81 years ago today, June 18 1945, the highest ranking American officer to die by enemy fire in all of World War II was killed on Okinawa. His name was Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., and his story goes all the way back to a Civil War surrender.
He had gone forward to watch his Marines push the Japanese off Ibaru Ridge, about 300 yards from the enemy. A flat trajectory shell, probably from a 47mm gun, slammed into a coral outcrop right next to him. The blast threw shards of rock and steel into his chest.
They carried him back on a stretcher to an aid station. He died on the operating table within minutes. The Battle of Okinawa was declared won just three days later. He never got to see it.
Now here is the part almost nobody knows. His father was also named Simon Bolivar Buckner, and he was a Confederate general. In 1862 the father surrendered Fort Donelson to an old West Point friend named Ulysses S. Grant. That surrender is where Grant earned his nickname Unconditional Surrender Grant.
The two men had history. Years before the war, Grant was broke and stranded in New York and could not pay his hotel bill. Buckner Sr. quietly covered it. So when Buckner surrendered to him at Donelson, Grant offered him the use of his own purse to get through prison. Friendship survived the war they fought on opposite sides of.
When Grant died in 1885, Simon Bolivar Buckner Sr. was one of his pallbearers. A former Confederate general helping carry the man who beat him, because the friendship mattered more than the flag.
And then 60 years after Donelson, the son of that Confederate general died wearing the uniform of the reunited country, leading an American army in the Pacific. Congress made him a full four star general in 1954, almost a decade after his death.
One Buckner gave Grant his first great victory. The other gave his life for the nation Grant fought to keep whole. Two generations, two wars, one family name. Worth remembering today.
If the goal of this MOU was to salvage Republican chances in the midterms, did they also factor in Republican anger at capitulation? Because my feed is filled with furious and disgusted right-of-center people.
So let me get this straight, I go to the grocery store and buy a pound of sliced ham in a plastic bag, a loaf of bread in a plastic bag, a gallon of milk in a plastic jug, a pack of napkins in plastic wrap, a store-made salad in a plastic 1 tub, a plastic bottle of mustard and ketchup, but they won’t give me a plastic bag to carry at home because the plastic bag is bad for the environment?
Hitting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites was the right move. This regime chants death to America, murders our troops, and attempts to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil. They believe they have an obligation to destroy us.
Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money. They will use that money the way they always do— to further their nuclear ambitions and on terrorist proxies against us. It’s a huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed.
Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.
Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.
@NobodymrRobert Wtf why? There is so much pipe, just cut more and add two couplings!
If you're lazy and the hole is small enough, they make a shielded underground coupling just for you!
Hard to overstate the feeling of betrayal felt by Iranians inside and outside of Iran right now.
Unfortunately Trump now takes his place alongside Carter and Obama in a long tradition of US Presidents who have sold out the Iranian people
The reported details of this Iran deal are so insulting to the 13 U.S. servicemen and women who died. We’ve accomplished nothing. Iran is reopening the Strait of Hormuz, not giving up its uranium, and Trump is going to give them $25 billion. That’s way worse than the deal Obama negotiated.
The IRGC hate the idea of a deal because they exist to destroy the US, not make agreements with them
But they've decided its worth it for now to take the cash and breathing space to re-arm for the next war
Yes they are actually saying this
If this doesn't worry you-IT SHOULD