This date in history

[Jimbuna]

1814 English engineer George Stephenson introduces the 1st steam locomotive.

1943 Benito Mussolini dismissed as Italian Premier and arrested on the authority of King Victor Emmanuel III.

1943 First warship named after an African American launched - USS Leonard Roy Harmon, a Buckley class destroyer.

1944 World War II: Operation Spring - one of Canada's bloodiest days, 18,444 casualties and 5,021 killed.

1944 First jet fighter used in combat (Messerschmitt 262).

[Jimbuna]

1908 United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).

1944 The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain (nicknamed "gasometer").

1945 Declaration of Potsdam: US, Britain and China demand the Japanese surrender during WWII.

1945 Japanese government disregards US ultimatum.

1945 US cruiser Indianapolis reaches Tinian with atom bomb.

1945 Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's Prime Minister after election defeat.

1945 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva depart Kirtland Army Air Field to transport the plutonium core for the Fat Man bomb (bombing of Nagasaki) to the island of Tinian where the bomb is assembled.

1957 USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile.

[Aktungbby]

1952: Evita Peron dies 3 million people turned out for the funeral of one of history's more notable first ladies; even in death she was still a globetrotter!

In 1971, Evita's body was exhumed and flown to Spain, where Juan Perón maintained the corpse in his home. Juan and his third wife, Isabel, decided to keep the corpse in their dining room on a platform near the table. In 1973, Juan Perón came out of exile and returned to Argentina, where he became president for the third time. Perón died in office in 1974. His third wife, Isabel Perón, whom he had married on 15 November 1961, and who had been elected vice-president, succeeded him. She became the first female president in the Western Hemisphere. Isabel had Eva Perón's body returned to Argentina and (briefly) displayed beside her husband's. Perón's body was later buried in the Duarte family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires. The previous removal of Evita's body was avenged by the Montoneros when they in 1970 stole Pedro Eugenio Aramburu's corpse, whom they had previously killed. Montoneros then used the captive body of Aramburu to pressure for the repatriation of Evita's body. Once Evita's body arrived in Argentina the Montoneros gave up Aramburu's corpse and abandoned it in a street in Buenos Aires.The Argentine government took elaborate measures to make Perón's tomb secure. The tomb's marble floor has a trapdoor that leads to a compartment containing two coffins. Under that compartment is a second trapdoor and a second compartment. That is where Perón's coffin rests. Biographers Marysa Navarro and Nicholas Fraser write that the claim is often made that her tomb is so secure that it could withstand a nuclear attack. NOTE: On June 23, 1987, someone broke into Juan Perón’s tomb and cut off his hands. They were ransomed for $8 million US dollars. The government refused to pay the ransom, and the hands, seen by Argentinians as a symbol of power, have never been recovered.($o much for 'mano a mano' "It reflects a fear", they write, "a fear that the body will disappear from the tomb and that the woman, or rather the myth of the woman, will reappear."

Clearly; No 'hasta la vista' for this BBY! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per%C3%B3n & another version of events: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150710-the-gruesome-untold-story-of-eva-perons-lobotomy

[Mr Quatro]

^ Here's a question you can't answer Aktungbby ... ^

I wonder why?

[Jimbuna]

1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings first tobacco to England from Virginia.

1789 US Congress establishes Department of Foreign Affairs now referred to as the State Department.

1940 Bugs Bunny debuts in "Wild Hare".

1944 1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor).

1948 Otto Skorzeny escapes anti-nazi camp at Darmstadt.

1949 First jet-propelled airline (De Havilland Comet) flies.

1972 The F-15 Eagle flies for the first time.

2012 Queen Elizabeth II opens the 30th Olympics in London, United Kingdom (with some help from 007).

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings first tobacco to England from Virginia.

Hey UK it's too late to bring up a class action law suit against Sir Walter Raleigh ... What about Virginia though?

Everyone who has ever been harmed, first hand or second hand, could be in on the law suit.

[Jimbuna]

1858 First use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made by Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service.

1914 First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill orders British Grand Fleet to Scapa Flow.

1945 Japanese premier Suzuki disregards US ultimatum to surrender.

1945 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9.

2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.

[Aktungbby]

1821 José de San Martín declares Peru's independence from Spain! ...and a British Legion was there!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Legions

[Jimbuna]

1914 British fleet leaves Portland/passes Straits of Dover.

1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

1945 After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed & sunk by a Japanese submarine.

1949 Moscow ends the blockade of West Berlin.

[Mr Quatro]

The Protestant Passover

August 1

We can’t blame churchmen in England for agonizing every time a new monarch was crowned, for the religious persuasion of the kings determined who would be burned. Anxiety continued even in the days of Isaac Watts and his fellow pastor, Thomas Bradbury. During their day, Queen Anne and the parliament passed the “Schism Bill,” to take effect August 1, 1714. Many predicted it would reestablish Catholicism in England “with mighty gust,” and that Baptists and other Dissenters would again be racked and burned. A terrible storm gathered, and even the stalwart Bradbury grew anxious.

