Author Archives: Don Kesterson

Vietnam Conflict’s Turning Point

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My research into writing the series of books on the Vietnam Conflict has uncovered many facts that are not taught in school. I grew up while Conflict was building, and I have been interested in Vietnam from the beginning, because it was weaving itself into the very fabric of our society. Then several years ago, I was driving behind a car with a sticker on it that read, “When I Left Vietnam, We Were Winning! This sticker opened my eyes to how our proud servicemen felt who served in that far-away land, despite being sent on a mission without an objective. Those who served honorably and proudly never received their due gratitude from our country.

The year 1963 was the tipping point in the Vietnam Conflict; specifically, the murders of President Diem and President Kennedy. The removal of these two leaders resulted in an acceleration of the conflict. It is not a highly publicized fact, but President Kennedy was against putting large numbers of ground troops in Vietnam. He had wrestled with this decision for the first two years of his administration, while slightly increasing the number of “advisors” in South Vietnam and working with the South Vietnamese Army. The President had several conversations with retired Five Star General Douglas MacArthur, who knew the Pacific and Southeast Asia about as well as anyone alive. MacArthur advised President Kennedy that it was not a war conducive to ground troops. Late in 1963, President Kennedy started decreasing the number of troops in Vietnam. His actions should not be misinterpreted; he believed he could come up with a plan that would meet his objective of winning the Vietnam Conflict. His actions were not well received by the war hawks in his cabinet, at the Pentagon, or in the Military Industrial Complex. Based on the advice of MacArthur and other key advisors, Kennedy believed the conflict could be won by working with the South Vietnamese Army, utilizing Elite Forces’ surgical strikes, in conjunction with air and naval support. Silhouette fedora

The civilian government of South Vietnam at that time was run by President Ngo Dinh Diem. He was an enigma. He was a Catholic in a predominately Buddhist Country. From the beginning, there was almost constant conflict between the president, his family, and the Buddhists. Quickly, these conflicts accelerated to become a huge distraction that took their country’s focus from their real enemies, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. To present both sides of the argument, the South Vietnamese Army was not a very good fighting-army, and they were inferior to the Communist North Vietnamese Army, which was trained and funded by the Soviet Union and the Communist Red Chinese.

My first book in the series, PAWNS – MAGIC BULLET, details the murders of Diem and Kennedy, covering how this all played out and not only changed the way the Vietnam Conflict unfolded, but that it was the beginning of the change of an entire society. It is my opinion, based on years of research, that the murders of these two presidents were related. What are your thoughts?

Getting “The Call” – My National Television Debut this Weekend on Myth Hunters: Yamashita’s Gold

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In May of 2014, I received an e-mail from a TV director in London enquiring of my knowledge on Japanese General Yamashita and his role in the burial of Gold in the Philippines. The director and the producer had found me through my website, and had read my blogs and my e-book, The President’s Gold. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to help. Soon afterward, the director Skyped me, interviewing me right then for a television documentary role on MythHunters. It was, shall we call it, anxious fun. After our chat, she sent a list of questions for me, stating that if I didn’t already know the answers, to find them! Fortunately, my years of research on the riveting subject prepared me well, as I found the questions easy to answer. Wanting to make certain I didn’t err with this great opportunity, I looked up the answers for confirmation. During our follow-up Skype call, poor internet connection caused problems, so we ended up on the phone. We Skyped just long enough for the producer and the director to see how I might present information for the documentary.Silhouette fedora

When I didn’t hear from either of them for a while, I got nervous. I thought I had not made the cut. Finally, the phone call came, and I ecstatic to learn I was going to be included in their documentary. I flew to New York for an interview, and I spent the night before studying, reviewing, and then studying some more to make certain I felt ready. Despite having a general idea of the questions they might ask, I wanted to come off as natural as possible, without having to refer to my notes.

The first to arrive on location was the camera crew. They quickly set up, then the interview began. Surprisingly, it lasted about an hour and a half. Once completed, they informed me that the story would likely air in the fall of 2014. After the director and producer had moved on, I felt unsure of how the interview had gone. Did I answer their many questions succinctly? Had I stumbled or stuttered? Did I squint beneath the glare of the lights? Did my internal jitters cause me to tremble on the screen? The cameraman told me not to worry, that the producer and director had gotten a lot of good material from me. This put me at ease . . . sort of . . . for a little while.

Fall of 2014 arrived, and I still had not heard a word from the MythHunters crew. Had the documentary been canceled? Had my Q & A ended up on the cutting room floor? On New Year’s Eve (what a perfect way to ring out the old and welcome the new!), I received a phone call from a friend of mine who asked if the preview he’d found online had appeared on TV. I literally jumped out of my chair and ran to my computer, searching until I found the trailer of “Yamashita’s Gold” by MythHunters on the American Heroes Channel. There was my face and my voice, and there was no trembling, no stuttering, and thankfully, no squinting.

Happy New Year to me!

