Simon Rees on the truce:

The meeting of enemies as friends in no-man’s land was experienced by hundreds, if not thousands, of men on the Western Front during Christmas 1914. Today, 90 years after it occurred, the event is seen as a shining episode of sanity from among the bloody chapters of World War One – a spontaneous effort by the lower ranks to create a peace that could have blossomed were it not for the interference of generals and politicians.

The reality of the Christmas Truce, however, is a slightly less romantic and a more down to earth story. It was an organic affair that in some spots hardly registered a mention and in others left a profound impact upon those who took part.

Many accounts were rushed, confused or contradictory. Others, written long after the event, are weighed down by hindsight. These difficulties aside, the true story is still striking precisely because of its rag-tagged nature: it is more ‘human’ and therefore all the more potent.

Read on at FirstWorldWar.com.

Iran has serious self-confidence issues:

Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here Wednesday that undoubtedly, Europe owes its scientific development to Muslims scientists especially Iranians.

“Unfortunately, the world of Islam is today in need of western science. The Islamic Revolution is determined to return that glorious era to the world of Islam. This is why enemies of Islam are hurling obstacles on the way under different pretexts,” said Rafsanjani in an address to a group of the short-term students of the World Center of Islamic Sciences.

Rafsanjani said two scientific centers, i.e. Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin and the World Center of Islamic Sciences in Qom, were established in the early years of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in order to foster unity in the world of Islam.

He added that knowledge about different aspects of religion and its teaching to the public is a scientific duty for those who are capable of learning and teaching.

According to the EC Chairman, real science would always bring unity and affection while division would always deepens under the shadow of ignorance.

The only surprising thing about this statement is his admission that the Islamic world is currently lagging the West. This topic was recently covered by Steve Paulson for Salon:

Today, it’s something of an impediment for the Muslim world to continually look back to the glories of the past and keep saying that the Islamic world used to be a world leader in science. This tends to obscure some very important differences between modern science and medieval thinking. They did some very interesting things in medicine and optics. But all of this was mixed in with astrology and alchemy and what today we would consider dead ends. This was not thinking of nature mechanistically, as happened in the scientific revolution in Europe, but in almost an occult sense.

In other words, the glorious era, wasn’t quite so glorious.

The nuclear bomb Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. 62 years ago.

This day is overlooked by too many. I can’t even find mention of it on whitehouse.gov.

DefenseLink has some history:

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department — the Department of Defense.

The blogosphere remembered. Folks in Seaford Delaware celebrated. Cox and Forkum remembered too.

On the Web:
America Supports You

Racism, bigotry, and religious hatred continue to fuel stupidity in Iran. Of course, this won’t impact Israel or any serious academic work. It’s just more propaganda for the homefront and another way for them to confront the West that doesn’t carry any consequences.

“We do not intend to deny or confirm the Holocaust. If the occurrence of the event is officially questioned, the identity of the Zionist regime will also be put under question,” he said.

Pointing to Iran’s ancient history dating back centuries before and after Islam, he said there has been “no document unearthed proving Iranians to be racists in general and against Jews in particular because Iranians have always had great respect for divine religions.”

“There has never been a battle against Jews in Islamic territories. A look at history will show that several Jews have been senior officials of Islamic governments.” Mottaki said new approaches to studies on history and analyses of historical events are realities of today.

“Those who had been accepting historical narratives as irrefutable truths now doubt them. They refuse to believe the narratives until they are confirmed as facts,” he said.

President Bush’s annual proclamation is up at WhiteHouse.gov:

After the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “We are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows.” In the 21st century, freedom is again under attack, and young Americans have stepped forward to serve in a global war on terror that will secure our liberty and determine the destiny of millions around the world. Like generations before, we will answer history’s call with confidence, confront threats to our way of life, and build a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren.

I’d like to have faith in our political class as we start this long war but they seem to be failing us and the troops they lead. Our troops have answered “history’s call” with unbelievable confidence, but our nation hasn’t, our political class hasn’t, and our allies (their mostly limited number of soldiers excepted), for the most part, haven’t either. Outside of our troops the spirit of the greatest generation lies mostly dormant.

Similar thoughts from Dan Riehl:

So, no, I’m sorry. As she stands today she has no right to claim the great legacy initiated by the terrible events of December 7, 1941.

