Honoring Pearl Harbor Day -- Remember December 7th!

 

Today, the United States of America honors National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, marking the anniversary of the attack on the US Naval Station at Pearl Harbor, near Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday, December 7, 1941 by what was then the Empire of Japan.

This day honors the memories of over those killed and wounded during the attack including: 

2,403 US military personal killed, 1,178 wounded. 

68 Hawaiian and US civilians killed, 35 wounded. 

64 Japanese military personal killed.
 

To honor of the memories of those American military personal who died that day and those veterans who survived the Pacific Theater of World War II (December 1941 - September 1945) this blogger proudly remembers National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

God Bless America! 

U.S. Marine General John A. Lejeune and the UDC Cross of World War I Military Service

 

Front page of the March 1924 edition of Confederate Veteran Magazine showing the
UDC Cross of Military Service medal being awarded to then U.S. Major General John A. Lejeune
by then UDC President Mrs. Livingston Rowe Schuyler on December 11th, 1923.
General Lejeune was among the first Confederate descendants to receive the award.

Mrs. Livingston Schuyler was born Leonora St. George Rogers on November 16, 1868, in Ocala, Florida, the daughter of Samuel St. George Rogers (1832-1880), a native of Florida who was a Colonel in the Confederate Army and later served in the Confederate States Congress in Richmond, Virginia (1864-1865), and his wife Josephine Amanda Baynard (1840-1899). Her father's mother was a Davidson from North Carolina and her mother's people, the Baynards, were prominent in South Carolina.

In 1894, she married Reverend Livingston Rowe Schuyler (1868-1931), an Episcopal priest and American Revolutionary War historian from New York, and they lived for a time in England and France before returning to New York. Mrs. Schuyler served as President General of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in 1921-1923. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

Mrs. Schuyler died of a heart attack while attending a UDC Convention in Biloxi, Mississippi, on December 8, 1952 at age 84.

U.S. Lieutenant General John Archer LeJeune (1867-1942) was born on Thursday, January 10, 1867 at Old Hickory Plantation, near Lacour, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, the son of Ovide LeJeune (1820-1889) and his wife Laura Archer Turpin (1840-1899). Ovide LeJeune served as Captain of Company I, 1st Louisiana Cavalry, C.S.A. during the War Between The States.

Lejeune attended Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge from September 1881 to April 1884 and was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1888. He later transferred from the Navy to a commission in as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1890.

He served in the military with distinction for over 40 years, fighting in the Spanish American War (1898) and when the United States entered World War I (1917-1918), rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1909, full Colonel in 1913, Brigadier General in 1916, and Major General in 1918 when led the Army's Second Division during the Battles of San Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Campaign.

The commanding officer of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) U.S. General John Joseph "Blackjack" Pershing awarded Lejeune the U.S. Army's Distinguished Service Medal and the French military awarded him the Legion of Honor, and the Croix de guerre. The U.S. Navy's Distinguished Service Medal was also conferred upon him when he returned to the United States.

Lejeune served as Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1920 to 1929. When he retired from the Marine Corps in 1929, he became Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia, serving in that post until 1937. General Lejeune married Ellie Harrison Murdaugh (1872-1953) in 1895, and they had three daughters. He was promoted to Lieutenant General after his retirement by the U.S. military.

General

UDC Cross of Honor Medal
for World War I Veterans.

Lejeune died on Friday, November 20, 1942, in the Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, and was interred in the Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. He is known today as "The Greatest of all Leathernecks," and the United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was named in his honor during World War II.

As an outgrowth from the Southern Cross of Honor Medal created for members of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), the UDC introduced the Cross of Honor Medal for World War One Veterans of Confederate descent in 1923.

The designer of the medal was Mr. Chester Beach who was recommended to the UDC by the Numismatic Society of New York. The design was the Cross of the Crusader bound by the Confederate Battle Flag to the Southern Cross of Honor. The inscription reads: "Fortes Creantur Fortibus" (The brave give birth to the brave). The Cross of Service was awarded under the rules of the Southern Cross of Honor to male descendants of Confederate soldiers who had served in WWI. The medals were available by application from the UDC and could carry a small bronze dolphin device on the ribbon to signify overseas service.

The UDC officially retired the award in 2011 and during its run the medal was given out to just over 5,600 known U.S. World War I veterans with Confederate ancestry.

