Grandfather Grafton told me once that "my Ghurkas would run up and down hills carrying a screaming prisoner faster than I could carrying just a pistol."

He was chief interpreter for the USAAC in China Burma India and also was responsible for all kinds of intel stuff. He was promoted from Recruit Private (never even graduated from basic training) to 2LT (field promotion), then later directly to Lt Colonel (Field promotion). He was the coolest guy ever.

Uncle Chip (Great uncle Cornelius Grafton) never talked much about the war, apparently he did lots of bad things to the Japanese. He basically drank himself to death.

By Alan De Salvio (Alandwork) on Monday, December 09, 2024 - 02:08 pm: Edit

I own a kukri - it looks like it is made to cut your throat. I would not mess around with a Ghurka.

A big thank you to all the Graftons for their service, inlcuding you Mike. The Imperial Japanese deserved everything they got.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Monday, December 09, 2024 - 02:22 pm: Edit

Point of trivia:

In the novel Dracula, he was not killed by being beheaded or by having a wooden stake driven through the heart. Dracula had his throat cut (but nothing in the novel indicates an actual decapitation) with a kukri (wielded by Jonathan Harker), while simultaneously Quincey Morris stabbed him in the heart with a (presumably made of steel) Bowie knife.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Monday, December 09, 2024 - 04:59 pm: Edit

A point of history often being forgotten by those who didn't live through it...

Ten years ago, I would tell anyone who'd listen about the Christmas Truce of 1914. I think only one person I told had ever heard about it.

(Not quite so relevant, but when possible, I did like to try to have "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen playing in the background when I did tell the tale.)

By Michael F Guntly (Ares) on Monday, December 09, 2024 - 05:51 pm: Edit

Alan De Salvio,
You mentioned a kukri, I was curious, and looked it up. Upon seeing a picture I realized my dad had one hanging in the garage while I was growing up. I never knew what it was called, nor ever asked about it. It went with all the other household belongings to his second wife when he died.

I would guess it was a souvenir. My dad served in USAAF in South Asia (India) as a mechanic, amongst other things keeping C-47s flying over the hump.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, December 09, 2024 - 09:58 pm: Edit

MIke Grafton:

Did your grandfather ever work with or for General Stillwell?

For those not familiar with Stillwell, he was one of the officers that General George Marshal rated highly. , enough, that when he was selecting those officers for retirement, retention or promotion before WW2, there were very few officers that were judged too valuable to retire at “mandatory retirement age”. Two inparticular, one was Stillwell, the other was George Patton.

The other names in Marshalls infamous black book included Bradley, Eisenhower, Patton and several others.

Infact, the officer first considered for command of the North Africa invasion was Stillwell. FDR personally selected Stillwell for the China, Burma, India theater because Stillwell was the U.S. Army’s expert on China. Apparently FDR was thinking the war would be larger and longer than it turned out to be, and wanted a way to exploit the chinese population to deploy the larger Chinese manpower into field units to fight the axis nations.

Didn’t work, but that is another story.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 08:44 am: Edit

Yes, my Grandfaher served under Stilwell, Gifford, Stratemeyer and Mountbatten. His favorite higher up was General Slim. He said the Communists were evil, but the Nationalists (Chiang Kai Shek) were so corrupt they could never win.

Funny aside, in 1946 they dragged him home, parked him in the Pentagon and made him write a complete report on the ongoing Chinese Civil war. He concluded the commies would win due to the Nationalists in charge stealing/ selling everything. He said that report seriously sped his getting out of the darn Army.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 08:43 pm: Edit

Corruption seems to be endemic in China.

The Imperial Government (that fell, I believe, in 1911) was also corrupt. The Nationalists were over the top corrupt, and now the Communist Government is getting to be as corrupt as any that preceded it.

Also, honest officers telling truth to power, are seldom rewarded for their honesty.

Billy Mitchell, John Erickson, George Patton(was an enthusiastic advocate of tanks and mechanization during and after World War 1 )understood that during the early 1920s the senior military commanders were veterans of the Civil War, and theIndian Wars, the Spanish American War and the Philippine pacification.

New ideas of technology (air planes, screw propelled steam powered ships, tanks and internal combustion powered trucks were all too new to be accepted by officers just barely able to master the telegraph, rifled guns and artillery, and hot air balloon reconnaissance.

