The NRA and the M-1 Garand before WWII

I didn't know that the NRA and the Ordinance dept didn't have a good relationship and the NRA didn't like the Garand and the early Garand had issues with the gas trap.   I have an Garand..or I did if I hadn't lost mine in the great canoe accident recently....It seems to be epidemic....I am in mourning...*sniff* *Sniff*.   I shamelessly clipped this from the NRA online magazine because this has a lot of cool information I didn't know.

At one time, the National Rifle Association really didn’t like the M1 Garand. Shocking, right? This is certainly no longer the case, and I’ll give you a little proof. Back in 2008, we did an article called the “Top 10 Infantry Rifles” of all time. This “Top 10” concept was popular then and now. My staff voted overwhelming for the M1 Garand as the “best infantry rifle of all time.”

John Cantius Garand appeared on the cover of American Rifleman twice, once when his rifle was adopted and again after he retired and received M1 Rifle Serial No. 1,000,000.

I would call John C. Garand a great man, even though he never thought of himself as such. If it were not for him, the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan would have cost many more American lives. Simply put, the G.I.s and Marines armed with the “U.S Rifle, Caliber .30, M1” did nothing less than save the world from unspeakable evil.

John Garand shown at his retirement on the cover of American Rifleman in March 1974.

Today, I happily report that the M1 Garand has been on the cover of The American Rifleman more than any other firearm in our entire history. It appeared on the cover when it was first introduced, then again during the war years, then again in rifle competitions. We showed it again with John Garand in his retirement, then again during our coverage of Springfield Armory, again as a go-to collector’s rifle and in multiple instances as a standout piece of history, such as Scott Duff’s article on British Lend-Lease M1 Garands.

So, is it really true that, at one time, American Rifleman editors and the National Rifle Association harshly criticized and had little faith in “greatest battle implement ever devised?” Absolutely, and the story has roots in the development and early years of the rifle itself.

There was a time that John C. Garand was able to say nothing about his rifle, and that started the rift between NRA and the U.S. Army. Back in the mid-1930s, the man at the helm of The American Rifleman was Lawrence Hathaway. Our publication had reported on the U.S. Army Ordnance Department’s evaluations of semi-automatic rifles long before the magazine was even called The American Rifleman, which came about in 1916 after being sold to NRA by James A. Drain for $1.

A rifle design created by Søren Hansen Bang.

In those days, editors and contributors went into incredible detail describing the guns and how they worked for our members. They covered novel designs like the Bang rifle, the Liu rifle, the Mondragon, the Winchester and Remington recoil-operated guns. Army Ordnance and NRA editors were on the same page.

They tested and reported on all these interesting guns for NRA members and the riflemen of the world. All these people had the right to know about these new designs, and the world was curious. Everyone knew that the semi-automatic infantry rifle was the next big thing. The U.S. Army had been looking at every feasible design since 1900.

Several variations of the first Chinese semi-automatic rifle design, as created by General Liu Qing En, first superintendent of Hanyang Arsenal.

Despite the veneration of the U.S. Rifle Model of 1903, the “Cult of the Springfield” I’ll call it—and the U.S. Marine Corps stayed in the cult longer than most—this was the most important stories in rifle development for at least 50 years. Once French chemist Paul Vielle Introduced Poudre B to the world in 1886, it was only a matter of time. A semi-automatic infantry rifle was going to happen for the U.S. Army. But what rifle would they pick, and when would it happen?

At this time, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department and American Rifleman editors were joined at the hip. They were in this together. NRA’s founding mission is about marksmanship and the national defense, after all. We reported on the primer-actuated rifle designed by a young, Canadian-born inventor by the name of Garand back in 1919. The Army gave NRA full access to the rifle and the story. Why? Because they weren’t going to adopt it. That inventor eventually got hired to work at the U.S. Springfield Armory.

The testing of John C. Garand's first primer-actuated rifle.

The U.S. Army had been working on a semi-automatic rifle since before the turn of the 20th century. All of their efforts in testing the Bang and the Liu and every other crazy rifle that every crackpot in the world came up with had been reported in the pages of The American Rifleman. So began the journey to develop a semi-automatic infantry rifle for the U.S. Army.

The Ordnance Department hired the best commercial gun designer available, John D. Pedersen, to work on the concept. Pedersen, a contemporary of John Moses Browning and John Garand, was very good, indeed. Army Ordnance put them on separate design tracks and pitted all these great men against each other. But in the words of the 1980s Movie, “Highlander,” there can only be one. That one was the “U.S. Semiautomatic Rifle, Caliber, 30 M1.”

The toggle-lock action of Pedersen's .276-cal. rifle shown locked open.

Really, the United States was the only country in the world that was capable of developing and mass-producing the M1 rifle. It was a country that had the willpower and the patience to develop the M1. The American Rifleman reported on it. This was big news. The biggest news.

But when we look at the first article about the M1 rifle, there are some clues as to the emerging rift. The author, Col. Drewry, was not on the magazine staff. He didn’t test guns for NRA members. He was an Army Ordnance officer.

How did this happen? Well, the story was not written for The American Rifleman. It was written for the Infantry Journal. The American Rifleman was merely allowed to run it. It must have chapped Editor Hathaway’s bunions to no end.