Night Sky Photography -- 11-19-2021 -- Partial Lunar Eclipse, The Pleiades, & Bright Constellation Stars

Good evening fellow stargazers!

I have a really good set of photos for y'all to enjoy tonight, the first couple of which involves the Partial Lunar Eclipse of the November Full Beaver Moon. Other names for November’s full moon include: the Digging Moon, the Whitefish Moon, and the Frost Moon.

Lunar eclipses can only occur during full moons when the moon is at its brightest.

What made this Partial Lunar Eclipse special is that it was the longest lunar eclipse since the year 1440 AD, and will be the longest Lunar Eclipse until 2669 AD -- needless to say I was thankful to God for clear skies and the chance to capture it on camera this time around.

At 1:02 AM our beautiful Luna entered the penumbra -- the outer part of the Earth's shadow -- and the Moon begins to dim very subtly over the next couple of hours. Two hours later at around 2:18 AM, the Moon begins to enter Earth’s umbra -- the darkest part of the planet's shadow -- and the partial eclipse begins. At this point, it looks to the naked eye like a huge bite is being taken out of the Moon.

Graphic showing a Lunar Eclipse in relation to the Earth's shadow effect.
Image courtesy of Google.

The part of the Moon inside the umbra appears very dark red. Because the Earth has an atmosphere, its shadow is not black. This is the same phenomenon that causes early morning sunrises and evening sunsets to glow a dull red color. That’s why lunar eclipses are sometimes called blood moons.

The peak of the Eclipse occurred at exactly 4:02 AM when about 97% of the Moon's surface was darkened red, leaving only the slightly silvery-white curve. As you can see in my photo, the white of the lunar surface in the far left with Tycho Crater clearly visible inside the lighter part of the umbra.

Ironically, what actually made this eclipse so long was the fact it was a partial one, because the Moon had to travel farther through the Earth's shadow as opposed to a full eclipse when the Moon would move directly through the penumbra and umbra. Also because the moon was currently at apogee (the farthest point in its orbit from Earth) it was also moving at its slowest speed as it passed through the Earth's shadow, taking over 100 minutes from the time of first umbra contact to the time of greatest eclipse and then till exiting the umbra.

Overall, the Partial Lunar Eclipse began at 1:02 AM EST and ended at 7:04 AM EST, approximately 6 hours and 2 minutes from entering to existing the Earth's shadow.

However, in case you feel bummed out for missing this one, not to worry. Next year there will be two Lunar Eclipses! The first one taking place on Monday, May 16th and the other on Tuesday, November 8th.

Because of the Partial Lunar Eclipse there was little moonlight to block out some of the closest stars, including the nearby Pleiades Star Cluster and some of the brighter stars of the Constellations Taurus The Bull and Orion The Hunter. In fact nearly all of the stars of both constellations were clearly visible.

Here, I highlighted the positions of the stars and the lines of the constellations, as well as the three bight stars: Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse that make up the Winter Triangle asterism.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my photos for this evening. Please let me know in the comments below and I will see y'all next time. Till then keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-17-2021 -- Parade Of Planets In Southwestern Sky

This evening I was able to capture the parade of planets visible all this month in the sky dome just after sunset using a local convenience store in the foreground.

As you can see Venus is the brightest object in the night sky right now, with Jupiter (the largest planet in out solar system) in second place, while ringed Saturn appears as a barely visible dot you can just make out.

Amateur stargazers should be able to easily spot the three planets through the rest of the year, Venus is the brightest planet in the evening sky until January when it will begin to appear in the morning sky before sunrise. Using Venus as a starting point, follow the ecliptic -- the path the sun travels across the sky -- you will find bright Jupiter. Distant Saturn, which sits between both bright planets, will be harder to spot with the naked eye until at least a hour after sunset.

Why The Throne Room Finale In Star Wars Makes Absolutely No Sense

Chewbacca growls out, "Hey, why didn't I get a medal too?!"

Why The Throne Room Finale In Star Wars: A New Hope Makes Absolutely No Sense

By C.W. Roden

 

If there's anyone on this planet that hasn't watched the original 1977 Star Wars film, officially titled: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, then I suggest that you crawl out from under that rock you've been living under, find a copy, and watch it through to the end in order to get the context of the issue I'm about to discuss.

