ACG WebOps (19 May 2007)
Welcome to WebOps, Armchair General’s weekly recon of links to military history news, articles, websites, and more. This weeks’ edition is packed with military history goodness, including an article from former U.S. (Tennessee) Senator Fred Thompson, two battlefield detective stories, the unveiling of a new website dedicated to Vietnam War era data, and a military history quiz. Clicks away!
News
‘We must preserve our heritage’ – London Free Press
Ontario cash will help the Royal Canadian Regiment expand its museum and preserve its storied history.
{default}Vandals Hit Military Park – WLBT3
Federal officials are looking of those responsible for a recent vandalism at the Vicksburg National Military Park. Investigators believe it was done by scavengers, hunting for civil war artifacts, which can be worth a lot of money to collectors.
Bit of Valley Forge history buried behind UAH hall – al.com
About 25 people will gather at the cemetery for an unveiling of a marker honoring Capt. Lewellen Jones, one of five people buried in Madison County who survived a bitter winter at Valley Forge with little to eat and inadequate clothes and shelter.
Re-enactors to bring military history to life – MassLive.com
The Springfield Armory National Historic Site celebrates Armed Forces Day with a colorful and educational military encampment Saturday to honor veterans and active duty military.
History re-enacted at Fort Rodd Hill – BCNG Portals Page
More than a century’s worth of uniforms, equipment and vehicles will be on display during the 11th annual Historic Military Encampment at Fort Rodd Hill this weekend.
CSI trains ROTC cadre to teach military history – Leavenworth Lamp
The course focuses on teaching American military history from the colonial days to the present. Twenty CSI and CGSC instructors presented during the two-week course, which ran April 30 to May 11.
Articles
Remember the Past – AEI- Short Publications
If you went to college in the Sixties, like I did, you might not know how much higher education has changed since then. Universities today are different places. At Vanderbilt, where I got my law degree, I hear you can take courses in third wave feminism or colonial governmentality.
Your guess is as good as mine.
On the other hand, some of the courses that we took for granted aren’t around at all. One area of study that’s almost disappeared from universities today is military history–the history of warfare.
Camp Mabry Military History Museum – about: Austin, TX
Although Camp Mabry is closed to casual traffic, the museum is still open for business. Exhibits cover the complete history of the Texas Military from the Texas Revolution to present day.
Grown men play with action figures to create history – 9NEWS
Colton is one of ten members of the One-sixth Scale Military Modeling Club. Twice a year, they put together a diorama as a tribute to an actual battle. They take more than 1,000 pieces of action figures, tanks and buildings to make their miniaturized scenes look as real as possible.
Col. Tom Green: a footnote to New Mexico history – Rio Rancho Observer Online
General Henry Hopkins Sibley was in titular command of the Texas Confederate force that invaded New Mexico in early 1862. Sibley had a great weakness for John Barleycorn-whiskey in modern terms-a weakness upon which many observers have commented. New Mexico Civil War historian Don Alberts in "Rebels on the Rio Grande" noted the general’s reputation as a "walking whiskey keg."
Mystery Solved: How Alexander the Great Defeated Tyre – Live Science
No man is an island, but it turns out all Alexander the Great needed to take over an entire island was a little help from Mother Nature.
Spent Bullets Tell a Story at Antietam – WTOPnews.com
SHARPSBURG, MD. (AP) – Buried beneath a sun-dappled corn field in western Maryland lies detritus from the millions of rounds fired during the battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American history.
Students learn history by re-enacting – PoughkeepsieJournal.com
Dressed in red and blue military uniforms, cream-colored tunics and tricorn hats, fourth-graders from Krieger Elementary School in Poughkeepsie spent Monday morning teaching each other to minuet.
Local High School Students Learn Military History in the Kitchen – KPBS (audio)
A group of San Diego students are learning about U.S. military history in the most unusual place — their high school cooking class. KPBS Education Reporter Ana Tintocalis has this report.
Military Quotient: Military history – Washington Date Line
Think you know the military? Try this test of your MQ — Military Quotient.
Books – Movies – TV
COLUMBIA, S.C., May 15 /PRNewswire/ — Author Harold B. Birch shares the story of a Bedford, Pa., Civil War soldier and the history of his regiment in the new book "The 101st Pennsylvania in the Civil War: Its Capture and POW Experience – The Saga of a Lucky Bedford, PA, Lieutenant and his Unlucky Regiment" (now available through AuthorHouse).
Blogs – Netcasts
Shamil Basayev-Chechnya’s Bin Laden (1) – Military History Podcast
Shamil Basayev is a politician and self-proclaimed terrorist fighting for Chechnya’s independence from Russia. Chechnya is a small Muslim republic in southern Russia. Basayev has ties to Al Qaeda, the Mujahideen, and many other terrorist networks.
World War II: German Paratroopers Land on Crete – about: Military History
May 20, 1941 – German paratroopers land on Crete (left) as part of Operation Mercury. A vital Allied base, Hitler authorized the invasion of Crete on April 25, 1941. As the British controlled the seas around the island, the German High Command opted to attempt an airborne invasion.
Military History disappearing? – tarheel Lutheran
The idea that Military History has "disappeared" from the history curriculum in American academia is simply ludicrous.
Study War More – Jules Crittenden
A modern complaint has been that history was taught as a list of dates, with too heavy an emphasis on war. A more relevant complaint would be that military history in its critical complexity has never been properly taught as a matter of general education, for the important lessons it has to offer.
Battle of the Aegates Islands, 241 BC – Military History Blog on the Web
The Battle of the Aegates Islands, 241 BC, was a decisive Roman naval victory that ended the First Punic War.
VietnamGear.com – World History Blog
VietnamGear.com. This site includes photographs, timelines, biographies of heroes, and gear from the Vietnam War. Includes articles, book review, and news.
Civil War Living History at a Traditionally Colonial Site – Civil War Navy, et. al.
Tomorrow our living history group will provide a Civil War era program at Historic Edenton, which is traditionally a colonial/Revolutionary/Federal period site. The site has never before done any Civil War programming.
WebOps is a weekly report linking to military history news and articles published in mainstream online media. Excerpts are taken exactly as they are on the noted source websites; quotation marks are not used. The hyperlinks are added by me as I can find them. Please visit the Armchair Forums to discuss the topics in WebOps and much more!
(front page photo: German Paratroopers during the invasion of Crete, courtesy of the JSCSC Library. Crown Copyright.)
Stay Alert, Stay Alive!
Jim H. Moreno