George Patton went so far, as submitting tactical articles arguing that horse calvary had an important mission on the modern battlefield.

Others, like Erickson, were scapegoated by jealous peers, and still others, like General Billy Mitchell was given a court martial.

It is said, after every war, the military spends time and money preparing to fight the last war again, instead of looking ahead.

(Note: yes, I am aware that John Erickson was not a uniformed officer in the United States Navy, but he was hated and ridiculed nonetheless by uniformed officers.)

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 05:50 am: Edit

Authoritarian governments tend towards corruption. As Churchill observed, power tends to corrupt. It's worth noting that Taiwan, a democracy, is much much cleaner politically than mainland China in spite of being ruled by the Nationalists after they lost the civil war. Took some work to get it there IIUC

With regards to technology, the next war, if Ukraine is any indication, will involve remotely-operated and autonomous weapons like drones.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 07:50 am: Edit

Drones will be a big deal until:

1) Radio Direction finders are everywhere so controllers get an instant IF salvo inbound.

2) Jammers make it so that either AI or wire guidance is needed. Then you will see home on jammer drones.

3) Shorad &/ or APS is on just about every vehicle. Trophy/ Iron Curtain/ whatever.

4) Directed energy is practical. So you zorch the drone.

I suspect that you will see low tech AI drones for quite a while, while "teleguided"/ first person piloted ones become extinct other than wire guided ones...

Drake talks about APS (long before it was even prototyped) and drones in his Hammers Slammers series & Forlorn Hope books.

One thing I wonder is whether an Directed Energy weapon could target the batteries specifically. Like a microwave heats the water in food...

By Alan De Salvio (Alandwork) on Thursday, December 12, 2024 - 03:32 pm: Edit

I am currently reading 'The Melting Point' by Gen Kenneth F Mckenzie Jr., USMC (ret.) - I recommend it. However, let me quote a paragraph (bear with me) Page 117 of the hardback:

"During my year in Afghanistan, I learned a lot about how the State Department worked on the ground, both inside the embassy and out in the Afghan hinterlands. It was a great learning experience in interagency relations. I came away with a strong respect for the career foreign service officers who manned our far-flung diplomatic outposts. I was particularly impressed with Phil Kosnett, a foreign service officer who worked political-military affairs at the embassy in Kabul. We had a shared interest in collecting and playing paper-based wargames of the 1970s and 1980s, and it gave us a strong mutual bond."

Is this our Kosnett, and is he talking about SFB!?!? SVC/SPP, please enlighten us. I did not expect to read about Commodore Kosnett and SFB in a book by the recent head of US Central Command. (!)

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, December 12, 2024 - 05:41 pm: Edit

Well, the Phil Kosnett of whom the retired general speaks did cut his teeth working at Simulations Publications Inc back in the day....

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Thursday, December 12, 2024 - 07:49 pm: Edit

After Commodore Kosnett retired from Star Fleet he did begin a second career as a Diplomat with the United Americas.

By Vincent Solfronk (Vsolfronk) on Sunday, December 15, 2024 - 10:22 pm: Edit

Another reason Stillwell was chosen was he spoke fluent Mandarin, which was pretty rare among the officer class. I believe he learned it growing up as missionary.

Stillwell was a pretty prickly character and didn't get along with any of his fellow officers. Another reason he was sent to the wilds of China. He ruined the Chinese offensive in '41-42 IIRC. China was just too costly to fully support and by the end of the war, the allied island-hopping strategy was working.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, December 16, 2024 - 07:26 am: Edit

Stillwell didn’t suffer fools gladly.

His relationship with the Nationalist Government suffered once he realized that the Chinese only wanted the largess of lend lease.

It is clear that the officers in the NCA (Nationalist Chinese Army) were chosen for political reasons, not willingness to fight Japan. If you need proof, look at how fast the NCA collapsed after the war trying to combat the Communists.

The three chinese divisions in india (reorganized by Stillwell) performed well once the political generals were replaced and Stillwell promoted replacements from the ranks.

In fact, the main reason Stillwell was replaced was essentially complaints from Peanut and empire building by Chenault. (Air force guy, another “win the war using Air Power” advocate.)

If you don’t believe me, look at why the B-29 bomber campaign based in China failed. Failure of the Chinese (after Stillwell was replaced) to defend the airbases, difficulty supplying the Chinese and the bomber campaign over the mountains between india and china, and Chinese corruption.