For the rest of you Star Wars and sci-fi/fantasy/adventure fans who live and breathe fandom and geek culture stuff, this one's for y'all.

Following the destruction of the first Death Star by Luke Skywalker (with assistance from Han Solo and his Wookie copilot, Chewbacca) the remaining Rebel Alliance pilots of Red and Gold Squadrons (all three of them!) return to the now-not-so-secret Rebel Alliance base on the moon orbiting the planet Yavin IV. There they are greeted by the jubilant Alliance leaders, the landing bay crews, Rebel officers, and Princess Leia Organa.

It was a hard-fought and costly victory that pretty much wiped out all but a few of the Alliance's best star pilots and wounded the droid R2-D2 who would need major repairs. None-the-less, they overcame what some considered the ultimate destructive superweapon in the galaxy, and wiped out a good number of high ranking Imperial officers -- including the dreaded Imperial Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.

The destruction of the first Death Star was, for all intents and purposes, the turning point of the Galactic Civil War. This of course leads up to probably the most memorable final scene of the film: the Royal Award Ceremony Scene.

The first time any of us Gen-X kids who grew up in the late 70s and early 80s saw this scene, it was truly a moment to behold as far as happy endings go. Luke, Han, and Chewie walking down a long throne room with rows of neatly-dressed Rebel Alliance soldiers and pilots (yeah where the hell were they when the Death Star showed up!) to the outstanding Throne Room & Finale soundtrack score by the legendary composer John Williams. There our conquering heroes meet Princess Leia and the two shinny droids C-3PO and R2-D2, now fully repaired. Leia puts two large, Olympic-sized gold medals around Luke and Han necks -- seemingly forgetting that Chewie was also there for reasons that still baffled us Gen-Xers -- and after applause (and a growl from Chewie), the movie goes to its closing credits and classic Star Wars ending theme plays.

The end....well at least until Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The evil Galactic Empire is defeated, a million Imperial officers and soldiers dead, the Rebel Alliance score a major victory and avenge the destruction of Princess Leia's home planet of Alderran. Happy and satisfying ending for all those watching, right?

At least it was in the context of watching just the first film in what would become over the course of now 45 years possibly the largest sci-fi/fantasy franchise in history. A franchise which would expand into ten major blockbuster films (and Solo: A Star Wars Story) several animated series, Disney+ originals, an expanded (Legends) universe that spans more than a thousands books and novels of all types.

The whole time Han was thinking: I hope that Jabba doesn't mind waiting for his money.

As someone who is a life-long major fan of this expanded universe and who'd spent far more time that I care to admit reading and consuming all things Star Wars and thinking about the events that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away; looking back now at the finale of Star Wars A New Hope and that throne room finale scene I have to point out that the entire scene, if applied to a real-life situation, would make absolutely no sense at all.

The planet-killing Death Star might have been the "ultimate power in the universe" next to the power of The Force, but it was far from being the only major weapon in the Galactic Empire's arsenal. Sure a great deal of time and effort was made into creating it to secure the absolute control of the Emperor and his minions over the galaxy, but it didn't represent all of the Empire's strength.

The Empire had a massive space navy made up of over thousands of massive Imperial Star Destroyers, several Super Star Destroyers, and even more smaller capital ships of various classes that were capable of imposing the will of the Emperor on most of the galaxy's thousands of inhabited star systems. Even with the Death Star gone, that powerful space force was still out there and on high alert.

Now lets assume for the moment that, once he tracked the Millennium Falcon to Yavin IV, the commander of the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin, was so caught up on the idea of destroying the rebellion with one smooth stroke that he failed to contract Imperial command on Coruscant of the location of the Rebel's hidden fortress  -- highly unlikely given the man's almost slavish adherence to proper protocol. Let's also assume that Darth Vader himself didn't immediately contact his Sith master, Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Sheev Palpatine) to also inform him of the situation -- again not very likely.

Even assuming that both Imperials believed they had on hand a force strong enough to finish off the Rebel Alliance (despite knowing that the rebels had obtained technical plans on the massive superweapon complete with a possible means of damaging, or destroying it) the odds would have been good that Tarkin and Vader would have both appraised the rest of the Empire as to what was going on and where the hidden Rebel base was located.