I was—and still am—thrilled beyond words. I am going to be in the MythHunters documentary “Yamashita’s Gold”, talking about a subject I’m passionate about, the history and location of the stolen war loot.

Just this Monday morning, an executive at World Media Rights sent the full documentary to me, along with the exciting news that the American Heroes Channel will air the episode at 1 PM on Sunday, January 11, 2015.

Did you get that? That’s this Sunday, January 11th, at 1:00 pm on the American Heroes Channel! For goodness sake, write it down!

 

Now pop some popcorn, gather the family and the dog, then tune in, and let me know what you think!

 

 

The Day that shouldn’t have Lived in Infamy – December 7, 1941

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What is the saying? “Let the truth set you free.” Well, December 7, 1941 should not have played out the way it did, and let me tell you why!

On December 8, President Roosevelt made a speech before Congress that broadcasted over the radio all across the United States, calling the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor a surprise attack and “a dastardly deed,” and the American Public bought it hook, line and sinker. They went from being against the war, as a whole, to being all in, and in a big way.

But here are the real facts.Silhouette fedora

We all know that the Japanese wanted a war against the United States and attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th. Last year, I wrote a remembrance of this date and the 2,403 sailors and soldiers who died that day as a result of 353 Japanese war planes bombing an “expecting” Pearl Harbor, starting at 7:48 AM Hawaiian time. But now I want to tell you that it didn’t have to happen. Our government set this up to happen for a reason. Let me provide the facts behind that fateful day, and I will let you decide for yourselves.

The United States and Japan had been at odds for more than a year. Behind the scenes, President Roosevelt had been looking for a way to get into World War II, but two things stood in the way. First was the election of 1940, when President Roosevelt campaigned much like one of his heroes, President Wilson, who kept us out of war. Roosevelt had to play to the anti-war crowd to keep his base happy. The anti-war crowd had many Hollywood celebrities and national heroes, including aviator Charles Lindbergh. Once the election was over, Roosevelt went back to work behind the scenes to overcome his second dilemma, the fact that most of the US had no interest in European war, and the American public—for the most part—couldn’t care less about what Japan was doing in Southeast Asia. Roosevelt had to get the public on his side to enter this war.

As early as January 1941, a Peruvian Minister told an American embassy official in Japan that the Japanese were planning an attack on Pearl Harbor. The US embassy in Japan telegrammed this information to the US State Department. Secretary of State Cordell Hull passed the message on to Army Intelligence and the Office of Naval Intelligence. On January 27, the Office of Naval Intelligence advised Kimmel that it “placed no credence” in the rumors that Japan was planning to attack Pearl Harbor. The view of US military intelligence, and of Admiral Kimmel, was that the major threat to the fleet at Pearl Harbor was from local saboteurs—not—from a Japanese military force.

Japan’s next move occurred on March 1941, when they sent a new Consul General, trained spy Takeo Yoshikawa, to Hawaii. Yoshikawa was responsible for gathering information about the movements of American ships. The Office of Naval Intelligence had broken Japanese codes, so the US knew the Japanese had spies in the United States and were aware of many of their plans.

The Roosevelt Administration made their next calculated move: Roosevelt knew the Japanese were willing to do anything to secure crude oil, and when their Axis partner Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Japanese believed the Soviets would not attack them. As a result, Japan became more brazen in their activity, and in June of 1941,the United States and its Allies placed an embargo on crude oil going to Japan. Since Japan has no crude oil production, they had to rely solely on outsiders to provide it, so this move was really, shall we say, “poking the tiger”. Japan had to find a way to get crude oil to keep their war machine running. They were determined to acquire it, one way or another.

Despite continued peace negotiations between the United States and Japan, the rhetoric was also amped up between the two, predominately over Japan’s aggression against China and others. On Thanksgiving morning, November 27, Roosevelt met with Hull to be fully briefed regarding the Japanese situation and a review of the negotiations with the Japanese. He decided that a war warning should be issued to Panama, San Diego, Honolulu, and Manila. Later that day, Secretary of War Stimson advised of a large Japanese Naval Force sailing from Shanghai. Stimson suggested to Roosevelt that the War Department cable should be sent to Panama, San Diego, Honolulu, and Manila to prepare for war, and Roosevelt agreed. The message to General MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Pacific Forces, spoke of negotiations with the Japanese appearing to be “terminated to all practical purposes”. It stated:

HOSTILE ACTION POSSIBLE AT ANY MOMENT . . . IF HOSTILITIES CANNOT, REPEAT CANNOT, BE AVOIDED, THE UNITED STATES DESIRES THAT JAPAN COMMIT THE FIRST OVERT ACT. THIS POLICY SHOULD NOT, REPEAT NOT, BE CONSTRUED AS RESTRICTING YOU TO A COURSE OF ACTION THAT MIGHT JEOPARDIZE YOUR DEFENSE.

