Target Centermass

Category: Military History

  • Britain Extends Citizenship to Gurkhas

    In a move in the well-earned right direction, the Brits have offered serious hope and recognition to some of the globe’s truest warriors:

    Britain has extended full citizenship rights to Gurkha soldiers from Nepal who serve in the British armed forces, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.

    “The Gurkhas have served this country with great skill, courage and dignity during some of the most testing times in our history,” Blair said.

    “They have made an enormous contribution not just to our armed forces but to the life of this country, and it is important their commitment and sacrifice is recognised,” he said Thursday.

    Gurkhas and their supporters have been trying for three years to publicly shame the British government with the charge it treats these soldiers as good enough to die for Britain, but not good enough to become citizens.

    The announcement that most Gurkha soldiers have won the right to become British citizens follows an 18-month review by Britain’s Home Office and the Foreign Office.

    Gurkhas said they could not wholeheartedly welcome the move because the new provision will apply only to those who were discharged from the forces after July 1, 1997, meaning that around 100 of the estimated 400 Gurkhas currently resident in Britain will not be eligible.

    The Gurkhas have been stout, gallant combatants for the Crown for a long, long time. This is a huge step, but more is needed for these proud warriors and their amazing history.

  • Battleship Texas in Jeopardy

    I’ve previously posted about the christening of the latest USS Texas, the second member of the Virginia class of submarines. In that post, I briefly mentioned one of her predecessors, the battleship Texas. The Dallas Morning News did a feature piece today on the aging vessel, describing the dire condition and expensive needs she faces (registration required, try bugmenot.com).

    Age, relentless saltwater corrosion and tight budgets are doing what no bombs, torpedoes or bullets could – destroying the Battleship Texas.

    Sixteen years after the state spent $14 million to help preserve it, the nearly century-old Texas – the only remaining battleship to survive World Wars I and II – needs an overhaul to keep it from rusting away.

    “The ship is in need of significant repair,” said Steve Whiston, director of the infrastructure division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The department maintains the 573-foot-long, 34,000-ton vessel in a berth on the Houston Ship Channel. “There is corrosion at the water line. We’re continuing to experience problems that cause us concern. And the ship, given its age, is pretty fragile.”

    This ship has quite the storied past, serving significantly in both World War I and II.

    The Texas is the oldest of the eight remaining American battlewagons and the last of the Dreadnought class, patterned after the British battleship that featured unprecedented speed and armaments at the turn of the 20th century. Launched in 1912 and commissioned two years later, the Texas was touted as the world’s most powerful weapon.

    In World War I, it served as U.S. flagship in the British Grand Fleet. In 1940, it was named flagship of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, took part in D-Day in 1944, later experienced casualties when hit by German artillery off France and provided Pacific support for World War II battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

    Alas! The current outlook for the Texas is not good, with funding not the only issue.

    In 1988, the ship underwent its first major restoration in 40 years. It was towed to a Galveston shipyard where the hull essentially was replaced.

    The ship again needs extensive renovations, but there is no money or a convenient place for repairs.

    “A ship like that really needs significant dry-dock repairs every eight to 10 years, so we’re really past our cycle,” Mr. Whiston said.

    The Texas Legislature approved about $12 million for bonds to pay for renovations but didn’t provide a way to pay off the bonds, Mr. Whiston said. Park officials hope to remedy that with a budget request during the legislative session that begins in January.

    But since the last round of repairs, the Galveston dry-dock where the Texas was towed closed, and there’s doubt any shipyard in Texas can do the job. Officials are also not sure that the ship could survive a move.

    “It’s fine floating in one place, but when you put a ship of that age in open water, that stress, we were concerned we may lose it,” Mr. Whiston said.

    One proposal calls for building a dam around where the ship’s now docked, along with a dry dock, allowing engineers to remove the water as needed to make repairs. Another idea is to permanently raise the ship from the water on a kind of cradle.

    It would be a tragedy to lose this piece of our state and national history. I honestly do not see the Lone Star State failing to take care of this lady, though. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

    More on the battleship Texas can be found here.

  • Rather’s Dangerous Game

    With its firm stance supported only by weak defenses, CBS is walking a high-wire with Dan Rather’s assertions that the Bush-Killian documents are valid. These defenses are repeatedly rapidly overwhelmed by the research of the conservative side of the blogosphere, and this has led me to re-evaluate the situation.

    Short of serious substantiation, CBS has two choices: first, crawdad on its assertions and confess its egregious errors in both methodology and mission; second, lay low and continue to deny, hoping it blows over or the rest of the mainstream media rides in to the rescue.

