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Remembering Joshua Chamberlain, MOH, The “Last Casualty of the Civil War”

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was hardly the type of person one would have picked to become a war hero. Prior to the war, Chamberlain was a professor of rhetoric and theology at Bowdoin College in Maine before receiving a commission as a lieutenant colonel of the 20th Maine in 1862.

But he proved to be a skilled, tough and very respected officer, not only by his own men but by his enemies as well. Wounded six times during the Civil War, having had six horses shot out from under him, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his gallant stand at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Severely wounded during the Battle of Petersburg on this day in 1864, Chamberlain’s wound was pronounced fatal by his surgeons. But not only did he survive, he returned to active duty and he was also awarded the honor of accepting the Confederate Infantry surrender at Appomattox Court House when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to end the war. He eventually died as a result of complications from his wounds 50 years later in 1914. Thus he’s considered the final casualty from the Civil War.

Life prior to the War: Chamberlain was born on September 8, 1828, in Brewer, Maine, the oldest of five children. His family roots were English and his ancestors could be traced back to the 12th century.

He graduated Bowdoin College in 1852 and was heavily influenced by the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe and regularly attended programs where she would read passages from her book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which would shape his views of the coming conflict.

After studying for three more years at Bangor Theological Seminary, he returned to Bowdoin, this time as a professor. In 1855, he married Fanny Adams and the two would remain devoted to another until her death at 1905.

While at Bowdoin, Chamberlain became a professor of rhetoric. He eventually went on to teach every subject in the curriculum with the exception of science and mathematics. Just prior to the war breaking out, he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages. He was fluent in nine languages other than English: Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.

He felt all Americans should be involved in the war and wrote to Maine’s Governor Israel Washburn, Jr., “I fear, this war, so costly of blood and treasure, will not cease until men of the North are willing to leave good positions, and sacrifice the dearest personal interests, to rescue our country from desolation, and defend the national existence against treachery.”

Most of Bowdoin’s professors felt differently and the college refused to grant him a leave of absence to serve in the military. So, Chamberlain asked for and was granted a leave of absence for two years to study languages in Europe.

Civil War Hero: He promptly enlisted in the 20th Maine as a lieutenant colonel. He was offered command of the regiment but turned it down to “learn the business first.” The 20th Maine fought at the bloody Union debacle at Fredericksburg during the Battle of Marye’s Heights.

But it was at the Battle of Gettysburg where Chamberlain became famous and may have saved the Union’s bacon during the second day of the battle. After being pushed out of the town in the first day of the battle, the Union controlled the high ground outside of the town. Chamberlain, now the Colonel of the 20th Maine occupied Little Round Top on the far left of the Union line. If the Confederates turned the line, they could roll up the entire defense.

The 15th Alabama Regiment tried five times to turn the line of the 20th Maine in an attempt to get a foothold on top of Little Round Top. Each time they were turned back. They were bolstered by men of the 4th and 47th Alabama Regiments and also the 4th and 5th Texas Regiments. But the Confederates were exhausted having speed marched 20 miles to the battle and entering the fray with no water.

Both sides were running low on ammunition, Colonel Chamberlain feared that the next charge would dislodge his men from their position. He ordered the men to fix bayonets and he led them in a charge down the hill where they executed a brilliant flanking maneuver to force the Confederates off the hill. The Confederate commander of the 15th Alabama, Colonel William Oates admitted his troops, ” ran like a herd of wild cattle” during the retreat. Afterward, Oates would describe the conduct of his enemies in eloquent terms.

“There never were harder fighters than the Twentieth Maine men and their gallant Colonel. His skill and persistency and the great bravery of his men saved Little Round Top and the Army of the Potomac from defeat.”

Chamberlain was slightly wounded twice during the battle and was nearly killed. A Confederate officer aimed his pistol at Chamberlain’s head and narrowly missed before running out of ammunition. Chamberlain placed his sword at the Lieutenant’s throat and took him, prisoner, taking his sidearm. That pistol now resides in the Maine State Museum.

Nearly 30 years later, Chamberlain would finally be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Little Round Top.

Medal of Honor citation:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 July 1863, while serving with 20th Maine Infantry, in action at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults, and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top

Petersburg and His “Fatal Wound: Chamberlain would be given command of a brigade, the 1st Brigade, First Division, V Corps. In heavy fighting during the siege of Petersburg on June 18, Chamberlain was shot thru the right hip and groin with the bullet passing thru his right hip.

During the battle, he unsheathed his sword and stuck it into the ground leaning on it so he could remain with his men until he passed out from loss of blood. The surgeons pronounced his wound fatal, and word reached the Maine newspapers that Chamberlain had fallen in battle. General Ulysses S. Grant gave Chamberlain a battlefield promotion to brigadier general.

But despite the seriousness of his wounds, which would hound him for the rest of his life where he’d be forced to wear what today would be termed a catheter, not only did Chamberlain survive, he would return to duty several months later. By November, he was back in command of the brigade and committed to seeing the war to the end. In early 1865, President Lincoln promoted Chamberlain to Brevet Major General.

