March 6

[Bill Greenwood]

Yesterday was the aniversary of the first Spitfire flight in 1936. Does anybody know what anversary today is? King, Larry etc. hold off a bit and let's see if any of them Yankees know what's what or at least what's was? Hint, it was in a recent movie.

[Robbie Stuart]

Nevermind.

Last edited by Robbie Stuart on Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[K5DH]

This Yankee (originally from Philadelphia) knows the answer. . .

The Alamo fell to Santa Ana's army on this date in 1836.

Last edited by K5DH on Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Bill Greenwood]

The Alamo, an old mission now in downtown San Antonio is a special place to Texans and to many others who have visited it. There is a sign on the door, to the effect, "Those who enter, speak quitely for heroes died here". Many times we honor soldiers who fought for a cause, a bomber crew over Germany, a Marine landing on Tarawa; but many of these hoped to survive, and most did. For Texans, the Alamo was different; those 185 or so inside a makeshift fort, knew they were surrounded by a modern army of 3000 or 4000; with no chance to survive.It sounds like a Hollywood script with people like James Bowie and David Crockett, but it was real and we know because the letters Travis sent out exist. The choice was surrender, try to escape at night, or fight and make Santa Anna pay dearly for the victory. After 13 days of siege and bombardment, the Mexicans attacked at daylignt, fortified by mescal and their own bravery. The Texans had some cannon, and like Crockett, top riflemen. The took a toll the first wave, the Mexicans retreated, came again, were driven back, and then shifted to the gap made in the north wall by cannon fire. Sheer numbers overwhelmed the defenders. Mexican losses were heavy, too many to even bury: Santa Anna had his dead thrown in the river and burned the defender bodies. Santa Anna said, 'a small affair". He had stayed in the rear during the fighting. Gen. Cos morned his men and wrote of the first div. he led, "I brought 800 of the finest soldiers here and left 600 of them dead." Total Mexican losses, including wonded can be estimated at about a third of their army, and most of their bravado. Santa Anna went east and six weeks later, at San Jacinto just east of Houston, was routed by Sam Houston's Texas army in just 18 minutes. This time the Mexicans, including Santa Anna put up almost no fight and ran from a smaller force. Mexicans had murdered 400 prisoners that surrenderd at Goliad. Their soldiers learned a little English, i e "Me no Alamo, Me no Goliad" and it did save about 650 of them, the 400 dead were left on the prarie for the coyetes. Texas was free. The grounds are marked now by a tall monument and the Battleship Texas.

[Ztex]

I get a lump in my throat every time I visit the Alamo.




Image by Mike Todd

[RyanShort1]

Hurrah for brave men.

Ryan

[Bill Greenwood]

The best two books are by Lon Tinkle, THIRTEEN DAYS TO GLORY, AND BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO. The first Alamo movie with Richard Widmark as Bowie, Lawrence Harvey as Travis, and John Wayne as Crockett is probably the best. The recent one tries to develop Crockett as the central persona, and gives a good portrayal of Santa Anna, but has some innacuracies, such as Crockett being captured. The only white adult survivor, Mrs. Dickenson knew the men and clearly saw the bodies of Crockett, Travis etc. where they fell, before she left. Any visitor should see both sites if they are near. The veiw out of the top of the San Jacinto Monument is sweeping and at the right time might include a warbird fly by.

[King]

The Alamo is a must see when in San Antonio. The history is incredible.

The wife and I go to San Antonio and stay downtown about once a month (our time for ourselves), and we walk by the shrine all the time, sometimes we take a walk through. It is very quiet in there as the sign asks for.

[C170BDan]

Ah... what could be better than a vintage airplane photo? A photo of a vintage airplane flying over a Texas landmark!

[Taylor Stevenson]

Remember the Alamo!!!

[OZFURYFAN]

Hi All,March 6th is a pretty relevent day for a lot of Aussies in the Warbird game.It marks the day on which Guido Zuccoli,one of the pioneers of the Warbird movement in Oz,was tragically killed in the crash of a Harvard back in 1997.Hard to believe 10 years have passed,still remembered & admired for his fantastic displays in Fury 308.Cheers,Pete Bradley

[Bill Greenwood]

Robbie, your post about the big raid was a good one that I did not know, but Dean had the answer I had in mind. Pete, I believe I met Guido at Oskosh some years ago.

[k5083]

The Alamo is a special place. As battlefields go, it is very respectfully and beautifully preserved, and I very much felt the ghosts of the past there.

None of this stuff about Texas independence and Bowie and Crockett and Houston does anything for me, but I can relate a little, because my native country also has a battlefield where a defending force of 1,000 fought off a ruthless invading army four times its size, much like San Jacinto. The date was October 13, 1812; the country was Canada; the battlefield is Queenston Heights; the invader was the United States. Our Sam Houston was Isaac Brock, but he did not survive the battle to issue such valiant statements afterward. We've got one of those big spiky monuments too. Like San Jacinto, it is a very special place.

August

[wendovertom]

Doing a bit of research and I found this interesting fact - Santa Anna's great great grandson, Hector Santa Anna was a 35 mission, B-17 pilot in WWII and retired a Lt. Colonel. He died just recently at the age of 83.

Tom P.

[Bill Greenwood]

Wendoverton, What a story, can it be true? Got any more details? How did he get to be a U S citizen? It is possible, Santa Anna was the last name. Could he have gone through Air Force training in San Antonio?