The USS California (a battleship stationed in the Pacific) was one of the eight battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor. During the attack on December 7, 1941, it took three direct hits — two torpedoes and one bomb, killing over 100 crew. The California caught fire and the remainder of the crew made their way to shore before the ship sank. It was later salvaged, repaired, and returned to service during World War II before being decommissioned in 1947.
Below is the December 7, 1941 “Orders of the Day” for the USS California, from WallBuilders’ Collection. Since that day was a Sunday, the orders include notations for church services for the ship’s crew.
3. Working division, F; Relief working division, 6-S.
4. PORT ROUTINE # 5.
0545 – Send 40′ M.L. with four hands (anchor watch) to Merry Point Naval Stores Landing to pick up ice. Wood, L.K., Sea. lc., in charge.
0600 – Send M.W.B. with signalman to ascertain ships in this sector.
0745 – Rig for church (starboard forecastle, weather permitting).
0750 – Send boat to Officers’ Club landing for Chaplain Maguire.
0830 – Chaplain’s Bible discussion class (port side Crew’s Reception Room).
0830 – Confessions (Crew’s library).
0900 – Divine Service (Catholic).
0945 – Quarters for duty section.
1000 – Divine Service (Protestant).
1700 – Supper for crew.
1930 – Movies on quarterdeck.
BULLETIN
1. There will be another Flying Squadron dance at the Aiea Club house on Tuesday, December 9, at 2000. There are 23 tickets available. Men desiring to go register names at ship’s library immediately.
E.E. Stone.
* Handwritten Note (top right): “Dope Sheet from U.S.S. California for the day she was sunk.”
The author of this letter, John Munroe, enlisted as a private in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry at the age of 19 on May 22, 1861, and served until mustered out on July 1, 1864. During the war he acted as the musician for K Company. 1 Aside from this, not much is known of Private Munroe.
The letter’s most notable character, Colonel William Cogswell, however, was perhaps one of the most famous members of the 2nd Massachusetts. Col. Cogswell served with exemplary distinction during the Civil War, finally being brevetted a Brigadier General. Afterwards, he was three times of the mayor of Salem, five times a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, then he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts in the mid 1880’s. In 1886, Cogswell became a Republican representative in the Federal Congress—a position to which he was reelected to until his death in 1895.2
In one of the many addresses given during the memorial to his life, the speaker attested to his strong character saying:
When heroes were needed, Mr. Cogswell could easily be found. When the tender sympathies of a woman were needed, his heart was loaded with that sweet necessity of life.
His close companions, those whom he loved, knew him to be great in God’s holiest, sweetest, and tenderest gifts, as well as great in the heart that accomplishes the grand achievements of life.
He had a soul fitted to reprove the wicked. He had an arm potential against the oppressor. He had a heart dauntless in the face of danger, ever quick to respond when duty called him to action. The tear of a suffering child, the sigh of an unfortunate woman, and the pitiful look of the debased, all found sympathy in his great soul.3
The anecdote related by Private Munroe in the letter most likely happened towards the end of 1864 after the capture of Atlanta on September 2. General Sherman had appointed Cogswell to be the post-commandant during the period immediately after the completion of the siege.4
Below are the pictures and transcript of the letter.
A “Col” who would not be outdone
At the time the 2nd Regt Mass Inf was in in camp at or near Atlanta, a Michigan Regt was brigaded with it for a while. It being a crack “regt,” a great rivalry fell out between it and the Mass 2nd, also a crack Regiment under Col. Cogswell, and the latter had the better of the competition.
One day a wave of religion struck the Michigan crowd. We had been stationed at this place some little time and the Chaplains had begun to get in their work. When Soldiers are marching or fighting they don’t seem to give religion much thought, but when in Camp for a month and the muddy current of life settles a little it is very different.
At this particular time a regular revival broke out in the Michigan Regt. The Col himself was given that way, and you could find about as many Hymn books, as decks of cards about his Hd. Qs.* and as he rather led this return to a better and brighter life many of his boys naturally fell in and followed. Cogswell’s regiment, on the other hand, was decidedly a perverse and stiffnecked generation. If there was any religion in that regiment it was a secret and none ever knew it. One day while the Michigan revival was at its heighth [sic] an Officer was talking with Cogswell about it.
