Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

September 14, 1814: Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Star-Spangled Banner. Francis observed the shock 'n Awe British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status Set to music as the national anthem more than a century later under President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931.


The Star spangled banner Sheet music (full size image)


When a U.S. patrol reached Nagasaki after the Japanese surrender in 1945, they were surprised to be met by retired 82-year-old Marine Edward Zillig. Zillig had served with Admiral Dewey aboard USS Olympia before settling in Japan in the 1920s. He survived the atomic blast because local officials had moved him to a camp outside of the city to hide him from fanatics during the war. Upon encountering fellow Marines, he immediately requested that his pension be restored and then he be allowed to watch a full-dress Marine parade. The Marine Corps approved both requests. Unfortunately, a sad ending...


Oldest Marine on Kyushu


September 14, 1950: Happy birthday to the patron saint of COG reporting, Ted Gup.




Sept 14, 1959: Luna 2, originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2, a Soviet space probe, became the first human-made object to land on the moon. It crashed into the surface.




September 14, 1964: Walt Disney being presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House.


The military aide is major general Chester Victor Clifton Jr. (1913-1991). He was in the motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, when Kennedy was shot. He was always near the President because the Football included "emergency war orders."


September 14, 1983: Amy Winehouse, was born in London. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto singing voice. Her album Back to Black won 5 Grammy Awards. In 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26th on pop channel VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music list. She was big into tattoos. Sadly, like many others, she joined the 27 Club.


She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black (2006) briefly became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. Her life and career was dramatized in a 2024 biopic, Back to Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.



Sept 14, 1994: USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) departed Norfolk loaded with 58 Army helicopters and 2000 soldiers to take part in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. It would be the largest Army air operation from an aircraft carrier since the Doolittle Raid in 1942. The art of logistics that we probably can't do today.


The USA invaded Haiti on 19 September 1994, unopposed by the Haitian military. The operation was to reverse a 1991 military coup which deposed the freely-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. During the operation, American forces recovered a large amount of WWII weapons such as M1 Garand rifles which were still in use by the Haitians.



Sept 14, 2001: the German destroyer Lütjens rendered honors to USS Winston S. Churchill to demonstrate support in the wake of the terrorist attacks on 11 September. While flying the American flag, the German crew manned the rails and held a banner reading "We Stand By You".


USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is the only American warship that flies the Royal Navy White Ensign on special occasions and always has a Royal Navy officer as a member of the ship's company. Nothing like having a legit inside man.


Happy 77th birthday to Sam Neill. The great New Zealand actor played Captain Vasily Borodin in 1990's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.


Miraculously, Borodin survived and defected to the U.S., where he changed his name and worked as a paleontologist excavating dinosaurs in Montana. But then he went aboard the Event Horizon and lost this mind.



Iran to deport two million Afghans in expulsion programme