Category: Note

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Watersby James Keelaghan.

On August 4th, 1944, 15-year old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were captured by the Nazi Gestapo. The Franks had taken shelter in a small space in a sealed off area of an Amsterdam warehouse along with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man. They were aided by Christian friends who brought them food and supplies. Her diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps.

August 3rd, 1846 is the day that the Donner party found a note warning the emigrants that their expected route through the mountains ahead was nearly impassable. Hastings, an unscrupulous trail guide had created his own “short cut” route and wasn’t even at the meeting place at Fort Bridger, but had left word for the part to continue on. Hastings had claimed easy passage through the rugged Wasatch Mountains, but had left a note attached to a forked stick for the party explaining that the route was more difficult than he thought. Eventually reduced to cannibalism, only 45 of the …

August 2nd was the birthday of Peter O’Toole (1932–2013). When his name is mentioned, Lawrence of Arabia immediately comes to mind.

August 1st is celebrated as Swiss Independence Day, in recognition of the signing of the Federal Charter of 1291, which united Switzerland’s first three cantons. As of 2017, Switzerland has been free and independent for 726 years. Having a well-armed populace has assured that. August 1st is also remembered as the election day in 1946 that sparked the Battle of Athens, Tennessee, when returning World War II veterans took up arms to oust a corrupt local government that was rigging an election.

July 31st is the birthday of Army Air Corps veteran David Thatcher, one of the Doolittle Raiders. He lived in Missoula, Montana. This is also the birthday of free market economist Milton Freidman (born 1912, died November 16, 2006.)

Today we remember the birthday of author Reginald Bretnor. He was born Alfred Reginald Kahn on July 30, 1911, in Vladivostok. He died on July 22, 1992 in Medford, Oregon. In addition to penning many witty science fiction novels and short stories in his characteristic style, he also wrote nonfiction articles for Mel Tappan’s P.S. Letter

July 29th, 1805, is the birthday of Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville. He died april 16th, 1859.

July 28th is the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I— the War that irreparably changed geopolitics. Officially, the war lasted until November 11, 1918, but American troops were still running around shooting Russians until well into 1919.

July 27th is the birthday of Captain Samuel Whittemore (born in 1694, died February 3, 1793). He was an English-born American farmer and soldier. He was eighty years of age when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American War of Independence.

On Jul 26th, 1931, a swarm of grasshoppers descended on crops throughout the American heartland, devastating millions of acres. Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, already in the midst of a bad drought, suffered tremendously from this disaster. The July 1931 swarm was said to be so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop. Cornstalks were eaten to the ground and fields left completely bare. Since the early 1930s, swarms have not been seen in the United States. However, North Africa and parts of the Middle East continue to experience problems with …

Thought that you couldn’t afford one of those nifty PVS-14, 3rd generation, autogated night vision devices? Ready Made Resources is now offering financing on these 100% USA made (parts included). Note that these units have no manual gain, but are $1000 less than the manual gain units.

July 24 – The late Jerry Ahern passed away on this day, July 24th, in 2012. He is missed. o o o From Spaceweather.com: “On Sunday July 23rd, a spectacular X-class CME emerged from the farside of the sun. . . If this explosion had occurred 2 weeks ago when the huge sunspot was facing Earth, we would be predicting strong geomagnetic storms in the days ahead. Instead, the CME is racing away from our planet … and directly toward Mars.”

On July 23rd, 1982, outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow (of Combat! fame) and two children were killed when a helicopter crashed onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie. o o o There is only one more week left in Round 71 of the SurvivalBlog Non-Fiction Writing contest. Get your entry in soon!

Jully 22nd is the birthday of actor Willem Dafoe (born 1955). Perhaps his best role was in the movie The Hunter, set in Tasmania.