After serving nearly 20 years in the Navy, many enlisted sailors might opt for an easy assignment for their so-called twilight tour. But that was not why James E. Williams joined the Navy. He joined in 1947 because he thought getting paid to serve your country was possibly the greatest thing he could ever do. Over the course of the next 20 years, Williams would eventually become the most decorated enlisted sailor to ever serve in the U.S. Navy.
Born in 1930, Williams was a South Carolina native who convinced a county clerk to fudge the date on his birth certificate so he could enlist in the Navy at 17. After graduating from basic training in San Diego, he became a Boatswain's Mate. He didn't get the adventurous assignment he wanted from his first Navy enlistment, but he did learn a valuable lesson that would carry him through the rest of his career.
"I'd got orders to an [landing ship, tank] that just sat around a buoy in the San Diego harbor," he told All Hands Magazine in 1998. "An old chief told me, 'Son, you got to learn to take orders, even if you disagree with them. That's the first step to being a good sailor and a good leader… discipline was the springboard that helped my Navy career. From then on, I had the sharpest damn knife and the shiniest shoes in the Navy."
He finally got the adventure and service he wanted when the Korean War broke out in 1950. Williams was sent to the Korean Peninsula aboard a destroyer. He would get his first taste of naval warfare aboard small vessel raiding parties detached into North Korea. Williams also served aboard cargo ships, repair ships, and a light cruiser during his two decades in the Navy. The bulk of his awards, however, came from his time in Vietnam.
By 1966, he had 19 years of service and was nearly ready for retirement but by then, a small conflict in the far away country of South Vietnam was heating up. Williams could have avoided going if he wanted to, but he didn't want to; that's the kind of sailor he was. Instead of shirking away from combat duty and retiring, he volunteered to go to Vietnam – where he racked up the Navy's highest awards after less than a year in-country.
His efforts at fighting North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attacks while interdicting enemy supply movements were second to none. Williams received three Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and the Navy Cross for his actions while leading three river patrol boats (PBR) on the Mekong River. He also received two Navy and Marine Corps Medals, the highest non-combat medal the Navy can bestow. His resolve in combat was so steady and so trusted, he was given command of three boats and allowed call in helicopter air support while operating in the river.
This would be critical to his success later on when he and his shipmates began fighting for their lives while they and their PBRs were terribly outnumbered. At no time was that more apparent than on Oct. 31, 1966.
Serving as boat captain and patrol officer aboard PBR 105 that day, Williams led his men against two enemy sampans, a kind of flat-bottom wooden boat used on the river by the Vietnamese. After killing the crew of one, he chased down the other but was led right into a flotilla of enemy ships in waiting: two junks and eight sampans. Small arms fire from the banks was also overwhelming. He didn't waver for a second.
That sounds like a lot. Williams was outnumbered, and he knew it, but that was also just the beginning. He called for helicopter support and began fighting the other ships. As the floating battle raged on, he soon realized he was facing a much larger enemy force than he thought. He could not wait for the helicopters and decided to head right toward the Viet Cong ships. Through intense enemy fire, he and his men damaged or destroyed 50 sampans and seven junks – all before the helicopters arrived.
Once his air support arrived on scene, Williams began directing the helicopters' fire toward the remaining enemy boats as well as the armed men on the shoreline of the river. Altogether, they destroyed 65 enemy boats and killed more than a thousand enemy troops. Through it all, Williams was like a rock, a solid non-commissioned officer.
He retired from the Navy in 1967 as the first sailor to receive the Navy's top seven awards. On top of the aforementioned awards, William also received the Legion of Merit (with Valor Device), a Navy Commendation Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation with one service star, and three Purple Hearts. He received the Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B. Johnson after his retirement, on May 14, 1968.
James E. Williams died at the age of 68 on Dec. 13, 1999, and was laid to rest with full military honors at the Florence National Cemetery in Florence, South Carolina. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams was named in his honor.
It might come as a surprise, but the United States and Afghanistan enjoyed friendly relations for the overwhelming majority of their shared history, a history spanning some 200 years. It was only following September 11, 2001, that relations soured between the two countries. In the days that followed the terror attacks of September 11, the American government demanded the Taliban deliver Osama bin Laden or face the wrath of the U.S. military – and the Afghans almost avoided a war.