He was nearly killed again during a battle along Quaker Road, where Grant’s forces were pushing the Confederate forces under Lee steadily back. According to a report of the incident in Wikipedia:

A Confederate shot at Chamberlain. The bullet went through his horse’s neck, hit the picture frame, entered under Chamberlain’s skin in the front of his chest, traveled around his body under the skin along the rib, and exited his back. To all observers Union and Confederate, it appeared that he was shot through his chest. He continued to encourage his men to attack. All sides cheered his valiant courage, and the Union assault was successful.

In early April 1865, the Civil War was winding to a close. Grants forces learned that Lee was going to surrender his troops at Appomattox. Chamberlain was given the honor of accepting the surrender of the Confederate troops as they marched for the last time to Appomattox Court House. What followed was perhaps one of the most moving scenes of the war.

As the Confederate troops marched up the road, Chamberlain, on his own initiative, displayed a respect for his enemies that was remarkable after four years of awful, bloody fighting, the costliest war in American history. Chamberlain ordered his men to attention and to “Carry Arms”, as a salute to the vanquished, but a respected foe. That gesture was not lost on his enemies. General John B. Gordon, one of Lee’s most trusted officers at the end of the war, called Chamberlain, “one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal Army.”

Gordon, at the head of the marching column, outdoes us in courtesy. He was riding with downcast eyes and more than pensive look; but at this clatter of arms he raises his eyes and instantly catching the significance, wheels his horse with that superb grace of which he is master, drops the point of his sword to his stirrup, gives a command, at which the great Confederate ensign following him is dipped and his decimated brigades, as they reach our right, respond to the ‘carry.’ All the while on our part not a sound of trumpet or drum, not a cheer, nor a word nor motion of man, but awful stillness as if it were the passing of the dead.

Post-war Life: After the war was over, Chamberlain was elected to four straight one-year terms as the Governor of Maine. In his third election, he set the record for the most votes and the highest percentage of the popular vote, (72.1 percent).

Chamberlain in his later years with his awards and decorations.

In 1871, Chamberlain finally returned to Bowdoin College, but this time as its President. The school that wouldn’t release him for military duty had come around to his service. He remained as the President until 1883 when complications from his war wounds forced his resignation.

In 1893, he was finally awarded the Medal of Honor, nearly 30 years after his defense of Little Round Top. His original medal was lost and not found until 2013 where it was donated to the Pejebscot Historical Society in Brunswick, Maine. A second recast medal is on display at Bowdoin College.

Five years later at age 70, he once again volunteered for duty during the Spanish-American War. But the Army rejected him due to his war wounds which were increasingly giving him issues.

Chamberlain was a founding member of the Maine Institution for the Blind, in Portland. His wife had become visually impaired and that spurred her husband into becoming involved in that organization.

Until the end of his life, Chamberlain was heavily involved in events and functions for the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic. He spoke at many of the reunions and revisited Gettysburg many times.

He was involved in getting veterans from both sides to attend the 50th year anniversary of the Gettysburg battle and made several trips there to plan the event. However, due to his war injury, he was unable to attend the actual reunion.

Chamberlain finally did succumb to his war wounds on February 24, 1914, at the age of eighty-five. His “fatal” wounds at Petersburg eventually did kill him, nearly 50 years later. He is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, Maine, next to his surgeon at Petersburg, Dr. Abner O’Shaw.

Chamberlain’s exploits became famous during the film “Gettysburg” and was portrayed on the screen by Jeff Daniels. The film was based on Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel about Gettysburg, “The Killer Angels”.

Chamberlain’s actions at Little Round Top were published as an example of outstanding military initiative in the U.S. Army’s Leadership Manual 22-100 during the 1990s.

Photos: US Archives, Wikipedia

Flag Day, US Army’s 243rd Birthday, Things Have Certainly Changed

Yesterday, June 14 was Flag Day, which isn’t really celebrated much with the exception of the state of Pennsylvania, where it is a state holiday. But it was also the 243rd birthday of the United States Army. And my oh my, things certainly have changed.

Flag Day is observed on June 14, because on that day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States as the colonies fought to break away from England. On Congress’ agenda that day it was noted:

“Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Origin of Flag Day: We live in a time when it seems that no one can agree on what constitutes respect or disrespect for our national colors. Since President Trump took office about a year and a half ago, there has been a ton of disagreement on the entire flag which has ignited scores of dissenting opinions on each side.

But first, we must clear up a persistent myth that has been around since we were all kids and learned in school. Historians all agree that there is no direct evidence that Betsy Ross lobbied General Washington for the original Stars and Stripes.

To those glass-half-full types like myself, it doesn’t mean that she DIDN’T do it, it just means that there is no record of it. So that may be the stuff of legend, like Washington throwing a stone across the Potomac but I won’t be the one to contradict what Miss Bradley’s 1st Grade Class at the Rumford Elementary School taught.

There are several different opinions on where Flag Day began. Most involve public schools as to the origins of when it first was celebrated and observed. One theory had it begin in Wisconsin. In 1885, Bernard John Cigrand, who was a 19-year-old teacher in the one-room Stony School in Waubeka, Wisconsin had his students write essays on what the flag meant to them.

