Today marks a special day for some 167,000
members of the Greatest Generation who answered the call and went to war
following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941 and represent
the last survivors of some 16 million men and women who donned a uniform for
the U.S. and fought in WWII. If one knows anyone who served and if able to
enlist at age 17 or 18 in 1945 that person would be 94-95 today and your time
to sincerely thank them for their service is rapidly fading. Trust your tree has been purchased and
decorated and your Christmas shopping is almost complete so you can enjoy the
glut of Christmas Parties and today’s Ridley's Believe It Or Not. Hope
you find them informative and worthy of your time to read. If not, please reply
“Unsubscribe” and I will delete you from the mailing list.
Ridley’s Believe It Or Not December 7, 2022
Noted Holiday: National Pearl
Harbor Remembrance Day, created by President Reagan on December 6, 1984 and
celebrated since 1984 on this day which is marked with solemn services at Pearl
Harbor and the flying of U.S. flags
across the nation at half-mast until sunset.
Word
of the Day: The word of the day is “absterge” which means to wipe clean or
expunge which is a growing trend in the criminal justices system to give
convicted criminals, especially those whose crimes were committed at an early age
a second chance.
Number 1 Song of the Day: The number 1 song on this day in 2010 was “Only Girl
(In the World)” by Rihanna as her last of 4 number 1 songs that year, a first
for any female artist, on a run of 1 week to share with 16 other songs
reaching achieving number 1 status while 9 acts achieved their first number 1
song. Here is a music video with lyrics of Rihanna performing “Only Girl
(In the World)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa14VNsdSYM
Noted Birthdays: Charles
McGee, born on this day in 1919, was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen who was
assigned to the 302nd Fighter Group in Italy, escorting bombers and engaging
in bombing and strafing of military targets often flying a P-51 with its Red
Tail that brought fear to the Luftwaffe pilots who had the misfortune to
encounter it. He fought in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, flying 409
combat missions, finally retiring as Colonel
in the U.S. Air Force. He is believed to be one of the last surviving members
of the Tuskegee Airmen whose success was key in enabling President Truman to
desegregate our Armed Forces. He died in his sleep this year on January 16th
at the age of 102.
Notable Events that occurred on December 7 (in addition to the attack on Pearl
Harbor). 1. 1949—Chinese Communist forces defeated
the Chinese Nationalists under the Chiang Kai Check, causing them to flee China
to the island of Taiwan, now under increasing threats that China, emboldened by
a perceive weak Biden, wants its province back by force if necessary.
2.
1963—To the joy of rabid football fans and the dismay of referees concerned
over making mistaken calls, instant replay was introduced in the Army-Navy Game
which is now so sophisticated that it can determine whether a person is out of bounds,
has scored or has lost control before hitting the ground.
3.
1982—Charles Brooks, Jr. had the dubious distinction of becoming the first
person in the United States to be executed by lethal injection in Texas for the
murder of a car salesman who took him for a test drive of an auto Brooks pretended
to want to buy.
4. 1993—Colin Ferguson, an African from Jamaica
who immigrated here after his parents had died and their business closed and
who believed America was a totally racist society that threatened his safety,
on a Long Island Railroad car took out a semi-automatic pistol and started shooting
at passengers, killing 6 and wounding 19 others until passengers were able to
subdue him until police arrived to arrest him. At his trial before being
dismissed his counsel which included Kunstler argued he suffered from “Black
Rage” due to racial discrimination that caused him to act irrationally. He
fired his counsel and represented himself in a big mistake for he was found guilty
and sentenced to over 300 years to life in prison which means he would be
eligible for parole in 2309.
5. 1995—The space probe Galileo after
being launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis on October 18, 1989 arrived
at Jupiter to orbit it to study the Giant Planet and its planets until it was
intentionally destroyed by Jupiter’s atmosphere on September 21, 2003.
Quote of the Day: Winston
Churchill on the consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As
for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely the
proper application of overwhelming force…United we could subdue everybody else
in the world. Many disasters, immeasurable cost and tribulation lay ahead, but
there was no more doubt about the end.” Thank God Hitler was foolish enough to
declare war on us and drag Mussolini with him, otherwise it would have been
very difficult for Roosevelt to persuade the Congress to declare war on those two
countries.
Michael Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
Poems on events of the day
Commissioned unique poems
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