Muslim clerics across Afghanistan actually voted to expel Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, but in the same vote, they decided that an invasion from the United States would trigger a jihad for the Muslim faithful. With that in mind, Mullah Muhammaed Omar, the founding leader of the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, decided not to deliver bin Laden. Al-Qaeda was, after all, a close ally of the Taliban.
So when none of the demands made by President George W. Bush's administration were met, a military solution was coming. On October 7, 2001, the United States began the ouster of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a fight that began with the fall of the critical city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The city itself sits across critical supply routes, connecting Kabul to routes into neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It was a must-win city for the Northern Alliance, and its airfield was a must-have for American forces looking for a foothold inside Afghanistan.
The United States enjoyed total air superiority throughout the invasion. Most, if not all, of the Taliban's air forces and air defense were destroyed on the ground in the opening days of the attacks. A new airborne technology, the Predator drone, was used to try and target the Taliban leadership. Taliban and al-Qaeda training camps were also targeted in the early days, along with the Afghan communications infrastructure. In spite of this superiority, the Taliban held Mazar-i-Sharif in an iron grip – but not for long, as it would turn out.
On October 19, U.S. Army Special Forces detachments with U.S. Air Force combat controllers were inserted into Afghanistan to connect with members of the Northern Alliance, an Islamic democratic unity government firmly opposed to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. One 12-man American team, ODA 555, went into the Panjshir Valley with Northern Alliance Gen. Mohammed Fahim. The other team, ODA 595, went to the Darya Suf Valley with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. Dostum's objective was Mazar-i-Sharif, but both forces would end up meeting there.
The Northern Alliance and the Taliban had been in a stalemate since Taliban fighters captured Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, forcing the Northern Alliance to withdraw 60 miles from the city to a place Taliban tanks could not reach. When the soldiers from ODA 595 arrived, they met eight operators from the CIA Special Activities Division along with Gen. Dostum and his forces. They were turning into a powerful alliance, but time was not on their side. As October turned to November 2001, the Taliban began moving thousands of defenders to the area. By the time the Americans and Northern Alliance were ready to move, more than 5,000 Taliban were defending the city and thousands more in the province.
While things might have looked grim on paper, the Americans moved their trump card into place in the days before November 9, 2001, when the assault on Mazar-i-Sharif would take place. It turns out there were more Green Berets and another CIA team inserted in the populated areas around the city. As the Alliance forces moved within 15 miles of Mazar-i-Sharif, Gen. Fahim and his Army Special Forces detachment linked up with Dostum's. They cut the city's communication lines and began pushing toward it.
The combined anti-Taliban forces numbered some 2,000 American and Northern Alliance troops – but the trump card was the air power the Green Berets could direct.
Between Nov. 7-8, 2001, U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers and other support aircraft absolutely pummeled the Taliban lines that controlled the approaches to Mazar-i-Sharif, tearing through the defenders of the city in ways they had never experienced or even expected. "When the bombing started, I was commanding some 400 fighters on the front lines near Mazar-e Sharif," one Taliban commander wrote. "The bombs cut down our men like a reaper harvesting wheat. Bodies were dismembered. Dazed fighters were bleeding from the ears and nose from the bombs" concussions. We couldn't bury the dead. Our reinforcements died in their trenches.""
On November 9, air strikes covered the approaches as Dostum and Atta began their attack on Mazar-i-Sharif on horseback. Some Alliance soldiers marched in on foot, others came by whatever vehicle they could find, but they were all headed into the city for the first time in years. By mid-afternoon, much of its critical infrastructure was under Northern Alliance control, and in the days that followed, thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fled the province under air assault to regroup.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif in less than a month after the war started was one of the most surprising events of the War in Afghanistan. The city was expected to hold out for months, well into 2002. It wasn't just the Taliban's first major defeat; it gave the Americans an airfield along strategically significant supply lines as well as a means of reinforcing Northern Alliance gains with regular American ground troops.
By the end of 2001, the combined forces would expel Taliban forces from most major urban areas, including Kandahar, the Taliban's power base. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan failed to meet its primary objective, however: the capture of Osama bin Laden. It's widely believed he escaped to Pakistan on December 12, 2001. He would evade justice until May 2, 2011.
It is an invaluable tool that connects us with a special group of Americans. I am happy to have life memberships with Togetherweserved, one Navy, and one Army. It also provides a nice record for my children and grandchildren of what I have done during my service and life. I hope that they will picture who I am when I am long gone. I didn't get to do that with my Grandfather and know very little about his military service.