Back then, the most comprehensive evaluations of firearms in the world happened in the pages of The American Rifleman. If you made a gun, you sent us a gun. We shoot it, we tear it down, we describe every bit and piece, how it’s made and how it performs. We shoot it, and the gun does what it does.

Examples of the comprehensive testing performed by American Rifleman staffers in the early 20th century.

But in this instance, the Army wasn't talking. Fred C. Ness, American Rifleman technical editor, did not receive a “U.S. Semiautomatic Rifle, Caliber .30,” at the Barr Building or later at 1600 Rhode Island Avenue. They didn't let him take it apart and describe every feature. They didn't even brief him about it. The American Rifleman got the Army official story from Col. Drewry.

Meanwhile, there was a man named Julian S. Hatcher. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. He started contributing to The American Rifleman early and often. He answered questions from NRA members, he described guns, ballistics, loads and bullet performance. Again, Army Ordnance and The American Rifleman were joined at the hip through Hatcher.

The lead story page as written by U.S. Army Ordnance's Col. Drewry.

Once the US Army adopted the U.S. Semiautomatic Rifle, Caliber .30 M1, in 1936, though, that all changed. Then-Major Julian S. Hatcher went silent. His brother, Major James Hatcher, was running the M1 rifle’s development. Julian Hatcher, who would later become technical editor of The American Rifleman, answered question about knockdown power and cast bullets, but not about the M1 rifle. In the pages of the magazine, as far as the M1 was concerned, Julian Hatcher went dark.

Hatcher was the one guy who regularly answered member letters in the pages of The American Rifleman, and he worked with John C. Garand in the 1920s. He would go on to write the Book of the Garand. He and Garand were friends. They shot in the Springfield Armory weekly pistol league together. Hatcher’s Colt Camp Perry is in the NRA Museum. I have a Christmas card from Major and Mrs. Julian Hatcher to Mr. and Mrs. John C. Garand. They were friends and worked together toward, arguably, the most-important American rifle of all time.

Then-Captain Julian Sommerville Hatcher shown with a semi-automatic rifle of his own design.

From 1935 to 1939, I know for a fact that Hatcher’s name appeared 158 times in 94 different NRA documents and publications. After the adoption of the M1, not a word written by him was about the M1.

The M1 Garand was adopted officially in 1936, and there is scant information about the rifle in the pages of the magazine. Snippets, but nothing substantive. It must have been incredibly hard on the editors, who were itching to understand and share this revolutionary new rifle design with NRA members.

Later, Camp Perry was blessed with a demonstration of the M1 rifle. Army Ordnance brought it, it shot, but not very well, and ordnance officials would not let NRA’s representative fieldstrip the rifle. They wouldn’t let our technical staff look inside the rifle. Even though that’s what The American Rifleman staff did and that’s what they had worked hand-in-hand with Army Ordnance on for decades at this point, the Army stopped them from taking a peek anyway.

A group of U.S. congressman shown firing and examining the M1 Garand design, a courtesy not granted to American Rifleman editors.

The Army Ordnance Department’s secretiveness and their unwillingness to pull the trigger guard down and let NRA see inside the M1 led to congressional hearings, sensationalist national news stories and a feeling that the Army was hiding something about its new rifle. The Army’s reticence to share information about the M1 opened a door. A door that Melvin Maynard Johnson drove a truck through.

While development of the Garand had occurred, Johnson had worked on a separate rifle design. When the U.S. Army hid the M1 Garand from the NRA, Johnson was open and forthright about his new gun. Ness made Johnson and his rifle a national news story. His rifle had some features the M1 did not, being able to top off a magazine and a 10-round magazine capacity, for example. Since the Army hadn’t adopted his rifle, Johnson could let NRA take it apart and describe every piece.

Melvin Maynard Johnson shown here with several of his early rifle designs.

The Army and NRA were in pretty much open conflict about the M1, and there were snarky reports throughout this period that illustrate this war of words. U.S. Army Ordnance even went so far as to run advertisements discussing the Army’s new M1 rifle in other magazines of the period, but not The American Rifleman.

Then came Camp Perry. At the Small Arms Firing School at Camp Perry that year, the Army once again demonstrated the M1 rifle. Attendees were allowed to fire the rifle, but NRA staff was prohibited from taking the gun apart. Ever heard of waving a red flag at a bull?

Page one of six of Ness' article on the "revolutionary" Johnson rifle.

The flame stoked by the Army’s lack of cooperation led to a lot of public debate. It led to editorials from newspapers that couldn't tell an M1 rifle from a badminton racket. It led to congressional hearings, hearings in which senators and congressmen made the Army a little uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, NRA’s promotion of the Johnson rifle no doubt helped it go from prototype to production to limited service with the United States Marine Corps. If you ever want to find fans of Melvin Maynard Johnson designs, look no further than the “Super Commandos”—the Canadian and American troops that formed the U.S. Special Service Force. The “black devils” loved their “Johnny guns.”

It’s true that the Johnson rifle did have some good points, but F.C. Ness highlighted it more than was probably necessary, which only goes to show that there was a deeper purpose to the whole thing. In one article, Ness spent six pages describing the Johnson rifle in prototype form.

Due to the attention paid to it by American Rifleman editors, the Johnson Rifle gained traction and saw limited military service.

For contrast, another new gun appeared in 1936 that some might recognize: the Winchester Model 70. Yes, the “Rifleman’s Rifle.” The American Rifleman editors devoted far less space to this iconic design than they gave to the Johnson rifle.