The U.S.Army official history, “end of the CBI” clearly identifies Chinese government intransigence. (I forget which volume number, its a very big set of books.) (CBI, china, burma,india.)

Oh, and Stillwell was respected by a few officers as I said before. MacAurthur was not a fan.

By Vincent Solfronk (Vsolfronk) on Tuesday, December 24, 2024 - 03:55 pm: Edit

Another ace has passed: Perry Dahl with 9 kills

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/us/perry-dahl-dead.html

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Some of you might have heard of a book by Professor Eric H. Cline called 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed - which takes a look at the Late Bronze Age Collapse in the eastern Mediterranean region.

More recently, a follow-up volume by the same author has been published, titled After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations. This book covers the onset of the Iron Age in that same region, in light of recent archaeological and historical research on the post-Collapse era.

-----

On a side note, there is a PC game called Total War: Pharaoh, which is set during the Bronze Age Collapse.

The original game had playable Egyptian, Hittite, and Canaanite factions. A free expansion added two playable Sea Peoples factions. More recently, a standalone Dynasties expansion doubled the size of the map, to include the Aegean and Mesopotamia; added four major playable factions (two from each of the new regions); and made a range of "side" factions, from Nubia to Cimmeria to Elam, playable also.

As a further aside: one of the options made available to Egyptian-aligned factions is to resurrect Atenism - to include being able to restore the ruins of Akhetaten! Although, I'm not sure if the game goes quite far enough, in terms of how consequential such a move would be when dealing with those Egyptian factions which remain loyal to the Theban pantheon of deities.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 08:54 pm: Edit

One theory is that a volcano blew in Iceland and drove the entire population of Europe one "place" south, resulting in "the sea peoples" arriving in Egypt.

Another theory is that the Bronze Age Collapse allowed the Kingdom Of Israel to get going in Canaan during a time that Egypt and the Hittites were not both trying to control it.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 01:55 pm: Edit

I'd always assumed that empires just rambled around the Med, with poor Turkey being the land gate between Europe/ Greece and the Middle East.

Note that Troy was a Greek city state in what is now Turkey.

And Romania (Roma East) still uses a latin based language despite being surrounded by Hungarians & Slavic speaking peoples.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, January 10, 2025 - 06:18 pm: Edit

Troy was actually a Hittite city named Willos during Homer’s war epic.

Romania was the last Roman conquest. The Roman Army killed or enslaved the population. Rome then sent its surplus population to the devastated area.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 10:24 am: Edit

News of the USS Sullivans, museum ship, destroyer that nearly sank at its moorings in Buffalo, NY. Several years ago.

Fund raising has had some success, and this week surveyors have examined the ship, and the USS Croaker (ww2 submarine) moored near each other, and also in serious condition.

The plan while complicated, seems doable.

Complicated by the annual fish breeding season, the plan is to move the cruiser USS Little Rock, south at least a ship length, move the USS Croaker north, and with the USS Sullivans clear, tow the ship to a ship yard in Erie PA.

The problems include 50 years of accumulated silt have literally locked all three vessels into position.

Another complication, is that dredging around the vessels must not (under pain of state and environmental laws) disturb the fish habitat during breeding season, so there is a very short time period for the work to be completed. (June was mentioned in the local news report, but that was a reporter, not the “expert” who was being interviewed.)

Such is the life of museum ships in the early 21st century, USA.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 10:30 am: Edit

I noticed a nice short clip posted on you tube about the USS Salem heavy cruiser, museum ship in Quincy, MA.

Nice video tour, if you are interested in a below deck look.

Some othe pictures of ww2 vessels in the clip.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 02:48 pm: Edit

On a sad note:
Erie, PA. Had been attempting to establish a museum ship exhibit for the former USS Halburton, a Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate that has been assigned to the former Philadelphia ship yard, inactive ship facility.

The committee that started the process failed to secure funding, and failed to complete phase 2 of the transfer of the ship to a civilian museum. This occurred on November 24, 2024.

There appears to have been nothing new concerning what will happen to the ship, or what will happen to the committee or the assets (including the money donated to preserve the USS halburton.)

Any one want to buy a frigate?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 03:14 pm: Edit

I think Sea Shepherd might want to have it to escort their protest ships in the Antarctic whaling grounds.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 08:12 pm: Edit

Personally, like to have a Typhoon, strip it out and refit as a cruise ship.....