Milton Train Depot - An Encounter with PAINT

 

Dick Miller meets Jeff Connor at the West Florida Railroad Museum - the Milton Depot.  The two share an appreciation for the life work of each other and we learn some things about the art of restoring old trains, planes and military equipment to their former glory.

Pearl Harbor - 80 Years

 

The Attack That ‘Enraged America:’ Victor David Hanson Explains Japan’s Miscalculation at Pearl Harbor

Alana Mastrangelo 7 Dec 2021

Associated Press

Renowned historian Victor Davis Hanson explained in a recent PragerU video the events of December 7, 1941, and what the Japanese were thinking when they attacked Pearl Harbor without warning. “The Japanese underestimated American strength and overestimated their own,” Hanson said. “Instead of cowing America, the Pearl Harbor attack enraged it.”

“It was one of the most successful and failed surprise attacks in military history,” Hanson said. “The bombers sank four battleships of the U.S. 7th fleet, damaged four others, and killed over 2,300 American sailors and soldiers.”

A small boat rescues sailors from the USS ‘West Virginia’ after she had suffered a hit in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Tennessee (BB-43) is inboard of the sunken battleship. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Hanson went on to explain that while “the attack was brilliant,” it “did not achieve its goal,” because, “by a twist of fate, the three American aircraft carriers based at Pearl, the ships the Japanese most wanted to destroy — Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga — were all out to sea on the 7th, and safe.”

Moreover, “the Japanese didn’t finish the job,” Hanson continued, explaining that the Japanese needed “three attack waves,” rather than just two, in order to destroy “a full six months worth of stored naval and aviation fuel, dockyards, and maintenance shops, and truly set the Americans reeling.”

Watch Below:






Hanson said that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because it believed “it had to neutralize America” in order “to dominate and control all of Asia, its people, and its resources.”

“From the hindsight of history, this appears suicidal, but at the time, it almost made sense,” he said, adding that “in 1940, the United States was, militarily speaking, in a sorry state.”

“The ships in its pacific fleet were few, and many were outdated,” Hanson explained. “The Japanese fleet, in contrast, was newer, bigger, and stronger. Second, America had no appetite for overseas conflict.”

The American destroyer USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour (Pearl Harbor), home of the American Pacific Fleet during World War II. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

“Like the rest of the world, the Japanese had watched most of Europe fall to the Nazis while America did little to stop it,” he added. “If the U.S. wasn’t going to fight in Europe, where it had many alliances, why would it fight in Asia where it had few?”

“The Japanese reasoned America would sue for peace,” Hanson said of Japan’s thought process when it attacked Pearl Harbor.

But “just as Hitler underestimated Soviet strength and overestimated their own, the Japanese underestimated American strength and overestimated their own. Instead of cowing America, the Pearl Harbor attack enraged it,” Hanson said.

Hanson explained what then followed the Pearl Harbor attack:


Within six months, General Jimmy Doolittle led a surprise bombing raid on Tokyo, an astounding feat no one at the time, including the Japanese, considered possible.

By August 1942, a mere nine months after Pearl Harbor, American forces shifted to offense, landing marines on the island of Guadalcanal. Meanwhile, at home, the nation was gearing up for the greatest industrial renaissance in the history of civilization.

In a little more than three years, the United States would build more war ships and support vessels than all the navies in the world combined.

“In the hindsight of history, it seems like the allied victory was inevitable,” Hanson said. “But victory came at a terrible price. Over 110,000 American servicemen died, and over 250,000 were wounded to win the war in the Pacific, and another 21,000 spent time in horrific Japanese prisoner of war camps.”

“Preparing for war is expensive, but not nearly as expensive in blood and treasure as fighting a war,” the renowned historian concluded. “That’s one of the many lessons to be learned from what happened on the fateful day of December 7, 1941.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

Baseball with Dick and Richard

A discussion among friends of some of the greats of baseball and the history of the game. Dick Miller is approaching 90 (in 2021) and had a "near option" to enter pro baseball. Fate brought another path including "near death" as a Marine in Korea, the marshalling of a brilliant mind toward 2 PhD's that led to his being "the father' of the "modern" baseball (and softball and golfball). Better living through chemistry. (Read more about Dick Miller at the INCOUNTRY blog )

Richard Wood is a dictionary of sports, especially baseball - whose career went from Air Force to ship captain for offshore service ships for oil rigs. With economic fluctuations in oil, he took on Truck Driving for survival. More recently he has retired from the rigors of the sea and road and uses his time in wise pursuit of fascinating explorations of history.

