On this day #1
On this day in 1944, during World War II, the USS Tang was sunk by its own torpedo. The submarine was under the command of Richard O'Kane, the top American submarine ace of the war, and the torpedo that sank it had malfunctioned.
This picture isn't from that day. It shows the Tang earlier, off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California, before any of what came later.
This story stays with me. It's a reminder that even the most skilled and capable people can't escape plain bad luck. It also shows how much depends on equipment working every single time. When you get home safe, there's usually someone behind it who made sure the thing that could have failed didn't. Tonight I'm thinking of the crew of the Tang, and of everyone whose careful work keeps the rest of us safe without our ever knowing their names.
Photo: Unknown author, 1943. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
Unknown author, 1943 · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Tang_(SS-306)_off_the_Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard,_California_(USA),_2_December_1943_(NH_42273).jpg
Sources:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Tang_(SS-306)_off_the_Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard,_California_(USA),_2_December_1943_(NH_42273).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tang_(SS-306)
On this day #2
On this day in 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was named the first African American general in the United States Army. It was a long time coming, and it came. A general's star is small to pin on a uniform and very hard to earn.
This photo comes from an earlier chapter of the same story. It shows an African American soldier in a Union uniform, posing with his wife and two daughters during the Civil War. Everyone is in their best clothes and holding very still for the camera, which was no small thing with two children in the frame.
Why does it still matter? Firsts like this one change the picture that comes to mind when people hear a word like "general." Before the first one, nobody had seen it happen. After, everyone had. The family in this photo could not have known that day was ahead, but soldiers like this one helped build the long road that led to it.
Photo: unattributed, 1865. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Via Library of Congress.
unattributed, 1865 · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, via Library of Congress · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sgt._Samuel_Smith,_African_American_soldier_in_Union_uniform_with_wife_and_two_daughters.jpg
Sources:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sgt._Samuel_Smith,_African_American_soldier_in_Union_uniform_with_wife_and_two_daughters.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_O._Davis_Sr.