Meanwhile, the Army still would not let NRA see inside an M1. The Army knew it had a problem with the gas trap, but it wasn’t going to admit it to anyone and certainly not to the NRA. There was a reason for that that extended beyond Ordnance department pride. From 1936 to 1940, the M1 was not perfect. It was not the gun that would win World War II.

In 1940, the Army decided to switch from the gas trap to the gas port and, in November of that year, made a change it didn’t talk about. That change was the drilling of a hole in the barrel and the elimination the unreliable gas trap. The gas-trap system worked better than most full-power semi-automatic military rifles, but it didn't work well enough.

It’s important to recognize that, in 1940, it was a very different world. No Army anywhere had a adopted a semi-automatic design as its standard service rifle, The French, the Soviets, the Germans and even the British had experimented. Some even adopted them but never for general issue.

All the secretiveness and lack of cooperation made it look as if the Army was hiding something about the M1 rifle. As it turns out, the Army was, and there were problems beyond the gas-trap issue. As the prototype rifles turned into production rifles, things begin to vex engineers at Springfield Armory.

The best known of these issues is the seventh-round stoppage. As most folks know, you can stick an M1 en-bloc clip in either way. Ordnance engineers found that if the top cartridge was on the right, then the seventh cartridge would also be on the right. This round would jump up out of position and jam the bullet nose into the receiver.

At the 1939 National matches at Camp Perry, Lt. Col. James L. Hatcher was doing a demonstration with the M1 Garand. The seventh-round stoppage hadn't been solved yet, so he and Capt. Rothwell Brown made sure that all the clips were loaded with a seventh round on the left. The demonstration went well, but as Julian S. Hatcher wrote in the Book of the Garand, “a feeling arose that all is not well.”

Hatcher continued: "At the demonstrations at Camp Perry, civilians were invited to fire the rifle, but there's always an Army man at the shooter’s elbow ready to snatch the rifle away and perform some sleight of hand at the slightest sign of a malfunction … . Moreover, the members of the NRA staff, to their surprise, found that they were unwelcome whenever they approached a Garand or wanted to fire it."

Julian S. Hatcher would later become technical editor of American Rifleman.

There were other issues. The jumping clip, the sticking operating rod cam, rear sight trouble, and of course, the M1 needed a new gas cylinder. By October 1939, the so-called gas port gas cylinder assembly, with a hole in the barrel, was recommended and adopted. Gas-port rifles started production early in 1940.

In May 1940, F.C. Ness of The American Rifleman obtained an M1 rifle and a single eight-round en-bloc clip. As a gun writer for the past 29 years, I know when a writer is out to get a gun. And F.C. Ness was out to get the M1 rifle. But the rifle he received was not the new gas-port M1 Garand. It was the older “gas-trap” gun that clearly had issues.

The U.S. Army Ordnance drawing supplied with Col. Drewry's first article.

What's interesting is that, while reporting every stoppage, including those that occurred when single-loading, and criticizing the design, he did note that this was not the new “gas-port” system. Ness knew about the coming gas-port system that would make the M1 Garand into the reliable battle arm everyone knows today, but he chose to concentrate on the faults of the “gas-trap” Garand.

There's another aspect to all this that we can recognize today. It’s reasonable to assume that the Germans read The American Rifleman magazine at the time. If I had been a potential enemy of the United States, I sure would have, knowing how much information about U.S. Army Ordnance testing ended up in the pages of the magazine.

What if supplying F.C. Ness with a gas-trap model in February 1940 was the plan? What if the Army knew of Germany’s interest in the M1 rifle? What if they deliberately planted misinformation by giving F.C. Ness a gas-trap gun after the Army had already switched over to gas-port Garands?

U.S. Army Ordnance-supplied schematics of the M1 Garand.

Another interesting piece of information was the reporting of the number of M1 rifles being produced. In May 1940, it is said there are fewer than 25,000 guns. Only about 4,000 a month were reported.

No one involved is still alive, but this looks to me like the Army was trying to tell the Germans that the M1 wasn't ready for prime time in terms of the effectiveness of the rifle or the numbers produced. This is all pure speculation on my part, though still worth thinking about.

What is in the record is what Julian Hatcher thought about the secretive nature of the M1 rifle’s development and what possibly could have happened:

“Had the association been kept fully and frankly informed about the rifle, they could have been counted on by the War Department both for informed and constructive criticism and suggestions, and also for powerful support of any decisions reached as a result of Army needs and experience."

John Garand's early prototype of the M1 Rifle shown in 1930.

NRA’s leadership was comprised mostly of Army and National Guard officers. These were officers like Gen. Milton A Reckord, Adjutant General of the Maryland National Guard—who would eventually command the 29th Infantry Division during World War II. Think you could trust him? I do.

But as it stands, the first army in the world to declare a semi-automatic rifle as its standard-issue arm was the United States Army, and the M1 rifle became of the greatest military secrets of the age. How did America do it? Well, Nazi Germany wanted to find out.

The secret of the M1 Garand certainly wasn’t on the level of the later Manhattan Project, but our enemies still wanted all the information they could get. German spies sought out the plans to the M1 rifle. Members of the Duquesne Spy Ring actually obtained the plans for the M1—the FBI even filmed one Nazi spy pulling the schematics out of his sock in New York before the United States ever entered World War II.