MacArthur asked for clarification and reported that defense forces were ready. The next day, General “Hap” Arnold, the military commander in Washington, sent orders to MacArthur and to Pearl Harbor to take all necessary steps “to protect your personnel against subversive propaganda, protect all activities against espionage, and protect against sabotage of your equipment, property and establishments.” To this end, aircraft were to be moved together, wing tip to wing tip. Stimson warned of a possible amphibious assault on Manila, or the Thai or Kra Peninsula in Malaya, or maybe even Borneo.

As the Japanese fleet moved into attack position for the Hawaiian Islands, they had to break radio silence briefly, and this enabled US radio direction finders to locate the attack force. Also, both the British Intelligence Code Breakers and the Dutch knew that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor.

Upon receipt of the war warning in Honolulu, Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short, planned for the “surprise attack” by moving the United States Navy aircraft carriers out of Pearl Harbor and sent them to the high seas where the Japanese couldn’t find them. Pacific Commander Rear Admiral William F. Halsey then decided to place the most valuable of the remaining ships on the inside of the docks, while the least valuable were put on the outside, in case of a “surprise attack” on the harbor by the Japanese.

On December 6, President Roosevelt composed a last-minute plea for peace to the Emperor. On the same day, a Liaison Conference in Tokyo approved the decision to have Nomura deliver Japan’s final note at 1300 hours the next day, thirty minutes before the scheduled launching of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thirteen of the fourteen parts of the message were in American hands that night. Unidentified aircraft, presumably Japanese, were observed over Luzon, where by this time, a full air alert was in effect. The troops had already moved into defensive positions along the beaches.

In Tokyo on the evening of December 6, the Navy General Staff sat anxiously awaiting correspondence. They were stunned when the Japanese spy in Honolulu sent the final report stating that Pearl Harbor was full of battleships, but not a single aircraft carrier! This put the Naval Staff into a last minute panic; they believed that there were six carriers in the Pacific. Where were the aircraft carriers? Were they waiting to ambush Admiral Nagumo? When Admiral Yamamoto was advised, he contemplated having Nagumo send out search planes, but was afraid of tipping the location of the attack force. When Admiral Yamamoto decided to notify Admiral Nagumo, he advised him that there were no carriers in Pearl Harbor, and Yamamoto left the final decision to Nagumo. As mad as Nagumo was, he felt he had no choice but to proceed and at least try to sink the battleships.

In Washington, DC, on the morning of December 7, Japanese Ambassador Nomura called Secretary Hull to request a meeting promptly at 1:00 PM local time in Washington, DC. Although the Naval Intelligence code breakers thought otherwise, both Roosevelt and Hull believed that the message from Hirohito/Japan contained the worst—a declaration of war. At that point, Roosevelt elected not to pick up the phone, though he could call any major installation in the Pacific. He and the other advisors ignored their hard intelligence and believed, based on what they knew, that Japan was going to attack Malaysia. Roosevelt knew that all of the US Pacific Stations were at “third alert”, meaning they were expecting sabotage only.

So the Japanese didn’t get the honor of announcing their war plans before the “surprise attack” all as desired by Roosevelt. Now he could call it a dastardly surprise attack and rally the American Public, who never knew the whole story! The government withheld information from the public so it could manipulate them. Wow, what a surprise!

As a final test to your knowledge of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, do you know who fired the first shot?Silhouette fedora

Okay, time’s up… the United States did. The USS Ward sunk a mini-spy sub that had moved into place to assist the war planes with their surprise attack at 6:45 AM.As you can now see, that was one full hour before the first Japanese planes flew over Pearl Harbor.

President Johnson and the Vietnam Conflict

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Fifty years ago this month, the United States elected President Lyndon B. Johnson to a full term by a landslide. President Johnson, a.k.a. LBJ, won by more than sixteen million vote over the right-wing, ultra-conservative, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. The Electoral College results were even more one-sided; President Johnson received 486 Electoral College votes to Goldwater’s fifty-two.

Johnson had campaigned that he would continue the late President Kennedy’s policies, if elected, which included maintaining a low number of troops in Vietnam. Conversely, the Republican candidate, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, campaigned that he would consider using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Additionally, Goldwater was opposed to one of Johnson’s main platform issues—Civil Rights legislation. While I have always believed this was the critical factor in Goldwater’s loss, this blog will focus on Johnson’s Vietnam policy, since I am writing a series of books on Vietnam. What got me started on this series of books is that, several years ago, I saw a bumper sticker which said, “We were winning Vietnam when I left!”Silhouette fedora

As World War II was winding down, President Roosevelt made a deal with Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of free China, to occupy Vietnam. The Chinese would take the North and the United States and France would take the South. They agreed to hold unification elections, as soon as possible. However, China went through a monumental change: the communists won the Civil War, therefore, North Vietnam was occupied by the communists. Then North Vietnam picked Ho Chi Minh to be their leader. Ho Chi Minh had led the country in their defeat of the French, who was trying to re-claim Vietnam as one of their territories. He was viewed as a liberator. Therefore, one of the largest obstacles to peace in Vietnam was overcoming the North, being led by Ho Chi Minh. The South could not come up with anyone to match this charismatic leader. Therefore, the United States refused to allow “free” elections, because they believed those elections would lead to the country falling into the hands of the communists.

