Douglas MacArthur was born January 26, 1880, at Little Rock Barracks, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur, Jr., a U.S. Army captain, and his wife, Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur (nicknamed “Pinky”). Arthur, Jr. was the son of Scottish-born jurist and politician Arthur MacArthur, Sr., Arthur would later receive the Medal of Honor for his actions with the Union Army in the Battle of Missionary Ridge … Continue reading General Douglas MacArthur
Earlier this week, I wrote that my favorite rock Christmas song is the live version of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” as performed by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in 1975 and released as the B-side of a single in 1985. The song was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in … Continue reading A Month of Christmas: Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town & Christmas in Japan
On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy, commanding a squadron of two steamers and two sailing vessels, sailed into Tôkyô harbor aboard the frigate Susquehanna. Under orders from American President Millard Fillmore. Perry’s primary goal was to force an end to Japan’s 220-year-old policy of isolation and to open Japanese ports to American trade, through the use of gunboat … Continue reading Matthew Petty and the Opening of Japan
On June 7, 1942, Japanese soldiers began a nearly year-long occupation of the American island of Attu, the last piece of U.S. soil to fall to enemy forces in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during World War II. The day before, 500 Japanese marines had gone ashore at Kiska Island, Alaska, as a separate campaign concurrent with the Japanese plan for the Battle of Midway. … Continue reading Japan Invades the Aleutian Islands of Alaska
May 27 in Japan is remembered as Navy Anniversary Day (海軍記念日 — Kaigun Kinen’bi) which commemorated the Battle of Tsushima, a major naval battle in 1905 fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. It was naval history’s only decisive sea battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets, and the first naval battle in which wireless telegraphy (radio) played a critically important role. It has … Continue reading Japan Navy Anniversary Day
Japan (日本 — Nippon) is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland (east of China, Korea, Russia) and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the southwest. Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of … Continue reading Japan #Z125 (1992)
A Stamp A Day 