“Do you know, Colonel,” he said to Cogswell, “I understand that eleven of those Michigan fellows are going to be baptized to-morrow?” “The deuce they are!” said Cogswell, & all of scorn and incredulity. He thought he saw a scheme to outdo his brave Second Mass. He determined to thwart it. That evening on dress parade he addressed his regiment. He told them of the Michigan regiment and how eleven of them were going to be baptized in the river next morning.
“Now boys,” said Cogswell, and his voice trembled, “the Second Massachusetts can’t stand this. We’ve outfought, outmarched and outdrilled these Michigan men, and can repeat all of these solemnities any day in the week. They know it, too, and so ever they try to make a mean, sneaking detour, as it were, and give us the go-by in religious matters, thinking to catch us asleep and not at home, now Boys, if I were to call for volunteers to charge a battery of siege guns, or to just march calmly out to die there would be but one response. And that would be the Sutler. Every man but the Sutler would step forward on the instant. To save the honor of the regiment then, when it is so insidiously beset by those people from Michigan, I now call on you for an unusual sacrifice.”
“And boys,” continued Cogswell, in tones of deepest feeling, “I don’t want you at this crisis in the career of a noble regiment to whose undying fame we all have contributed our blood, to weaken or hang back. Eleven of our rival are to be baptized tomorrow morning, and I now call for 25 of my brave fellows to volunteer to also be baptized. We’ll see their 11 and go ____ 14 better.” The line hesitated a moment, and at last a soldier asked for further & fuller light. “Are you going to be ‘mersed [sic for immersed] too, Colonel?” he inquired. “I will never,” said Cogswell, “shriek from a peril to which I invite my men.
“Should the Col of the Michigan regiment attempt any trick of personal baptism, I too, will go. Should he baptize any of his Officers, officers of equal rack in the 2nd Mass will be there to uphold the honor of their Regiment.”
“As the story comes to me now, it would seem as a first play these people meditate only the baptism of eleven privates, and to it rests with you my men, to say, whether at this juncture their plot shall succeed, or whether with 25 brave volunteers for this special duty we will retain our proud prestige as the crack regiment of this Brigade; and the unmeasured Superior of this particular outfit from Michigan.”
The 25 Volunteers stepped forward, and Cogswell issued an order to the Chaplain to baptize them at the same time and place with their hated rivals.
Seventy-six years ago today, on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was treacherously attacked by the Japanese, killing more than 2,000. This date was described by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy.” It was the worst naval disaster in American history, and brought declarations of war by Japan, Germany, and Italy against the United States, and by America against them. For four long years following this event, American men and women served and died on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.
One story from this day at Pearl Harbor relates to the USS California (a battleship, pictured on the right in the aftermath of the attack). During the attack, it took three direct hits — two torpedoes and one bomb, killing about 100. It caught fire and the remainder of the crew made their way to shore before the ship sank. The California was salvaged, repaired, and returned to service during World War II (pictured on the left is the rebuilt ship).
WallBuilders Collection includes the December 7, 1941 “Orders of the Day” for the USS California for the day of the attack. Since that day was a Sunday, the orders include times and locations for church services for the ship’s crew:
745 — Rig for church (starboard forecastle, weather permitting).
0750 — Send boat to Officers’ Club landing for Chaplain Maguire.
0830 — Chaplain’s Bible discussion class (port side Crew’s Reception Room).
0830 — Confessions (Crew’s library).
0900 — Divine Service (Catholic).
1000 — Divine Service (Protestant)
Obviously the attack, which began around 8 am, interrupted this schedule, preventing these church services from taking place. This document is an incredible glimpse into the normal routine these sailors were expecting for the day — events that never happened.
On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we remember the men and women who lost their lives. We also honor our veterans who have faithfully served our nation throughout the generations.
