Author: Hugh James Latimer

April 24th is the birthday of Carolyn Cole(born 1961), a well-known staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. For a few years in the late 1960s, the Cole family lived next door to JWR’s parents’ house in Livermore, California. That little girl with whom he played hide-and-seek would grow up to earn a Pulitzer Prize, two World Press Photo awards, and be named Photojournalist Of The Year. Congrats and Happy Birthday, Carolyn! This is also the day in 1915 of the Armenian Genocide, where Ottoman (Turkey) Muslims slaughtered 1.5 million of their Christian neighbors, intellectuals, and community leaders. The Ottoman …

Andrew Rowan, born April 23, 1857 (died 1943) became one of the Spanish-American War’s most famous heroes. His fame was based on a surprisingly popular essay written by Elbert Hubbard. It was entitled “Message to Garcia”, and detailed Rowan’s heroic acts as a liaison obtaining military intelligence. Rowan later wrote How I Carried the Message to Garcia.

Today is also the birthday of the late Charles Rankin Bond, Jr, who was born in Dallas on April 22, 1915. He was one of the last of the AVG Flying Tiger pilots. o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 76 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …

April 21st is Aggie Muster Day, for all Texas A&M Corps of Cadets graduates. Aggie Muster celebrations/meetings are held as far away as Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan. I should mention that Jim’s grandfather (a U.S. Army Cavalry LTC) was an Aggie– something mentioned so often that everyone in his family felt like de facto Aggies, too. Other than the officers that matriculate though West Point, the four institutions that seem to have the greatest ongoing esprit de corps for graduates are Texas A&M, The Citadel, Norwich University, NMMI, and VMI. Jim felt almost obliged to include an Aggie character in …

On April 20th, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the worst known offshore oil spill. April 20th is also the day that we remember the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy, where two students stormed into a suburban high school in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, at lunch time with guns and explosives, killing 13 and wounding dozens more in what was, at the time, the nation’s deadliest school shooting. o …

April 19th is the original Patriot Day which marks the multiple anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. This first battle, leading to our nation’s independence, was the then-dictator’s (Britain King George III’s) failed attempt at “gun control”– an act being carried out in too many parts of our USA right now. This first gun control of the colonies was a failure, because of the will and determination of a small part of the population (about 3% actually fought for our independence actively, with many others supporting) to stand up to …

On April 18th, 1906, an earthquake now estimated at the vicinity of 8.0 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it toppled numerous buildings and started fires that engulfed whole neighborhoods. Are you prepared to cope with such a disaster?

On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Due to the Cuba/Soviet intelligence network as well as loose talk by members of the brigade, which was repeated in US and foreign newspaper reports, the Cuban government knew, in advance, of the planned invasion. The Washington Post also reported that the Soviets knew the exact date of the attack, that the CIA was aware that they knew, and that the CIA did not inform president Kennedy. o o o SurvivalBlog …