The Democratic Party had been vulnerable for having “lost” China to the communists and being satisfied with letting the Korean Conflict end in a draw. The CIA still had two strong opposing factions. One side put forth what would become known as the Domino Theory, which in essence claimed that if Vietnam fell, all of Southeast Asia would fall, and the US would lose a strategic defensive position in the Far Pacific. This theory was held by four administrations; Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. First, President Kennedy, then President Johnson, repeatedly stated that they were not going to be the US Presidents who “lost” Vietnam and Southeast Asia. In the lead up to the election, Johnson quietly grew the US ground forces in Vietnam; however, the United States public was not informed this action.

So what did LBJ do after elected? He did exactly what he wanted! He believed his landslide was a mandate. Kennedy had believed that he could fight the Vietnamese without committing a large number of troops, instead using limited engagements, quick-strike operations with Special Forces, CIA-trained men, or Green Beret. He had consulted with retired General Douglas MacArthur, who might have had the most knowledge of the Asian Theater of anyone alive at that time. MacArthur had advised Kennedy that air and naval support, in conjunction with the South Vietnamese Army, was the way to win this conflict, but it was absolutely not the place for ground troops. Johnson, on the other hand, was beholding to “Big Oil” and the “Military Industrial Complex”; therefore, he needed a way to escalate the Vietnam Conflict to appease the people who funded his re-election. He was given the perfect scenario, the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident”, which in reality was nothing more than a false flag to escalate the United States’ role in Vietnam.

The situation was further compounded by Johnson trying to manage the Conflict from the White House, as opposed to taking the advice of officers on the ground. Johnson’s mismanagement was instrumental in the malaise created in Vietnam. Moreover, the US troops were the first to have rules of engagement placed on them. Additionally, many of the South Vietnamese people did not respect our troops, and in many cases, they viewed our troops as occupiers, much like the French. Conversely, our troops knew that many of these Vietnamese were friendly during the day and Vietcong soldiers during the night. This made for a terrible situation where a large numbers of troops were encamped.

Vietnam became a quagmire, and while our troops were winning the fighting, it was totally misrepresented in the press back in the United States. Ultimately, Johnson chose not to run for re-election, and the American public turned against the Vietnamese Conflict and our troops who fought there. While there were atrocities, such as Mai Lia, most of our soldiers acted and fought honorably, but were treated poorly by the U.S. public.

What is your opinion of the Johnson Administration and their handling of the Vietnam Conflict?

IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS ANNIVERSARY

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Thirty-five years ago, on November 4, 1979, the United States got a lesson that we are still learning from today; a lesson in terrorism. That is when Iranian students mobbed and took over the United States Embassy in Tehran. By the time the students finished, they were holding sixty hostages.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time. Earlier in the year, a student mob briefly attacked the US Embassy and held the US Ambassador hostage for a few hours, before members of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s attendants ordered the release of the US Ambassador.Silhouette fedora

Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power in Iran at the beginning of World War II, taking the title of Shah of Iran. He had replaced his father, and his family claimed their bloodline was that of the Persian Royal Family. Further, the Shah claimed his family could be traced back to Cyrus the Great, which represented 2500 years of rule over those lands. In 1967, the Shah proclaimed himself King of Kings, Emperor of Iran. During the Shah’s reign, he was brutal to the Iranian people, but he was very friendly to the British, the French and the Americans. Plus, for the most part, he kept the Soviets at bay during the height of the Cold War. The Shah was kept in power by the CIA in the mid-1950s, in a conflict between himself and a duly elected prime minister. (I will not dwell on the details of this event in this blog.)

What led to the Iranian students seizing the Embassy on November 4? Let me summarize.

Despite the fact that the Shah of Iran was a professed Shi’a Muslim, he was at constant odds with the Muslim segment of the Iranian population, including the exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Ayatollah kept his hands in the Iranian situation throughout his exile. Finally, unrest grew in the country as the spread between the socioeconomic classes grew wider. The final straw for his countrymen occurred when he publically recognized Israel. In January of 1979, things had become so dicey in Iran that the Shah fled to Egypt. Then the Carter Administration decided to bring back the Ayatollah Khomeini from Paris to Iran in February 1979 to replace the Shah of Iran.

Things got worse for the Shah when he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and requested to come to the United States to get the best treatment. Finally, after several pleas, President Carter relented and allowed him into the country. The Shah’s arrival in New York City prompted a protest in Tehran.

This hostage situation was different from the earlier one. The Ayatollah Khomeini saw a chance to consolidate his power around all of this publicity, given this event, thus he issued a statement in support of the students’ action against the US Embassy, calling it a “den of spies”. The students vowed not to release the hostages until the US returned the Shah for trial, along with billions of dollars they claimed he had stolen from the Iranian people.