His blog -- judgingshaddows.blogspot.com is a thriller collection of the wayward lives in our region - mostly before 1950. His facebook posts mirror much of the blog at Panhandle Mysteries and Mayhem. These are great reading materials ... all well researched from the archives of ancient news. .... ENJOY THIS TRIP DOWN MEMORY ROAD for baseball.

Gold, Crypto, Commodities, Inflation, Biden Tax

Some of the best market nsight. Lyn Alden.  

Gold, Crypto, Commodities, Inflation, Biden Tax

CRUDDS for the People Election 2020

CRUDDS media team FIRST PODCAST.  Our review of the ballot and how you might consider voting.  This is suggested ballot choices.  Richard Wood​ of judgingshadows.blogspot.com and Dick MIller, a retired  serial inventor and "father of the modern baseball", and Vic Campbell​ bring their immeasurable combined intellect to the people for consideration.  The ballot for our district may include offices not listed for other districts. CRUDDS "Chumuckla Reprobates Utopian Debate and Discussion Society" has secret rules of membership and caricature that nobody remembers.  We meet almost weekly over coffee or other liquids to pursue a goal of World Peace.  

THIS FIRST EPISODE is quite long. We know one of our founding members, Roy Allen​ will enjoy the entire discussion.  The first third is about the ballot and our suggestions for support. The middle third drifts into some global issues and then a discussion of baseball history.  The latter third on the time-line gets into some of Richard Wood's introduction to mayhem and pandemonium of our local past history.  We hope you allow yourself to relax and learn about the tensions in our present and past.  Maybe you will feel as if you are in the conversation. 

This episode became primarily an AUDIO podcast because the camera failed.  Meanwhile the recorder captured the discussion. Photos are added along with text to carry some of the feel for the CRUDD ambience. Feel free to criticise, agree, disagree or praise our brilliance.   

USE THE TIMELINE track to move the play cursor to other parts of the conversation at any time.

Our Conservative advisor suggested on the Judge appointments to the courts that we could safely agree to vote YES on all of them. ... Only one did a CRUDD suggest a NO and only because of 20 years on the bench. We all like term limits but Judges are not legislators which is where most of the term limit issues are of interest.  IF you have a good judge - keep them if they are healthy.

LINKS--

me3tv.org (youtube channel of Vic Campbell)

judgingshadows.blogspot.com (blog of mayhem by Richard Wood

Buzzcreek.com  ... Vic's main page and history DVD's

12ponder.com  ... Vic's list of interests and links for local exploring

CHUMUCKLA - facebook link

Below suggested votes for the Amendments for the basic conservative. 

....... note --- our CRUDDS thought "NO" for number 4 was a good idea because we hire our legislators to debate these issues and make things happen. They need to debate the issues.  I think they do need to publicise clearly what amendments they are debating so the public can respond to their legislator. But having the public vote on most of these is an exercise in futility.  The public will not grasp the issues except for a very few who will have little effect on voting any of them down.

In the video we discuss these and why we suggest what we do (all like below except #4)

People Getting Stabbed In Medieval Art

People Getting Stabbed In Medieval Art Who Just Don’t Give a Damn

Memorial monument ceremony for TACAMOPAC Crew 4 at the National Memorial...

My friend, Capt. Vernon Lockhousen III (retired) provided this video to share. He served with TACAMO in this period. It is a tribute to lost crew of TACAMO. These strategic aircraft are critical to communication for our submarine fleets and other strategic assets worldwide. One of the early TACAMO pioneeers is interviewed in Milton, Florida - following this video.



Capt. Walt Reese, USN Ret. tells of his involvement in the early development of the Navy TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out) communication system for submerged vessels. You can learn more at oldtacamo.com

SUGGESTED READING -

Books About FORT MIMS

Books By Dr.Brian Rucker



Fort Mims 

MY GOOGLE LIBRARY OF REGIONSL BOOKS

MY GOOGLE LIBRARY of SUGGESTED BOOKS

Catching Cricketts with Matt Dobson

Matt Dobson is an author of several faith based books. This one is a new road for him. It is an Historical Romance and it involves the long disappeared community of Coon Hill near Chumuckla. You can sense the reverence he has for his roots in this area and the appreciation for the pioneers of Coon Hill. Contact Matt to find his book ... which is also available from Amazon.




Matt's roll in raising funds to restore the Coon Hill Cemetery has been an example of community spirit and giving. An Annual 5K Run for the Cemetery raises funds to repair damage and maintain the historic place. 

There are many superb authors in our area. Here are a few.

