A Brief History On May 4, 1946, the US Marine Corps was called to assault and secure an island, this time in San Francisco Bay! Why would Marines assault an American island? Because that island was Alcatraz, home to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, built to house the worst federal criminals, and those ultra-bad guys were in the middle of a violent riot. Digging Deeper The riot started as an escape attempt by convicts who overpowered a guard and managed to steal guns and gas grenades. Prisoners jammed a lock while trying different keys, ruining their escape. Then the convicts took more…
Read More
A Brief History On May 3, 2023, a 13 year old Serbian schoolboy opened fire at an elementary school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing nine students and a security guard. An additional six people were wounded. Incredibly, due to Serbian law, the shooter was not criminally prosecuted due to his age! Digging Deeper The teenaged shooter used his father’s legally owned pistols in the event, firing 57 shots during the attack. Although not charged criminally, the shooter did wind up under psychiatric care. His parents, in a scenario eerily similar to a recent case in the US, found themselves in legal…
A Brief History On May 2, 1982, Britain’s nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror fired torpedoes at the Argentine Navy’s World War II era cruiser, ARA General Belgrano, rapidly sinking the big ship and killing 323 of her crew of 1,095. Digging Deeper General Belgrano was the former USS Phoenix, 608 feet long and 62 feet wide, with a displacement of over 12,000 tons. Armed with 15 X 6 inch guns and 8 X 5 inch guns, she was one of the biggest and baddest warships in any third world navy. General Belgrano has the distinction of being the only ship sunk…
A Brief History On February 24, 2022, days after recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Digging Deeper Russia’s invasion has had five major phases thus far. The first phase covers the period from February 24th, 2022, when Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, to April 7th, 2022 when fighting focused away from the northeast and Kyiv and towards the south and east of Ukraine. The second phase covers the period from April 8th, 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of…
A Brief History On May 1, 1978, Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura made history as the first person to reach the North Pole all alone. Using a dog sled, Uemura barely made the 57 day trek alive, as he had been raided by a Polar Bear that ate much of his provisions! An intrepid adventurer, Uemura shot the bear dead when it returned the next day. Digging Deeper Uemura was also the first person to raft the Amazon River alone and the first to make a solo ascent of Denali in 1970. Always looking to best his own efforts, he disappeared…
