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Author: TriSec    Date: 05/18/2021 10:59:43

Good Morning. Let's dive right in.


We'll start back in time, at the very beginning of what was formerly the longest war in American history. At the time, a lot of clandestine events were taking place, often skirting the rules of war and the authority of the Congress.

In 1962, a Lockheed Constellation departed Travis AFB in Texas, bound for the then-unknown and exotic Vietnam. They never made it.

Because of the secretive nature of the flight, it never really generated many headlines, and remains virtually unknown today. But those men who were aboard were finally honored - locally, here in Maine.


PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Nearly 60 years ago, dozens of soldiers assembled for a top secret mission to Vietnam, three years before President Lyndon Johnson officially sent U.S. combat troops to the country.

They never made it. Their airplane disappeared between Guam and the Philippines, leaving behind no trace.

Ever since, their families have been fighting to get answers about the mission from the Pentagon. They also want their loved ones to be recognized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

For the families, it's been heart-wrenching that the soldiers were not properly memorialized like others who died in the war.

“I do feel frustrated. It’s almost as if they never existed as soldiers. It’s almost like they don’t matter, that their deaths don’t matter,” said Dianna Taylor Crumpler, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, whose brother, James Henry Taylor, an Army chaplain, died on the flight.

On Saturday, families of more than 20 of the fallen soldiers were on hand for the unveiling of a memorial in Columbia Falls, Maine, to honor those who perished when the plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Columbia Falls is about 190 miles east of Portland, Maine.

“It’s incredible,” said Donna Ellis, of Haslett, Michigan, who was 5 when her father, Melvin Lewis Hatt, died in the crash.

The mission, early in the Vietnam war, is shrouded in mystery.

Soldiers from across the country assembled at Travis Air Force Base in California before boarding a propeller-powered Lockheed Super Constellation operated by the Flying Tiger Line, which chartered flights for the U.S. military.

The 93 U.S. soldiers, three South Vietnamese and 11 crew members aboard Flight 739 never made it to Saigon. It departed from California and made refueling stops in Hawaii, Wake Island and Guam before vanishing on the next leg of the flight to the Philippines on March 16, 1962.

There was a report of a midair explosion witnessed by sailors on a tanker in the area, but no debris from the aircraft was recovered.

The families have spent years seeking answers to no avail. Freedom of Information Act requests by Ellis and others yielded redacted documents with little useful information about the clandestine mission.

“It turns into a rat maze,” Ellis said.

Because their deaths were not in the combat zone, their names were not allowed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.


Leaving Vietnam, let us leap forward to today. Our governor has announced a complete "return to normal" starting on May 29. The acting Mayor of Boston quickly followed suit, in contrast to the more cautious previous Mayor Walsh. But there is one place that neither official holds much sway; of course, it is a hospital setting.


The Department of Veterans Affairs has lifted its mask requirements for fully vaccinated employees, contractors and visitors to all facilities except those that provide health care, officials said Monday.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough issued guidance Monday that allows those who are at least two weeks past their final vaccine dose to walk around mask-free indoors and outdoors at all non-health care locations.

However, mask mandates remain in place for health facilities. Veterans Health Administration leadership is meeting this week to review the matter, a VA official told Military.com.

The announcement comes four days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance to say that fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing -- except in places where state law or local regulations require COVID-19 restrictions.

The Defense Department removed mask requirements at its facilities Friday.

The VA will continue to adhere to telework guidance and federal building occupancy limits, officials said. Personnel who are not fully vaccinated are expected to follow established mask requirements in VA buildings, they added.

McDonough told VA employees that they will receive updates as the situation changes.

"Thank you for your continued commitment to Veterans, their families and survivors. Our workforce is our most valuable asset, and we truly appreciate your tireless dedication," he said.

The VA reached a grim milestone in the pandemic Monday. It released data showing that 12,000 patients in the VA health system have died from COVID-19. In addition, 140 employees have died.


And let's wrap up today with something that's not really about the military, but has been fascinating nonetheless. It's also been a complete shitshow. You may remember that back B.C. (Before Covid) an auto-carrier ship called the Golden Ray mysteriously tipped over off the port of Brunswick, GA. It's been there ever since.

A perhaps overly-elaborate method was devised to chop up the ship for scrap and haul it away; but the process has been plagued by technical problems and mechanical breakdowns. And now it's on fire.


BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A salvage team on Saturday began assessing damage caused by a fire inside the remains of an overturned cargo ship that is being dismantled along the Georgia coast.

“The assessment is likely to take several days,” the multiagency command overseeing the demolition of the Golden Ray said in a statement.

The wreckage caught fire Friday as workers used torches to cut into the hull. Crews extinguished the blaze, which burned for several hours and sent up black smoke. No one was injured.

A giant crane being used to dismantle the ship was unhooked Saturday and shifted away from the site to allow for the damage assessments, officials said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Himes, a spokesman for the multiagency command, said it was too early to know how much the fire might further delay efforts to remove roughly one-half of the shipwreck that remains partly submerged in St. Simons Sound.


So how's your day?

















 
 

13 comments (Latest Comment: 05/18/2021 15:56:11 by livingonli)
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