President Carter’s first move was one week later on November 11, when he called for an embargo on Iranian oil. To remain in a positive light with the liberal press, on November 17, Khomeini announced that an African-American female and several other non-US-citizen hostages would be released, because women and minorities already suffered “the oppression of American society”. This was nothing more than grandstanding, because out of the remaining fifty-three hostages, there were two women, Elizabeth Ann Swift and Kathryn Koob, and one African-American, Charles Jones.

On December 7, Assistant Secretary of State Harold Saunders was contacted by a certain Cyrus Hashemi, an Iranian arms dealer and agent of the Iranian SAVAK secret police, who had a proposal to free the hostages. Hashemi submitted a memorandum calling for the removal of the ailing expatriate Shah from US territory; an apology by the US to the people of Iran for past US interference; the creation of a United Nations Commission; the unfreezing of the Iranian financial assets seized by Carter; and arms and spare-parts deliveries by the US to Iran. The irony of this proposal is that the United States would support Saddam Hussein in Iraq in their war with Iran. Then, in the late 1980s, the United States secretly supplied weapons to Iran during the Reagan Administration.

So much attention was devoted to the hostage crisis that a television show was born out of this act—Nightline. During the entire hostage crisis, most network 6pm news shows counted the number of days the hostages were held captive.

As a result of little action on the part of the United States to free the hostages, the terrorists became emboldened. From that day forward, Radical Arab Muslims learned that they could bring terroristic acts to United States citizens, and the United States would do little or nothing about these acts. This was a game changer for them and, sadly, for the United States.
So on January 21, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the fortieth President of the United States, as Nightline would say, on “day 444 of captivity”, the Iranian students released the hostages. However, even though the hostages were released, from that day forward, terrorism has come here to stay.

Both sides learned lessons from this event. The terrorists learned how much publicity they could get, and the United States learned that, no matter how big the superpower, we have vulnerable spots.

Christopher Columbus Day

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Back in March 2013, I posted my first blog; a short paragraph regarding Christopher Columbus.

Well this week, someone else finally followed suit . . . the Seattle City Council. They voted to change the day to Indigenous Peoples Day, on which I have no opinion. What surprises me are the opinions of those who have reacted to this, and I have read on both conservative and liberal sites the opinions of others.

As I stated in my March 2013 blog, I have always been amazed with the history books crediting Christopher Columbus for “discovering America,” when Leifur Eiriksson’s heirs were hundreds of miles inland.Silhouette fedora

Let’s review for a minute—without emotion—the facts of what Columbus actually did, First, Columbus was not looking for America; he was looking for a short cut to the Far East to bring back goods to Europe. Second, when he got to America, he did not know where he was! Third, when he went back to Europe, he lied about where he had been. In conclusion, this is the man who we credited as the great explorer who discovered America!

As I stated above, Leifur Eiriksson’s heirs were well into the North American Continent around and past the Great Lakes. They had arrived here some three hundred (300) years earlier. There are a couple of reasons I can think of why Eiriksson was not given credit. Unlike Columbus, he did not go back to Europe and brag about where he had been. Plus, his trip had not been funded by elitist, arrogant Spanish Royalty.

For the moment, I will not go into the details of how Columbus got Queen Isabella of Castile (Spain) to finance his expedition. Also, I choose to stay out of the Indigenous Peoples Day debate. All I am saying is that Christopher Columbus did not discover America. This is not a race issue. If it is about who from Europe set foot on North American soil first, then it was not Christopher Columbus. To be clear, he did not even step on mainland North American soil: he landed in the Bahamas.

I say we should do away with Columbus Day, and instead, if we are going to honor the man who discovered North America from Europe, we bestow that honor on Leifur Eiriksson. But that’s just my opinion. What do you think?

Trinity Project – The Men who changed the World

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I am currently writing a book about the Soviets spying on the United States. During my research of The Manhattan Project, in which the Soviets were spying on our development of the atomic bomb, I saw the stressful environment surrounding our scientists and President Truman. World War II was not going well for the Allies, and President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had to take some radical steps to try to defeat the Axis powers.

Just after the beginning of World War II and extending into the early stages of the Cold War, the Soviets were focused on the United States’ project of building the atomic bomb, commonly referred to as The Manhattan Project. Although the Soviets were Allies with the United States and Great Britain during World War II, their relationship was tenuous, at best—full of distrust. As the Allies, United States and Great Britain, worked shoulder to shoulder on the Manhattan Project, they kept the other Ally, the Soviet Union, out—sort of. The Soviets snuck spies into Los Alamos to learn and steal all they could regarding the development process for the atom bomb, so they could build their own bomb.

There was at least one British scientist, Dr. Klaus Fuchs, at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, who was convicted of spying for the Soviets. Fuchs had been a German Communist who’d fled the German Fascists for England before World War II. The British were desperate for scientists with his qualifications, so they overlooked his background once the War started. At least two other scientists, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and Dr. Hans Bethe, were closely watched by the Soviets throughout the development project.

