Infinite Wisdom

"Battles are very confusing."

La Triviata

• Shortly after the Armistice in 1918, Harry S Truman's Battery D, 129^th Field Artillery, was being inspected by the Prince of Wales and John J. Pershing, when the strong brogue of Pvt. John J. Higginbotham rang out from the ranks, "Captain, ask that little son-of-a-bitch when he's going to free Ireland," which both the future Edward VIII and the general ignored with a smile.
• Perhaps the earliest military decoration in history was the "Fly of Valor," a solid gold horsefly initially awarded by Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III (r. c. 1479–1425 BC).
• During the War of 1812, 3.2 percent of American enlisted troops -- regulars and militiamen together, were killed or wounded in combat, and 2.6 percent were taken prisoner, while 8.2 percent died of disease or accidents and fully 12.7 percent deserted.
• Maj. Gen. Henry W. Lawton, who attained national fame in 1886 for capturing the great Apache war chief Geronimo, was killed in action on December 18, 1899, by Filipino insurrecto leader Lucurio Geronimo.
• During the Second World War, Wehrmacht personnel on occupation duty in western and northern Europe were permitted to send home up to five kilos of goods a month postage free, which, considering that under German-imposed exchange rates their pay was worth about twice as much in places like France or Norway as it was in the Fatherland, meant many German families were able to enjoy a very high standard of living.
• Two “Americans” were among the 27 men who commanded British ships-of-the-line at Trafalgar, Francis Laforey of Spartiate, who rose to admiral, and William G. Rutherford of Swiftsure, born respectively in Virginia and North Carolina into families that supported the Crown during the Revolutionary War and subsequently had to leave the country.
• In 1914 only 142 regiments in the Austro-Hungarian Army had one official language, while another 163 had two languages, a score or so had three, and a handful had four or even five.
• During the Third Macedonian War (171-168 B.C.), tensions arose between Rome and its ally Rhodes when the latter attempted mediation, but hostilities were averted when Marcus Porcius Cato, known as “The Censor,” hardly the most dovish of Romans, argued that merely because the Rhodians wanted to be enemies was hardly grounds for war, and came up with a diplomatic solution that devastated the city-state's economy, by declaring Delos a free port. 

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