In the early hours of August 1, Bishop Burnet was passing through Smithfield in London where martyrs of previous eras had died. Seeing Bradbury there, he asked, “Why are you so buried in thought, Mr. Bradbury?”

“I have been wondering, bishop,” replied Bradbury, “whether I shall have the resolution of that noble army of martyrs whose ashes are deposited in this place. Similar times of persecution are at hand, and I shall be called to suffer.”

“Then you have not heard the news! The queen is seriously ill. I am on my way to obtain the latest particulars. I will dispatch a messenger with the earliest intelligence of her death. If you are in the pulpit when he arrives he will drop a handkerchief from the gallery.”

Later that morning Bradbury ascended his pulpit, and in the middle of his sermon a handkerchief fluttered from the gallery. For weeks he had lived in suspense. Now the news descended with the handkerchief: Anne is dead; the Schism bill, lost; the danger, past. His blood surged, but he continued his sermon without pause. Only in his concluding prayer did he reveal to his stunned congregation that God had “delivered these kingdoms from evil counsels.”

He prayed for “His Majesty, King George,” then quoted Psalm 89.

For years, Dissenters regarded August 1, 1714 as a day of deliverance, the “Protestant Passover.”


On This Day : 265 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes.

[Jimbuna]

1776 Formal signing of the US Declaration of Independence by 56 people (date most accepted by modern historians).

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson further decimates the French fleet.

1916 World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.

1934 Adolf Hitler becomes commander-in-chief of German armed forces.

1940 Clermont-Ferrand sentences General Charles de Gaulle to death.

1943 Lt John F. Kennedy's PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon islands.

1943 Sunderland seaplanes sink U-706 & U-106.

1961 Beatles first gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1943 Lt John F. Kennedy's PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon islands.

1964: Generally a bad day for PT boats al' round! As is usual procedure: a naval incident propels US of A into another war.

Photograph taken from USS Maddox (DD-731) during her engagement with three North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, 2 August 1964. The view shows all three of the boats speeding towards the Maddox. This real attack, later confirmed by N. Viet Nm's Gen Giap, would occasion the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and a useless nine year war ending when Congress repealed the Resolution in 1973...

The NVN torpedo boats were commanded by three brothers: Van Bot commanded boat T-333, Van Tu commanded T-336, and T-339 was commanded by Van Gian.The torpedo boats initially conducted their attack in numerical order, with T-333 spearheading the assault. ( Brother Bot was in 'the van' of the attack??!!-Clearly a violation of the Sullivan law!!) Maximum effective range for their torpedoes was 1,000 yards (910 m),.but Maddox's 5-inch gun's range was 18,000 yards (16,000 m).[ As the boats pressed home their attack and came within 5,000 yards (4,600 m), T-333 attempted to run abeam of Maddox for a side shot, while the remaining two boats continued their stern chase. The two chasers, T-336 and T-339, fired first, but due to Maddox's heavy fire of 5-inch shells, the torpedo boats had discharged their torpedoes at excessive range, all four underwater missiles missing their mark. T-333 fired its torpedoes, without effect, but dueled Maddox's 5-inch guns with its twin 14.5 mm (0.57 in)machine gun, achieving one hit on the destroyer. The ship altered her course to avoid the torpedoes, which were observed passing on the starboard side. Soon, four F-8 Crusaders from an aircraft carrier in the region,USS Ticonderoga, arrived on the scene and attacked the three torpedo boats. The combination of fire from Maddox and the F-8s severely damaged all three boats, and forced them to retreat to the bases from which they came. Several NVN sailors were wounded, and four were killed. No US sailors were killed or wounded, and Maddox did not sustain serious damage; one of the four Crusaders sustained some 14.5 mm machine gun fire hits, as a large portion of its left wing was "missing", but managed to return to Ticonderoga.

Having recently fired at Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf (July 24) and dodging Chinese military aircraft in the South China Seas under disputed 'right of free passage' (July 25) http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/official-us-navy-ship-fires-warning-shots-iranian-48834904 & http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/24/politics/chinese-jet-intercept-us-navy-plane/index.html ....the US military-industrial complex, Ol' Ike warned about, is up to its normal preliminary tricks...and the 'enemy' has read our book!