Prior to the United States entering World War II, some of Germany’s top scientists wished not to help the Germany Nazi Government, nor did they wish to get trapped into helping the Soviet Union. Many of these Eastern European scientists slipped out on their own, going to London or the United States. In late 1942, President Roosevelt was persuaded to start what would become The Manhattan Project. He was convinced by several scientists who came out of Europe at the end of the 1930s, including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi. They advised him the Germans were frantically working to develop a super bomb based on atomic technology. Although Roosevelt had initially resisted, after watching the ruthlessness of the German Nazi war machine, he believed they would use the technology if they developed the bomb first, and it could easily tilt their advantage in the war.

Once Roosevelt relented, the United States went to great lengths to build secret laboratories at various locations. The most critical location was Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) in northern New Mexico. At LASL, The Manhattan Project scientists and technicians, directed by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, investigated the theoretical problems that had to be solved before a nuclear weapon could be developed.Silhouette fedora

While the overall project was named The Manhattan Project, the experimental side at LASL referred to their test as Project TRINITY. Dr. Kenneth Bainbridge was named the director of the Project TRINITY organization, and he reported directly to Director Dr. Oppenheimer, the overall director of LASL. Major General Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District supervised the military side of the project.

So secretive was the research that some of the workers who came to Los Alamos were not told what their jobs would be or where they were going, but just to show up and go to work. The scientists and their families did not know what to expect at Los Alamos, and to make matters worse, when they arrived, some of the wives certainly did not find the living conditions to their liking.

As these scientists worked on this theoretical project, they were uncertain of the extent and effects of such a nuclear chain reaction, let alone the hazards of the resulting blast and radiation. Protective measures could be based only on estimates and calculations.

As the development of the bomb neared completion, scientists and engineers at the laboratory begin to wonder what would happen when the bomb was detonated. Some wondered if they would destroy the stratosphere around the blast. Some of the scientists even believed that the entire atmosphere would catch on fire burn up, and then the earth would burn up. Still others feared it would be a total dud, and nothing would happen. There was even a gambling pool at the facility regarding the results of the blast.

On July 16, 1945, the scientists and military finally detonated the device that had been given the code name The Gadget.

Military personnel passed out welder’s glasses for the scientists and military personnel to observe the atomic blast. Some of the scientists and lay on the ground, while others stood. The blast was so strong that it knocked down some of the observers over two miles away.

The TRINITY nuclear device was detonated on a hundred-foot tower with a nuclear yield equivalent to nineteen kilotons of TNT. The light from the explosion created a mushroom cloud that quick rose to over forty thousand feet. The ground beneath the blast turned into radioactive glass. The blast was so brilliant that some residents thought the sun came up twice. It was documented that a blind girl saw the flash, and she was 120 miles away. Naturally, the military had to cover up this development immediately, so they created a story explaining that a huge ammunition dump had exploded.

Reactions to the explosion were mixed: Isidor Rabi thought the equilibrium in nature had been upset, for the first time mankind  had become a threat to destroy its humanity. Robert Oppenheimer, though ecstatic about the success of the project, quoted a remembered fragment from the Bhagavad Gita. “I am become Death,” he said, “the destroyer of worlds.” Ken Bainbridge, the test director, told Oppenheimer, “Now we’re all sons of bitches.”

The world had entered the nuclear age.

On August 6th, the first uranium nuclear bomb, known as Little Boy, was dropped over Hiroshima, then three days later, the plutonium bomb, known as Fat Man, was exploded over Nagasaki. Fat Man was similar to The Gadget.

The United States had fire bombed Tokyo for more than a month, and this only caused the Japanese to become more determined. They developed a plan to defend the homeland, even if women and children had to die. The United States was preparing an invasion plan for mainland Japan, scheduled to begin in November of 1945.

Truman was desperate to end the war, so he decided to drop that bomb. Why was he desperate?

To complicate matters, the Soviets were moving into moving across China into Korea, all in accordance with agreements between Roosevelt and Stalin. However, Truman knew this was not a good development for either the United States or Japan. Truman knew he had to end the war as fast as possible.

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Empire officially surrendered to the Allied Governments, bringing World War II to an end.

Still to this day, the United States is the only country in the world that has ever used controversial nuclear weapons. However, the use of the two nuclear bombs likely saved lives in the long run, both American and Japanese.

What do you think about this controversial event? Were we right to use nuclear bombs to prevent a worse war? Has America’s—and the world’s—response to this event been worthwhile in the end, or did we create more problems than we solved?

TWA Flight 800

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On the evening of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) bound for Paris with 230 people on board. About eleven minutes after the pilot announced, “Wheels up,” at 13,700 feet and climbing, without warning, the 747 jetliner exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the shores of Rhode Island. A secondary explosion occurred when the jet fuel ignited.

