Infinite Wisdom

"Peace is going to be a hell of a letdown."

La Triviata

• Until 1834, when the Corps was placed completely under the administrative aegis of the Department of the Navy, the Marines were governed by a law that made them subject to Naval Regulations when at sea, but the Army’s Articles of War while on land, which had some curious consequences, such as pay for shore-based officers that was higher than that of seagoing ones.
• Reportedly, King Richard Lionheart of England was so well regarded among his Saracen foes that they were wont to scold a restive horse by saying, “What do you start at?  Do you see the English king?”
• On December 31, 1839, some citizens in Oswego, New York, deciding to borrow a cannon from an armory to help bring in the New Year with a bang, had a riotous encounter with the local militia company, after which the victorious miscreants spent the night drunkenly firing the gun.
• By March of 1945, just weeks before the end of World War II, the official daily ration of a German citizen living in an urban area was just about 1778 grams of bread (nearly four pounds), 222 of meat, and 109 of butter or other fats, though this was rarely issued in practice.
• Once, asked by a soldier at what time he planned to break camp, the Roman millionaire, general, and Triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus (c. 115-53 BC), replied “Are you afraid you will not hear the trumpet?”
• When, a couple of weeks after the fact, news of Napoleon’s escape from Elba on February 26, 1815, reached London, Parliament immediately appropriated £1,000,000 pounds in subsidies for Britain’s Allies and another £2,000,000 for their own armed forces.
• During the Second World War approximately 550,000 Jewish personnel served in the U.S. Armed Forces, amounting to roughly half of all Jewish men of military age.
• The dissolution of the Papal Army in September of 1870 released hundreds of French volunteers to return to la patrie and help fight the Prussian-German invaders, so that by October 1, 800 former Pontifical Zouaves were in action, fighting in the battles of Orleans, Patay, and Loigny, while still wearing their papal uniforms, and doing so well that their commander, Baron Athanase de Charette was promoted to brigadier general.

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