Commander Kelly

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Our debt to France

Eiffel Tower
Paris, France

In this time of tragedy and terror it is worthwhile to look back towards history to try to comprehend our nation's very long term debt to France. In the 20th century we fought two World wars and the Cold War together as brothers in arms. In the 19th century the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, a beacon of hope to freedom-loving people around the world, was given to America by the people of France. In America Invades we wrote this...

George Washington & Count de Grasse
Yorktown, VA

France is our oldest ally and the site of the most famous American invasion of all time. More American military cemeteries (eleven) are located in France than in any other foreign country in the world.

Rochambeau
Musee de L'Armee, Paris, France

When the American Revolution broke out, Louis XVI saw aid to the thirteen colonies as a means of avenging England’s defeat of France in the Seven Years War, but he was reluctant to commit to the American cause until gentleman Johnny Burgoyne surrendered his force after the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. The Marquis de Lafayette arrived in American that same year serving as a major-general in the Continental Army where he grew very close to General George Washington, who thought of him as a son. The great inventor, author, and statesman Benjamin Franklin helped to negotiate a treaty of alliance with France in 1778. The direct intervention of the French began with Rochambeau landing a force of about six thousand French soldiers in Providence, Rhode Island. These forces and, critically, the French Navy led by the Comte de Grasse helped secure the surrender of Lord Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown.

John Paul Jones
USNA, Annapolis, MD

John Paul Jones led his 1778 raid on Whitehaven from the French port of Brest. His frigate that defeated the British Serapis in 1779, the Bonhomme Richard (during which he uttered his famous “I have not yet begun to fight”) was a converted French merchant ship, the Duc de Duras.

AI van and Yorktown Victory Monument

My recent visit to the Yorktown battlefield in Virginia was a fresh reminder of our debt to France. At Yorktown nearly half of all the troops on the Allied side were French. In 1781 the Grand French battery helped to pound the hapless British for 8 days with about 15,000 cannonballs falling on the forces of Lord Cornwallis. The French navy was indispensable at Yorktown when it cut off the traditional line of British retreat by sea.

Mount Vernon, VA

In George Washington's home at Mount Vernon visitors can see an object which seems to crystallize the significance of America's relationship with France. Washington proudly displayed a gift that had been given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette -- the key to the Bastille prison.

Napoleon
Musee de L'Armee, Paris, France

Years later Napoleon, Emperor of the French, would sell the Louisiana territory to the United States which added about one quarter of our nation's current size.

In the 21st century French soldiers have served alongside their American allies in Afghanistan.

While some would argue that our debt to France was repaid by America intervention and support in two World Wars it is impossible to underestimate the debt that we owe to France that originated at our nation's founding.

In this time of crisis and suffering it is critical for Americans to stand again with the French people.

Vive la France! Vive la Republique!

Thanks The Monitor...http://www.themonitor.com/opinion/commentary-france-is-our-longtime-ally/article_5d50633e-8fad-11e5-b207-47c796d03811.html

Thanks Tulsa World...http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/othervoices/christopher-kelly-u-s-and-france-historical-significance-behind-our/article_95ca0c3e-3caf-5f55-a6f3-e4790f9192e7.html

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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Veteran's Day 2016

Sherman, World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA

Now the election of 2016 is over. A transition to a new American president has begun.

Now we must pause to acknowledge the sacrifice of American veterans over hundreds of years in many different countries.

Americans have invaded or fought in 85 different countries, representing 44 percent of all of the countries in the world. We have been militarily involved with even more countries. Out of 194 countries recognized by the UN, we have missed military involvement with only three—Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.

Wendell Gugler & CRK
Wendell fought with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy in WW2

Many of these invasions have, of course, been liberations. Just consider the D-day landings in occupied France, the annual commemoration of Liberation Day in the Netherlands, or the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese.

Our military involvements have taken many forms. We have never invaded Portugal, for example, but we have had bases in the Azores since World War II, when they were installed to counter the German U-boat menace. We still have air and naval bases in the Azores today.

