Infinite Wisdom

"Death is duty now."

--	Roland, Roncevaux Pass, August 15, A.D. 778, where he was slain, commanding Charlemagne’s rear guard

La Triviata

• During the War of the American Revolution, the annual death rate from disease among British troops was about 1-percent for men in England, 6-percent for those in New York, 11-percent for those aboard transports bound for the West Indies, and 16-percent for those actually stationed in the West Indies.


• Commanding his fellow-citizens during a siege of their city, Leonides of Byzantium found it difficult to keep them manning the walls, in preference to flocking to taverns for a bit of something to drink, and in an attempt to keep them at their posts, set up several wine shops on the walls.


• During the 1920s, a full set of uniforms for a newly minted ensign in the U.S. Navy ran over $2,000, at a time when his annual base pay was only $1,500.


• Approximately 30 million men and women served in the Soviet armed forces during World War II, of whom some 8 million perished.


• In February 1939, learning that a midshipman’s cruise planned for his ship was to include training in the use of the .50-caliber anti-aircraft machinegun, the skipper of the USS Arkansas (BB-33) wrote to the Navy Department, to note that he would be happy to comply, but “ . . . it is felt that .50-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns should be installed.”


• Heinrich “Heinz” Hitler, nephew of Der Führer, served as a 19-year old signals NCO in the 23rd Artillery Regiment during Operation Barbarossa, until he was captured in January of 1942, and disappeared into the Soviet prison camp system.


• Of 170,000 men who volunteered to join the U.S. Navy between April 1, 1934 and April 1, 1935, only 9,000 were accepted


• Of the estimated 100,000 Royal Navy personnel who died in the service between 1793 and1815, a time of protracted war with France, as well as the War of 1812 with the U.S., and a number of smaller campaigns here and there around the world, only about 7-percent were lost in combat, while some 80-percent succumbed to disease or accidents, and 13-percent to the hazards of the sea.

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