carondelet, Acting Master Charles W. Miller, U.S.S. Fairplay, Acting Master George J. Groves, U.S.S. Reindeer, Acting Lieutenant Henry A. Glassford, and U.S.S. Silver Lake, Acting Master Joseph C. Coyle, engaged field batteries on the Cumberland River near Bell's Mills, Tennessee, silenced them, and recaptured three transports taken by the Confederates the preceding day.
1942:
During the first American raid on the mainland of Italy the US 9th Air Force bombs the harbor at Naples causing damage and sinking two cruisers.
1943:
The Japanese escort carrier Chuyo is sunk by the US submarine Sailfish in Japanese home waters.
1943:
The US divisions on Bougainville receive further reinforcements and extend their perimeter.
1943:
Task Force 50, commanded by Admiral Pownall, and a task force commanded by Admiral Montgomery attack Kwajalein with a combined fleet of 6 carriers and nine cruisers.
1944:
The USS Flasher (SS-249) sinks Japanese destroyer Kishinami and damages a merchant ship in South China Sea. The USS Flasher is only U.S. submarine to sink over 100,000 tons of enemy shipping in World War II.
1944:
US 9th Army ceases the offensive toward the Roer River. The US 3rd Army forces of US 20th Corps concentrates forces for the capture of Saarlautern, where reconnaissance indicates there is an intact bridge over the Saar River.
1950:
Marines rescued over 300 soldiers of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, survivors of a communist ambush on the shores of the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir.
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