On this day:

On June 22, 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services–known as G.I.s–for their efforts in World War II.

As the last of its sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration created the G.I. Bill–officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944–hoping to avoid a relapse into the Great Depression after the war ended. FDR particularly wanted to prevent a repeat of the Bonus March of 1932, when 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families flocked in protest to Washington. The American Legion, a veteran’s organization, successfully fought for many of the provisions included in the bill, which gave returning servicemen access to unemployment compensation, low-interest home and business loans, and—most importantly—funding for education.

By giving veterans money for tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and equipment, the G.I. Bill effectively transformed higher education in America. Before the war, college had been an option for only 10-15 percent of young Americans, and university campuses had become known as a haven for the most privileged classes. By 1947, in contrast, vets made up half of the nation’s college enrollment; three years later, nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, compared with 160,000 in 1939.

As educational institutions opened their doors to this diverse new group of students, overcrowded classrooms and residences prompted widespread improvement and expansion of university facilities and teaching staffs. An array of new vocational courses were developed across the country, including advanced training in education, agriculture, commerce, mining and fishing–skills that had previously been taught only informally.

The G.I. Bill became one of the major forces that drove an economic expansion in America that lasted 30 years after World War II. Only 20 percent of the money set aside for unemployment compensation under the bill was given out, as most veterans found jobs or pursued higher education. Low interest home loans enabled millions of American families to move out of urban centers and buy or build homes outside the city, changing the face of the suburbs.

Over 50 years, the impact of the G.I. Bill was enormous, with 20 million veterans and dependents using the education benefits and 14 million home loans guaranteed, for a total federal investment of $67 billion. Among the millions of Americans who have taken advantage of the bill are former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, former Vice President Al Gore and entertainers Johnny Cash, Ed McMahon, Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood.

Many Black World War II Veterans Were Denied Their GI Bill Benefits. Time to Fix That. - War on the Rocks

During World War II 1,154,486 black Americans served in uniform. Not only did they face continued brutal racism and discrimination when they returned home

warontherocks.com

Brother in law number two moved to Florida with Sister when his gig in the Air Force ended. We were both incoming freshmen at Chipola Jr College that year, with Uncle Sugar footing the bill for him.

Just an aside about how crazy the cost of school has gotten, the cost of my tuition for the first semester was like two hundred bucks.

injinji said:

Brother in law number two moved to Florida with Sister when his gig in the Air Force ended. We were both incoming freshmen at Chipola Jr College that year, with Uncle Sugar footing the bill for him.

Just an aside about how crazy the cost of school has gotten, the cost of my tuition for the first semester was like two hundred bucks.

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Yup I remember when a semester at community college out here in California was $48.00. It's crazy that kids are being financially enslaved to get an education. It's wrong.

curious2garden said:

Yup I remember when a semester at community college out here in California was $48.00. It's crazy that kids are being financially enslaved to get an education. It's wrong.

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What gets me is when they talk "C" high school students into going to college. 5% of all C students earn their four year degree. They are the ones who can least afford the debt.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 is often considered the first practical, functional helicopter, first flown in 1936. It was also known as the Fa 61, as Focke began a new company—Focke-Achgelis—in 1937. Wikipedia
Top speed: 76 mph
Introduced: 1936
Weight: 1,764 lbs
Designer: Henrich Focke
First flight: June 26, 1936
Engine type: Siemens-Halske Sh 14
Manufacturers: Focke-Wulf, Focke-Achgelis

On the morning of June 27, 2015, activists posing as joggers signal to one of their comrades that the police have momentarily turned their attention away from the flagpole outside the South Carolina State House. Having received the signal, Brittany "Bree" Newsome scales the pole, takes down the Confederate flag that was flying there and is placed under arrest. Newsome's actions reverberated across the nation and eventually resulted in the state of South Carolina permanently removing the flag from its capitol.

Newsome's civil disobedience came just ten days after a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans in a bible study at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Newsome heard President Barack Obama's eulogy for one of the victims, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, as she drove to Columbia. In preparation, she practiced climbing and received advice from Greenpeace activists with experience scaling trees. As she held the flag in her hands, a police officer ordered her to come down, to which she responded, "You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today." She recited Psalm 23 as she was taken to jail.