This year, 2015, is a particularly important year to recognize US veterans for several reasons.

First, this year we celebrated the 70th anniversary of V-J Day—the end of World War II. This war was the costliest war in human history. Over sixteen million Americans took part in it, and over four hundred thousand were killed. Today less than a million of those that served are still alive.

The Peace Kiss
Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, KS

Second, we also marked this year the 70th anniversary of V-E Day. With the exception of the breakup of Yugoslavia, Europe has enjoyed a seventy-year period of general peace. Given the blood-soaked history of Europe through two world wars, the Napoleonic wars, the Hundred Years’ War, the Thirty Years’ War, etc., this is a remarkable achievement which is under-appreciated. This lasting peace could not have been secured without the sacrifice of the US military during World War II and in further service over many decades.

Third, we remember the shocking liberation of the Nazi death camps by American and other Allied soldiers that took place seventy years ago. After Eisenhower visited Ohrdruf concentration camp, which had been liberated by American troops on April 4, 1945, he declared: “We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now at least he will know what he is fighting against.” The world we live in today would have been much darker had it not been for the sacrifice of young Americans at places like Anzio, Omaha Beach, and Tarawa.

Frank Matthews
USMC vet Iwo Jima
USMC Museum, Triangle, VA

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Friday, November 6, 2015

America's First Invasion & Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, VA

There is a surprising connection between the first significant invasion by American troops of a foreign land and George Washington's home at Mount Vernon.

Lawrence Washington, Soldier of Virginia
1718 - 1752

We tend to assume that we know all about George Washington because his legend is so familiar...chopped down the cherry tree, land surveyor, successful General, virtuous first President, father of our country with his image on the quarter and one dollar bill, etc. But there is a little known Washington that lurks behind the legend. Did you know, for example, that George Washington had a brother? More precisely he had a half-brother named Lawrence Washington (1718 - 1752). His brother played a role in the very first American invasion which did not even take place in north America.

In the Columbia chapter of America Invades we lay out the relevant history...

Admiral Edward Vernon, "Old Grog"

"Even before our nation had been founded, Colombia was the site of the very first large-scale American invasion of a foreign country. During the War of Jenkins’ Ear in 1741, the Royal Navy Admiral Edward Vernon, known as “Old Grog,” landed a party of British and about thirty-six hundred American colonial troops in an assault on Cartagena, Colombia. They failed to take the city and suffered heavy losses from disease. Lawrence Washington, George’s older half-brother, participated in the Colombia expedition. George Washington’s Virginia home, Mount Vernon, was later named after the British admiral."

George Washington, after inheriting Mount Vernon from his brother who died at age 33, chose to retain the name honoring his memory and that of his commanding officer.

Visit Mount Vernon where history comes alive...http://www.mountvernon.org/

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Thursday, November 5, 2015

John Paul Jones' Raid on Whitehaven

John Paul Jones
USNA Museum, Annapolis, MD

Pay a visit to the US Naval Academy chapel in Annapolis, MD and you will find the crypt that is the final resting place for John Paul Jones -- the father of the American Navy. Jones was born the son of a gardner in Scotland. He took to the sea at an early age.

When the American Revolution broke out he joined the Patriot cause against England. Here is our account of the Whitehaven raid from our work, America Invades...

"In April of 1778, Captain John Paul Jones, the founding father of the American navy, and the crew of the Ranger, an 18-gun sloop, arrived in Britain and, unlike many Americans today, they weren’t there to visit Westminster Abbey or have a taste of fish and chips.

