American Marines Land on Iwo Jimo

Posted by Anna Kathryn Lanier Feb 19 2012, 12:39 pm in Anna Kathryn Lanier, Flag Raising, history, Iwo Jima, Marines, World War Two

 

by Anna Kathryn Lanier

One of the most famous photographs in the world is of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jimo, four days after three divisions of

U.S. Marines had landed on the island 700 miles south of Tokyo. But the action captured on film was not without a price.  

 Sixty-seven years ago today at 8:59 a.m., February 19, 1945, the first wave of Marines landed on Red Beach One for a decisive, bloody and month-long battle. Iwo Jimo is a speck on the map, a small dot in the Pacific Ocean.  It is five miles long and three miles wide at its widest point. A dormant volcano climbs 556 feet above the ocean floor (this is where the second flag was raised, the one in the famous photograph).

 

 

One young Marine is said to have commented that the island is “not worth fifty cents at a sheriff’s sale.”

 

 

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Teaching history with stories

Posted by Terry Irene Blain Feb 13 2012, 6:06 pm in film, history, teaching, westerns

Two things happened last week that prompted this blog.  There was a discussion on our loop about the lack of history knowledge in today’s students, and I watched one of my favorite movies.  The movie was Red River (1948), a western staring John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff.  As a history professor tried to make history real for my students, and one of the ways I did this was to show the first twenty minutes of this film for a discussion of the westward moment in America history. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, here’s a brief summary

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Fact or Fiction: Writing about Wales

Posted by Lily Dewaruile Jan 29 2012, 4:49 am in cultural arrogance, Cymru, fact, fiction, Gurnos, history, Lily Dewaruile, Ricardo Montalbán, Traitor's Daughter, Wales

I first began writing romantic fiction about Wales after my first visit. I little understood the country or the culture – definitely not the language – but I was inspired by the astonishing fact that, in a country which is so little known outside its borders, a vibrant culture in a Celtic language that has been thriving for many, many centuries and all in a very modern country. This is not a tribal community untouched by modern technology. This is a 21st Century land that has held onto its culture and language with so much success and yet, few people know

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Candles and More

Posted by Mary McCall Jan 26 2012, 10:24 am in history, Mary McCall

I’m taking a brief break from The Ecclesiastical Year because I think I packed the flash drive in anticipation of an upcoming move. Hopefully, I’ll find the box soon. From the founding of The Church to this day, Christians have practices both rituals and prayers. A paticular type known as Votive Offerings continues to this day. Historically, they are quite significant and it would not be uncommon for these offerings to be seen to this day by visitors to European and Mexican churches. Understanding their importance to the Medieval mind is difficult to explain. However, pilgrimages were often taken expressly

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WEATHER MYTHSANDTRUTHS

Posted by J.K. Maze Dec 9 2011, 5:07 am in history, Joan K. Maze, Weather

By Joan K. Maze             I’m turning to the weather this month for my series on legends and myths, a far more interesting topic than I’d imagined.             There are actually a lot more adages and myths out there than I had imagined, some proven to be correct, others not. Some time ago, someone told me of a Native American saying, ”Little snow, big snow.” What this means is that when “little snow” is falling, there will be lots of it, and when “big snow” is falling, there will be less of it. Since hearing that, I’ve tried to ascertain

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The Red Lady and Bells of the Deep

Posted by Lily Dewaruile Nov 29 2011, 12:03 am in Cantre'r Gwaelod, history, imagination, legend, Lily Dewaruile, Red Lady of Paviland, Traitor's Daughter, truth, Welsh landmarks

In 1822, on the Gower Peninsula, Daniel and John Davies, two of many 19thC Victorian archaeologists, discovered the bones of strange animals and a mammoth’s tusk in Goat’s Hole Cave. The following year, William Buckland (Professor of Geology at Oxford and Dean of Westminster Abbey) discovered the skeletal remains of a human who became the subject of nearly two centuries of speculation. Buckland first suggested the remains were those of a customs official, murdered by smugglers.  Before he published his findings, he changed his mind and presented a woman of ill-repute, the Red Lady of Paviland. These remains have since

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Historical Romances Versus Romantic Historicals

Posted by admin Jul 12 2011, 4:01 am in Avon, Diana Gabaldon, Historical Novel Society, history, HNS, McKenna Darby, Philippa Boyens, romance, RWA, Sourcebooks

Versailles helps to make Louis XIV a ‘marquee’ name. By McKenna Darby If you love writing historical romances but chafe at the conventions of the Romance genre (The hero and heroine must meet by the end of chapter one! The relationship is the plot! They must live happily ever after!), you may just be in the wrong genre. As I discovered at the Historical Novel Society’s fourth U.S. conference, held June 17-19 in San Diego, Historical readers love romance just as much as Romance readers do. A quick glance at the titles advertised throughout the conference program and in the

20 Comments

LEGENDARY OUTLAW SAM BASS

Posted by admin Dec 7 2010, 6:46 am in blogs, Caroline Clemmons, Frank Jackson, history, Jim Murphy, Joel Collins, Nebraska, outlaws, Round Rock, Sam Bass, Seaborn Barnes, South Dakota, Texas

Sam Bass, Outlaw Born on a farm near Mitchell, Indiana on July 21, 1851, Sam Bass was the son of Elizabeth Jane (Sheeks) and Daniel Bass. He was orphaned, probably by age ten. He and his brother and sisters moved to a nearby farm to live with a reportedly abusive uncle and his nine children. He ran away in 1869 and—with no formal schooling—worked most of a year in a sawmill in Rosedale, Mississippi. In the summer of 1870, he left for cattle country and arrived in Denton, Texas in the fall. Cowboy life was not as he had pictured

6 Comments

Animals Can Be Anachronisms, Too!

Posted by admin Oct 7 2010, 6:09 am in anachronisms, animals, history, Research, Seduced by History, Stephanie Suesan Smith, writing

Hello, I’m Caroline Clemmons. Recently, my eldest daughter, Stephanie, and I were discussing errors in historical novels. She had helped a friend determine the dog breed appropriate for our friend’s 18th-century-set romance novel. Dogs led to horses, and the mistakes people make. I cajoled my daughter into writing this blog on using appropriate breeds of animals even when writing fiction. Here is Stephanie’s post: My neighbor leases the grazing on my land. He has a couple of horses, including a mare. I looked out of the study window and saw two extra horses, one of whom was being overly “friendly” to the mare.

6 Comments

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