Nazi spy Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne pictured after his capture by the FBI.

Even though these Nazi spies were arrested, I think it is logical to assume Nazi Germany got the plans to the M1 Garand. After all, they found the plans for the Norden Bombsight. But the designs they obtained were not of the M1 Garand as we know it, the Garand that entered the battlefield in huge numbers during WWII. I believe they got plans to the gas-trap variant.

In late 1940, the German Ordnance Department solicited a semi-automatic rifle from Walther and Mauser for adoption in 1941. One of the requirements was that they could not drill a hole in the barrel. Why would they include such a specific requirement? I would argue that they may have had plans for the M1 rifle that did not have hole in the barrel. Both the Mauser G41(M) and the Walther G41(W) had goofy forms of gas-trap operation. Neither worked very well.

The German Gewehr 41, which used a gas-trap operating system rather than a gas port.

Early M1 Garands may have gotten into German intelligence hands from their Japanese allies following the fall of the Philippines, but the guns captured there would have been a mix of gas-trap and gas-port rifles. The Germans eventually drilled a hole in the barrel and came up with G43 rifle. The Japanese also copied the gas-port M1, and they came up with the Type 5.

Before the capture of these issued M1 Garands in the Philippines, the one thing that German ordnance seemed pretty serious about was that neither entrant, Walther or Mauser, was to drill a hole in the barrel. What they ended up getting was the G41(W) and the G41(M). Both rifles were frail and finicky, but neither of them had a hole in the barrel.

The Japanese Type 5 was copied later and featured the same gas-port system as later M1 Garands.

At that time, as far as the world knew, the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30 M1 didn't have a hole in the barrel. The only scant mention of a gas-port model was in Ness’ May 1940 article in The American Rifleman. The only country in the world that ever figured out a reliable semi-automatic rifle concept was the United States. When the Germans went to develop their own, it is my supposition that they went with what they knew worked. That was the M1 Garand.

By the time that specification went out in 1940, there were no M1 rifles outside of the U.S. government. Sure, some were sent to England under the Lend-Lease Act. Some were sent to the Philippines. As a matter fact, the M1 rifle's introduction to combat came during the fighting for the Philippines in 1942. Despite being mostly gas-trap rifles, from everything we can tell, the M1 performed pretty well.

A May 1941 issue of American Rifleman shows that NRA and the U.S. Army had reconciled.

With improvements, though, the M1 rifle would perform even better. It would go on to be the rifle in the hands of young men who went overseas, fought and died so that the flame of freedom would not be extinguished. The rifle that went to North Africa, the rifle that went to Guadalcanal, to Monte Cassino, to Omaha beach, to Tarawa and Iwo Jima, wasn't the same rifle that the Germans tried to copy. It was not the same rifle that the army hid from the NRA. It was better.

In the interim, NRA got over its concerns about the M1 rifle. After Dec. 7, 1941, the NRA was all-in following the “day that will live in infamy.” NRA and its members went on to train millions of young Americans in marksmanship during pre-induction training programs.

We wrote manuals on marksmanship. We even did a “how-to” guide for plant and industrial guards. Our members served both at home and overseas. A generation of young Americans armed with M1 Garands did nothing less than save the world—one eight-round en bloc clip at a time.

Monday Music "On the Loose" by SAGA

This edition of "Monday Music" almost didn't happen, my comments got overrun by spammers, I had 8 different kinds, I had to call in Arclight and Spectre and make it danger close.  I still am cleaning shrapnel and debris out of my perimeter......they really suck.... 

I have been enjoying the run of songs, I never had a theme last this long, and I am  really enjoying it in a weird sort of way,   I have several more weeks in mind, perhaps longer.  As long as I can flog er work the muse, I will, and for some reason 80's music plays really plays well with this theme of songs for some reason.
     I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related good music in the 1980's unlike that crap they listen to now.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because an 80's all Girl band singing and crooning a slow song about an eternal flame..., ...but it IS  ATF people you know......

   Saga got a lot of play on MTV and that is where I saw them for the first time and I really likes the song, to me it is a really good driving song, almost like "Golden Earring's " song I just had played a couple of weeks ago.  I hope Old NFO has heard of this one, lol

Originally known as Pockets, Saga formed in 1977 from the nucleus of Canadian rock band Fludd. In June 1978, they released their self-titled debut album Saga. A modest success in Canada, it would eventually sell over 30,000 copies in Germany as an import.
Their 1979 follow-up album Images at Twilight gave them their first charting single in Canada with the song "It's Time" peaking at No. 84 in the Canadian Charts. From the album, the songs "See Them Smile" and "Slow Motion" became strong radio favourites elsewhere. Saga's next album, Silent Knight was released in 1980, and included the singles "Don't Be Late" and "Careful Where You Step".

In 1981, the band's fourth album Worlds Apart was released. The lead single "Wind Him Up", finally broke them into the Top 40, peaking at No. 22 on the Canadian Charts in January 1982. A second single, "On the Loose", also fared well with the help of its music video receiving heavy rotation on MTV, and in December 1982, proved to be their breakthrough in America where it peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard chart in March 1983. "Wind Him Up" became the second single in America, peaking at No. 64 on Billboard the following month. Eventually, Worlds Apart was certified Gold in the US in 1983. The band opened for Jethro Tull on their North American tour in 1982.
Following on the success of Worlds Apart, the band won the 1982 Juno Award for "Most Promising Group of the Year."
A fifth album Heads or Tales was released in late 1983 and became another success. The lead single "The Flyer" fared well in Canada and also became their final U.S. hit, peaking at No. 79 on Billboard in November 1983. The follow-up single entitled "Scratching the Surface" became popular in Canada, peaking at No. 45 in April 1984.
Their sixth album, Behaviour, was released in 1985 and included the singles, "Listen to Your Heart" and "What Do I Know?" (charted No. 57 in Canada).