Below, from WallBuilders’ Collection, is a Christmas Card from Frank Browning (a Civil War quartermaster) to his sister, dated December 25, 1864.
The Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father
who art in Heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread…And
forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. Lead
us not into temptation but
deliver us from evil. For
thine is the kingdom &
the power & the glo-
ry forever.
Amen.
H. Heath. Artist.
Executed by Lieut. Heath
from to
Quartermaster Sister
Frank Browning Carrie,
U.S.A. With love.
Below is a compilation of various resources and biographies for several black history related people and events.
American War for Independence Soldiers
James Armistead Biographical Resources: WallBuilders Biography Black Past US Army The Black Phalanx; A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-’65 , pp. 50-51.
“Prince” Sisson Biographical Resources: WallBuilders Camp Fire of the Afro-American; or the Colored Man as a Patriot, p. 141. The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, p. 127.
Of all forms of violent intimidation, lynchings were by far the most effective. Between 1882 and 1964, 4,743 persons were lynched — 3,446 blacks and 1,297 whites.
If our nation had done nothing more in its whole history than to create just two documents, its contribution to civilization would be imperishable. The first of these documents is the Declaration of Independence and the other is that which we are here to honor tonight, the Emancipation Proclamation. All tyrants, past, present and future, are powerless to bury the truths in these declarations, no matter how extensive their legions, how vast their power and how malignant their evil. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed to a world, organized politically and spiritually around the concept of the inequality of man, that the dignity of human personality was inherent in man as a living being. The Emancipation Proclamation was the offspring of the Declaration of Independence. It was a constructive use of the force of law to uproot a social order which sought to separate liberty from a segment of humanity.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The landings which took place on the coast of Normandy on June 6, 1944, remain one of the most notable episodes of bravery throughout military history. Prior to the deployment on the beach, however, 13,000 American troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne landed in the dark behind enemy lines to secure targets which would prevent a heavy German counter attack.1
The commander of the 101st, Major General Maxwell Taylor, realized that in the confusing pre-dawn hours of the attack, troops would need a way to signal to others that they were friendly without giving their position away to the Germans. To solve this problem he turned to a clicker device known as a “cricket,” and issued them for the 101st to use during the mission.2 Taylor explained:
It rose out of my experiences earlier in the Mediterranean and from our Eagle exercise in England. There was so much dispersion in Sicily that I realized we needed some method of identification behind enemy lines. Eagle convinced me more than ever. We needed a little noisemaker a man could carry in his hand. The cricket seemed just right.3
James Gavin
In operation, the lower tab made a “click” sound when depressed and another upon release. Thus the call would result in a “click-click” sound. The response, signaling that the recipient was friendly, involved pressing the cricket twice, producing a “click-click, click-click.” General Taylor himself, who jumped with the troops, used the cricket to locate his soldiers among the dark French hedgerows.4
General James Gavin, commander of the the 82nd, decided against using the device and instead used only a vocal password-answer system in which a soldier would call out “Flash” and expect the reply “Thunder.” When asked about his decision to not issue the crickets to his troops, Gavin remarked:
There was a lot of gadgetry around, and a lot of it didn’t make much sense. In Normandy, the 82nd used only an oral password. It’s always more important to carry more ammunition … to stay alive … to fight … to get there. I even cut the fringes off the many maps I carried so there’d be more room for ammunition.5
Members from the 82nd did still acquire various styles of clickers to be used, though these were not issued by Gavin. Private Don Lassen who served in the 82nd Airborne’s 505th recalls using one during his drop on D-Day:
When I landed at about 2 am, it was darker than pitch. I was totally alone in a field, and tracers were going all around me. I couldn’t find anyone, so I went to get closer because I wanted to be sure that whoever it was would hear my click. As the sound got closer and closer I finally clicked. Sure enough, the person approaching me, someone from the 101st as it turned out, clicked his cricket and we both were OK.6
Another member of the 82nd was Walter Barbour, who acquired and kept several cricket-style clickers he used during the war. Pictured below is Mr. Barbour during the war and one of those crickets which he carried.
