This Day in History — History.com — What Happened Today in History

This Day in History — History.com — What Happened Today in History

Civil War: 150th Anniversary — History.com

Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Currier & Ives

Image source - http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/programs/egov/images/fortsumter.jpg

Civil War: 150th Anniversary — History.com

History of St. Patrick's Day — History.com Video

History of St. Patrick's Day — History.com Video:

Wearing of The Green

The Wearing of The Green by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890)

O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that going round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground;
St. Patrick's Day no more we'll keep, his colours can't be seen,
For there's a bloody law against the wearing of the green.
I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
She's the most distressful counterie that ever yet was seen,
And they're hanging men and women for the wearing of the green.

Then since the colour we must wear is England's cruel red,
Sure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget the blood that they have shed.
You may take a shamrock from your hat and cast it on the sod,
It will take root and flourish there though underfoot it's trod.
When law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow,
And when the leaves in summer-time their verdure dare not show,
Then will I change the colour that I wear in my caubeen
But 'till that day, please God, I'll stick to wearing of the green.

But if at last our colour should be torn from Ireland's heart,
Our sons with shame and sorrow from this dear old isle will part;
I've heard a whisper of a land that lies beyond the sea
Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day.
O Erin, must we leave you driven by a tyrant's hand?
Must we ask a mother's blessing from a strange and distant land?
Where the cruel cross of England shall nevermore be seen,
And where, please God, we'll live and die still wearing of the green!

http://www.franks.org/fr01068.htm

The Wearing of The Green

North Korea Invades South Korea

Today is the 60th Anniversary of the start of the Korean War.



Source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpRBSlNlDLE&feature=related

WWII in HD — D-Day — History.com Videos

WWII in HD — D-Day — History.com Videos

D-Day plus 66 years

(Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Normandy )

The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy, France during Operation Overlord in World War II. It covers from the initial landings on June 6, 1944 until the Allied breakout in mid-July.

It was the largest seaborne invasion at the time, involving over 850,000 troops crossing the English Channel from the United Kingdom to Normandy by the end of June 1944.

Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on June 6 came from Canada, Free French Forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces also participated and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands. Most of the above countries also provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Royal Norwegian Navy.

The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, naval bombardments, an early morning amphibious landing and during the evening the remaining elements of the parachute divisions landed. The "D-Day" forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth.

(Source for "Great Crusade" letter - http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/graphics/ikesmessage.jpg )

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe; and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is the letter the World saw. Eisenhower had an another letter, in this letter Eisenhower accepted the sole blame if the invasion had failed. Of course the Invasion didn't fail.

Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was on May 8, 1945, the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. On 30 April Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin, and so the surrender of Germany was authorized by his replacement, President of Germany Karl Dönitz. The administration headed up by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg government. The act of military surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France, and ratified on 8 May in Berlin, Germany.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_in_Europe_Day

Cinco de Mayo

Check out this great MSN Video: History of Cinco de Mayo Often Misinterpreted

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16.

Source: http://www.mexonline.com/cinco-de-mayo.htm

Boycott Arizona

The Hangman by Maurice Ogden



First They Came . . .
by Martin Niemöller

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

The Last King of Ireland and Irish Immigrants

The heraldic achievement of Hugh O'Neill, which quartered his rightful arms with the arms of the Burkes of Ulster as a claim on their land.

Source for coat of arms -http://www.geoghegan.org/clan/earloftyrone.gif

I recently watched a video on Irish-Americans. The first wave of Irish immigrants to America was credited to the fleeing of Hugh O'Neill from Ireland.

"The rebel Hugh O'Neill, 2nd (or 3rd) Earl of Tyrone, born c.1540, regarded as the last King of Ulster, and hence the last native king in Ireland, eloped 1591 with Mabel Bagenal, died Rome, 1616."

Source - http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Fitzgerald/oneill.html

The second wave of Irish immigrants was credited to U.S. western expansion and in particular the building of the Erie Canal in 1817. Irish immigrants became canal builders.

"Many of the laborers working on the canal were Scots Irish, who had recently come to the United States as a group of about 5,000 from Northern Ireland, most of whom were Protestants and wealthy enough to pay for this caravan."

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal

And the third wave of Irish immigrants was credited to the Potato Famine in 1845.

Just a bit of Irish trivia for St Patrick's Day. Erin go braugh!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Source for graphic - http://allfaith.com/graphics/st_patrick.jpg


When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Neda

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

CNN: Video Of "Neda" Before She Was Killed In Iranian Protest


CNN: "Death Of Neda" Video Becomes Symbol Of Iranian Protests




(Source for above image - http://may4.org/)

Kent State Shooting 30th Anniversary Part 1


May 4, 1970 - Kent State Shootings

A Dream No More

Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream

(Source for image - http://www.elcivics.com/martin_luther_king_jr )

John McCain still a Hero in Defeat

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
"The Man In The Arena" excerpt from
Speech at the Sorbonne - Paris, France
April 23, 1910

(Source - http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html)

(Source of image - http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/04/03/1364/considering_mccains_age_ageism_or_a_fair_question)

Barack Obama - President Elect

911 - 7 years

A link to CNN's September 11 Memorial -

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/

Happy 4th of July 2008

(Source of picture - http://www.statueofliberty.org/Statue_of_Liberty_Picture_11.html )

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I left my lamp beside the golden door!"

(Source for poem - http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16111 )

(Source of picture - http://www.statueofliberty.org/Statue_of_Liberty_Picture_04.html )

Stars and Strips Forever

Flag Day

You're A Grand Old Flag - Letter from Iraq


Click on the following for last year's Flag Day post.

D-day plus one

(Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Normandy )

The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy, France during

Operation Overlord in World War II. It covers from the initial landings on June 6, 1944 until the Allied breakout in mid-July.

It was the largest seaborne invasion at the time, involving over 850,000 troops crossing the English Channel from the United Kingdom to Normandy by the end of June 1944.

Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on June 6 came from Canada, Free French Forces, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces also participated and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the Netherlands. Most of the above countries also provided air and naval support, as did the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Royal Norwegian Navy.

The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, naval bombardments, an early morning amphibious landing and during the evening the remaining elements of the parachute divisions landed. The "D-Day" forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth.

(Source for "Great Crusade" letter - http://www.kansasheritage.org/abilene/graphics/ikesmessage.jpg )

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe; and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is the letter the World saw. Eisenhower had an another letter, in this letter Eisenhower accepted the sole blame if the invasion had failed. Of course the Invasion didn't fail.