On Jan. 31, 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive, a 19-man Viet Cong sapper team broke into the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Their mission was to seize the main building and take hostages. They approached in a truck and a taxi. Saigon police in their path ran away. Read more
Most of you know the famous Icarus story, but here is the rest of the story. When King Minos found out that Daedalus had given his daughter the sword and string that Theseus used to kill the Minotaur, he imprisoned Daedalus and his son in a tall tower. All Read more
Henry Mudgett was born to a middle-class family in New Hampshire. His childhood was uneventful and yet he would grow up to be one of America’s first serial killers. He graduated from medical school, but never became a practicing doctor. During school, he stole some cadavers and used them Read more
Don’t learn your history from Disney. Actually, the movie “Pocahontas” did not invent the legend. The tale of Pocahontas saving John Smith’s life is almost surely a myth. In the famous story, Smith had been captured by her father Powhatan’s tribe and he was to be executed. As his Read more
17 astronauts have died in the space program. The first three perished in an accident on Jan. 27, 1967. Virgil Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were training for the first Apollo mission. It was scheduled for Feb. 21. “Gus” Grissom was the team leader. He was one of Read more
In military terminology, “Broken Arrow” is an accident involving a nuclear bomb that does not result in detonation. From 1950-1980, there were 21 declassified incidents where nuclear bombs were lost, accidentally dropped, ejected from a plane for safety reasons, or on planes that crashed. Probably the most serious of those Read more
Several phrases we use today originated in the Royal Navy in the days of wooden warships. “chock-a-block” – this refers to the blocks used on pulleys to raise cargo onto the ship. When the two blocks got next to each other, the pulley would jam and could not be Read more
A typical seaman in the Royal Navy in the early 19th Century was awakened at 3:40. He and his mates gathered on the deck for muster and inspection and then morning watch began. Each tar (as the sailors were called) had a job to do. Some would scrub and Read more
On Jan. 23, 1968, the U.S. surveillance ship USS Pueblo was on routine duty 16 miles off the coast of North Korea. The ship’s job was to monitor North Korea for intelligence information as part of Operation Clickbeetle. Suddenly, North Korean warships approached with evil intent. Capt. Lloyd Blucher Read more
One of the most famous battles in British history took place on Jan. 22, 1879. The Battle of Rorke’s Drift took place during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. The war was brought about because of British desire to expand its South African colony into Zululand. They manufactured a threat Read more