Throughout the War for Independence, from the Siege of Boston to the Battle of Yorktown, artillery played a decisive role in securing America’s freedom.
Starting on September 28th and ending with British capitulation on October 19th, the Battle of Yorktown was the last major military engagement of the war. Commanders for the Allied land forces included Generals Henry Knox, Marquis de Lafayette, and Rochambeau under George Washington, while the Allied naval forces consisted of the French fleet led by Comte de Grasse. Most of the engagement at Yorktown centered on the artillery of the two sides, while the main infantry movements were the capture of Redoubts 9 and 10.
The military journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, a Pennsylvanian recruit present at the Battle of Yorktown, describes the stages of the siege and the dramatic effect the artillery had. On the 28th of September, the beginning of the engagement, Major Denney noted that:
One-third of the army on fatigue every day, engaged in various duties, making gabions,1 fascines,2 saucissons,3 &c., and great exertions and labor in getting on the heavy artillery. Strong covering parties (whole regiments) moved from camp as soon as dark, and lay all night upon their arms between us and the enemy. … Now and then a heavy shot from the enemy’s works [artillery pieces] reached our camp.4
After getting the artillery parks in place and operational, he gives an account of siege works and the nightly barrages:
At length, everything in readiness, a division of the army broke ground on the night of the 6th of October, and opened the first parallel [trench] about six hundred yards from the works of the enemy. Every exertion to annoy our men, who were necessarily obliged to be exposed about the works; however, the business went on, and on the 9th our cannon and mortars began to play. The scene viewed from the camp now was grand, particularly after dark—a number of shells from the works of both parties passing high in the air, and descending in a curve, each with a long train of fire, exhibited a brilliant spectacle.5
On October 11th he explains that the:
Second parallel [was] thrown up within three hundred yards of the main works of the enemy; new batteries erected, and additional number of cannon brought forward—some twenty-four pounders and heavy mortars and howitzers. A tremendous fire now opened from all the new works, French and American. The heavy cannon directed against the embrasures and guns of the enemy. Their pieces were soon silenced, broke and dismantled. Shells from behind their works still kept up.6
Shell Cross Section
Major Denny mentions all three types of artillery—cannons, howitzers, and mortars. Denny noted that of these three, the mortars were the ones most notable for firing the distinctive bomb shells which left the long trains of fire. Mortars have short barrels with an extremely large bore in proportion to the length. Their main purpose was to “throw hollow shells, filled with powder, which falling on any building or into the works of a fortification, bust, and their fragments destroy everything within reach.”7
Major Denny participated in the assault led by Alexander Hamilton upon the redoubts on the 14th of October, and the next day he noted:
Heavy fire from our batteries all day. A shell from one of the French mortars set fire to a British frigate; she burnt to the water’s edge, and blew up—made the earth shake. Shot and shell raked the town in every direction. Bomb-proofs the only place of safety.8
General Cornwallis, realizing that his troops could not continue through such an unrelenting barrage and seeing that his supplies were dwindling due to the French blockade, made the decision to surrender. After the articles of capitulation were signed and the British grounded their weapons on the 19th of October, Major Denny and the rest of the troops took possession of Yorktown, whereupon he stated:
Never was in so filthy a place—some handsome houses, but prodigiously shattered. Vast heaps of shot and shells lying about in every quarter, which came from our works. The shells did not burst as expected.9
Powder Chart from 1801 Manual
The shells Major Denny refers to were mortar-fired hollow casings made of iron which would have a hole an inch in diameter for the fuse to enter. In operation, the shells would be filled with powder, a fuse would be fed through the hole, and the hole would be sealed with a plug of either cork or wood.10 The bombs themselves would be prepared during the days leading up to the engagement in what was called the laboratory.11 When packing the shells in the laboratory, it was generally accepted that, in order to achieve the most complete fragmentation, the shell should not be completely filled; with some saying that it should be as much as 1/3 empty.12 What exactly Major Denny meant when he said that the shells failed to burst as expected could mean two things. It could mean that the shells did not fragment at all, due to a failure in the fuse or powder; it could just mean that the fragmentation was not even or to the desired degree.