Cigrand later became a dentist in Chicago and became the head of the American Flag Day Association and the National Flag Day Society and gave over 2000 speeches on patriotism and the flag.

Others in New York City believe that they are the founders of Flag Day. George Bolch, a public school teacher began a program in his class to help immigrant children feel more connected to their new adopted country. The New York Department of Education liked Bolch’s program so much that it said the day should be observed in all public schools. Eight years later in 1897, New York’s governor ordered all public school buildings to display the US flag.

One interesting bit of trivia the current flag design was done by a 17-year-old Boy Scout named Robert Heft. Heft attended Lancaster High School in Ohio and his class was given an assignment by his teacher to design a new flag once Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the United States.

So heft arranged the stars with five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars, spending more than 12 hours sewing his flag design. In a bit of short-sightedness, his teacher gave him a B-minus stating that his design was unoriginal. However, she offered to raise it to an A if the design was accepted nationally. So Robert Heft wrote to his congressman and the rest is history. The current U.S. flag was adopted on July 4, 1960, and Heft’s grade was changed to an A.

The Bennington flag was supposedly flown in the Battle of Bennington in 1777 by Nathaniel Fillmore, grandfather of President Millard Fillmore. While historians again will argue whether or not Fillmore actually flew the flag in battle, I’ll stay with the legend here as well as the legend is much more interesting.

While both Presidents Wilson and Coolidge issued proclamations asking for June 14 to be Flag Day, the day did not become official until President Harry Truman signed it into law on August 3, 1949.

Birth of the United States Army: The Army yesterday celebrated its 243rd birthday commemorating the date of June 14, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized the enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year.

This nascent Army was comprised of 22,000 militiamen who had already gathered outside of Boston, where many had already seen combat against the British at Lexington and Concord and would see even more in three days during the Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill.

This number of troops were bolstered by 5,000 more militiamen from New York. The next day on June 15, 1775, George Washington of Virginia was named as the first commander-in-chief by the Continental Congress. They then voted to raise 10 more companies of riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

Washington officially took command at Boston on July 3, 1775. The original Congressional budget for the new Army was $2 million. It wasn’t until July 4, 1776, for the Continental Army and the colonial militias to become known collectively as the Army of the United States.

Today the U.S. Army has about 467,000 active duty soldiers, with another 343,000 in the U.S. Army National Guard and 206,000 in the Army Reserves. It is the most professional force in the world with career officers and NCOs.

The Army is a far cry from the farmers who answered the call to form “in a minute” in the local Minuteman militias to the professional force it is today. The Army currently has just under 160 installations worldwide and owns nearly 24,000 square miles of land for its bases in the United States. That current size is larger than eight U.S. states. And the Army is the largest employer in the country.

General Washington started with a much smaller, less professional force back in Boston, 243 years ago, but it evolved over time and has changed from a militia heavy force to a power-projecting military capable of being anywhere in the globe in a matter of hours.

Photos: Wikipedia

Pentagon: US Not Involved in Yemen Hudaida military offensive

The Pentagon has denied that it is involved in the military offensive carried out by the Saudi-Emirati alliance against the Iranian-aligned Houthi militia in the Yemeni port city of Hudaida.

Speaking on Thursday, spokesman Major Adrian Galloway said Washington “does not command, accompany, or participate in counter-Houthi operations or any hostilities other than those authorized against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS,” referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
“Our support to the coalition consists of aerial refueling to coalition aircraft and intelligence support to assist our partners in securing their borders from cross-border attacks from the Houthis,” Galloway continued.
He also said that US military support to its allies “is always geared towards mitigating noncombatant casualties.”
He stressed the importance of the port in delivering aid to alleviate the suffering of Yemenis, adding that the US supports the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith to bring the Yemeni parties to the negotiating table.
Before the Saudi coalition against Yemen began in March 2015, Hudaida port used to funnel in at least 80 percent of Yemen’s imports, mostly food.
Now, two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 28 million is dependent on aid to survive, and 8 million of those are food insecure.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that his country was closely following the developments in Hudaida, but did not rule out the possibility of taking part in the offensive on Yemen’s third largest city.
He said he had contacted United Arab Emirates officials and talked about Washington’s desire to discuss “UAE security concerns” while maintaining the flow of humanitarian aid and goods through the important port.

Emirati troops supported by Saudi Apache attack helicopters are just six kilometers from the Hudaida airport and the aim of this offensive is to control the port as well as the airport.

They are seeking to avoid entering the city of 600,000. UN officials stated that an offensive in the city could cost 250,000 lives.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia of Houthi rebels

Who’s Funding Terrorism? America’s State Governments Are

Imagine this… you are a member of the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and while routinely checking the bags of a passenger flying to East Africa, you find millions of dollars in cash in their baggage. While it should and does set off alarms, you allow the person and the cash to go thru and continue on to their flight.

Because it isn’t illegal to carry large amounts of cash, so long as it is declared, anything in excess of $10,000 has to be declared to customs. So the shipping of large amounts of money isn’t illegal according to United States law. But how the money is ending up in the hands of many of the Somali immigrants is.