 Widely considered Saga's best album (and certainly their most commercially successful), the album has become the band's most recognizable work to date. The first song on the album, "On the Loose" was a single that hit #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1981, landing Saga their best chart performance. The single was helped with a music video which appeared on MTV during the station's inaugural year on the air. Videos were also made for the singles "Wind Him Up" and "Amnesia". The success of the album was also largely credited to an expanded tour roster which saw the band enter new territories and venues, particularly in the United States, to expand their musical presence. Worlds Apart has been certified Platinum in Canada and Gold in Germany, Denmark, the United States and Norway.

 

Variants of the Convair/Consolidated B-36 Peacemaker

I decided to go back to my regular Historical post after Yesterdays rant, I kinda felt bad posting what I posted yesterday but I ain't apologizing for it. because the situation is getting bad and I feel like we are being split along racial lines and this is by design this is an election year and the media and the democrats want Trump out of office so they are pulling out all the stops to get us at each others throats and weakened.   I ran across this article and it was really neat, I saw some variants that  I'm pretty sure that Even OldAfSarge haven't seen, lol

B-36 Peacemaker

The B-36 Peacemaker is the largest mass-produced piston-engine aircraft ever built with the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70.1 m).
The B-36 Peacemaker  was the first bomber capable of delivering nuclear weapons to all continents. With a range of 10,000 mi (16,000 km) and a maximum payload of 87,200 lb (39,600 kg), the B-36 was capable of reaching out to Moscow.
It entered service in 1948, stayed operational until 1959, and was succeeded by the Jet-powered B-52 since 1955.
It was powered by 6 P&W R-4360 Wasp Major Radials, the largest and most capricious piston aero-engine, making it the final commercial radial engine before the Jet engine made its entry in the airliner market.
In later versions, the B-36-D, 4 Jet engines were added in pods slung under the outer wings. Depicted is NB-36H with the nuclear reactor experimentally installed.
A view of the later Convair GRB-36F, In 1951, this B-36F-1-CF Peacemaker was modified to “FICON” configuration (FICON standing for “Fighter Conveyor”). In that aircraft carrier role, it could carry a fighter into the air, launch, and recover her back in the belly via that special hook (the converted bomb bay).
The fighter in this image is a YRF-84F, about to be recovered to the mothership. The program lasted until 1953 when the USAF decided it wasn’t as practical as hoped for.
After serving as the FICON prototype carrier, this B-36 was further modified to the “Tom-Tom” carrier configuration where two F-84s were to be pulled on each wingtip of the B-36. Also, the Tom-Tom proved impractical, the idea was abandoned (info from Larry Westin, with special thanks).

B-36F-1-CF Peacemaker

XC-99 Cargo version of the B-36. In line with what Boeing did with its B-29 Superfortress, converting it into a cargo/pax/ tanker transport C-97/B-377 Stratocruiser, Convair tried to do the same with the B-36 platform.
The resulting XC-99 can be seen here. The design capacity of the XC-99 was 100,000 lb (45,000 kg) of cargo or 400 fully equipped soldiers on its double cargo decks.
The Convair Model 37 was a large civil passenger design derived from the XC-99 but was never built. The Model 37 was to be of similar proportions to the XC-99; 182 ft 6 in (55.63 m) length, 230 ft (70 m) wingspan, and a high-capacity, double-deck fuselage.
The projected passenger load was to be 204, and the effective range of 4,200 mi (6,800 km).
Fifteen aircraft of Model 37 were ordered by Pan American Airways for transatlantic service.
However, the fuel and oil consumption of the six 3,500 hp (2,600 kW) R-4360 Wasp Major radials powering the XC-99 and B-36 Peacemaker meant that the design was not economically viable, and the hoped-for turboprop powerplants did not materialize fast enough.
The low number of orders was not sufficient to initiate production, and the project was abandoned.

XC-99 Cargo version of the B-36

YB-60 Jet Peacemaker, the remake of the B-36 Peacemaker with Jet engines and swept wings and tail.
Two YB-60’s were built, this airplane, USAF serial number 49-2676, was the only airplane flown.
On 25 August 1950, Convair issued a proposal for a swept-winged version of the B-36 with all-jet propulsion. The United States Air Force was sufficiently interested that on 15 March 1951, it authorized Convair to convert two B-36Fs as B-36Gs. Since the aircraft was so radically different from the existing B-36, the designation was soon changed to YB-60.
The YB-60 had 72% parts commonality with its piston-engined predecessor. The fuselages of the two aircraft were largely identical, its tail surfaces were swept to match the wings.
The YB-60’s unofficial competitor for a contract was Boeing’s B-52 Stratofortress. Convair’s proposal was substantially cheaper than Boeing’s since it involved modifying an existing design rather than starting from scratch.
Like the B-52, it was powered by eight Pratt & Whitney J57-P-3 turbojets mounted in pairs in four pods suspended below the wing (giving both types a striking resemblance, except for that dome-shaped cockpit))
The maiden flight was on 18 April 1952. The Boeing YB-52 beat the Convair aircraft into the air by three days. The YB-60 was approximately 100 mph (160 km/h) slower than the YB-52 and also had severe handling problems.
It carried a heavier bomb load — 72,000 lb (33,000 kg) against 43,000 lb (20,000 kg) for the YB-52 — but the Air Force did not see the need for the extra capacity, given the YB-60’s other drawbacks.
The flight test programs were canceled on 20 January 1953. Since Convair completed its prototype contract, both YB-60s were formally accepted by the Air Force in 1954. The only operational aircraft never flew again, and both airframes were scrapped. (source Wikipedia)