Why am I bringing this up at this time? The world has had three significant “lost jet” events in the last several months. One of these jets, in Kiev, was shot down, and it reminded me of the tragedy of TWA Flight 800. So I went back and investigated.

As I state on my website, I “dare to find the real truth in history. History unlike anything you have been taught.”

Ultimately, about ninety-five percent of the Boeing 747 jet was recovered. According to the official report from the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), it was concluded that the “probable cause” of the explosion of the center-wing fuel tank was the result of the ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture. They could not determine the exact source of the ignition, but felt that it “most likely” was a short circuit outside of the center-wing tank. They believe the event was brought on by excessive voltage entering the wiring associated with the fuel system. However, the NTSB report stated that the center-fuel switch was off, and there was no voice evidence it had been turned on. Would excessive voltage cause a switch that was turned off to ignite? A short circuit? I can’t answer that question, but perhaps an electrical engineer could. (If so, please post your comments below. I’d love to have your opinion!)

I remember that when I first heard about the plane crash, I heard about some eyewitness accounts that this jet was shot down. I dismissed it at the time. These witnesses stated seeing a “flare-like” object rising from the ground and striking the 747 jet on its right side. The number of eyewitness stories were consistent enough that the FBI interviewed 154 individuals, including scientists and Army personnel. It is significant that these witnesses covered the TWA 800 from viewing angles of 360 degrees. At the time, The New York Times reported that a top federal official was quoted as saying their stories “were credible.” Witnesses all collectively spoke of a six-second missile burn. This is quite a coincidence, don’t you think?Silhouette fedora

The cockpit voice recorder was not audible over the last seven seconds. However, the TWA captain said, “Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four. See that?” Sometime after that, the first officer noted a visually bright event. But in the last few tenths–of-seconds, on the voice recorder there was a similar noise like that of other planes that have broken up in flight.

Technicians from the FBI even mapped these eyewitness stories to corroborate if the incident would conclude a central point of the potential ground shot. There were some on-site investigators who claimed the metal remnants of the jet was bent in and bent out. Logically speaking, if it was an internal explosion, all of the metal should be bent outward, I would think. I could be wrong.

To my knowledge, no definitive explanation was ever given for “flare-like” object rising from the ground. No fireworks, no flare. Moreover, none of the eyewitnesses were allowed to speak at the NTSB public hearing. Why? It should be noted, the NTSB does not investigate criminal activity: that side of the investigation was carried out, as always, by the FBI, in a parallel investigation.

The Army and the Navy were called in to assist with this investigation. Army personnel in Humvees took over control of the beaches on Long Island. Why? I find it interesting that both the FBI and the Navy implied that there was biological danger surrounding Flight 800 and that any pieces found on the beach should not be touched. Later, this story was retracted. Why? Was it for collection purposes? No explanation was given either way.

While it is easy to understand why the Navy was first called into assist with the investigation, it seems a little unusual that the Navy brought in their best deep-water salvage vessels and took over the salvage operation from the New York Police Department divers. Why? Why did the Navy search twenty miles on either side of the wreckage scene? It would be impossible for the 747 jet to spread debris this far—a physical impossibility, even if the 747 had remained intact and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. There were three Navy submarines and a Navy ship in the area; no big deal, since it is near New York Harbor. But why did the Navy try to deny their presence during that time?

By December 1996, the FBI Missile investigation team members were notified that two separate commercial fishermen had dredged up parts from MANDPADS in the area of the debris field; however, it is reported that they threw them back. Was this credible, or was this part of a conspiracy? Why would they have thrown these parts back?

There were so many inconsistencies with respect to the recovery and potential tampering with the 747’s black boxes that I cannot address them in a 500-word blog. I can’t decide what really happened. What do you think happened? Did the crash occur due to an equipment malfunction, or was it something else?

Audie Murphy, World War II War Hero

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Growing up, I heard that Audie Murphy was a great war hero, but I never knew his story. Now I know that Audie Murphy was the most-decorated soldier in World War II. By the end of the War, he had attained the rank of First Lieutenant in the Army and was decorated with thirty-three medals, including three Purple Hearts and one Medal of Honor.Silhouette fedora

At the beginning of the War, it was difficult for Murphy to get into the Military, and the Army, the Navy and Marines rejected him because he was too young—only 16 years old—and too small at 5’5” and 110 pounds. Murphy didn’t let that stop him. He altered his birth certificate, and eventually he was allowed to enlist in the Army, as the war had continued and more soldiers were needed. During his basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas, he passed out, and his company commander almost transferred him to cooking school. Fortunately, Murphy talked the commander out of this transfer.

Murphy was assigned to the Third Platoon, Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in Casablanca, Morocco. In Murphy’s first combat, he participated in the invasion of Sicily, and for his brave actions, he was promoted to corporal, but unfortunately contracted malaria. Next, Murphy was part of the invasion of Italy. While participating in the Italy campaign, the Germans ambushed his night patrol. Due to Murphy’s heroic actions that night, they not only won the battle, but also took some German prisoners. For these measures, Audie Murphy received a promotion to sergeant. Murphy’s division moved forward, and next he participated in the fighting near Anzio, where he earned two Bronze Stars, one for personally destroying a German tank.

Sergeant Audie Murphy was then sent to France. In one particular incident, he witnessed the death of a close friend when a German soldier faked surrender, then killed the man. Murphy went ballistic, and all by himself, he wiped out a German machine gun perch, then grabbed a German weapon, killed a few German soldiers and forced several others to retreat. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for this valiant action.

By October of 1944, he had been promoted to second lieutenant. Later that month, Murphy was wounded in the hip while leading his platoon into battle, causing him to recover in the infirmary for ten weeks. On January 25, 1945, just after returning to his platoon as a company commander, he was impaled with shrapnel from an exploding mortar round. Despite this wound, he did not leave the battle field. The next day as he led his men into battle, they came under far-superior enemy fire. He ordered his platoon to fall back, and while they followed his orders, Murphy didn’t. Instead, he stayed in position and provided cover so that his platoon could be pulled back safely. Eventually he ran out of ammunition, but still he didn’t fall back. He mounted a burning M10 Army tank and used its .50-caliber machine gun to force the Germans to hold their position. Again, Murphy received a leg wound, but for one hour, he maintained his position until his men could regroup and counterattack with air support. Murphy’s men succeeded in removing the Germans from their position. For this gallant feat, he received the Medal of Honor on June 2, 1945.

After the war, Audie Murphy was invited to Hollywood by James Cagney. Cagney talked Murphy into playing himself in a movie based on his autobiography. Murphy went on to play in forty-five movies in twenty-five years. Next, Audie Murphy began to write country music.

Despite his bravery and patriotic deeds, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following the war. Audie Murphey died in a tragic plane crash near Catawba, Virginia, on May 28, 1971.

Have you ever seen any of Audie Murphy’s movies, or have you heard his country songs? Were you aware of his distinguished service before reading this post?

A True Fighting Gamecock at the University of South Carolina

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I don’t personally know Kyle Carpenter, but I imagine he did what most normal college young men did this past semester at the University of South Carolina. He probably worked hard to be the good student that he is, but I’m guessing he also played video games, watched sports on TV, discussed classes and what he might do this weekend with friends. He might even be watching our Gamecock baseball team or be thinking about next year’s football and basketball teams.

Kyle Carpenter continuously tries to pass himself off as just a regular student at the University of South Carolina. But last week, Kyle Carpenter visited the White House–not on a tour, but as an invited guest of President Barack Obama. You see, Kyle Carpenter really isn’t your average USC student. He is the retired Marine Corporal Kyle Carpenter, and he was at the White House to receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama. Kyle is the eighth living recipient and the second Marine recipient of this great honor since the start of the war against terrorism in Afghanistan.

Why did President Obama honor this twenty-four-year-old man? Kyle Carpenter’s story is anything but ordinary. On November 21, 2010, Kyle and his best friend Lance Corporal Nicholas Eufrazio stood guard on a rooftop in the Marjah District of the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, taking fire from the Taliban, when a grenade landed on the roof. What this young Marine did in the next few seconds changed the lives of both his best friend and him.

He dove toward the grenade.Silhouette fedora

His action saves his best friend’s life, and miraculously, Kyle survived the blast.

Kyle remained conscious for a few seconds after the blast, feeling his life’s blood pour out of him. According to his personal accounts, in those second that Kyle remained conscience, he asked if his best friend Nicholas Eufrazio survived, and he accepted Christ in his life so that he could go to Heaven. Plus he was upset, thinking about his family he wouldn’t see, as he was certain he was going to die there on the rooftop in Afghanistan?

In the critical minutes that passed, Carpenter went through three revivals of flat-line cardiac arrest. By the grace of God, the medics, paramedics and doctors didn’t give up on Kyle, and Kyle’s intestinal fortitude refused to give up. The next thing this heroic young man remembers is waking up at Walter Reed Army Hospital, following a coma that lasted more than five weeks.

Over the next two years, Marine Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter underwent almost forty surgeries to repair the loss of a right eye, a blown right ear drum, a fractured nose, destroyed lower jaw and cheek bones, plus a right arm broken into more than thirty pieces. And those weren’t the worst injuries–he also had shrapnel in his brain. During two years of recovery, this native of Mississippi and resident of Gilbert, South Carolina strived to return to normal.

In a recent interview with a local TV station, he talked about going back to Afghanistan to the very rooftop where the horrific incident occurred, for nothing else but closure on that fateful moment—that moment when he did what he claims all Marines would proudly do: dive on a grenade to protect his fellow Marines.

Kyle’s recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, and he is now doing things that none of his doctors would have predicted. Kyle is even contemplating running the Marine Corp Marathon in the future.