So how in the hell do Somali immigrants who are on state assistance end up with suitcases with millions of dollars of cash in them? The State of Minnesota is in the middle of a nearly $100,000,000 welfare fraud, much of it being tied to Somali immigrants who have learned the ins and outs of the United States welfare system and have been bilking the state for bogus child care services.

The state investigated 10 daycare centers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and found that most of them were owned by Somali immigrants…because daycare centers are just like putting an ATM machine with the state’s debit card inside the walls.

The investigation showed such huge amounts of fraud going on, people were buying shares of daycare centers to get a cut of the proceeds, which were in the millions of dollars range, all from the state for services that were never given.

According to the state investigation, much of the money was paid by the state and as soon as it hit the bank accounts of the day care centers, the money was immediately wire transferred into United Arab Emirates bank accounts.

The amount of cash leaving via the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is staggering. In 2015, according to the report, the amount of cash that was declared in passengers leaving the U.S. for East Africa was $14,000,000. In 2016, that ballooned to $84,000,000. Last year the amount of cash leaving Minnesota for East Africa was $100,000,000.

But the problem isn’t just in Minnesota, it is in Seattle as well. Glen Kerns, until he retired, was a Seattle police detective who was a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington state.

Kerns tracked the vast amounts of cash leaving the U.S. thru the Seattle airport and found that the Somalis there were using a Hawala, which is a business that is used to courier money to countries that have no official banking system.

Many Somalis used Hawalas to funnel money back home to their relatives. Many of whom are poor and starving. But much more of the money was going elsewhere. Much of the money that Kerns tracked was going to a Hawala in an area that is controlled by the al-Shabab terrorist group.

And in the case of this Hawala, since al-Shabab controlled the territory, they’ll demand at least a cut of the proceeds. In most cases in Somalia, al-Shabab finances its operations by preying upon the very aid that comes into war-torn Somalia thru the auspices of United Nations aid.

Most times al-Shabaab will extort thousands of dollars per day through roadblocks and taxes on merchants attempting to transport food and supplies to sell to internally displaced people in towns where they are concentrated.

A report on CNN stated that tolls taken from trucks and other vehicles at just two al-Shabaab roadblocks on Somalia’s busiest road pulled in thousands of dollars a day. The UN has estimated that a single roadblock generated about $5,000 a day on the road to Baidoa. If local merchants don’t pay the terrorist group they’re captured and killed. They also began poaching and are involved in the ivory trade.

Al-Shabab began putting together teams of “white-collar militants” who use elaborate taxation schemes to extract money from farms and businesses. And those white-collar militants quickly realized that using the system of the hawala, the opportunities for milking the welfare system in the United States was a ready supply of cash. The U.S. Treasury stated in a report that “the very features which make hawala attractive to legitimate customers — efficiency, anonymity, and lack of a paper trail — also make the system attractive for the transfer of illicit funds.”

That is where the money was going from Minnesota and Seattle to Somalia. But in digging deeper, Kerns tried to uncover where the money was coming from. And just like in Minnesota, much of the millions of dollars heading out of Seattle in carry-on baggage was coming from people on welfare.

Kerns’ source told him that, “It’s welfare fraud, it’s all about the daycare,” he said. “It’s an outright crime, it’s unbelievable.”

In an interview with Fox 9 in Minneapolis, Scott Stillman spent eight years managing Minnesota’s digital forensics lab, mining data from suspected computers and smartphones.

“I have never seen anything like this level or scope in my 27-year career as an investigator,” he said. Alarmed he emailed his supervisors at DHS and wrote, he fired off a series of emails to his supervisors at DHS.

“We are working on and overwhelmed by a significant amount of fraud cases involving organized crime, defrauding hundreds of millions of dollars annually in taxpayer monies.”

“Significant amount of these defrauded dollars are being sent overseas to countries and organizations connected to entities known to fund terrorists and terrorism.”

Minnesota has been well aware of the jihadists in Somalia using immigrants to get their hooks into the U.S. U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Andrew Lugar has stated, that there is “a terror-recruiting problem in Minnesota and may be their best friend right here in town.”

Al-Shabab is the terrorist organization that just attacked the U.S. and killed one Special Operations soldier and wounded four others in an attack on a coalition Forward Operating Base that was under construction. The money to fund the terrorists may be coming from right inside our own borders and having the state governments footing the bill.

Minnesota would be a curious place for refugees from Somalia to settle in at face value. But the state has one of the most generous welfare systems in the country. Of the approximately 150,000 Somali immigrants in the United States, nearly half of them reside in Minnesota.

So how does this scam work? According to the state investigators, the daycare centers sign up families of children who are eligible for state-funded child care expenses. Their surveillance photos showed that as soon as children checked in, they checked right out or in many cases didn’t show up at all. Regardless, the state was then billed for a full day of childcare. And in other cases, the daycare center would inflate the number of children that they serviced, often, far in excess of what the facility could handle.