YB-60 Jet Peacemaker

my apologies..For not posting..

My apologies for not posting...I have been suffering from what could be called a "malaise of spirit" as it were.  I had run across this article and the taglines really stuck with me..The Italized is the quotes from the article I read and shamelessly cut and pasted....Hey I do that sometimes...But the article is linked on my post if you want to read the article for your viewing pleasure.

"For if the very public Black Lives Matter protests have polarized America, the silent fallout has now reached Hollywood."

"A revolution is under way. White actors are being fired. Edicts from studio bosses make it clear that only minorities – racial and sexual – can be given jobs.A new wave of what has been termed by some as anti-white prejudice is causing writers, directors and producers to fear they will never work again. One described the current atmosphere as ‘more toxic than Chernobyl’, with leading actors afraid to speak out amid concern they will be labelled racist."

The first sign came with one of the most powerful black directors in Hollywood, Oscar-winning Jordan Peele – the man behind box office hits such as Get Out and Us – stated in public that he did not want to hire a leading man who was white.‘I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie,’ Peele said. ‘Not that I don’t like white dudes. But I’ve seen that movie before.’As one studio executive responded privately: ‘If a white director said that about hiring a black actor, their career would be over in a heartbeat.’ Few doubt it.

The race card is a very powerful card.

Peele is more vocal than most about his hiring policy, but his outlook is increasingly widespread. Dozens of producers, writers and actors have spoken to The Mail on Sunday about the wave of ‘reverse racism’ pulsing through the industry.

It’s not “reverse racism” it’s racism pure and simple. Africans can be racists and they are. Black Lives Matter is a racist organization.

speaking on condition of anonymity, the executive confirmed that the climate is now toxic for any ‘white, middle-aged man in showbusiness’. Their careers, ‘are pretty much over’.  They continued: ‘We’re only hiring people of colour, women or LGBT to write, star, produce, operate the cameras, work in craft services. If you are white, you can’t speak out because you will instantly be branded ‘racist’ or condemned for "‘white privilege’."

This is fucking great! I love to see the left eating its own and that is exactly what is going on in Hollywood. Guess what “middle aged white men”, you let this happen and now you are paying the price. Let’s see Hollywood produce movies only starring Africans. Won’t bother me a bit since I don’t go to movies anymore. I will love seeing all of those white liberal actors not getting cast in any movies anymore

.‘The pendulum has swung so far, everyone is paralyzed with fear by the idea anything you say could be misinterpreted and your career ended instantly. There are a lot of hushed conversations going on, but publicly everyone is desperate to be seen to be promoting diversity and too terrified to speak out. It’s imploding: a total meltdown.’

 Sure I am enjoying the Hollywood leftist eating their own, there is a certain satisfaction watching that happen after watching that cultural trainwreck coming into the station, after seeing them screw over their country for 20 plus years by embracing the latest and greatest of the leftest causes  all of a sudden to find themselves on the outside looking in and wondering "what just happened" and realized that they are 2nd class citizens now.   But the realization for me is that what happened in Hollywood is happening all over the United States especially in Corporate America.  We have  the CEO of NBC stating that he is pushing to reflect 50% diversity hire in his company in new initiative's  and right now his company is a mix of men and women and he states that he wants to set a cap of 25% of white males in his company and if memory serves, it about 38% white males  so he will have to early retire them, or offer severance packages or outright fire them to meet his goal.  Now this practice will become more widespread as the wave continues and more companies will do the same practice and it will be acceptable.  Sure it is discrimination, but nobody will fight it because of "systemic racism(tm)"  and if somebody tries to fight it in court they will be committing career suicide and they will be toxic for any future employment, Tell me I am wrong in this present corporate environment.
      I am what is called a "Summer Chicken" as I like to joke, which means I have lived more of my life behind me than what is left to me and I am fine with that, but I am concerned what kind of life my son will have, being treated a 2nd class citizen in the United States.  I was at Sams Club picking up items for the spousal unit yesterday per her request, and my county is a "blue" county, it swung blue back in 2014 and voted for Felonia Von Pantsuit* in 2016.  Where I live in my county is still "Trump" territory, I call it "Roarks Drift" as a Tongue in Cheek reference, but while in Sams club with the mobs of people there were a lot of democrats and most of them were looking at me with hostility or what my friend *Shelldude* would call the "Fuck you look" I saw a lot of "Black lives matter shirts" and the "Enough is Enough" and the ever popular "I can't Breath". and I really didn't like this at all, it is a unfamiliar  sensation,  because as a rule I am very polite to people I nodded and smiled, No I didn't wear my Trump 2020 Hat, I didn't feel like provoking a confrontation and in the political arena, I would lose, even if I am in the right because the DA would suck and swallow to the mob. I push the envelope with my truck having the "deplorable Inside" sticker on the back  as it is.

