Seventy Years Ago: Furthest Axis Advance

There can be any number of opinions as to the REAL turning points of World War II. In the Pacific, I choose the Doolittle raid as the event that changed Japanese prospects. The Battle of Midway is another candidate for turning point. But the failure of Japan to recapture Guadalcanal and consequent pullback in New Guinea made it clear to Japan that they were now on the defensive.

The November 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), preceded by German failure to control Malta, pointed to the end of German success in North Africa.

By Mid September the Soviet Union had stalled the German advance at Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad.

The Winter of 42-43 proved the high water mark of the Axis advance.

When Churchill announced to Parliament in November 1942 that it was perhaps the "end of the beginning" of World War II, it was an apt description.

Seventy Years Ago: Autumnal Equinox In The Pacific

As the days shortened and the nights lengthened to twelve hours plus, Japanese troop-carrying destroyers had more time to deliver reinforcements. Night concealed ships from Douglas Scout Bombers (SBD's). In daylight the SBD's were deadly to Japanese ships.

Public Officials

In the summer of 2011 I posted a comment intending to put public service into context. In this case, I was writing mostly about municipal elected officials. But the same thoughts apply to County offices as well as state and higher offices. The pay may be somewhat greater than that for town officials, but the principal is the same and I thought it worth repeating:

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Let Us Now Praise Local Pols

I sometimes sit in the peanut gallery and aim (figurative) slings and arrows at local officials.

I have no personal interest in any controversies - I just want things done right. Yes, I have opinions about WHAT should be done to improve our town. My main focus, however, is HOW things are done. I try not to be influenced by personal feelings for or against individuals involved in the process.

This isn't personal - it's business. Public business.

There's another side to the story, though. We should admire all of our fellow citizens willing to step up to the plate and compete for approval of voters for the right to perform long hours of public service, steeped in controversy, often in the face of hostility, for no pay. Of all elected public officials in this land of ours, these are the ones we should most admire.

Let all incumbents know that we appreciate what they do.

For those who have already filed as candidates in November's election, I say thank you. For those still weighing whether to run for public office, I say "do it."

Seventy Years Ago: Stalingrad

While about 22,000 United States Marines were fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal, with the future of the sea lines of communication to Australia at stake, far to the West a truly titanic struggle was taking place. The bulk of Germany's army had been thrown against the Soviet Union. There were three main German thrusts: against Leningrad in the North, against Moscow and against Stalingrad.

In all three cases, even as German forces were in the suburbs or in the case of Stalingrad, fighting street to street and house to house within the city, Soviet factories in the siege area continued to produce T-34 tanks that rolled off the factory floor directly into battle.

This is where the fate of Europe was to be decided.

The scale of the battle in Stalingrad was unbelievable. Here is a partial account.

Seventy Years Ago: Noumea Harbor

September 21, 1942: The troop ships carrying the 27th Air Depot Group to the South Pacific steamed around the point and entered the harbor of Noumea, New Caledonia.

The ships had left San Francisco on September first and crossed the equator ten days earlier, on September 11. The embarked Army Air Forces personnel outnumbered the sailors aboard, so the crossing-the-line ceremony was fairly perfunctory. Even so, King Neptune made his anticipated appearance on each ship.

Master Sergeant Cox, untroubled by motion sickness, whiled away the hours playing cards and rolling dice. It had been a profitable passage. When not involved in games of chance, he stood watch at the guns mounted on the weather deck, so he was in position to see what transpired.

As the ships headed into harbor, he saw buildings burning, fire fighters trying to control the flames. Other ships already at anchor blinked messages at the new arrivals with signal lights. Instead of easing into assigned amchorages, the new arrivals milled about and headed back out to sea.

"Jap air raid," the messages said. "Don't anchor here. They are coming back."

The formation headed back out to sea, looking for the Australian escort ship they had been promised. Sailors and soldiers crowded the rails searching for the ship. "There she is!" One soldier cried out. "Where?"

White caps made it hard to see. They were expecting a destroyer or, perhaps a cruiser. The soldier kept insisting he saw it.

The long Pacific rollers swept by from astern, lifting the troop ships. From the top of the swell, Sergeant Cox suddenly spotted something. It looked like a broomstick popping up out of the ocean and then disappearing below the horizon.

Finally the ship got closer to the "broomstick" and a small hull popped up above the horizon.

Their escort was an Australian patrol vessel. It looked no bigger than a harbor patrol boat. But it had a gun and that was their escort, protecting them from the enemy until arrival at Brisbane five days later.

Campaign Lowjinks In Pamlico County

There are some things that should be out of bounds in election campaigns. Threatening phone calls to a candidate's wife fit in that category.

I have spent my life in defense of democracy. I believe every citizen should vote. Every citizen should feel free to express political opinions. I wish those opinions related to the substance of political differences rather than "nyaah, nyaah I don't like you!" That's worse than childish.

Everyone in the county seems to know about a threatening phone call to a candidate's wife, reported yesterday in the Sun Journal.

In an unrelated Facebook entry, the former minister of the Oriental Methodist Church offered the following suggestions:

• 

Not bad advice.

Seventy Years Ago: Guadalcanal, September 18, 1942

7th Marines, 4,180 men, land on Guadalcanal bringing total to 22,500.These were the same marines escorted by USS Wasp which sank from fires started by Japanese submarine torpedoes and USS North Carolina, damaged in the same encounter. The transports reached Guadalcanal.

Here is a portion of one marine's story.

Teachers, Unions And Nostrums

Good post today by the economist Jared Bernstein. I think it hits several nails on the head, so I take the liberty of quoting it in toto. Hope Professor Bernstein doesn't object:

"Students, Their Neighborhoods, Their Schools, and the Unions

Sep 18, 2012

"I’ve done just one post on the Chicago teachers’ strike, pointing out that ratcheting up the weight on teachers’ evaluations based on value-added modeling (VAM)—one of Mayor Emmanuel’s conditions—is a really bad idea.  Now, according to Reuters, the framework agreement they’ve reached out there scales back on that weighting.  Here’s a useful piece by Richard Rothstein with more background on how and why these tests fail to accurately and reliably identify effective teachers.
But this morning, I’d like to take a bit broader look at the issues in play here.  I open my WaPo this AM to read this:

"Two days after a student was gunned down while walking to Anninna Sigmon’s high school in Prince George’s County, she still wasn’t sure when she would feel safe enough to return to class.
“I just feel like I could be next,” said Sigmon, 17, a senior at Central High School in Capitol Heights. “People shouldn’t be afraid to go to school.”

"I am then reminded by this Rebecca Mead post that 80% of Chicago public school students qualify for free and reduced lunch, a proxy for poverty status.

"And it just reminds me how ridiculous it is for us to expect teachers to solve these problems for us while we’re busy beating up on their unions, cutting school budgets, laying off education personnel, and sharply reducing that part of the federal budget that could help make a difference in urban poverty.

"Of course we should insist on teacher accountability, but imagine for a moment being the teacher whose students legitimately fear for their lives upon walking to school.  Just how talented does she have to be to offset the impact that must have on the ability of students to absorb her teachings?

"Now that there’s a framework for an agreement in place, I think the Chicago teachers should be back in the classroom.  The fact that they’re not is a potent measure of the level of distrust that’s built up between the mayor and the unions.  But if you think teachers unions are the reason too many kids aren’t learning enough, you’re wrong.

"As Mead puts it:

"No doubt there are some lousy teachers in Chicago, as there are everywhere. But blaming teachers for the failure of schools is like blaming doctors for the diseases they are seeking to treat."