Now then, lets assume for the sake of argument that neither Tarkin, nor Vader, informed the Empire of the eminent destruction of the Rebel Alliance. The Death Star is destroyed, but Darth Vader still gets away in his Advanced Tie-Fighter (which according to official schematics and canon lore, was equipped with hyperdrive technology) he goes to the nearest Imperial outpost and contacts the Imperial Navy.

Now, I will admit that the distances and time it takes for a ship in hyperspace to travel varies depending on several factors, including navigating around hazards like supernovas, or asteroid fields in space and other technical mumbo-jumbo that involves parsecs somehow. Either way it would only have taken Vader a couple of hours to reach some planet with an Imperial presence where he can get in touch with the fleet and have them make all possible speed to Yavin IV to get the Rebels while they are still high on their victory.

Perhaps it wouldn't have even taken that long.

Almost certainly the Emperor himself would have sensed the destruction of the Death Star and the massive shift in the Force itself right away as Obi-wan had when Alderran was destroyed. He might have suspected what happened and already alerted the Imperial fleet to be ready. Assuming he did not know the location of the Rebel base, he would certainly have known through the Force that his Sith apprentice was still alive and awaited him making contact with the Empire's armed forces standing by and battle ready.

Again we are only talking about a difference of a few hours at best. Hours that our Rebel friends do not have on their side -- never mind having time to buff up two droids (fully repairing one of them), put on fresh clothes and formal attire, and hold a major awards ceremony. I mean seriously, did Leia have those medals on standby just in case their little Hail Mary plan actually worked? Maybe that explains why there were only two and Chewie got shafted? Oh and never mind Wedge Antilles and that unnamed Y-Wing pilot who survived the slaughter of Red and Gold Squadrons, I mean they should have gotten something for keeping the Tie Fighters off our heroes backs, right?

No matter what, the Rebels had to hurry the hell up and evacuate the now no longer secret moon base before the Imperial Navy suddenly pops out of hyperspace and bombards the entire moon into space dust.

While I'm certain the Alliance had some sort of plan for a possible quick evacuation in case the Empire somehow found them, such an evacuation would have still taken a considerable amount of time to happen, especially moving much needed equipment and personnel to transports. Almost certainly several hours, if not an entire day, to move all the needed supplies to relocate to another base. And that's only if they'd started out the moment they greeted Luke and Han when they landed.

So, knowing all this, the Rebels that had been hiding from the full might of the Galactic Empire for over a decade at this point, actually paused to take the time to have an awards ceremony; knowing that at any given moment the sky overhead would be filled with Imperial Star Destroyers full of very pissed off space fascists ready to avenge the destruction of their new toy?

Sure Luke managed to single-handed launch two proton torpedoes down a two meter wide, Womprat-sized exhaust port with a defective reactor (courtesy of the late Galen Erso); but I doubt even Luke would have had the ability to fight off an entire Imperial fleet in Red Five and give the rest of the Alliance time to evacuate before half a dozen Star Destroyers turned that temple into a rock pile. Nor could he have fought the hundreds of Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors that so many Star Destroyers could have undoubtedly launched and brought to bear on our favorite Tatooine farm boy.

Strong he is with the Force....but not that strong. Not yet anyhow. Even with Han supporting him and maybe Wedge and the Y-Wing pilot (both of whom had to have been wiped from their recent near-death experiences and had no Force abilities), four ships against several hundred Tie Fighters and maybe Star Destroyers are still long odds indeed.

As much as I hate to say it, this is where Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) gets something right. (Pardon me while I have to go take a shower after having said that!) The movie picks up mere hours right at the end of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), with the First Order fleet arriving as the last of the Resistance transports flee their own hidden base right as it is being wiped out from orbit. Even then the Resistance didn't really get away before being nearly wiped out in what is probably the slowest space chases in cinema history.

In the final analysis, the Rebel Alliance forces on Yavin IV simply didn't have the time to pause and give out awards, they had to get the hell out of there before the Empire showed up and made them all as dead as Alderran. Even then they faced some very daunting prospects in escaping, although fighting a rear-guard action to allow the transports to get away might be easier for Luke and the remaining pilots. I could still see the body count for the Rebels being quite high.

What do y'all think of my breakdown and analysis of the strategic situation of the Rebel Alliance following the epic Battle of Yavin? Please let me know in the comments section below. Thank you and May The Force Be With Y'all, Always!

A special thanks to the awesome folks at wookieepedia for helping out with the information with this article.