SSG John Plover US Army (Ret)
Served 1996-2013
The World War I Battle of Mons was famous for a number of notable firsts. It was the first test of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the first time Mons switched hands during the war, and probably the first time ghosts reinforced a living army to cover their retreat; ghosts who absolutely slaughtered the enemy – or so the legend goes.
The First Battle of Mons took place on August 23, 1914, one of the earliest battles on the Western Front of World War I and the first time the British operated jointly with the French against the German invasion. The British were trying to protect the French left flank from an advance by the German 1st Army, and they held their ground well.
For 48 hours, they fought outnumbered three to one, yet they inflicted an incredibly disproportionate number of casualties, with estimates as high as three German casualties for every British one. It was a good start to the war. It would have been a great start, but the French lines began to break, and the British found out much too late. As the French fell back, the British had to retreat as well.
British troops had dug in well, as the outcome of the battle showed, and so the order to retreat was an unexpected one. With the French in a full and sudden retreat, the Germans began approaching the British lines faster and in increasingly larger numbers. Realizing they were being outflanked, the BEF had some quick decisions to make. They decided to leave a contingent of British troops behind to fight rearguard actions as the rest of the expeditionary force made their frantic but orderly escape back toward France.
As they marched away with the Germans nipping at their heels, the English troops passed the site of the medieval Battle of Agincourt, where English longbowmen under King Henry V famously defeated a French army which outnumbered them by more than six to one. The British Army of 1914 probably felt similarly outnumbered as they passed by the historic site. Legend has it that one of the Tommies in retreat said a prayer to Saint George as the Germans harassed their retreating forces.
That's when some believe that Saint George decided to come through. Shortly after saying the prayer, wrote author Arthur Machen, a spectral force of English longbowmen appeared. They were veterans of the Battle of Agincourt and were (apparently) in no mood to watch their countrymen get killed by some relentlessly pursuing enemy. The ghostly bowmen not only managed to frighten off the Germans, some of their equally ghostly arrows slaughtered them en masse.
Machen's story was supposed to be a work of fiction, but since it was originally printed in a London newspaper and not labeled as fiction, there were many who accepted it as factual. Within a few days, Machen himself could not convince interested parties that he'd made the whole thing up as a story. Other versions of the same story began to pop up as well.
One version has it that an army of angels intervened for the British at Mons, another said it was a luminous cloud while yet one more has Saint George himself on the battlefield. While there were British troops who claimed to have seen spectral visitors during their retreat. They claimed to see ghostly cavalrymen and other troops, but those visions did not attempt to halt or attack the Germans. The most likely story is that the Germans were just as tired as the British and gave up the pursuit.
What is true is that the British fought as well as their famous longbowmen did at Agincourt. The Battle of Mons was a tactical success for them but a strategic success for the Germans. The most important part was that many British soldiers lived to fight another day, with or without angelic intervention.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;
The meteor of ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more!
"Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr (1809-94)
As it turned out, that 1830 poem sparked public concern, and the ship's ensign was not torn down at all then or since. The USS Constitution was designed by Joshua Humphreys and developed and constructed in response to the Ottoman and Berber Barbary corsairs, which menaced American merchant shipping off the northern coast of Africa. Following the Revolution, the United States' Continental Navy was disbanded, leaving the new nation without a credible sea power to defend its interests abroad. Signed into law on March 27, 
1794 by President George Washington, the Naval Armament Act called for the construction of six frigates to be built at shipyards along the eastern seaboard. The three-masted wooden hull heavy frigate USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") keel was laid at Hartt's Shipyard in Boston, MA, in 1794, built there, and finally launched on 21 Oct 1797. After some debate and prompting by President Washington, Congress had agreed to continue funding the construction of the three ships nearest to completion: United States, Constellation, and Constitution. It was first commissioned under its official name on 22 Jul 1798. Between 1800 and 1940, she had been decommissioned and recommissioned eighteen times. The vessel was changed to Miscellaneous Unclassified (IX-21) on 8 Jan 1941 until that was withdrawn on 2 Sep 1975 by order of the Secretary of the Navy. On 28 Oct 2009, President Obama signed a law making the USS Constitution the nation's "ship of state," in effect, a national flagship. Retired from active service in 1881 and today berthed at Pier 1 in the old Charleston Navy Yard of Boston Harbor, Old Ironsides remains the oldest commissioned US Navy ship still afloat. At this point in time, Navy TWS lists 477 members who have served with her in some official capacity. In her long service, she has had seventy-five captains, including one female, CDR Billie J. Farrell USN, in 2022.
