On this anniversary of September 11, 2001, We The People of the USA thank you sincerely,  O Canada,  for your kindness and support of our brothers and sisters in their time of dire need.  From Whitehorse to Gander, your graciousness will never be forgotten.
GANDER, N.L. – Gander International Airport in Newfoundland was once a cosmopolitan crossroads where transatlantic flights carrying everyone from world leaders to Humphrey Bogart touched down to refuel.
Its modernist lounge with geometric flooring and sleek furniture is a trip back to 1959, when the Queen opened it as an avant-garde ode to the glamour of air travel.
But Gander’s global prominence faded when jumbo jets started criss-crossing the Atlantic non-stop. Traffic at the sprawling airfield — a former Second World War staging point — dwindled to cargo planes, military flights, emergency landings and the odd private jet.
Then 9-11 hit. (more…)

A man who was convinced the Twin Towers would be targeted in a terror attack led 2,700 people to safety from the World Trade Center before being killed when he went back in looking for stragglers.
Security chief Rick Rescorla carried out training drills with staff at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to prepare them for a terror atrocity after realising the vulnerability of buildings to air terror attacks.
But after leading thousands to safety on 9/11 when his fears were realised, the 62-year-old Cornishman was last seen going back up the stairs of the South Tower before it collapsed. (more…)

Since I was raised a military ‘brat’, it’ll be no secret to anyone that my heroes are those who have served We The People in the military. Today we’ll look at a man whose most famous and difficult mission was the one being talked about today, 71 years later. If you look up Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbets online, you’ll find countless pictures and articles written (both good and bad) about the mission over Hiroshima. The following is from an obituary printed in the UK, from a website set up by Ret. General Paul W. Tibbets, and from an interview he had with Studs Turkel. W2

Brigadier General Paul Warfield Tibbets

“.. To our fellow veterans and the American nation we all echo one sentiment, “I pray that reason will prevail among leaders before we ever again need to call upon our nuclear might. There are no regrets. We were proud to have served like so many men and women stationed around the world today. To them, to you, we salute you and goodbye.”..” (more…)

By Elvis Chupacabra

The old timers said that a dry, chill wind was blowing out of the northwest, right from the heart of the Commancheria, that dawn of March 6, 1836. It ripped the palls of black smoke billowing from the old Alamo mission into ragged tendrils and hurled them away, as if trying to clear the air of the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh and the acrid stench of gunpowder. By the time the sun broke above the horizon and cast a golden light over the old mission-turned-fortress, gunshots still sporadically rent the air, but the main sound was that of an enraged mob. (more…)

Texas Independence Day

March 2, 1836

By Elvis Chupacabra

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When I was a mere lad, Texas Independence Day was celebrated in schools with patriotic songs, readings of the Declaration by schoolkids and grave lectures on our role as Texans by our teachers. Even the Mexican kids participated, because anyone who’d read the  hallowed rolls of the Alamo and Goliad dead knew that there were plenty of martyrs with Spanish surnames. We also knew of Lorenzo de Zavala and Juan Seguin, both Texian heroes of the Revolution.

It was understood by the youngest of us that Texas went from being just the mostly empty northern part of the Mexican state of Cohuila-Texas to the independent Republic of Texas with the signing of this document. Like the beloved United States, from whence the spirit -and some would say impetus – of revolution had come, we won our right to be free through the force of arms, wielded by brave and bold men. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the despot which our Texas Forefathers overthrew was ever bit as evil and prone to predations as Britain’s George III. His one saving grace, that he invented that most American of oral fixations, chewing gum, was more than off-set by his cruelty and duplicitous nature. The self-proclaimed Napoleon of the North, he boasted an army well-officered and well-equipped that had spent the past couple of years putting down rebellions in Mexico. It wasn’t just the Texians who longed for the return to a government who respected the liberal Constitution of 1824.  (more…)

This series of articles is guest posted by Elvis Chupacabra!

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February 23, 1836:

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna reaches San Antonio with a large body of his troops, mostly cavalry. Much of his assault infantry, engineer troops and siege artillery are strung out along the road back to the Rio Grande. Of these, many of his native troops, lightly dressed for the warmth of Mexico, have suffered in a late and particularly harsh winter storm along their hasty, forced march towards the rebellious province of Tejas. (more…)