One daycare center operator Fozia Ali, was a member of the Hopkins Park Board and ran a bogus daycare center that bilked the state out of more than a million dollars in fraudulent daycare expenses. She took a two-month trip to Kenya and was staying in $800-a-night hotel rooms. All the while, she was billing the state for childcare services. She was arrested and is serving time for fraud.

But the money continues to flow freely from the U.S airports to East Africa where it ends up in the hands of the terrorists. And the playbook that was created in Minnesota is now being spread to other states. Money that is being used to orchestrate terror against our troops and interests, is coming straight from our own state governments.

Photo: Wikipedia of a suitcase full of cash leaving Seattle’s airport, heading for East Africa

Australians Torn by War Crimes Accusations in Afghanistan

Australians are hearing about many incidents that took place in Afghanistan that their government is classifying as possible war crimes. There are currently five unlawful killings under investigation, all of them committed by members of the elite Special Operations Task Group.

A spate of current war crime allegations are indeed centered on a country a long way from Australia – in Afghanistan – but it is Australia’s most elite troops who are accused of crimes in the 13-year Afghan war in which at least 41 Australians have been killed.
In one reported incident, an Australian soldier allegedly kicked an unarmed and bound Afghan man off a cliff near the village of Darwan before he was shot and executed.
In another report, a soldier on his first tour of Afghanistan was pressured to kill an elderly and unarmed detainee by higher ranking soldiers in what was an apparent initiation ritual.

Then there is the case of an Afghan man with a prosthetic limb who was killed by machinegun fire, with the artificial leg sent to regimental headquarters in Perth where it became a ceremonial drinking vessel.
These reported incidents are the subject of a two-year investigation by a Supreme Court Judge and high-ranking Army Reserve officer Major Paul Brereton.
Brereton’s review was sparked by an internal review by consultant Samantha Crompvoets, which claimed that Australian soldiers in Afghanistan carried out “unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations which included disregard for human life and dignity.”
Last week another review was announced, to be headed by David Irvine, the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) spy agency.
The terms of Irvine’s independent review are more centered on the culture of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), and he has a brief to determine “the effectiveness of reform initiatives” with culture at the heart of the issue.
Beyond unlawful killing, it is claimed that Australia soldiers took illegal drugs, drank alcohol to excess and acted in a culture of impunity and concealment, with no proper accountability to the rules of engagement.
Soldiers allegedly planted weapons on unarmed corpses on the battlefield to justify their killing, while some SAS teams were focused on “competition killing” which focused on kill counts instead of their true mission, which was counterinsurgency aimed at winning over the local population’s hearts and minds.
One team reportedly posted a “kill board” on their barracks door.
“Now many do-gooders and some journalists are falling over themselves to crucify some of our brave lads,” wrote a retired Lieutenant Colonel to the Canberra Times.
“War is not a Sunday barbecue: it is a down and dirty hard grind where our Diggers look the enemy in the face and try to kill him before they’re killed,” wrote another correspondent.
Meanwhile, military investigators have taken out advertisements in Afghan language publications in Australia, calling for details and additional information about wrongdoing by Australian forces in Afghanistan.

Many Australians are wary of what happened in Canada when members of the Airborne Regiment killed an unarmed Somali teenager in the 1990s, the regiment was disbanded. Australians have been split on whether or not the investigation should go farther.

To read the entire article from the Asia Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Jack Daniels Worried About Trade Wars, But Best Customer Remains US Military

Americans have traditionally loved their whiskeys and bourbons and they’ve shared that love with the rest of the world. And no one loves them more than the members of our military. It is rare to travel anywhere around the globe and not be able to find that most iconic of American whiskey, Jack Daniels. But the makers of “Old No. 7” are worried about the consequences of a trade war.

In response to the Trump Administrations tariffs on steel and aluminum, many of the US’ biggest trading partners are threatening to do the same with bourbon and Tennessee whiskey and that leaves many CEOs worried about a potential trade war including the owners of Jack Daniels.

Brown-Forman the owners of Jack Daniels are worried since Mexico levied a 25 percent tariff of whiskey and bourbon and Canada and the E.U. are threatening to do the same. 52 percent of Jack Daniels sales come from outside the United States to 165 countries. With the UK, France, Germany, and Poland accounting for 18 percent of overseas sales and Mexico 5 percent by itself, there is cause for concern.

However, help is always there in the personage of the United States military. Nobody loves their Jack Daniels more than Uncle Sam’s troops. It is almost ingrained in our troops from the time they enter basic training until retirement that a large part of their culture will be developing a taste for the amber fire water from Tennessee.

The military is the single biggest customer for the Jack Daniels premium 94-proof Single Barrel Whiskey. The price for a single barrel of the premium hovers between $9,000 and $12,000 dollars depending on the volume and alcohol evaporation. On average, a 53-gallon, 560-pound barrel holds about 250 bottles of Single Barrel Whiskey.

Jack Daniels gets its color and most of its flavor from the handmade, charred oak barrels. Once in the barrels, the Single Barrel select goes to the highest level of the barrelhouses where the temps reach 120 degrees F. The higher the temperature, the darker the whiskey and the more robust the flavor.