Whatever the case, is was the incredible skill of the French and American artillery men which forced General Cornwallis to surrender Yorktown to George Washington, thereby ensuring independency for the American people.13
In our collection at Wallbuilders we have an unfragmented mortar shell excavated near Yorktown at the site of an overturned wagon. It is 8 inches in diameter making it a medium sized mortar. The pitted surface was standard among the shells from all nations. You can clearly see the hole which the fuse would be fed through and the seam connecting the two halves of the shell.
Endnotes
1 Gabions are cages made from wicker which then are filled with either stones or soil in order to construct defensive fortification such as parapets.
2 Fascines are bundles of sticks tied together which are employed for crossing marshy ground or trenches, and sometimes used for supporting the sides of preexisting earthen works.
3 Saucissions, deriving their name due to perceived similarities to French sausages, are longer versions of fascines which typically take more than one man to transport, typically being from 18 to 20 feet long. See The British Military Library, or, Journal Comprehending a Complete Body of Military Knowledge (London: J. Carpenter and Co., 1801), II:531.
When looking back upon his service in the Civil War, John Clem remarked, “Almost literally it might be said that I went from the nursery to the battlefield.”1 Such an observation was not an overstatement. Widely held to be the youngest soldier in the Union army,2 John Clem first attempted to join the Third Ohio Regiment of Volunteers when he was nine years old only to be laughed off.3 This did not deter him though, and when the Third Ohio boarded their train to the mobilization camp in Covington, Kentucky, Clem climbed aboard as well.4 He explained:
My father had no notion of allowing me to go to the war. Accordingly, I decided to run away. The spirit of adventure had gripped me. It was necessary that the Union should be preserved, and my help was obviously needed.5
Once in Covington, John Clem again attempted to enlist but this time with the Twenty-Second Michigan. Although he was officially rejected Clem continued with the regiment serving as a drummer boy and drawing the standard soldier’s pay.16 The Twenty-Second were quick to accept the young boy, and equipped him with a uniform and a rifle altered to a manageable size.7 In his own words:
From the view-point of the Twenty-Second Michigan, I was a member in full standing of that military family—the baby of the regiment. … In all the hardships of war I endured my share—such as marching in rain or snow, sleeping without protection against the elements, and on occasions going hungry.8
Throughout the war he fought at the battles of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Stone River, Resaca, Kenesaw, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and Nashville.9 During these battles Clem was wounded twice10—one time receiving shrapnel from a shell in the hip (either at Atlanta11 or Chickamauga12), and the other time having his ear “nipped” by a bullet in Atlanta.13
During the war, due to his bravery at the battle of Chickamauga, he became the youngest non-commissioned officer in the history of the American armed forces due. Clem recalled that battle:
At the close of the day the Union forces were retiring toward Chattanooga, and my brigade was sore beset by the enemy. In fact, we were in a tight place. A Confederate colonel rode up and yelled at me, “Surrender, you damned little Yankee!”
Raising my musket without aiming, I pulled the trigger, and he fell off his horse, badly wounded. …
As I have said, however, it was a tight place. Three musket balls (as I subsequently ascertained) went through my cap. I decided that the best policy was to fall dead for the moment, and so I did. I lay dead until after dark, when I “came alive” again and managed to find my way to Chattanooga.14
Ulysses S. Grant
As a result, he was praised by General Rosecrans and General Thomas in addition to being promoted to Sergeant.15 After rejoining the pushed back Union forces in Chattanooga, Clem met General Ulysses S. Grant for the first time. Clem would meet Grant again during his presidency.
After the war, in 1871, the now experienced veteran attempted to enroll at West Point. However, due to his education being on the battlefield instead of in the classroom, Clem was unable to pass the academic entrance exam. Not one to be discouraged, he related his next steps:
That was certainly hard luck. What is the use of being a Civil War veteran, beating honorable scars, if in one’s old age—the age of twenty, let us say, in sight—one is turned down my an unappreciative Government?
