Infinite Wisdom

". . . no strategy is so bad that somebody else can't make it worse."

La Triviata

• While President of the Republic of Texas Sam Houston was challenged to a duel by one Dr. Green, of Galveston, and, not wishing to fight someone whom he considered an unworthy opponent, told the messenger, “Sir, inform your principal that Sam Houston never fights down hill.”
• The oldest warship in commission (albeit in dry-dock), HMS Victory serves as the flagship of the Second Sea Lord (Assistant CNO), who is also Commander-in-Chief of what was once known as the Home Fleet, and is often the site of naval conferences, observances, and presentation ceremonies.
• During the German occupation of their country in World War II, Belgium’s postmen are believed to have saved about 5,000 Jews from the Nazis by intercepting or delaying mail from suspected informants.
• The many wars of Louis XIV of France (r. 1643-1715), are estimated to have resulted in about 2,200,000 battle deaths, without counting military personnel dead from disease, nor civilians who died as a consequence of combat, atrocity, hunger, disease, or exposure.
• The 1949 film Battleground, which follows a squad of the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge, was the first American motion picture in a decade to violate the Hays Office ban on “profanity”, as it included Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe’s famous reply to the German demand for surrender, “Nuts!”.
• Not until 1748 did the French Army issue mandatory standardized infantry drill regulations, replacing a “non-system” in which individual commanders trained their regiments as they saw fit.
• In May of 1918, Congress granted immediate U.S. citizenship to 280,000 non-citizens serving in the Armed Forces, including declarants, legal residents, and illegal residents.
• The musician, poet, and lyricist Pete Seeger is the nephew of the poet Alan Seeger (1888-1916), who was killed in action during World War I, fighting for France in the Foreign Legion.

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