But that is from 2016 but the rest of the stuff still marks me as a conservative so who knows...My son will graduate in 2021 and we will move in a few years, we don't know where we will go, I made jokes about moving to Texas but the Spousal unit wasn't happy about that suggestion, we would have to find employment out there.  We will move because we must, we cannot remain here, I do not want to stay here, for what  I fear is coming.   my friend *Shelldude*  is somewhat prescient had coined a phrase in the 90's "Balkenization" I fear that this is coming I have to look to move to a place where there is more like me for no other reason than for my and my wife's safety.  I never thought I would have to say that.  I in the 1980's thought we were past all this tribal bullshit, but Obama really got it stirred up and and it has bore fruit.
       All of this kinda put me into a funk.  It just came into a head, My creative energy was just kaput, I read my blogroll but I had no energy to put anything into the blog, I was bummed as they say. I would look at the keyboard and see nothing....and desultory tap the keyboard....tap.....tap....tap...then wipe the screen and close the screen and walk away....This sucks.
      On the flipside...with Hollywood having a meltdown there is room for independent productions to start making movies, with good quality content and not full of PC bullshit and if it sells well in the movies or on netflix or what have you, it may break the back or the stranglehold that Hollywood has on the movie industry.and the culture wars.  The last movie I saw was Midway and I considered it Pretty well done, overall, some minor glitches but well told. and some of those "woke" stars now that they have been burned and those conservatives that have been hiding, can come out of the closet, have nothing to lose can come out with the independents where merit counts and not how many checks you can mark off on a diversity card.

*My Name for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Election

Monday Music "Don't Change" by INXS

I have been enjoying the run of songs, I never had a theme last this long, and I am  really enjoying it in a weird sort of way,   I have several more weeks in mind, perhaps longer.  As long as I can flog er work the muse, I will, and for some reason 80's music plays really plays well with this theme of songs for some reason.
     I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related good music in the 1980's unlike that crap they listen to now.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "On the Loose" by Saga,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because of berets, oiled hair and tossed instruments, ...but it IS  ATF people you know...... 

Shabooh Shoobah is Australian rock group INXS's third studio album and was released on 16 October 1982. It peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained on the chart for 94 weeks. It was the band's first album to be released worldwide and appeared on the United States Billboard 200 and on the Hot Pop Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles, "The One Thing" (July 1982), "Don't Change" (October), "To Look at You" (March 1983) and "Black and White" (June). It was produced by Mark Opitz for WEA Australia with most tracks written by band members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence.
The name "Shabooh Shoobah" is an onomatopoeia of a rhythm in the song "Spy of Love"

"Don't Change" is a song by Australian rock band INXS. It was released as a single from the album Shabooh Shoobah in October 1982. It has been described as the band's first international single. "Don't Change" peaked at number 14 on the Australian Singles Charts and reached number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.
In February 2014, after the Channel 7 screening of INXS: Never Tear Us Apart mini-series, "Don't Change" charted again in Australia via download sales. It peaked at #92 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia collection.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Don't Change" was ranked number 28.

The music video, directed by Scott Hicks, was originally planned to be filmed on an airport runway, in South Australia, but was cancelled due to a bad weather and filming took place in a nearby airport hangar. Hutchence knew Hicks, who had previously directed Australian film Freedom, for which Hutchence had performed on two songs included on the film's soundtrack, "Speed Kills" and "Forest Theme", which were written by Don Walker (Cold Chisel). "Speed Kills" was Hutchence's first solo single and was released by WEA in early 1982.[

Some goings on at Casa De Garabaldi and some minor rants...

We went on vacation earlier in the week to the next state over to a big lake and chilled for several days.  It was nice visiting with my brother and his family.  The scenery was nice except for the rain, that seemed to make a lot of appearances it still was nice.

  We left on Thursday and returned home because we had a date with destiny.  My son who has been in scouting since he was a tiger scout and has been a Life scout for 5.5 years had finally was going for his Eagle board....

And he GOT IT.  I am very proud of him...Now I can extract my foot out of his 3rd point of contact.  He got it before his 18th birthday, he ain't a "Screaming Eagle.  He still had 6 months to go.   But on a different note.  One of the guys that was on the board, just called me, one of his techs was exposed to "Kung-Flu" so he had to make the calls to everyone so I and my family have to get tested.....Sheesh.

       Now on to some pithy comments on some stuff I noticed on farcebook because I am of an inquiring mind....

I saw this in my feed and I was thinking......."Don't they have Nigerian princes for that already? now they have an app for people to just send money?   Dang.....no more scamming.....just send money, cut out the middleman.....save your credit card company the hassle and the damage to your credit score...."   Or am I being insensitive.....

     And I saw this Gem......