I’m not a complete pessimist. I always hope and often believe America will still prevail. But Americans today appear more hell bent on attacking one another as the enemy, than they do uniting for any necessary common good or goal.

And in her angst the sense grows that what we are all doing is waiting … until the next December 7th, or September 11th, so that a once proudly united nation can hopefully look inside, take stock of herself and face an ever threatening world as, simply, one, again.

Hyscience: I join with Dan in scratching my head while wondering what happened to that great country which once had no trouble identifying and destroying its great enemies when attacked.

Related:
Michelle Malkin
Below the Beltway

759. The following will be read to the command on the 10th of November, 1921, and hereafter on the 10th of November of every year. Should the order not be received by the 10th of November, 1921, it will be read upon receipt.

(1) On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of Continental Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name “Marine”. In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.

(2) The record of our corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous military organizations in the world’s history. During 90 of the 146 years of its existence the Marine Corps has been in action against the Nation’s foes. From the Battle of Trenton to the Argonne, Marines have won foremost honors in war, and is the long eras of tranquility at home, generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas, that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

(3) In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term “Marine” has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

(4) This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the corps. With it we have also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as “Soldiers of the Sea” since the founding of the Corps.

John A. Lejeune,
Major General Commandant

Related:
United States Marine Corps History Division

Oral history is a vital part of the documentation of Marine Corps history and serves to supplement and complement the written record of historical events. The Marine Corps Oral History Program began during the Vietnam War. At that time, the program focused on interviewing Marines involved in current operations. Thousands of interviews were conducted in the field and at many Marine Corps bases to capture Marines’ experiences and perspectives while still fresh in their minds. Top priority of the Oral History Program continues to be current Marine Corps operations. As a result, the program has produced a rich collection of field interviews spanning almost four decades.

Another key aspect of the Oral History Program is an ever expanding collection of career-length fully transcribed interviews of ranking Marine Corps leaders and other distinguished Marines and former Marines. Taking a broad view of what constitutes oral history, the Marine Corps Oral History Collection also includes a large collection of recorded presentations, briefings, debriefings, speeches, and similar “spoken history.”

There are instructions for recording and submiting your own oral history to the Unites States Marine Corps History Division.

The origins of the Corps’ various traditions can be found at the United States Marine Corps History Division’s website:

“Semper Fidelis” (“Always Faithful”) is the motto of the Corps. That Marines have lived up to this motto is proved by the fact that there has never been a mutiny, or even the thought of one, among U.S. Marines.

Semper Fidelis was adopted about 1883 as the motto of the Corps. Before that, there had been three mottoes, all traditional rather than official. The first, antedating the War of 1812, was “Fortitudine” (“With Fortitude”). The second, “By Sea and by Land,” was obviously a translation of the Royal Marine’s “Per Mare, Per Terram.” Until 1848, the third motto was “To the Shores of Tripoli,” in commemoration of O’Bannon’s capture of Derna in 1805. In 1848, after the return to Washington of the Marine battalion that took part in the capture of Mexico City, this motto was revised to: “From the Halls of the Montezumas to the Shores of Tripoli” – a line now familiar to all Americans. This revision of the Corps motto in Mexico has encouraged speculation that the first stanza of “The Marines’ Hymn” was composed by members of the Marine battalion who stormed Chapultepec Castle.

It may be added that the Marine Corps shares its motto with England’s Devonshire Regiment, the 11th Foot, one of the senior infantry regiments of the British Army, whose sobriquet is “the Bloody Eleventh” and whose motto is also Semper Fidelis.

Over my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to live in times of great consequence — times of war, times of peace — and I’ve met countless Americans from every corner of our magnificent country. I’ve developed an abiding faith in the wisdom and good judgment of the American people. Over time, on big issues, the American people find their way to right decisions. I’ve seen us triumph over dictators and tyrannies in many forms. And I believe that if we persevere today — and I’m convinced we will — and make the right choices and develop a clear understanding of this new war we face, the first war of the 21st century, we can overcome the increasingly lethal threats that challenge our country.

Despite all the enemy tries to do to make the world think otherwise, America is not what’s wrong with the world. America is a force for good. We are on the right side of history. The great sweep of human history is for freedom, and let there be no doubt we are on freedom’s side. - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld