Veterans’ Day.
One of the big stories for today is the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
I’ve not heard any mentions of the President at the time. You know, he actually signed peace treaties that actually ended the war, and got the economy out of the first Depression all in the midst of the Spanish Flu pandemic.
Who was that guy?
Oh. Warren G. Harding, the guy who’s consistently rated as one of the worst presidents by “The History.” (Which is a lot like “The Science.”)
But he had liquor parties in the White House, fathered a child out-of-wedlock, and died in office.
He also wasn’t showing Birth of a Nation in the basement. But let’s not talk about that.
There’s no major bridges or office buildings named after him, unlike his predecessor who caused a lot of these problems.
But my impression of World War I, and its aftermath really has come into a different I’ve written previously about the ammunition aboard the Lusitania that is part of the reason why there’s been less exploration of the wreck than the Titanic which sunk four years earlier.
Hundreds of thousands of like 30.06 rounds sitting on the sea bed.
That gun powder will still work.
Just like many of the munitions the Norks have in their tons of Soviet-made armillary shells lined up pointed at South Korea.
I guess it goes back to the whole thing I have lately that few things are ever completely-settled. Science. History. Economics.
The World War I interest was really sparked seeing a cemetery in Germany as a kid with headstones pretty much all saying 1917.
What the hell was going on in 1917 that so many Germans died?
I remember my dad driving through the Somme battlefield. I really had no way to comprehend then just how many people it was.
My great-grandfather had been an Infantry officer, which probably was my dad’s inspiration to be an Army officer.
I have an enormous respect for the military. I won’t say that’s because I’ve been supporting it, mainly, since I left radio, or that my dad is buried in Arlington, but…..
I think it is notable that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is really kind of 20th Century thing. I don’t think there’s any bodies there from later American excursions.
Things change, which is why you have to constantly re-evaluate almost everything.
I could probably write for hours on this, but there’s a livestream I’m trying to watch in the background.