Although the flag was flying again within an hour, Newsome's actions had an immediate and lasting effect. Civil rights leaders and other prominent cultural figures spoke out against the flag and in support of Newsome, with NBA star Dwyane Wade and filmmaker Michael Moore both offering to pay her bail. The protest drew attention to the many Confederate symbols that still held places of public prominence across the American South, and this attention ultimately forced the state of South Carolina to act.

On July 9, the Republican-dominated legislature of South Carolina passed a bill permanently removing the flag from the capitol building, and Republican Governor Nikki Haley quickly signed it. Newsome later connected her actions to acts of civil disobedience from the first civil rights era, equating it to the way “that it demonstrated power and agency for the Greensboro Four to go and sit down at the Woolworth's counter. You're saying we can't sit here? We're going to sit here. You're saying we can’t lower this flag? We are going to lower this flag today. It was just a feeling of triumph."

Nothing worthy of reporting on June 24th, now, next year, sadly this. This happens in third world countries not here. :

BarnBuster said:

. . . . . . . . This happens in third world countries not here. :

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Dade County has third world corruption. Buildings that tall should never have been built on filled in swamps. The ground always sinks over time.

Bell Labs publicly announced the first transistor at a press conference in New York on June 30, 1948.

It's been called the most important invention of the 20th century. The transistor, aka point-contact transistor, is a semiconductor device that can amplify or switch electrical signals. It was developed to replace vacuum tubes.

Vacuum tubes were bulky, unreliable and consumed too much power. So AT&T's research-and-development arm, Bell Labs, started a project to find an alternative.

For nearly a decade before the first transistor was developed, Shockley, a physicist at Bell Labs, worked on the theory of such a device. But Shockley couldn't build a working model. His first semiconductor amplifier had a "small cylinder coated thinly with silicon, mounted close to a small, metal plate."

So Shockley asked his colleagues, Bardeen and Brattain, to step in. One of the problems they noticed with Shockley's first attempt was condensation on the silicon. So they submerged it in water and suggested the initial prototype have a metal point "that would be pushed into the silicon surrounded by distilled water." At last there was amplification — but disappointingly, at a trivial level.

Following more experiments, germanium replaced silicon, which increased amplification by about 300 times.

A few more modifications later, Brattain had a gold metal point extended into the germanium. That resulted in better ability to modulate amplification at all frequencies.

The final design of a point-contact transistorhad two gold contacts lightly touching a germanium crystal that was on a metal plate connected to a voltage source. Also known as the "little plastic triangle," it became the first working solid-state amplifier.

Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated the transistor device to Bell Lab officials Dec. 23, 1947. Shockley was reported to have called it "a magnificent Christmas present." But Shockley himself was not present when it happened and was said to be bitter over losing out on that day.

He had his revenge, though. Shockley continued to work on the idea and refine it. In early 1948, he came up with the bipolar or junction transistor, a superior device that took over from the point-contact type.

The transistor went on to replace bulky vacuum tubes and mechanical relays. The invention revolutionized the world of electronics and became the basic building block upon which all modern computer technology rests.

Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for the transistor, but the trio never worked together after the first few months of their initial creation of the transistor.

Shockley left Bell Labs and founded Shockley Semiconductor in Mountain View, California – one of the early high-tech companies in what would later become Silicon Valley.

Brattain remained a fellow at Bell Labs. Bardeen became a professor at the University of Illinois in 1951, and he shared a second Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972, for the first successful explanation of superconductivity.

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg began on this day in 1863. It proved to be a turning point in the Civil War.

As measured by the number of troops engaged, the first day ranks as the 23rd biggest battle of the war. It began as an engagement between units of the Army of Northern Virginia under Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Union Maj. Gen. George Meade. Before the sun had set, it had escalated into a major battle — one that culminated in the outnumbered and defeated Union forces retreating to high ground south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. About one quarter of Meade’s army, some 22,000 men, and one third of Lee’s army, roughly 27,000, joined in that day’s struggle.