[Jimbuna]

1934 Adolf Hitler merges the offices of German Chancellor and President, declaring himself "Führer" (leader).

1943 Gen Patton slaps a US GI in hospital, accusing him of cowardice.

1954 First VTOL (Vertical Take-off & Land) flown.

1958 USS Nautilus reaches North Pole, first submarine to achieve submarine transit of North Pole.

1963 Beatles final performance at Cavern Club in Liverpool.

[Mr Quatro]

The Boxers, waged a virtual war against believers. Nearly 200 missionary adults and children and 30,000 national Chinese Christians perished. Among them was missionary Lizzie Atwater who wrote her family on August 3, 1900:

Dear ones, I long for a sight of your dear faces, but I fear we shall not meet on earth. I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. The Lord is wonderfully near, and he will not fail me. I was very restless and excited while there seemed a chance of life, but God has taken away that feeling, and now I just pray for grace to meet the terrible end bravely. The pain will soon be over, and oh the sweetness of the welcome above!

My little baby will go with me. I think God will give it to me in Heaven, and my dear mother will be so glad to see us. I cannot imagine the Savior’s welcome. Oh, that will compensate for all these days of suspense. Dear ones, live near God and cling less closely to earth. There is no other way by which we can receive that peace from God which passeth understanding. …

… I just keep calm these hours. I do not regret coming to China, but am sorry I have done so little. My married life, two precious years, has been so very full of happiness. We will die together, my dear husband and I. I send my love to you all, the dear friends who remember me.

Twelve days later the Atwaters perished. But it was not for nothing. When tensions subsided the missionary army returned, remaining until expelled by the Communists in 1949. The number of Chinese Christians grew to about 5 to 7 million by 1980, and has since mushroomed to an estimated 50 million—and counting.

[Aktungbby]

Of some interest to this old Congregationalist:

The most severe persecution came in the northern province of Shanxi, where the governor of the province, Yu Xian was (allegedly)a noted Boxer sympathizer. In Fenzhou in northern Shanxi, however, local officials seemed to be more kind to the missionaries than in most other locations. A number of missionaries flocked to Fenzhou at the invitation of workers stationed there, believing they would be safe until the trouble blew over. Shortly after they arrived in the town, however, the evil governor assigned a new magistrate over Fenzhou, who promptly placed an armed guard over the foreigners. The missionaries knew they had walked into a trap and feared the worst:
Seven members of the Oberlin Band were in Fenzhou: Charles and Eva Price and their daughter, Florence, about six years old; and Ernest and Elizabeth Atwater and their two younger daughters, Celia and Bertha, about five and three years old. With them were three missionaries of the China Inland Mission.
On August 14, the missionaries were ordered to leave the city. The ten missionaries, three Chinese Christians, and two cart drivers departed through the streets while 10,000 people silently watched them depart. The soldiers escorting the missionaries had orders to kill them along the road, One of the Chinese Christians, warned of what was coming, bribed the soldiers with his possessions and was permitted to depart. As he was fleeing he heard shots. All the missionaries were killed. The soldiers robbed the bodies and local villagers buried them. (at night and at considerable risk to themselves; 200 hundred Christian Chinese were executed for this kindness)

The Memorial Arch at Oberlin College is dedicated to the memory of the 15 missionaries of the Oberlin Band killed in China in 1900.
Accounts of the 2 separate massacres of Oberlin missionaries vary: Twelve days after her letter was written, Lizzie Atwater, her unborn baby, and six other missionaries were hacked to death by the guards. (I somehow find it difficult to believe that the guards suddenly were merciful and used guns....)
Later, when Lizzie's parents in Oberlin, Ohio, heard the dreadful news of the death of their daughter, son-in-law, and unborn grandchild, they said, in tears, "We do not begrudge them - we gave them to that needy land; China will yet believe the truth." ...right! The truth perhaps: Alas poor governor Yu Xian, who perhaps tried to suppress the Boxers, was himself beheaded one year later:

After Allied armies seized control of North China, Yuxian was blamed by both foreign and Chinese officials for having encouraged the Boxers, and at their insistence, he was beheaded. Historians have now shown that while Yuxian was strongly resistant to foreign influence, he was in fact actively involved in the suppression of Boxer groups in 1895–96 and 1899, but that his strategy of killing Boxer leaders without prosecuting their followers failed in late 1899, when the Boxers had changed in nature and their executed leaders could easily be replaced by new ones. They also suggest that the Christians in Taiyuan were killed by mob violence, not by Yu Xian's order.

Scapegoats and fallguys, as always I 'spect.