I thought I would speak of the matter to my old acquaintance and military comrade General Grant, who was at that time occupying the White House. I went to see him.
I told him that I had failed to get into the Point, and that I meant to try for a civilian appointment in the army. His reply was, “We can do better than that. I will appoint you now a second lieutenant.16
After this John Clem continued to serve his country. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1874, Captain in 1882, Major is 1895, Lieutenant Colonel in 1901, and full Colonel in 1903.18 Upon reaching the maximum age for army offices in 1915,[xviii] the 64-year-old John Clem was retired and given a final promotion to Brigadier General.19 He moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he died at the age of 86 in 1937.20
This piece is the hymnal which John Clem carried with him during the Civil War. It bears his signature on the inside of both the front and back covers. Published in Chicago in 1861 by the United States Christian Commission arm of the Young Men’s Christian Association these hymn books were passed out to many soldiers throughout the war. The, Commission in their official address, explained their purpose and called for action:
There are over 700,000 men now in the army and navy, who have left the comforts of home to endure hardship, and it may be to die, for us. A large number of them have now no means of religious instruction, and all are exposed to the demoralizing influences of war. We propose to encourage in them whatever is good, and keep fresh in their remembrance the instructions of earlier years, and to develop, organize, and make effective, the religious element in the army and navy. The field is open to us. We can have free access to their immortal souls; the chaplains desire and call for our aid; the Government wish it; and the men ask for and receive religious reading and teaching, with eagerness most touching. Thousands, who at home never entered the house of God, and had none to care for their souls, now in imminent peril, desire to know of Him who can give them the victory over death, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The time is short; what we do must be done quickly.21
In the execution of these ends, delegates of the Commission gave this hymnal to John Clem while he served in the Twenty-Second Michigan
Pictures of John Clem’s Hymn Book
Front Cover
Signatures in Front Cover
In the above photo Clem noted that he was in Company C of the Michigan Twenty-Second. We also see that during this time time he switched from spelling his name as “Klem” to the now famous “Clem.”
Title Page
Signatures in Back Cover
Back Cover
1 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 546. (Read here) 2 Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati: C. J. Krehbiel & Co., 1907), Vol. 2, p. 72. (Read here); John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 546. (Read here); “Gen. John Clem, a Drummer Boy at 11, dies at 86,” Chicago Tribune, 15 May 1937, 20. (Read here) 3 “Last Veteran of ’61 to Leave the Army,” The New York Times, 8 August 1915. (Read here) 4Ibid. 5 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 546. (Read here) 6Ibid. 7 “Last Veteran of ’61 to Leave the Army,” The New York Times, 8 August 1915. (Read here) 8 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 546. (Read here) 9 “Gen. John Clem, a Drummer Boy at 11, dies at 86,” Chicago Tribune, 15 May 1937, 20. (Read here); John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 547. (Read here) 10Ibid. 11 “Last Veteran of ’61 to Leave the Army,” The New York Times, 8 August 1915. (Read here); “Gen. John Clem, a Drummer Boy at 11, dies at 86,” Chicago Tribune, 15 May 1937, 20. (Read here) 12 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 547. (Read here); Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati: C. J. Krehbiel & Co., 1907), Vol. 2, p. 73. (Read here) 13Ibid. 14 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 547. (Read here) 15 Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati: C. J. Krehbiel & Co., 1907), Vol. 2, p. 73. (Read here) 16 John L. Clem. “From Nursery to Battlefield,” Outlook, 4 July 1914, 548. (Read here) 17 “Last Veteran of ’61 to Leave the Army,” The New York Times, 8 August 1915. (Read here); 18Ibid. 19 “Last Veteran of ’61 to Leave the Army,” The New York Times, 8 August 1915. (Read here) 20 “Gen. John Clem, a Drummer Boy at 11, dies at 86,” Chicago Tribune, 15 May 1937, 20. (Read here) 21 Lemuel Moss, The Annals of the United States Christian Commission (Philadelphia: L. B. Lippincott & Co., 1868), p. 112. (Read here)
In 1938, a civilian pilot training program, open to black Americans, began under President Franklin Roosevelt who anticipated possible war in Europe. Also, under the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act black Americans could be drafted. The group of black pilots trained as part of the US Army Air Corps are known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Between 1941-1946 nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at Tuskegee Institute (founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington). These pilots formed the 99th Fighter Squadron and were sent overseas in 1942. Their first combat experience was on June 2, 1943 on Pantelleria, an Italian island. In July 1944, three additional all-black squadrons joined them to make up the 332nd Fighter Group. Known for the red paint on the tails of their planes, the 332nd were nicknamed “Red Tails.”