In September of the previous year, Lee had ventured north into Maryland where, at Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War occurred. Although that battle was judged to be a draw, Lee’s invasion was turned back.

Emboldened by his subsequent victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia, Lee decided to once again invade the North. After emerging victorious at Gettysburg, Lee had hoped to strike at Harrisburg and Philadelphia, with the eventual goal of breaking the Union’s will to fight.

On June 30, Union Gen. John Buford had taken possession of Seminary Ridge west of Gettysburg. On July 1, Gen. George Reynolds arrived with the First Corps to assist Buford. Reynolds opened the battle but was struck by a bullet and killed before noon. His death set the tone for the day. While the first day of the clash proved to be a Confederate victory, by the following day the tide turned irrevocably in the Union’s favor.

The primitive nature of Civil War medicine, both in its intellectual underpinnings and in its practice in the armies, meant that many wounds and illnesses were unnecessarily fatal. Our modern conception of casualties includes those who have been psychologically damaged by warfare. This distinction did not exist during the Civil War. Soldiers suffering from what we would now recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder were uncatalogued and uncared for.

The Battle of Gettysburg left approximately 7,000 corpses in the fields around the town. Family members had to come to the battlefield to find their loved ones in the carnage. The blazingly hot July sun further complicated the unprecedented challenges of burying the dead, usually in shallow (12-18 inched deep) graves and trenches. Apart from the human carnage, some 5,000 horses and mules died in the battle. They, too, had to be collected and burned in great pyres, leaving a stench that hung over the area for weeks.

64 men were awarded the Medal of Honor for the Gettysburg Campaign. (Many of the Medal’s issuance’s were for picking up the fallen colors (Flag) and advancing thru heavy sustained rifle and cannon fire. The Flag was an important and reverent rallying symbol for open field charging troops. Sharpshooters on both sides targeted Standard Bearers before officers. bb) During the American Civil War, as in earlier conflicts, the flags of a combat unit (its "colors") held a special significance. They had a spiritual value; they embodied the very "soul" of the unit. Protecting a unit's flag from capture was paramount; losing one to the enemy was considered disgraceful . There were practical reasons for the flags as well, as the regimental flags marked the position of the unit during battle. The smoke and confusion of battle often scattered participants across the field. The flag served as a visual rallying point for soldiers and also marked the area where to attack the enemy. Carrying the colors for the regiment was the greatest honor for a soldier. Generally the flag bearers were selected or elected to their position by the men and officers of the unit. As one Union Colonel told his men, “the colors bear the same relation to the soldier as honesty and integrity do to manhood. It is the guiding star to victory. When in the smoke and din of battle the voice of the officer is drown by the roar of artillery, the true soldier turns his eye to the colors that he may not stray too far from it, and while it floats is conscious of his right and strength. Take it… guard it as you would the honor of the mother, wife or friend you left behind.”

Union
3,155 killed
14,529 wounded
5,365 missing & captured

Confederate
3,903 killed
18,735 wounded
5,425 missing & captured

On the evening of July 2, 1947, several witnesses in and near Roswell, New Mexico, observed a disc-shaped object moving swiftly in a northwesterly direction through the sky. The following morning Mac Brazel, foreman of a ranch located near tiny Corona, New Mexico, rode out on horseback to move sheep from one field to another. Accompanying him was a young neighbor boy, Timothy D. Proctor. As they rode, they came upon strange debris -- various-size chunks of metallic material -- running from one hilltop, down an arroyo, up another hill, and running down the other side. To all appearances some kind of aircraft had exploded.

In fact Brazel had heard something that sounded like an explosion the night before, but because it happened during a rainstorm (though it was different from thunder), he had not looked into the cause. Brazel picked up some of the pieces. He had never seen anything like them. They were extremely light and very tough.

By the time events had run their course, the world would be led to believe that Brazel had found the remains of a weather balloon. For three decades, only those directly involved in the incident would know this was a lie. And in the early 1950s, when an enterprising reporter sought to re-investigate the story, those who knew the truth were warned to tell him nothing.