Jones selected the English fishing village of Whitehaven on the Irish Sea as his target; Whitehaven was Britain’s third busiest seaport at that time. He would attempt to destroy its shipping and to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk. The harbor of Whitehaven was protected by two small forts. In the early hours of April 23, 1778, he and about forty volunteers from his crew scaled the fortress wall. They kicked in the door of the guardhouse. The sleeping guards surrendered without a shot. Jones’s men proceeded to spike about thirty-six guns of the battery with nails driven into the cannon’s touchholes. About half of his crew then broke into a local tavern and proceeded to get drunk. This caused a commotion and roused the local townspeople. Jones beat a hasty retreat and set fire to a merchant ship, a collier (that’s a coal ship and nothing to do with Lassie) named Thompson.

John Paul Jones bust
USNA Chapel
Annapolis MD

Soon after, the Ranger sailed about twenty miles to enter the bay off St. Mary’s Isle. Jones took about a dozen men armed with cutlasses and muskets to a Georgian manor house owned by the Fourth Earl of Selkirk. Jones soon discovered that the earl was not in residence and could not be kidnapped. Instead, he demanded the silver plate be delivered up. The loot was hauled back to the Ranger. Shortly after, the 18-gun Ranger fought and captured the 20-gun Drake of the Royal Navy in an action that Jones described as “warm, close and obstinate.”

Jones’s raid on Whitehaven had succeeded in bringing the American Revolution “home to their own doors,” as he put it. The English press was incensed. The London Public Advertiser asked, “When such ravages are committed all along the coast, by one small privateer, what credit must it reflect on the First Lord of the Admiralty?” No one was killed or even injured in the Whitehaven raid, but insurance rates doubled. The Whitehaven raid lasted about two and a half hours and was an even shorter invasion than the assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. Jones had second thoughts about the silver he stole from the Earl of Selkirk and later returned most of the loot.
Herman Melville described John Paul Jones as “a mixture of gentleman and wolf.” At a critical moment in his later sea battle with the Serapis, when called upon to surrender, Jones uttered the immortal words, “I have not yet begun to fight.”

John Paul Jones Tomb, USNA Chapel, Annapolis, MD

Jones is buried with full honors at the US Naval Academy chapel in Annapolis...

In 1999, the town of Whitehaven in Cumbria officially pardoned John Paul Jones and the Freedom of the Harbor was granted to the USN. In 2003, the USS Leyte Gulf, a missile cruiser, paid a friendly visit to Whitehaven."

Whitehaven, UK

You can purchase your copy of America Invades here...www.americainvades.com

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You can also now purchase Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World here...www.italyinvades.com
or here on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598729

Italy Invades the USNA, Annapolis!

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Baron von Steuben

Baron von Steuben
Valley Forge, PA

Americans did not win their independence from Britain without the assistance of foreign intervention. The French sent an Army and a navy. The Marquis de Lafayette became and aide de camp to General Washington. The Dutch provided critical financial support. The Spanish launched the siege of Pensacola and also provided financial aid to the Patriot forces.

We open the Germany chapter of America Invades as follows...

"The first military interaction between the United States and Germans saw Germans in action on our soil. The British, in fact, used Hessian troops to help fight the colonists in the American Revolution while a certain “Baron” von Steuben from Magdeburg Prussia became a major general in the Continental Army and wrote the drill book (Revolutionary War Drill Manual) that was used by the US Army until the War of 1812."

Patriot Cabin (Replica), Valley Forge, PA

Baron von Steuben (who may not really have been a "Baron") drilled the troops while at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. This paid off in June of 1778 when the American troops defeated the British at the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey.

We Americans owe an enormous historic debt to many foreign individual and nations that chose to intervene on our behalf to fight the superpower of the 18th century.

I enjoyed my recent visit to Valley Forge, PA where history comes to life (http://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm).

You can purchase your copy of America Invades here...www.americainvades.com

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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Are Italians Lovers or Fighters?

Italian fighters
Fact and Fiction

Italians have quite a reputation as lovers (think Valentino, Sophia Loren and many more) but are they fighters too?

Sylvester Stallone's 1976 film Rocky was a story about fighting and love which suggested that the two may not really be incompatible -- "Yo Adrian". But Rocky is Hollywood fiction.