The USS Constitution earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 after a battle with the British warship HMS Guerriere. A barrage from the British frigate seemed to be having little effect as its cannon balls bounced off the Constitution's rugged oak and pine copper-clad sides. Seeing this, one of the crewmen shouted: "Huzza, her sides are made of iron!" The Constitution's nickname was born, although it is sometimes disputed whether the crewman was American or British. She had captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane, and Levant. She continued to serve as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War, she served as a United States Naval Academy training ship. She carried between forty-four and fifty-two guns, weighed 1,576 tons, and was a total of 304 feet in maximum length with a beam of forty-three feet six inches. Her mainmast is 220 feet, with total sail of 42,710 feet on three masts. The hold is fourteen feet three inches. She has four decks (Orlop, Berth, Gun, and Spar) and can make a speed of thirteen knots. She carried eight boats and a landing craft. The ship's complement was 450, including fifty-five Marines, and there were 75 officers and crew.
As many Americans rallied around the slogan 'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights,' President James Madison declared war on England on June 18, 1812. At the outset of the War of 1812, the USS Constitution had already won all her engagements in two wars: the Quasi-War with France (1798-1801) and the Barbary Wars (1801-1805). USS Constitution was among the twenty-two commissioned warships of the United States 18-year-old Navy, compared to more than eighty British vessels on station off America's eastern seaboard in 1812. Throughout the next four decades following the War of 1812, Old Ironsides secured numerous bloodless victories until she was taken out of active service in 1855. However, she is best remembered for that unparalleled string of successes more than two centuries ago and has never fired a round in combat since February 1815.
The use of battle streamers had its beginnings in antiquity when various emblems were carried into combat. Today, the battle streamer recognizes fourteen significant actions by the US Navy during the War of 1812. It is one of twenty-eight authorized to be affixed to the military flags of the United States as colorful symbols and reminders of the decisive influence of sea power on the establishment of the nation. Stars on Navy streamers follow the practice initiated during the World War II period for ribbons and medals -- that is, a bronze star for each action and a silver star in lieu of five bronze stars. The Navy applies stars to appropriate ribbons throughout its history.":
1. Constitution-Guerriere (19 August 1812)
2. United States-Macedonian (28 October 1812)
3. Constitution-Java (29 December 1812)
4. Chesapeake-Shannon (1 June 1813)
5. Essex-Phoebe and Cherub (28 March 1814)
6. Constitution-Cyane and Levant (20 February 1815)
7. Sloop-of-war and brig single-ship actions
8. Commerce raiding in the Atlantic
9. Operations against whaling fleets in the Pacific
10. Battle of Lake Erie (10 September 1813)
11. Battle of Lake Champlain (11 September 1814)
12. Defense of Washington (July-August 1814)
13. Defense of Baltimore (September 1814)
14. Battle of New Orleans (December 1814-January 1815)
On 1 July 1931, the Constitution returned to commissioned status. The following day, she hoisted sails for a tour of ninety US ports along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, where thousands of Americans saw firsthand one of history's greatest fighting ships. On 23 Jul 1954, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Navy to restore her "as far as may be practicable" back to their original condition, not for active service. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1960. On 21 Jul 1997, Old Ironsides set sail for the first time in 116 years to commemorate its 200th birthday, and again in August 2012 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. From 2015-17, the Constitution was renovated by Naval History and Heritage Command's Detachment Boston, which included new copper sheathing on its lower hull and other important upgrades. Today, the Sailors of Old Ironsides, in partnership with the Naval History and Heritage Command, the USS Constitution Museum, and the National Park Service, work to preserve, protect, and promote the Constitution for the people of the United States and the world as a living link to the Sailors and Marines of the past, present, and future. Annually, more than 500,000 visitors walk across her decks. She remains the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat, and that can still sail under its own power.
For the fifteen years before returning to Boston, Old Ironsides was a receiving ship at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where it began to deteriorate. In the 1890s, this came to the attention of Boston Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, grandfather of JFK, who rallied support to return her safely to Boston by 21 Sep 1897. In 1954, Charleston Navy Yard was designated her official homeport by an act of Congress. On 23 Jul 2017, thousands celebrated the Constitution's refloating after two years of restoration.
Although dozens of books have been written about the ship, perhaps the most complete and definitive technical one might be "Old Ironsides" by Thomas C. Gillmer. "In her youth, she was beautiful. Her fine lines and graceful sheer, her lightly upturned head, the classic quarter galleries, and restrained carvings gracing her 18th-century transom stern--all flowed together flawlessly in this magnificent creature of the sea. Her loft rig spread more sail than any European frigate. In fact, she and her two sister ships were larger in every way than their contemporaries. She is the USS Constitution--the oldest warship afloat anywhere in the world. This proud old warrior has seen--and participated in--virtually all our nation's history.
She fought in four wars, circled the world as a symbol of American power, and was commanded by the superstars of American naval history: Preble, Decatur, Bainbridge, Rodgers, Hull, Stewart, and MacDonough. The Constitution is the definitive American icon--older than the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, and the White House. But her age has been one of her greatest enemies, second only to bureaucratic indifference. The ship that rallied America in the Second War of Independence later became a floating classroom at Annapolis and later became a barracks for transient seamen. Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy even recommended that she be towed to sea for gunnery practice.
In 1830, rumors that she would be scrapped prompted Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., to write his epic poem, 'Old Ironsides.' The ensuing public clamor brought the Constitution a complete overhaul. She was rescued by the public again in 1876 for the American Centennial and given a cosmetic makeover in 1907.
In 1927, she received another extensive restoration, funded in part by collections from school children." For students and devotees of America's naval and 18th century trials or triumphs, Old Ironsides is one of the first and best destinations like no other on any tour of that region.
TWS is an outlet to preserve and honor military history on a personal level. Putting this down in writing makes an old man proud of his life. Not a perfect life, but one that has been far more productive than it might have been without the experience.
One of the powerful features available to every Veteran is the ability to have a decision made by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) about your healthcare, benefits, and services reviewed and potentially reversed or changed. This is often called "filing an Appeal" or simply "Appealing a decision."
Historically, appealing a VA decision was a complicated process, requiring an in-person hearing before a Judge at VA's Board of Veterans Appeals. This process generally took between three and seven years to resolve, leading to frustration. Often, Veterans hired lawyers, expending personal funds to get what they pointed out was "rightly theirs."
The Appeal process was changed in 2019 and now there are two options (called Lanes) for Veterans to relatively quickly have their decisions reviewed. These are:
1. Higher-Level Review
2. Supplemental Claim
For the purpose of the explanation below, I will focus on an appeal of a decision regarding disability compensation. Recall this is a benefit provided for someone injured or disabled while serving. Veterans often appeal a denial of benefits or a granting of benefits that they believe is not appropriate for their circumstances (i.e., the awarded service connection is less than they believe they deserve).
1. Higher Level Review
This is a review of your existing claim and evidence by a more senior VA employee who handles claims for the specific benefit but did not participate in the previous review and decision. It can be thought of as a second set of eyes on your decision.
A key benefit of this review is that a more senior VA representative looks at the same evidence and may be able to quickly identify and resolve an error. While you cannot submit new evidence, you can identify where you believe the error was made and where, in the existing evidence, you provided an item that the VA said didn't exist or was missing.
When requesting a higher-level review, you can also request an informal conference with a VA representative to discuss the decision. This is the opportunity to identify the error and explain why you believe another, more favorable decision should have been made.
Upon the completion of the higher-level review, there are three possible outcomes:
• The original decision made by the VA is upheld, rejecting the claim for additional benefits.
• The original decision is overturned, and new benefits are awarded.
• The original claim is returned to the VA for more work.
2. Supplemental Claim
Here, you are asking the VA to reopen your earlier claim because of new and relevant evidence. The definition of new and relevant is particularly important because if the VA determines the additional evidence you provide is not, your Supplement Claim will be denied. Here are the definitions:
• New evidence – information the VA didn't have before the last decision. It was not part of the information VA previously considered.
• Relevant evidence – information that could prove or disprove something in your case. Relevant evidence can also raise the possibility of new benefits not previously considered.
The Supplemental Claims process is done entirely by submitting information and documentation. You must describe the issues you want reviewed and produce information that demonstrates the accuracy of your position. The key is to produce new and relevant evidence tied directly to the issues cited that persuades the reviewer to rule in your favor.
With a complete Supplemental Claim, VA will review and determine your claim much like an original or initial claim. At the completion of a Supplement Claim process, you will receive a letter from the VA notifying you of the decision. The favorable decision will indicate the level of benefits awarded. A denial of benefits will provide an explanation.
