Did You Know?

[thedrifter]

FACTS

Dec. 17, 2003
The Japanese confiscated chess books during World War II thinking they were military codes. Japan did not have an organized chess federation until 1968.

Dec. 15, 2003
Since World War II, American soldiers have been issued gum with their K rations and survival kits. During World War II, gum, considered an emergency ration, was also given to soldiers to relieve tension and dry throats on long marches. G.I.s used chewed gum to patch jeep tires, gas tanks, life rafts, and parts of airplanes. Wrigley advertisements recommended five sticks of gum per day for every war worker, insisting that "Factory tests show how chewing gum helps men feel better, work better."

Dec. 12, 2003
During World War II, a German U-boat was sunk by a truck. The U-boat in question attacked a convoy in the Atlantic and then rose to see the effect. The merchant ship it sank had material strapped to its deck including a fleet of trucks, one of which was thrown in the air by the explosion, landing on the U-boat and breaking its back.

Dec. 11, 2003
In 1839, the Canadian province of New Brunswick fought a bloodless border war with Maine.

Dec. 10, 2003
The most decorated unit in US military history was formed primarily by enlistees from the U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans.

Dec. 09, 2003
During the Vietnam War, soldiers used Slinkies as radio antennas by stretching the coiled-up toys between two trees.

Dec. 08, 2003
A colonel in the Ivory Coast army was fatally wounded by gunfire as he tested a "magic" belt supposedly with powers to protect him from bullets. Colonel Pascal Gbah, 49, died after being hit by a bullet fired from his own service pistol by a 20-year-old son of the magic belt's maker. Gbah's cousin Andre Gondo made the belt as insisting that its protective powers were real, provided one abstained from sex while wearing it.

Dec. 05, 2003
British Royal Navy recruits at the gunnery school in Plymouth are being ordered not to fire live shells. Instead they have been instructed to check co-ordinates, line up a target, and then shout "Bang". This is allegedly part of a drive by the Ministry of Defence drive to save money.

Dec. 04, 2003
The Americans keep their weapons of mass destruction much more secure. So secure that one Bryan Hopkins, a former Marine, was able to board the aircraft carrier USS Constellation using an old ID card, and a uniform he found in a rubbish bin. And spent several weeks on board without being discovered. He didn't bother hiding (in the way that, say, an illicit stowaway on a passenger liner might need to), he just ate, used the gym and bunked down with the regular crew. The deception was only discovered after someone phoned the Navy office to tip them off.


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Facts.....


Today's : The most costly war or record in terms of human life was the World War II (1939 -1945). The total number of fatalities of all countries is estimated to have been 54,800,000. Poland was the country that suffered most with 6,028,000 of her population of 35,100,000 killed. In World War I the total combatant death toll was 9,700,000. The figure rouse to 15,600,000 in World War II.



Jan. 7, 2004 During WWII, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs. They failed.

Jan. 6, 2004 A broken wooden spear found by S. Hazzledine Warren in April 1911 at Clacton-on-Sea is believed to be the oldest known offensive weapon. It is estimated to have been fashioned before 200,000 BC. Jan. 5, 2004 A South African monkey was once awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of corporal during World War I.

Jan. 2, 2004 In the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, 231 ships and 1,996 aircraft were involved making it the greatest number of ships and aircraft in a sea-air action. 6 US and 26 Japanese ships were sunk. The battle raged from 22 to 27 October 1944.

Jan. 1, 2004 "Hundred Years War" between England and France was the longest war. It lasted for 115 years from 1338 to 1453. It may be said the nine Crusades, comprised a single holy war, extending over 195 years, from First (1096 - 1104) to the Ninth (1270 - 1291).

Dec. 31, 2003 In 1969 the Navy spent $375,000 on an "aerodynamic analysis of the self-suspended flare." The study's conclusion was that the Frisbee was not feasible as military hardware.

Dec. 30, 2003 When she was a young woman, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer once lived in Israel. There, she joined the Haganah and was trained as a sniper. She was so adept at handling a Sten gun, a British submachine gun, that she could quickly assemble one while blindfolded.