How have real Italians been as fighters? That is precisely the question we set out to explore in our new book Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World. We uncovered many amazing facts about the impact of Italians fighting around the globe.

Italians may arguably be said to have "invaded" or fought in Montana! It happened in 1876.

Here's what we wrote in Italy Inavdes in the USA chapter...

Where Custer fell
Little Big Horn, MT

"After the Civil War, Italians and Italian Americans would fight in the Indian wars on the western frontier. No less than six Italians were members of Custer’s 7th Cavalry at the time of the Battle of Little Bighorn. They were First Lieutenant Charles DeRudio (b. Belluno), Private Augustus DeVoto (b. Genoa), Private James John (b. Rome), Private Frank Lombard (b. Naples), and Trumpeter John Martin (b. Sola Consalino). Somewhat surprisingly, none of these men were killed with Custer at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.

Giovanni Martini
Custer's trumpeter survived!

The trumpeter, John Martin—or Giovanni Martini—played a vital role in the dramatic events of that fateful day as he carried Custer’s final message to Captain Benteen. The famous message, found in the West Point Museum today (and reproduced in our photo section), reads: “Benteen, Come on. Big Village, Be quick. Bring packs. W.W. Cooke. P.S. Bring packs.” Some historians have interpreted this as a call for ammunition, while others see it as a last desperate plea for immediate reinforcement. Martin, a fortunate musician who had served as a drummer boy in the Italian Army, died in 1922 in Brooklyn."

Custer's last note
West Point Museum, NY

Giovanni Martini survived the Battle of Little Big Horn. He was killed after being hit by a beer truck on the streets of Brooklyn.

You can purchase a copy of Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World here...www.italyinvades.com

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You can purchase your very own Giovanni Martini T-shirt here...http://store.italyinvades.com/collections/italy-invades/products/italy-invades-giovanni-martini-t-shirt

The Ultimate Fighting Italian Package is here...
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Monday, November 2, 2015

American Invasions, Italian Invasions & Baseball!

Americans Invade Cooperstown!
Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

In America Invades we noted several of the connections between the US military and baseball, our national pastime. (See also my earlier post...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.com/2015/10/american-baseball-imperialism-revised.html)

2 out of 5 original hall of famers served in World War I
Cooperstown, NY

Pay a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY (http://baseballhall.org/) and you will get a sense of how many major league baseball players served in the military. Two out of five of the original inductees to the Hall of Fame (Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson) served in World War I.

Stan Musial, USN Vet WW2

Many more Hall of Famers served in World War II and during the Korean war. Stan Musial, for example, served in the US Navy during World War II.

Angels Sombrero

In the Mexico chapter we note that "Abner Doubleday, served in the Mexican-American War with the First Regiment of Artillery." Today baseball remains very popular in Mexico.

In the Dominican Republic chapter we wrote that "The US Marines would occupy the country from 1916 to 1924. They brought a kind of peace to the country and helped bring baseball to the Dominican Republic." Today many Dominicans play in the big leagues.

In the German chapter we discussed the American occupation that followed the end of World War II. "Steps were immediately taken to exorcize the ghosts of fascism from Germany with a program of de-Nazification and targeting the symbols of Nazism. For instance, GIs blew up the huge stone swastika that overlooked Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg. We even converted the Hitler Youth stadium in Nuremberg into a baseball park. It was here at Soldier’s Field that the European Theatre of Operations World Series was played in September of 1945."

Italians don't play much baseball but Italian Americans have distinguished themselves on diamonds in the USA and around the world.

Joe DiMaggio shirt, Cooperstown, NY

Joe DiMaggio, the famous Yankee Clipper, joined the United States Army Air Force in 1943 but did not see combat. His parents had been classified as enemy aliens during the war. Joe’s younger brother, Dom DiMaggio, was classified as 4F but managed to enlist in the US Navy, where he played baseball for the Norfolk Naval Training Station Nine.