Needless to say...Ignore the Monster Hunter International below it, it is one of my staples on Farcebook....But this "Reparations" crap  which is a bunch of bullshit  It is going to give a bunch of money to people that should thank God that they are living in the United States and not in Africa where the life is really cheap and  is measured in what 40 years if that long? by living in the the United States where it is doubled. In Africa they can most likely be stuck in some tribal existence, and in the United States, they can be whatever they want to be, not governed by by tribal duties or existence.   But if they listen to people that poison their mind to the fruits of this country, then they will stand around and demand a handout that will not come because there will not be one because there will such a push back to the idea. what was the great society program, what were all the programs to lift them out of poverty, what were affirmative action? what were "set aside"? and other programs to benefit minority races? this idea of "raparations" will backfire and poison race relations for 100 years if it goes through by forcing people that never owned slaves to pay money to people that were never were slaves.  This would be massive income redistribution and it is marxist at its core.  What happened to the people that died to free them?  This will cause such resentment., it will poison race relations and speaking of poisoning race relations, I saw this also...

     I remember Martin Luther King Speech on His children growing up where they would be judged by their character not the color of their skin.  We are going back to the days of Jim Crow.  Martin Luther King would be so disappointed by what he is seeing.  He wanted to blacks to be treated the same as the whites, now there are a new generations of blacks leaders that wants blacks to be treated different than everyone else, they wanted to be graded differently in school because of "Systemic Racism", they wanted to be promoted differently because of "Systemic Racism", everything was to be different because of "systemic Racism"   he would be so disappointed.  It is like they have totally forgotten the lessons of Selma and Birmingham and embraced "Victimhood".  There will be Americans which are all the other races then there will be "Africans-Americans" I guess.....then Next year or in 2022, I can see LaRaza making a play to tear at the national fabric some more, you don't think they ain't taking notes to see how much Antifa and BLM(Burn/Loot and Murder gets sway with before they make their demands, remember, they view the American Southwest and Texas as Occupied territory for "The People".

Technical issues.....Please Stand by...

My internet is acting squirrley, I have a blogpost in the que....Hope to post later in the day.

vacation

I am on vacation, the next state over, the internet ain't great, I have my baby laptop which it isn't great for blogpost, but it allows me to check my blogrolls.  We will be back Thursday Evening and ranting will resume at that time.  Please visit my friends on my blogroll, they are much better than I am at this.

Monday Music "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden

     One of my readers suggested this song for my run of "Bugaloo" songs and I vaguely recall this song in the early/mid 1980 while I was in high school, so I listened to it and it was pretty good and would be an excellent edition for a "valhalla' song as you stacked magazines and prepared yourself.
        H/T BadFrog

I have been enjoying the run of songs, I never had a theme last this long, and I am  really enjoying it in a weird sort of way,   I have several more weeks in mind, perhaps longer.  As long as I can flog er work the muse, I will, and for some reason 80's music plays really plays well with this theme of songs for some reason.
     I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related good music in the 1980's unlike that crap they listen to now.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Don't Change" by INXS,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because of Nose rings, tattoo's Leathers and bondage...but it is ATF people you know...... 
    
"The Trooper" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, Piece of Mind (1983). It was one of only a few songs to get much radio airplay in the United States, thus peaking at No. 28 on the US Mainstream Rock charts.^[1] It also achieved success in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 12 in the UK Singles Charts as well as gaining a much better reception than the band's previous single, "Flight of Icarus"

Written by bassist and founding-member Steve Harris, the song is based on the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava 1854, which took place during the Crimean War, and inspired by Lord Tennyson's poem of the same name. The track has been the subject of much praise since its release, with AllMusic describing it as "an all-time genre classic that boasts guitarists [Dave Murray] and [Adrian Smith's] most memorable harmonized lead riff, plus that trademark galloping rhythm," while Mick Wall comments that it is the song "which most Maiden fans from those days still recall first when you mention the Piece of Mind album." Despite the popularity of the song, it was the single's B-Side, a cover of Jethro Tull's "Cross-Eyed Mary", which managed to gain a substantial amount of airplay on US radio, becoming one of the band's few tracks, along with previous single "Flight of Icarus", to do so.

The single's accompanying music video included clips of a cavalry battle from the 1936 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, which the BBC refused to play unedited, deeming the footage too violent. The band's manager, Rod Smallwood, has since criticised the decision, stating, "Anyone would think we'd killed the horses ourselves instead of using an old Errol Flynn movie."
A regular fixture in the band's concerts, vocalist Bruce Dickinson has always waved a Union Flag during live performances and, more recently, has begun wearing an authentic red coat uniform which would have been worn during the battle on which the song was based. During a performance in Dublin in 2003, Dickinson's flag-waving reportedly received a large amount of booing from the Irish audience.

While the band were receiving criticism from Sharon Osbourne in 2005, at the time justifying her attack on the band at the 2005 Ozzfest, she accused Iron Maiden of disrespecting American troops, then fighting alongside the British in Iraq, for waving a Union Flag in the US, although Classic Rock magazine supported the band by pointing out that the song's subject bore no relation to the military activity then taking place in the Middle East.

America is 244 years old...

Happy 4th of July, our country is 244 years old, still young, but compared to a lot of the countries in the world, we are one of the older ones.  In this we still having a representative form of government is unusual, usually by this time tyranny has set in, although we have lost some freedom, we still are doing better than every else in the world.  Despite the problems, I am grateful that I am an American and I hope the new generation continues to carry the torch forward.

This idealized depiction of (left to right) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration was widely reprinted (by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

"Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
"He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
"He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
"He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
"He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.
"He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
"He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
"He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
"For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
"For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
"For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
"For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
"For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
"For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
"For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
"For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
"He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
"He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

"Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British.
We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!