On this day in 1776, Americans launch the first submarine attack. They hoped to break a British blockade of New York harbor.
The submarine was the work of David Bushnell, an inventor from Connecticut. He called his submarine the “Turtle” because it was like “two upper tortoise shells of equal size, joined together.” The Turtle was the culmination of many years of work. Submarines were not entirely new, but Bushnell was still figuring out many underwater logistics for the first time. His submarine could hold one person and about 1/2 hour of air. Everything about it was very manual, with propellers, ballasts, and rudders being operated by hand cranks or foot pedals. The Turtle carried one underwater mine that could be attached to the underside of a ship. The submarine would then escape, leaving the mine to explode on a timed fuse.
The story continues here: http://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-turtle-submarine
On this day in 1944, a hero begins a multi-day action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Oscar Godfrey Johnson, Jr. singlehandedly held off the enemy for two days and two nights—and he lived to tell the story.
His heroism came during the Allied effort to break through the Gothic Line, a chain of defense fortifications in Italy.
“With the defensive positions etched directly into the mountains,” a National WWII Museum publication explains, “the Allies had no choice but to maneuver their way through a virtual labyrinth of German strongpoints. . . . The fighting was slow, grinding, and bloody throughout.”
The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-oscar-johnson-moh
On this day in 1814, the British begin bombarding Fort McHenry. Famously, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key watched the battle from a nearby ship. The next morning, Key was relieved to see the American flag waving proudly above the fort. Americans had not surrendered! Key was inspired to write a poem that would later become our national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner.
Our national anthem has been in the news lately, of course, partly because of the little-known third stanza of Key’s poem. That verse concludes: “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.”
Is the song inherently racist? The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-national-anthem
On this day in 1930, a teenager becomes the youngest solo aviator to take to the skies. “Handling the controls like a seasoned transport pilot,” a local newspaper reported, “Eula Pearl Carter, 14-year-old Marlow high school sophomore, swooped into the air . . . . to become possibly the youngest aviatrix in the United States.”
Pearl’s fearless determination echoed that of her father, George Carter. He’d been blinded at an early age but was determined to overcome it. He worked relentlessly until he’d turned himself into a wildly successful businessman.
His success laid a foundation for his daughter.
The story continues here: http://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-pearl-carter-scott