Dec. 29, 2003 Confederate soldiers were often illiterate farm boys who didn't know left from right, but they did know hay from straw. To teach them to march, officers put a stalk of hay in one shoe and a stalk of straw in the other and gave the marching orders as "HAY FOOT! STRAW FOOT!" instead of "LEFT, RIGHT!"

Dec. 26, 2003 The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

Dec. 25, 2003 A long time ago women were allowed to live on Navy ships to keep company for sailor husbands and friends who had to stay for several months at sea without being in battle. On occasion, a woman delivered a baby whose paternity could not be established with certainty. In the birth certificate, authorities just noted "Son of a gun," referring to the artillery found on the ships. This has evolved into the common expression we use today.

Dec. 24, 2003 The USA spends an average of $28,000 on research and development for each member of its armed forces compared to the European average of $7,000.

Dec. 23, 2003 The US operates a fleet of more than 15,000 aircraft, including 20 stealth bombers in service. The navy operates more than 1,000 ocean going vessels.

Dec. 22, 2003 The US has 247,000 troops and civilians posted overseas, with a presence in more than 130 countries, covering every time zone. The US has 13 military bases in countries around Afghanistan. It has military presence in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Georgia, all former Soviet countries.

Dec. 19, 2003 The most costly war on record in terms of human life was World War II (1939 -1945). The total number of fatalities of all countries is estimated to have been 54,800,000. Poland was the country that suffered most with 6,028,000 of her population of 35,100,000 killed.

Dec. 18, 2003 Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit.

Dec. 17, 2003 Armored knights in medieval times raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

Dec. 16, 2003 The Japanese confiscated chess books during World War II thinking they were military codes. Japan did not have an organized chess federation until 1968.

Dec. 15, 2003 Since World War II, American soldiers have been issued gum with their K rations and survival kits. During World War II, gum, considered an emergency ration, was also given to soldiers to relieve tension and dry throats on long marches. G.I.s used chewed gum to patch jeep tires, gas tanks, life rafts, and parts of airplanes. Wrigley advertisements recommended five sticks of gum per day for every war worker, insisting that "Factory tests show how chewing gum helps men feel better, work better."

Dec. 12, 2003 During World War II, a German U-boat was sunk by a truck. The U-boat in question attacked a convoy in the Atlantic and then rose to see the effect. The merchant ship it sank had material strapped to its deck including a fleet of trucks, one of which was thrown in the air by the explosion, landing on the U-boat and breaking its back.

Dec. 11, 2003 In 1839, the Canadian

Dec. 10, 2003 The most decorated unit in US military history was formed primarily by enlistees from the U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans.

Dec. 09, 2003 During the Vietnam War, soldiers used Slinkies as radio antennas by stretching the coiled-up toys between two trees.

Dec. 08, 2003 A colonel in the Ivory Coast army was fatally wounded by gunfire as he tested a "magic" belt supposedly with powers to protect him from bullets. Colonel Pascal Gbah, 49, died after being hit by a bullet fired from his own service pistol by a 20-year-old son of the magic belt's maker. Gbah's cousin Andre Gondo made the belt as insisting that its protective powers were real, provided one abstained from sex while wearing it.

Dec. 05, 2003 British Royal Navy recruits at the gunnery school in Plymouth are being ordered not to fire live shells. Instead they have been instructed to check co-ordinates, line up a target, and then shout "Bang". This is allegedly part of a drive by the Ministry of Defence drive to save money.

Dec. 04, 2003 The Americans keep their weapons of mass destruction much more secure. So secure that one Bryan Hopkins, a former marine, was able to board the aircraft carrier USS Constellation using an old ID card, and a uniform he found in a rubbish bin. And spent several weeks on board without being discovered. He didn't bother hiding (in the way that, say, an illicit stowaway on a passenger liner might need to), he just ate, used the gym and bunked down with the regular crew. The deception was only discovered after someone phoned the Navy office to tip them off.

Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Today's : The longest known siege in history was that of Ashdod (a Hebrew word meaning "stronghold"), Israel. According to Greek historian Herodotus, the siege was invested by Psamtik I of Egypt for 29 years during his reign from 664 - 610 BC.



Jan. 29, 2004 When the Prussians surrounded Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, beef became so scarce that the people in Paris turned to eating horsemeat as an alternative. They still eat horse to this day.

Jan. 28, 2004 When the Persians invaded Egypt and were besieging Pelusium, they used cats as shields. The Egyptians regarded certain animals, especially cats, as being sacred, and would not injure them on any account. The Persians carried the 'sacred' animals in front of them to the attack. The Egyptians did not dare to shoot their arrows for fear of wounding the animals, and so Pelusium was stormed successfully.

Jan. 27, 2004 During the Civil War, one-third to one-half of the currency in circulation was counterfeit.

Jan. 26, 2004 In France, in 1914, during World War I, French General Joseph-Simon Gallieni, military governor of Paris, used a fleet of taxis, the drivers still wearing their caps, to transport his troops from Paris to the Battle of the Marne. This is considered the first operational employment of motorized transport.

Jan. 23, 2004 During the 19th century soldiers who had died in battle had their teeth pulled out to be used as dentures by other people.

Jan. 22, 2004 Sadly, when the battleship USS Arizona was destroyed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor 23 sets of brothers were killed.

Jan. 21, 2004 In 1941, during the German invasion of Russia, for every 100 Russian males aged 18, 99 would have been killed over the next five years.

Jan. 20, 2004 During the first Gulf war in the 1990's the allied forces lost just 4 tanks out of the 3,360 that were deployed. The Iraqi's however lost 4,000 tanks out of 4,230 they used.

Jan. 16, 2004 To conserve metal during World War II the Academy Awards of Merit — also known as the Oscars -- were made out of wood.

Jan. 15, 2004 During the days of the Manhattan Project all applicants for menial jobs at the plant where the atomic bomb was being built did not get a job if they could read. This was because US authorities didn't want staff reading secret papers.

Jan. 14, 2004 "M&M's"® were developed so that soldiers could eat candy without getting their fingers sticky. Legend has it that on a trip to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Forrest Mars Sr. encountered soldiers who were eating pellets of chocolate that were encased in a hard sugary coating to prevent them from melting. This inspired him to later create the recipe for M&M® Chocolate.

Jan. 13, 2004 The extras in the battle scenes in the movie Braveheart were reserves in the Irish army.

Jan. 12, 2004 The Allied land, air and sea operation against the Normandy coasts of France on D-day, 6 June 1944 was the greatest invasion in military history. On the first 3 days, 38 convoys of 745 ships moved in. That was supported by 20,000 vehicles, 347 minesweepers, carrying 185,000 men and 4,055 landing craft.

Jan. 9, 2004 The bloodiest battle fought on earth was the first Battle of the Somme, France from 1 July to 19 November 1916. The battle recorded the greatest number of military casualties at 1,043,896. 623,907 were Allied and the rest German.

Jan. 8, 2004 The most costly war or record in terms of human life was the World War II (1939 -1945). The total number of fatalities of all countries is estimated to have been 54,800,000. Poland was the country that suffered most with 6,028,000 of her population of 35,100,000 killed. In World War I the total combatant death toll was 9,700,000. The figure rouse to 15,600,000 in World War II.

Jan. 7, 2004 During WWII, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs. They failed.

Jan. 6, 2004 A broken wooden spear found by S. Hazzledine Warren in April 1911 at Clacton-on-Sea is believed to be the oldest known offensive weapon. It is estimated to have been fashioned before 200,000 BC.

Jan. 5, 2004 A South African monkey was once awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of corporal during World War I.

Jan. 2, 2004 In the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, 231 ships and 1,996 aircraft were involved making it the greatest number of ships and aircraft in a sea-air action. 6 US and 26 Japanese ships were sunk. The battle raged from 22 to 27 October 1944.