The cover-up did not begin to unravel until the mid-1970s, when two individuals who had been in New Mexico in 1947 separately talked with investigator Stanton T. Friedman about what they had observed. One, an Albuquerque radio station employee, had witnessed the muzzling of a reporter and the shutting down of an in-progress teletyped news story about the incident. The other, an Army Air Force intelligence officer, had led the initial recovery operation. The officer, retired Maj. Jesse A. Marcel, stated flatly that the material was of unearthly origin.

Crossover. . . .

1979 - The Sony Walkman
Sony introduced the Walkman, the first portable audio cassette player. Over the next 30 years they sold over 385 million Walkmans in cassette, CD, mini-disc and digital file versions, and were the market leaders until the arrival of Apple's iPod and other new digital devices.

When I was on the Saipan my tapedeck burned out, so I picked up a used WALKMAN at the flea market. My roommates had some top end audio equipment, so it was pretty funny looking paired up with their stuff.

I never walked with it then, but just think how far we have came in portable music. My 16gig mp3 player cost about 30 bucks. That's roughly 210 CD's worth of music. And for another 20 bucks, the 64gig microsd card takes the number of songs in my pocket to over a thousand. (although nothing can explain how I got two different cuts of In the Jailhouse Now back to back on shuffle)

"Iran Air flight 655, flight of an Iranian airliner that was shot down by the missile cruiser USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988, over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 people on board. The passenger plane, which was in Iranian airspace, had been incorrectly identified as a fighter jet.

In July 1988 Iran and Iraq were in the midst of a war that included attacks on each other’s oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The United States was among several countries that had warships in the area to safeguard the transport of oil. Various incidents, notably an attack on the USS Stark involving Iraq missiles in May 1987, had resulted in a revision to the U.S. rules of engagement, allowing U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf to undertake more protective measures. On July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes, under the command of Capt. William C. Rogers III, was involved in several skirmishes with Iranian vessels. According to various reports, Rogers, who had a reputation for aggressiveness, ignored orders to change course and instead continued to pursue the enemy gunboats.

Against this background, the Iranian airliner, an Airbus A300, departed from Bandar-e ʿAbbās, Iran, at approximately 10:47 AM, headed to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Crewmen aboard the Vincennes immediately began tracking Iran Air flight 655, which had taken off from an airport used by both military and commercial aircraft. For the next several minutes, there was confusion aboard the U.S cruiser over the identity of the aircraft, which was eventually determined to be a much smaller F-14 fighter jet. After several warning calls went unheeded, the Vincennes fired two surface-to-air missiles at 10:54 AM, destroying the plane and killing all those on board.

Immediately after the event, U.S. officials reported that the Iranian airliner had been rapidly descending and was headed toward the Vincennes. In addition, it was stated that Iran Air flight 655 was not within its normal route. However, a U.S. Navy report on July 28, 1988—released to the public in redacted form on August 19—refuted these claims. It concluded that the Iranian aircraft was actually ascending “within the established air route,” and it was traveling at a much slower speed than reported by the Vincennes. Furthermore, the airliner’s failure to communicate with the Vincennes was dismissed; in contact with two air control towers, the Iranian pilot was likely not checking the international air-distress channel. In the end, U.S. officials concluded that it was “a tragic and regrettable accident.” In explaining how the state-of-the-art cruiser had misidentified Iran Air flight 655, authorities cited “stress…and unconscious distortion of data.” However, U.S. officials also claimed that Iranian aggression played a key role in the incident. In 1990 the U.S. Navy notably awarded Rogers the Legion of Merit for his “outstanding service” during operations in the Persian Gulf.

Some, however, accused the U.S. military of a cover-up. It was noted that investigators failed to interview others near the Vincennes—notably the commander of the USS Sides, some of whose personnel had identified the aircraft as a commercial plane—as well as the surface warfare commander who had ordered Rogers to change course several hours before the incident. In addition, the report’s statement that the Vincennes was in international waters was later acknowledged as incorrect; the cruiser was in Iranian waters.