It is rumored that after SEAL Team 6 dispatched Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the SEALs bought an entire barrel of the Premium Single Barrel for their celebration. The distillery would only say that SEAL Teams in the past HAD bought entire barrels but they wouldn’t confirm DEVGRU.

If a military unit wants to buy an entire barrel of the premium, they can take a tour of the distillery with a Jack Daniels Master Taster. They’ll sample three different barrels together and once the buyer makes his choice, the buyer will receive an empty barrel and 250 bottles of whiskey.

The bottles are individually numbered and personalized with a custom metal hang tag. The top of the barrel is also engraved before it is shipped to the final destination.

A military function isn’t right without some Jack Daniels on hand and there were many a bottle carefully wrapped in 100-mile-an-hour tape that was taken into the woods or on deployments…strictly for medicinal purposes of course.

Friday morning runs were usually our long ones. If any of the NCOs were legitimately sick, they’d have to be cleared by the Sergeant Major to miss the run. He brought his Thermos of “coffee” with him on Fridays into the office with strong black Colombian coffee and just a medicinal amount of Old No. 7.

A guy would come in looking like death warmed over, with the flu and the SGM would say, have a cup of coffee. After one…or two, he’d ask, “Feel better? Now go outside and run.” Of course, before long, all the NCOs would line up on Friday morning cups in hand, and the Thermos was replaced with a big urn and somehow an empty bottle of Jack ended up in the trash can.

Unfortunately, that practice was halted one Friday morning when the commander, running on the side of the formation, said, “You guys must have all been partying last night, it smells like a whiskey distillery out here this morning” Oops.

After the military service was done and working as a security professional for the film industry, night shoots were the hardest. Because by the time you got back to the hotel, the sun was up and your body clock was telling you it was time to get up.

On one shoot in Morocco, the hotel bar wouldn’t open at 6:30 a.m. so the security guys, grips, armorers and special effects guys would unwind every morning with a few beers and some locally procured Jack Daniels in the bar, although the bar itself was closed.

The locals, getting an early start on the day were horrified to see a bunch of Brits and a handful of Americans sitting in the bar so early/late and then join them in the restaurant for the breakfast buffet before heading off to bed.

They finally gave up the ghost since we were taking up a large portion of the hotel and they saw how much money they were losing out and would open the bar “as a courtesy” from 6 – 7a.m. during night shoots and after much cajoling got a supply of Jack Daniels to include “Single Barrel” for us as well. Everyone was much happier.

Of course, having a member of the King of Morocco’s entourage working with us, certainly didn’t hurt matters. For this and a host of other issues that pop up with about a 300-350-man cast and crew shooting a major film.

Our friends at the Embassy also kept us with a nice supply of “Single Barrel” which was a nice way to “kick back the dust” on those …ahem, dusty days on the set.

Hopefully, this Trade War scenario will be fixed by the powers that be and no one in the U.S. or abroad has to worry about losing their jobs. And our friends overseas can still enjoy the taste of the pride of Lynchburg, TN. But if it takes a while, something tells me that the members of the U.S. military will take up the slack.

The last thing we want to hear is that the good people in Lynchburg will be cutting back on the workforce or (heavens forbid) on production.

So, President Trump, end the Trade War….for the whiskey’s sake.

Photos: Jack Daniels

North Korea Agrees to Step Up Return of US MIA Remains

While most of the agreement between President Trump and Kim Jong Un was vague as the two met for only a few hours, perhaps the most concrete outcome of Tuesday’s summit is a commitment to recover the remains of U.S. military personnel missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War.

In a joint statement signed by the leaders, the countries committed to the recovery of the remains and the immediate repatriation of those already identified.
Washington and Pyongyang agreed to hold follow-up talks at the “earliest possible date” between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a relevant high North Korean official.
Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the 1950-53 war. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea.
It’s debatable whether North Korea’s commitment to recovering U.S. war remains could count as a major win for Washington when Pyongyang would be simply returning to what it had been doing for years. Between 1996 and 2005, joint U.S.-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 joint recovery operations and recovered 229 sets of American remains.
But efforts to recover and return the remains have been stalled for more than a decade because of the North’s development of nuclear weapons and U.S. claims that the safety of recovery teams it sent during the administration of President George W. Bush was not sufficiently guaranteed.

The sides are still technically at war, in 1953 the two sides agreed to an armistice not a peace treaty but perhaps this first summit meeting between Trump and Jong is a sign that the war may hopefully finally be over.

In the meantime, the North will cooperate with the recovery and return of US MIA remains and perhaps give some closure to the families of those missing.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Trump, Kim Jong Un Get a Deal Done, Sign “A Pretty Historic” Document

And just like that, after meeting for several hours in the morning in Singapore which was in the middle of the night as America slept, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to an agreement.

Trump and Kim signed the agreement on Tuesday while Trump said the North Korean leader “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” In exchange, Trump agreed to “provide security guarantees” to North Korea.

Trump has agreed to a second summit and will eventually host Jong at the White House, something that was completely unheard of just a few months ago.