ME3TV VLOG1 - JAY Museum - JULY 2018

Our first attempt at a podcast from the Jay Museum.  Our goal is to smooth this out and introduce various authors, writers, artists, musicians, storytellers and interesting people of all kinds from our region ... to whomever might enjoy the learning. THIS LOCATION will supply links to other resoruces that are mentioned inside the podcast.  12ponder.com is a  tag address for this page.

Mr. Charles Faulk explains his "meterorite"

Learn ;more about  Kevin McKinley's books at Lulu.com

Read and enjoy Earline Smith Cruz at the TRI CITY LEDGER and at 
THE JAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY on FACEBOOK.

LOOK FOR INTERESTING PEOPLE in future posts. We hope to interview many for the small screen and feature their work for you to enjoy. ... 

Subscribe online to TRI CITY LEDGER

.

NY YANKEES trivia

Who Knew this piece of NYC trivia?

 

3 o'clock in the morning on January 8, 1877, Officer John McDowell was walking down Seventh Avenue when he noticed something amiss at Courtney's Liquor Store. A light was on and the door had been forced open, so the officer entered. There he found three burglars with their loot: $120 worth of cigars. One of the burglars, a 19-year-old named James Farrell (sometimes referred to as George Flint), attempted to escape. As he rushed past McDowell, the policeman struck him with his club. The burglar drew a revolver and fired, the bullet hitting McDowell behind his left ear and passing out his right temple. While the other burglars escaped, the seriously wounded officer managed to wrestle Farrell to the ground, at which point a number of other officers came upon the scene and arrested the burglar. The heroic police officer eventually recovered from his wounds and was given $1,000 for his bravery by the Trustees of the Riot Relief Fund. Additionally, McDowell was awarded the New York City Police Department Medal of Valor.

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Also - join the group at  FACEBOOK

Aphorisms

Aphorism is a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner.

Aphorism, from the Greek.

     1. A concise statement of a principle.

     2. A terse formulation of a truth or sentiment.

♦ I read that 4,153,237 people got married last year. Not to cause any trouble, but shouldn't that be an even number?

♦ I find it ironic that the colors red, white, and blue stand for freedom until they are flashing behind you.

♦ When wearing a bikini, women reveal 90% of their body. Men are so polite they only look at the covered parts.

♦Relationships are a lot like algebra. Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y?

♦ America is a country which produces citizens who will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote.

♦ You know that tingly little feeling you get when you love someone? That's common sense leaving your body.

♦ My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We'll see about that.

♦ I think my neighbor is stalking me as she's been Googling my name on her computer. I saw it through my telescope last night.

♦ Money talks ... but all mine ever says is good-bye.

♦ You're not fat, you're just easier to see.

♦ If you think nobody cares whether you're alive, try missing a couple of payments.

♦ I always wondered what the job application is like at Hooters. Do they just give you a bra and say, "Here, fill this out?"

♦ I can’t understand why women are OK that JC Penny has an older women’s clothing line named, "Sag Harbor."

♦ Denny’s has a slogan, "If it’s your birthday, the meal is on us." If you’re in Denny’s and it’s your birthday, your life sucks!

♦ The location of your mailbox shows you how far away from your house you can go in a robe before you start looking like a mental patient.

♦ I think it's pretty cool how Chinese people made a language entirely out of tattoos.
  
♦ Money can’t buy happiness, but it keeps the kids in touch!.

Now, don’t you feel better knowing what an aphorism is?

That Moment in Time: 100 YR. OLD GLASS PLATE PICTURES

That Moment in Time: 100 YR. OLD GLASS PLATE PICTURES

Tops Appliance

Memories are made in Mom and Pop stores, not “box” stores. By Stephanie Cato 

Friday I needed a part for my dryer, so we stopped by Tops Appliances in Milton. We were fascinated by some of the antiques on display and the operational fifties vintage water fountain. I acquired about a stove my family had purchased years before, and the clerk remembered my mother, Luquetta “Pete” Whitfield and was able to pull up all her purchases going back over 20 years. My first TV came from Top's Tv! I also remember visiting Top's as a child and enjoyed helping Mom decide which appliance we would buy. So many memories flooded back into my mind. Memories are made in Mom and Pop stores not “box” stores...

Tops Appliances is a family owned store opened by Clayton White in 1957. His son, Barry White, inherited the business when his father passed in 2014 and now operates the store located at 6712 Caroline Street. Tops is a full service appliance company that sells many major brands. They are open Monday - Friday 8AM to 5PM and 8AM - Noon on Saturday. They carry many parts in stock and if the do not have it, they’ll gladly order it for you. Stop in and check out all the appliances they have on their showroom floor. 

Luquetta “Pete” Whitfield Ca 1957

https://www.topsappliance.net/Tops Appliance