    This brings to mind the French at Dien Bien Phu.

    From Summons of the Trumpet by Dave Richard Palmer:

    The French and the Viet Minh fought the climactic battle at an unimportant and unimposing village high in jungle-covered hills near the Laotian border — Dien Bien Phu. (Memories of that battle would return fourteen years later to haunt and distract American leaders at a crucial moment.) In January 1954, Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap surrounded a large French force at Dien Bien Phu, isolating it from all support except that dropped by parachute. Through February and into March the French held on doggedly. But they were doomed without help — and by March they knew it. Desparately, Paris asked Washington to intervene.

    Is CBS setting up MSM’s own Dien Bien Phu, with the bloggers in the role of the surrounding forces? It would certainly seem that the rehashing of the old AWOL stories would be the equivalent of “an unimportant and unimposing village” in this election year. The stakes on the confrontation? Nothing short of the credibility of the entirety of the old media. If the bloggers retreat into the jungle and let Rather escape, then the current situation continues. If critical mass of the story is reached with the public, MSM goes into a crisis. Will the other branches of the old media play it neutral and see how things play out, or will they do their actual job and seriously look at Rather’s claims? Their credibility may hinge on it, as the Swiftboat Vets story has shown that MSM no longer has exclusive claim to the public’s attention.

    CBS and Rather are potentially setting up their own Dien Bien Phu. Will the rest of the old media support them or do what’s right and what’s their role in society — investigate and cover the story?

  • Luxembourg Holds Massive World War II Liberation Celebrations

    Luxembourg celebrates, remembers and thanks.

    Luxembourg was only a brief stop for American forces sweeping through France on their way to Germany in World War II. But the liberation of the tiny country of 450,000 left strong memories.

    There were bands, speeches, church services, and commemoration medals as this small country looked back to remember the day that its precious freedom was restored from German occupation.

    In one ceremony at Luxembourg’s American military cemetery, where General George Patton is buried, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker hailed the American contribution.

    “This is a day of thankfulness to these brave American soldiers who from the other side of the ocean came to Europe, and came to this tiny country, to liberate this country,” the prime minister said.

    Luxembourg invited 20 American veterans who took part in the liberation 60 years ago, to return to the country for observances. The oldest of those, 90-year-old John Colligan of New York, said recognition means a lot.

    “These people, 60 years later, they’re doing it because of appreciation,” he said. “And that’s a long time to keep your mind set that you want to show your appreciation. I admire them for that.”

    Pretty good stuff. And then I came to this:

    Luxembourgers have their own perspectives on the war. For 82-year-old Victor Fischbach, it was unique. He was forced into the German army like many other able-bodied Luxembourg men. But he later escaped, and, with the help of a priest, spent 13 months hiding in a Luxembourg church with several of his countrymen. Mr. Fischbach says liberation will never be forgotten by Luxembourg.

    “When an American speaks about Europe he must think that Luxembourg is, maybe, the best friend, the strongest friend,” said Mr. Fischbach. “And we’ll never forget what we are owing to America. From time to time, I go to the military cemetery, the American cemetery. I go alone and I cry, I cry. I can’t help, I cry. And I say, go there. If you don’t believe any more in America. Go there, and you will find again, and see again what they have done for us.“

    Not all have forgotten or, rather, have chosen to not remember.

  • 65 Years Ago Today

    Wow, a coworker just mentioned the date and it suddenly dawned on me that today is the 65th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II. I finally found a news story about it.

    Poland’s prime minister marked the 65th anniversary of the start of the Second World War on Wednesday, unveiling a new memorial on the spot where a German warship fired the opening shots at a Polish munitions depot, sparking nearly six years of bloody conflict.

    The ceremony began to the wailing of sirens on the Westerplatte peninsula in the Baltic port of Gdansk at 4:45 a.m., the exact time that the German ship Schleswig-Holstein shelled the depot and its 182-strong garrison on Sept. 1, 1939, starting the war that left an estimated 50 million dead, including six million European Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

  • Latest USS Texas Christened

    The fourth ship of the U.S. Navy to carry the name of the Lone Star state was christened this weekend by First Lady Laura Bush.

    The USS Texas (SSN 775) is the second member of the Virginia class of submarines and the fourth vessel in the Navy to carry the name of Texas. The most famous to date would be the battleship that saw duty in WWII, including action off North Africa and Iwo Jima. The ship can be visited at the San Jacinto Battleground near Houston.