For Kim Jong Un, this agreement and the meeting with Trump is a huge gamble. The despotic, iron-fisted ruler of a closed, paranoid country that has committed countless acts of human rights abuses against its own people, is a sign they may indeed come out of the dark.

Speaking thru an interpreter, Kim Jong Un said, “It has not been easy to come to this point,” Kim said. “For us, the past has been holding us back and old practices and prejudices have been covering our eyes and ears, but we have been able to overcome everything to arrive here today.”

Trump also promised to stop the Korean war games, something which the North Koreans viewed as provocative. As to withdrawing U.S. troops from Korea, Trump said that is the goal but it probably wouldn’t happen for some time.

Mike Pompeo, while he was the CIA Director traveled to the North twice to set the stage for the historic summit. He got a lot of the obstacles cleared and where the two countries were taunting each other with nuclear war a few months ago, a deal, perhaps just the preliminary one has been reached. It was Kim Jong Un’s first time he was seen outside of his own country since taking power in 2011.

The Text of the Agreement:

Convinced that the establishment of new US-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building cam promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
The United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the US-DPRK summit — the first in history — was an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening up of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in the joint statement fully and expeditiously.

The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations, led by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the US-DPRK summit.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new US-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and the security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.

DONALD J. TRUMP
President of the United States of America
KIM JONG UN
Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
June 12, 2018
Sentosa Island
Singapore

Remembering Ola Lee Mize, Korean War MOH, Vietnam, Special Forces

Lee Mize as he was known to his friends was awarded the Medal of Honor for incredible valor in the Korean War as an enlisted man, later became an officer and served in Special Forces for three and a half tours in Vietnam before retiring in 1981.

Mize was born August 28, 1931 in Albertville, Alabama as the son of a sharecropper. He was forced to leave school after just the ninth grade to help his family put food on the table as was very common throughout the United States in that era.

Mize tried several times to enlist in the Army but was rejected for being too light at just 120 pounds. He finally got in when his mother signed an affidavit to affirm his age as a tornado had destroyed all of his town’s records while he was young.

But once in the Army, a bigger problem was looming. Mize was virtually blind in one eye, which had been accidentally pierced with an ice pick when he was 5 years old.

The vision exam for the Army at that time involved holding a paddle over one eye and looking at the chart with the other. He passed the test by briskly switching paddles in a way that made it look as if he was switching eyes. He had practiced this bit of subterfuge with spoons beforehand.

Mize became an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division and was about to finish up his tour and go back to finish schooling and attend college when the Korean War broke out. He re-enlisted in the hopes of getting sent to Korea.

Medal of Honor Action at Outpost Harry: He would get his wish and be involved in some horrific combat there. Assigned to Company K, 15th Infantry Regiment, Third Infantry Division, was helping to defend a strategic hill near Surang-ni in mountainous South Korea. The hill, called Outpost Harry by the Americans, sat between American and Communist lines, each several hundred yards away. Coincidentally, the 15th Infantry Regiment was the same unit that Audie Murphy served in during World War II.

During the previous few nights prior to June 10, 1953, Mize had observed numerous trucks behind the enemy’s ridgeline bringing in men and equipment. He called for artillery strikes and air strikes but those were denied.

A sergeant manning a listening post that night reported something amiss. Upon investigating, Mize came up and took a look himself to the unit’s front. “Where did all of those shrubs come from he asked the sergeant? They hadn’t been there before. Mize noticed one move. He crouched up and unloaded a full carbine magazine into them as Chinese soldiers, infiltrating the lines were cut down very close to the LP.

When an American machine-gun nest had been overrun, he fought his way to the position, killing 10 North Korean and Chinese soldiers and dispersing the rest. He had been knocked down and wounded but not seriously three times by artillery and grenade blasts, and his men were astounded that he returned alive.

The legend that was told of Mize was that when he took back the machine gun nest, he dispatched the last of the Chinese soldiers with an entrenching tool when his weapon ran out of ammunition. There was a bronzed “E-Tool” that would hang over his desk later in his career. He did tell the local (Gadsden, AL) newspaper that he went “combat crazy” during the pitched part of the engagement.

“I thought I’d bought the farm,” Col. Mize told VFW Magazine in an interview. “I just knew I was going to die. I knew it. I accepted it. All I wanted to do was take as many of them with me as I could.”

He and the remaining Americans convinced the Chinese that there were many more Americans left on the hill but throwing grenades and shooting from one position and then leaping into other holes and firing from there.

At one point, as an enemy soldier stepped behind an American and prepared to fire, Sergeant Mize killed him. At dawn, he helped regroup for a counterattack that drove the enemy away. He was personally credited with killing 65 of the enemy. In fact, it could have easily been much more. Of the 56 men on Outpost Harry, only eight survived.

He was recommended for the Medal of Honor but initially asked that his name be withdrawn saying the honor should go to the troops that died defending it.

“That terrible night in 1953 in Korea at Outpost Harry was one I would never want to repeat,” he wrote in a foreword to “Uncommon Valor,” a book about Medal of Honor recipients.

“Too many good young men . . . gave their lives to take or hold that miserable piece of high ground.”