The “Red Tails” flew over 1,400 combat missions, where they destroyed nearly 300 enemy aircraft, over 600 railroad cars, and 40 boats. The 332nd flew many of its combat missions as protective escorts for vulnerable bomber groups. They were so successful that many bomber crews specifically requested them during the missions. Altogether, about 150 Tuskegee Airmen were killed and 32 were taken prisoner.
For their many acts of bravery, the Tuskegee Airmen received many awards. The 332nd was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for the longest bomber escort mission. The 99th had received two Presidential Unit Citations before joining the 332nd. Members of this famous groups were also awarded 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars, and 8 Purple Hearts. WallBuilders’ collection includes various signatures and pictures of the Tuskegee Airmen. Theirs is truly a story worth remembering today.
Let’s thank God for the over one million courageous Americans who paid the ultimate price for us all. Let’s pray for the surviving family members of those who have died in this generation to protect our freedoms, and let’s also pray for protection for all those who are currently deployed to various danger spots around the world.
Blessed be the Lord my Rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle
Psalm 144:1 (NKJV)
June 14th is the birthday of the Army, created by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775. The next day, George Washington was elected Commander-in-Chief and soon issued orders that set the tone for the military, including one declaring:
The blessings and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.
Over the 242 years since its inception, the US Army–and indeed the entire American military–have repeatedly lived up to the high ideals set forth by its first Commander-in-Chief.
Speaking of the Army after the Civil War in 1871, Frederick Douglass reminded the nation:
We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation destroyers. If today we have a country not boiling in an agony of blood (like France)–if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage–if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth–if the Star-Spangled Banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization–we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us.
Three thousand miles from home, an American army is fighting for you. Everything you hold worthwhile is at stake. Only the hardest blows can win against the enemy we are fighting. Invoking the spirit of our forefathers, the army asks your unflinching support, to the end that the high ideals for which America stands may endure upon the earth.
And in WWII, General George Marshall spoke about the mission of the United States:
We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.
By the way, June 14th is also Flag Day, commemorating June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress passed a resolution “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
Let’s celebrate the flag as well as the Army and American military who so ably defend our God-given freedoms and God-blessed nation!
American liberty is being eroded, and our Biblical foundation is under constant attack. Here at WallBuilders, we provide education, training, and resources to equip people to know and defend the truth to protect our freedom.
Seventy-six years ago today, on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was treacherously attacked by the Japanese, killing more than 2,000. This date was 
One story from this day at Pearl Harbor relates to the USS California (a battleship, pictured on the right in the aftermath of the attack). During the attack, it took three direct hits — two torpedoes and one bomb, killing about 100. It caught fire and the remainder of the crew made their way to shore before the 
Starting on September 28th and ending with British capitulation on October 19th, the Battle of Yorktown was the last major military engagement of the war. Commanders for the Allied land forces included Generals Henry Knox, Marquis de Lafayette, and Rochambeau under George Washington, while the Allied naval forces consisted of the French fleet led by Comte de Grasse. Most of the engagement at Yorktown centered on the artillery of the two sides, while the main infantry movements were the capture of Redoubts 9 and 10.
In 
The “Red Tails” flew over 
June 14th is the 
We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation destroyers. If today we have a country not boiling in an agony of blood (like France)–if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage–if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth–if the Star-Spangled Banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization–we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us.
And in WWII, General George Marshall 