In Iran it was widely believed that the U.S. attack had been deliberate, and Iranian authorities worried that it indicated the United States was planning to join forces with Iraq. That assumption was thought to have played a role in Iran’s decision to agree to a cease-fire with Iraq in August 1988. In May 1989 Iran filed a lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice. As the case dragged on, a settlement was reached in 1996. The United States, which “expressed deep regret” for shooting down Iran Air flight 655, agreed to pay $61.8 million to the victims’ families, and Iran dropped its suit."

Happy Birthday America. (and my ex old lady too)

On the morning of July 7, 2005, bombs are detonated in three crowded London subways and one bus during the peak of the city’s rush hour. The synchronized suicide bombings, which were thought to be the work of al-Qaida, killed 56 people including the bombers and injured another 700. It was the largest attack on Great Britain since World War II. No warning was given.

The train bombings targeted the London Underground, the city’s subway system. Nearly simultaneous explosions, at about 8:50 a.m., occurred on trains in three locations: between the Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations on the Circle Line; between the Russell Square and King’s Cross stations on the Piccadilly Line; and at the Edgware Road station, also on the Circle Line. Almost an hour later, a double-decker bus on Upper Woburn Place near Tavistock Square was also hit; the bus’s roof was ripped off by the blast.

The attacks took place as world leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, were meeting at the G8 summit in nearby Scotland. In his remarks after learning of the blasts, Blair called the attacks barbaric and pointed out that their taking place at the same time as the G8 summit was most likely purposeful. Later, he vowed to see those responsible brought to justice and that Great Britain, a major partner with the U.S. in the war in Iraq, would not be intimidated by terrorists.

Of the four suicide bombers, three were born in Great Britain and one in Jamaica. Three lived in or near Leeds in West Yorkshire; one resided in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. Al-Qaida officially claimed responsibility for the attacks on September 1, 2005, in a videotape released to the al-Jazeera television network.

Two weeks later, on July 21, 2005, a second set of four bombings was attempted, also targeting the city’s transit system, but failed when the explosives only partially detonated. The four men alleged to be responsible for the failed attacks were arrested in late July.

An estimated 3 million people ride the London Underground every day, with another 6.5 million using the city’s bus system.

"At 12:25 a.m. on Sunday, July 8, 1945, two months after Germany’s surrender in World War II, the report of a .30 caliber machine gun shattered the silence in the small southern Utah town of Salina. Private Clarence V. Bertucci, a 23 year old guard at a nearby prisoner of war camp full of sleeping German prisoners, sprayed the camp with three bursts of bullets. Bertucci fired two hundred and fifty rounds in fifteen seconds before being stopped by fellow camp guards. He had been on duty for less than a half-hour.

Two hundred and fifty German prisoners living in 43 tents populated the camp at the time. Bertucci’s rounds hit 30 of those tents. Wounded prisoners were sent to hospitals in Kearns, Ft. Douglas, Tooele, and Brigham City’s Bushnell General Hospital. The most seriously wounded prisoners received medical attention in Salina. A total of eight prisoners died on July 8. A ninth prisoner succumbed to his wounds on July 13, 1945. Twenty other soldiers were wounded. The uninjured soldiers went back to agricultural work in Sanpete County and around Salina the next day, though they had requested the day off.

On July 12, the eight dead were interred at the Ft. Douglas Cemetery. German POWs from Ogden purchased wreaths to adorn the U.S. military caskets bearing their fellow soldiers. The War Department allowed some German POWs to attend the funeral. The seventeen prisoners in attendance sang “Good Comrade.” No Nazi flags were allowed at the service.

Private Bertucci remains somewhat of an enigma. The motive for the shooting remains unclear. A few hours before the shooting, he reportedly drank a few beers then promised something big would happen that night. After the shooting, Bertucci went to Ft. Douglas for psychiatric treatment. Bertucci showed no remorse for what he done. He said he hated Germans, and wanted to kill them. This is considered the worst massacre at a POW camp in the history of the USA."