Eventually, in 1954 Mize did receive the Medal of Honor from President Eisenhower and recounted that he was so nervous it was obvious to everyone. He credited the President to calm him by joking about himself.

Mize remained in the Army and became an officer. In 1962 he attended the Special Forces Officers Course training and was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group. In late 1963, he was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group, where he was deployed to Vietnam on his first tour as an A-Team Leader. In 1965, he was assigned to the Special Forces Training Group, where he was the Advanced Training Committee chief for SCUBA, HALO, and the SKYHOOK schools. Colonel Mize is credited for being the officer responsible for starting the present day Combat Divers Qualification Course in Key West, FL.

He returned to Vietnam in 1966-67 and again in 1969 as the Commander of the 3d Mobile Strike Force Command (Cambodian Troops). The Mike Forces as they were called were the quick reaction force for any of the Special Forces/CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) A-Camps in their Corps area.

In 1975 Colonel Mize was reassigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was initially the Special Forces School Chief for the Field Training Division and Resistance Division and later the Commander of the Special Forces School. At that time, the US Army JFK Institute for Military Assistance, (IMA). Later this was changed to the Special Warfare Center (SWC). Mize retired in 1981.

Colonel Mize’s awards include the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Legion of Merit
(with Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star (with four Oak Leaf Clusters), Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, SCUBA Badge, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (2nd award).

Colonel Mize passed away on March 12, 2014, from cancer at age 82.

Medal of Honor Citation:

Rank and organization: Master Sergeant (then Sgt.), U.S. Army, Company K, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division.

Place and date: Near Surang-ni, Korea, 10 to 11 June 1953.

Entered service at: Gadsden, Ala. Born: 28 August 1931, Marshall County, Ala.

G.O. No.: 70, 24 September 1954.

Citation:

M/Sgt. Mize, a member of Company K, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Company K was committed to the defense of “Outpost Harry”, a strategically valuable position, when the enemy launched a heavy attack. Learning that a comrade on a friendly listening post had been wounded he moved through the intense barrage, accompanied by a medical aid man, and rescued the wounded soldier.
On returning to the main position he established an effective defense system and inflicted heavy casualties against attacks from determined enemy assault forces which had penetrated into trenches within the outpost area. During his fearless actions he was blown down by artillery and grenade blasts 3 times but each time he dauntlessly returned to his position, tenaciously fighting and successfully repelling hostile attacks.
When enemy onslaughts ceased he took his few men and moved from bunker to bunker, firing through apertures and throwing grenades at the foe, neutralizing their positions. When an enemy soldier stepped out behind a comrade, prepared to fire, M/Sgt. Mize killed him, saving the life of his fellow soldier.
After rejoining the platoon, moving from man to man, distributing ammunition, and shouting words of encouragement he observed a friendly machine gun position overrun. He immediately fought his way to the position, killing 10 of the enemy and dispersing the remainder. Fighting back to the command post, and finding several friendly wounded there, he took a position to protect them. Later, securing a radio, he directed friendly artillery fire upon the attacking enemy’s routes of approach. At dawn he helped regroup for a counterattack which successfully drove the enemy from the outpost.
M/Sgt. Mize’s valorous conduct and unflinching courage reflect lasting glory upon himself and uphold the noble traditions of the military service.

Photos: US Army

Chinese Hackers Steal Sensitive Data on US Submarines

Sensitive data about U.S. submarine research has been hacked from an unnamed government contractor by Chinese hackers working for China’s Ministry of State Security or MSS.

Included in the loss were six hundred fourteen gigabytes of data which were stolen, including submarine communications data and information on a secretive project known as Sea Dragon.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous American officials, reports that the data was stored on the contractor’s unclassified network, though officials said the material could be considered classified and was highly sensitive. The compromised data could give China important edges in both technology and tactics at sea, including in its conflict with a half-dozen nations including Japan and Indonesia over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Little is known about the classified Sea Dragon initiative, but it is an underwater technology that the Defense Department has described as introducing a “disruptive offensive capability,” according to the Post, and which some defense experts regard as a key component in America’s precautions for conflict with China. Submarine weapons are key for China’s military ambitions, but Chinese cyber-incursions in recent years have nabbed designs and data for everything from advanced fighter jets to missile systems.
Former Navy officer and NSA analyst John Schindler, writing for the Observer, highlights the loss of cryptographic information used in submarine communications. Those techniques allow coordination of forces at sea, and their compromise can lend an enemy a huge tactical advantage in any conflict. As a precedent, Schindler cites the Allied compromise of the German Enigma cipher, and the resulting demolition of Nazi U-Boats that hastened the end of World War II—though it’s important to note that the Germans didn’t know the code had been cracked, and the U.S. may be able to react to the recent hack by changing codes and practices to keep messages out of Chinese hands.

The Chinese said that they were not aware of any such operation. Not much is known on Sea Dragon, however, the Pentagon has asked for or spent more than $300 million dollars for the project since late 2015 and said it planned to begin underwater testing by September.

Whether or not this latest hack sets that timetable back remains to be seen.

To read the entire article from Fortune, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia