Loaded freight wagons on their way from Goldfield, Nevada to the Bullfrog district (Rhyolite) 1905.
Bunk house interior - Blue Jacket mine (Idaho County, Idaho)
American lawman Wyatt Earp (1848 – 1929) – Earp, who took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881, is pictured circa 1870.
Korean War vet posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor
Air Force Capt. John Walmsley, was awarded the Medal of Honor for the daring risks he took to drop bombs on targets during the Korean War. Walmsley, a former flight instructor, piloted a B-26 belonging to the 8th Bombardment Squadron. He was developing strategies for searchlight attacks against enemy convoys.
Korea was resupplying its army overnight through truck and train convoys. One night, Walmsley discovered an enemy supply train near Yankgdok, Korea, as he flew over. This train was a high value target, according to a report. Walmsley identified and dropped bombs on the train, eventually running out. The train, as a result, was disabled.
Instead of returning to base, Walmsley called for more friendly aircraft to complete the destruction of the train. While flying, he used his searchlight to expose the train. This, however, made him an easy target for the enemy. Walmsley made two low-level passes over the top of the train to guide the other B-26s. Before he could complete another pass, his plane took enemy fire. The damage to the aircraft was catastrophic and he crashed into the mountains nearby. Walmsley was a combat veteran and had already completed 25 combat missions. His courageous actions allowed his comrades to continue the fight even at the cost of his own life. Walmsley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor June 12, 1954.
What were the Banana wars?
US Marines with the captured flag of Augusto César Sandino in 1932:
During a period of conflict between the United States and several Central American countries that came to be known as the Banana Wars, the US invaded and occupied Nicaragua in 1912 – although a number of other operations were carried out prior to this. The start of the Great Depression and the activities of the guerilla army led by Augusto Cesar Sandino were contributing factors to the withdrawal of US troops from Nicaragua in 1933.
Military presence in Nicaragua was almost non-existent, but President Jose Santos Zelaya was staring down a rebellion led by Juan Jose Estrada. After two American mercenaries were executed by the men of Zelaya, the United States began to get involved. With the US navy patrolling the Bluefields coastline, they were basically supporting Estrada’s uprising. By 1909, approximately two hundred and fifty marines arrived on the Nicaraguan coast under the command of Corps Major Smedley Butler.
Zeleya eventually fled Nicaragua due to political pressures and Jose Madriz became his successor. But with more rebel forces on the horizon, Madriz resigned, with new president, Juan Estrada coming into power in 1910. Financial relationships between Nicaragua and the United States began to grow, and even during Adolfo Diaz’s term as president, these relationships developed. Unfortunately, these relations began to strain Diaz’s local support, and he asked for support from the United States. As the Granada to Corinto railway was of interest of the United States, hundreds of Marines descended on Nicaragua.
Great military battles ensued against opposing rebel groups and together with the Nicaraguan Army they were able to hold off the rebel forces. With Diaz therefore remaining in power as president of Nicaragua, the United States began to withdraw their forces but some forces remained to enforce peace in the country for fifteen years, but in doing so they were also able to protect their economic and political influence in the country.
Augusto Cesar Sandino built up a rebellion army to challenge the Diaz government, and in the 1932 election, Juan Bautista Sacasa won presidency. Sandino promised to enter into peace discussions with Sacasa if the United States troops withdrew from Nicaragua, which he did after the last troops left in January 1933