Riehl World View

Obama Votes Present Twice On Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Via Breitbart TV. Asked whether or not the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the appropriate decision, Obama initially ignored the question. Then in an exchange immediately after when reminded of his failure to answer the question, he simply moved on. Evidently that one's above his pay grade. He did say he would be honored to visit the sites.

USS New York Heads To Sea

Not to sea, exactly - to a safer port given the weather, then on to North Carolina to offload Marines.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The USS New York has left its namesake city after finishing up its inaugural visit.

The Navy ship was built in Louisiana with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center. It arrived in the city last week and was officially commissioned over the weekend.

Lt. Commander Suzanna Brugler says the ship left at 7 a.m. Thursday for a naval weapons station in New Jersey.

CSS Appomattox Identified After 145 Years

Here's a little bit of re-discovered naval history.

KURE BEACH, N.C. – North Carolina officials say they have identified a Civil War shipwreck that burned at sea more than 145 years ago.

The Appomattox was part of a set of armed steamers that defended northeastern North Carolina waters. Its Confederate crew set the ship on fire in 1862 while fleeing Union forces.

With a bit more info from the Wiki. Couldn't find an image, or a listing in the US Naval Catalog as the Empire, which it was initially named. I guess it was a converted war ship. That might explain it, seeing service only under the Confederate flag.

CSS Appomattox was a small propellor-driven steamer used early in the war by the Confederate Navy to defend the sounds of northeastern North Carolina. After participating in the battle for Roanoke Island it was burned to prevent capture on February 10, 1862, near Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The Appomattox was originally named the Empire. She was chartered by the Virginia State Navy under Captain Milligan, towing blockships into position to obstruct the channels of the Elizabeth River around Norfolk in May 1861. In that same month she twice sailed under a flag-of-truce with Captain Thomas T. Hunter of the Virginia Navy to arrange exchanges of wounded Union prisoners and passage north from Norfolk of certain families wishing to return to their Northern friends. In the latter part of June 1861 she again served as the bearer of a flag-of-truce off Fortress Monroe, this time for Brigadier General Huger, CSA.

Kansas Priest May Yet Get Medal Of Honor

Seems like a story worth noting.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas priest already under consideration for sainthood has won the endorsement of the Army's top civilian leader to receive the Medal of Honor.

The Rev. Emil Kapaun was a captain and chaplain in the Army in the Korean War and was taken prisoner in 1950 when the Chinese captured his unit. Kapaun continued to serve the men's needs, risking his life to provide them with food and water amid squalid conditions.

Kapaun, a Roman Catholic, died in a prison camp seven months later.

In one of his final acts as Army secretary, Pete Geren wrote Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., saying he agreed that Kapaun was worthy of the honor. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also endorsed Kapaun's honor.

Seven chaplains have received the Medal of Honor, including Vincent Capodanno, a Navy chaplain from New York, killed in Vietnam in 1967. In 2006, Capodanno was declared a Servant of God by the Vatican, a step toward canonization.

Helen Kapaun, the chaplain's sister-in-law, said her husband Eugene, 85, has prayed that he would live to see his brother honored.

"We hoped it would have been sooner," Helen Kapaun said Monday. "I think there were a lot of circumstances that had to be finished in God's hands. Now, it proves that he was a saintly, holy man."

Tiahrt began efforts to honor Kapaun in 2000 after reading about his life.

"It's hard to imagine living through something like that. He handled it like a saint," Tiahrt said Monday. "This is the kind of person that we ought to emulate."

Congress must approve legislation sending Kapaun's award to President Barack Obama, which Tiahrt hopes happens by year's end.

July 4, 1775: Duty, Honor, Country Before Its Time

Duty, Honor, Country before its time had come. Without these things this Holiday would not be possible. George Washington's General Orders, July 4, 1775. A quick read, some excerpts below. For the soldiers, smallpox, a funeral, don't drink or curse, go to church and be assured of your ration of hay to sleep on. Evidently a soft bed, let alone a home or health insurance wasn't yet seen as one of their civil rights!

It is required and expected that exact discipline be observed, and due Subordination prevail thro' the whole Army, as a Failure in these most essential points must necessarily produce extreme Hazard, Disorder and Confusion; and end in shameful disappointment and disgrace.

The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war, established for the Government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkeness; And in like manner requires and expects, of all Officers, and Soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine Service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.

All Officers are required and expected to pay diligent Attention to keep their Men neat and clean; to visit them often at their quarters, and inculcate upon them the necessity of cleanliness, as essential to their health and service. They are particularly to see, that they have Straw to lay on, if to be had, and to make it known if they are destitute of this article. They are also to take care that Necessarys be provided in the Camps and frequently filled up to prevent their being offensive and unhealthy. Proper Notice will be taken of such Officers and Men, as distinguish themselves by their attention to these necessary duties.

The commanding Officer of each Regiment is to take particular care that not more than two Men of a Company be absent on furlough at the same time, unless in very extraordinary cases.

Col. Gardner36 is to be buried to morrow at 3, O'Clock, P.M. with the military Honors due to so brave and gallant an Officer, who fought, bled and died in the Cause of his country and mankind. His own Regiment, except the company at Malden, to attend on this mournful occasion. The places of those Companies in the Lines on Prospect Hill, to be supplied by Col. Glovers regiment till the funeral is over.

[Note 36: Col. Thomas Gardner. He was colonel of the Lexington Alarm and, later, of a Massachusetts regiment. He had been wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill and died July 3.]

No Person is to be allowed to go to Fresh-water pond37 a fishing or on any other occasion as there may be danger of introducing the small pox into the army.