Dom DiMaggio Plaque
SF, CA

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You can now purchase Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World here...www.italyinvades.com

or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598729

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Sunday, November 1, 2015

USS Slater...the President, the Princess and Lobsters!

USS Slater, Albany, NY

The USS Slater (DE 766) is a World War II destroyer escort that is moored on the Hudson river in Albany, NY (http://www.ussslater.org/). She was built by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Florida and launched in February 1944.

Her purpose was to help fight and win the battle of the Atlantic that raged from the start of the war in 1939 until its conclusion in 1945. She was designed and equipped to sink Nazi U-boats.

Winston Churchill
Feared the German U-boat menace

After the war was over Winston Churchill admitted that "the only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril". Britain simply could not survive without the merchant ships that fed and supplied the island. The battle of the Atlantic was a logistics conflict that was absolutely crucial to the war's final outcome. America entered this conflict even before Pearl Harbor when FDR ordered the USN to join in convoy duty for ships crossing the north Atlantic. The USS Reuben James, for example, was sunk by a German torpedo while providing convoy escort on 31 October 1941.

Depth charge - Could be adjusted to explode at 300 feet below the surface

To accomplish its mission the Slater was armed with depth charges that were commonly called "ashcans". These devices were manually adjusted to explode at different depths after being dropped or launched from the ship.

MK10 hedgehogs

The Slater also had MK10 hedgehogs that had been developed by the British. These could be launched 300 feet from the ship singly or twenty four all at once forming an oval pattern.

The Slater was also armed with 40mm Bofors guns which were used as anti-aircraft weapons. In the Norway chapter of America Invades we relate an anecdote about the Swedish designed Bofors guns...

Bofors 40 mm gun, USS Slater, Albany, NY

And in the summer of 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt sent a troopship, the USS American Legion, on a special mission to Petsamo in what was then northern Finland (it’s now, after border changes, in Russia). Its main mission was to evacuate Crown Princess Martha of Norway, plus hundreds of other assorted civilians, including one Dane then called Børge Rosenbaum. This it successfully did, being the last neutral ship out of Petsamo. On arrival in the United States, Princess Martha went on to become close (very, very close, some suggest) to President Roosevelt while Børge Rosenbaum went on to become Victor Borge. However, it wasn’t just people that the USS American Legion rescued from Petsamo that day; it also carried away something that would make a huge contribution to the US war effort. Taken on board at Petsamo was a Swedish-made 40 mm twin-mount Bofors anti-aircraft gun. In America, the USN would adopt the type, order its domestic production, and fit it on its ships.

Crown Princess Martha of Norway

The Slater was manned by a crew of over 200 sailors and officers. She was too small for a ship's doctor but she did have a pharmacists mate who was trained for minor surgery such as an appendectomy. The Slater ward room contains a device that would sterilize tools prior to surgery. It was also used to steam lobsters purchased by officers on board the Slater!

Lobster steamer!
USS Slater

In 1951 the Slater was sold to the Greek navy where she served for many years. The Slater was even used while filming the classic The Guns of Navaronne.

The Slater today is supported by a private charitable organization which receives no support from the US or local government. You can support its mission of remembrance by donating here...https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=5lsMk-fbTBNV0fYnqDCBI_vNyEpxqYRAnu81K1NqVtLpQSJQPZDV_uIOySa&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d64ad11bbf4d2a5a1a0d303a50933f9b2

Italy Invades the USS Slater

You can purchase your copy of America Invades here...www.americainvades.com

or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

You can also now purchase our sequel Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World here...www.italyinvades.com

Commander Kelly

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Our debt to France

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Veteran's Day 2016

Friday, November 6, 2015

America's First Invasion & Mount Vernon

Thursday, November 5, 2015

John Paul Jones' Raid on Whitehaven

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Baron von Steuben

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Are Italians Lovers or Fighters?

Monday, November 2, 2015

American Invasions, Italian Invasions & Baseball!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

USS Slater...the President, the Princess and Lobsters!

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