Other benefit decisions you can appeal
While these explanations focused on appealing a decision for disability compensation, be aware that you can appeal decisions for these benefits:
• Pension and survivor benefits
• Fiduciary
• Education (GI Bill)
• Veterans Readiness and Employment (VR&E)
• Life insurance
Need help?
You can get no-cost assistance with your Appeal from a Veteran Service Officer, who can help you complete the forms and file your Appeal. Service Officers have been trained in VA processes. Look for one who is "Accredited" by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, indicating they keep up to date with training and have passed a background screen.
Service Officers are available from:
• The American Legion
• Disabled American Veterans (DAV)
• Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
• Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
• Wounded Warrior Project
You can also access a Service Officer from your state Department of Veteran Affairs/Services.
Instead of using a VSO, some Veterans decide to hire a lawyer to help with their Appeal. If you take this path, take the extra time to understand the business arrangement and expected costs before you sign a contract.
Paul R. Lawrence, Ph.D., served as Under Secretary of Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from May 2018 to January 2021. He is the author of "Veterans Benefits for You: Get What You Deserve," available from Amazon.
As the Civil War dragged on into the summer of 1863, Americans in the North grew increasingly war-weary. Tired of fighting such a violent and prolonged conflict, men began to dodge the draft and question President Abraham Lincoln's leadership. It was even one of the reasons Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to invade the Union that year. He hoped to exploit the weariness and force a negotiated end to the war.
That negotiated peace would never come. Despite trepidation about President Lincoln, the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania, and the draft riots in New York City, Union forces persevered and overcame them. Some might attribute these victories to the Army's leadership at the time, but there are strange stories that attribute them to the Army's leadership of another time – specifically George Washington.
That's right: the first Commander-In-Chief, George Washington.
Washington, of course, was not alive during the Civil War. He died in 1799 at his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, at 67 years old. But there were many who believed his spirit was very much alive when the country needed him most, and the two most prominent sightings came in July of 1863. That was the year Congress passed the nation's first-ever draft law to fill the ranks of the Union Army depleted by two years of fighting – and almost no one was happy about it.
For starters, the law allowed wealthy men to avoid service by paying a $300 fee to hire a substitute, nearly $7,500 in today's dollars. Since the working class was earning the 2024 equivalent of around $25 a day, it was a fee that was just out of reach for most Americans. Working-class Irishmen in New York City, frustrated that they could not afford the substitution fee and that Black men could not be drafted, began to protest. On July 13, that protest quickly turned into a three-day race riot.
The police were quickly overpowered. Union troops in the city, especially members of the 1st Battalion of the U.S. Invalid Corps, a reserve component made of wounded and disabled troops, were under assault. The War Department ordered regiments from Gettysburg to quell the uprising, but they would not arrive in the city for another day. The rioters were left unabated and didn't care that the Union Army's wounded troops might not be a good target for their ire.
Legend has it that the soldiers, despite their wounds and disabilities, held the rioters at bay for a long time but were eventually pushed back to the intersection of Duane and Broadway. It's a documented fact that the invalids tried to disperse the oncoming crowd with a volley of fire, but what they did next was bold, and the outcome was nothing short of miraculous.
An order was given to fix bayonets and then to charge into the rioters. After the battle, some of the soldiers of the invalid regiment swore they saw Gen. George Washington himself in his Continental Army uniform. They said they heard his voice and charged on his command. The ballsy bayonet charge didn't stop the riot entirely, but it did prevent any more of the Union troops from getting wounded.
But Washington's intervention apparently didn't end there. Just two weeks before the New York Draft Riots, the Union and Confederate Armies met at the Battle of Gettysburg. It was there, during one of the most famous engagements of the entire Civil War, that some soldiers said they also saw General Washington. The Union held a small rocky mount known as Little Round Top that withstood a handful of brutal Confederate charges. If the rebels had been successful, the entire Federal left flank would have been exposed – and the battle might have been lost.
Little Round Top was 
not a position the Union Army planned to defend, but it turned out they needed to hold it at all costs. After some initial jockeying, the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Joshua Chamberlain, held Little Round Top against two successive enemy charges. After the second charge was repulsed, the Union troops were tired and low on ammunition. Chamberlain soon realized the rebels were getting ready for another charge, one his men might not be able to hold back.
Instead of defending the position, he ordered a bayonet charge down the hill, taking the rebels by surprise and capturing hundreds of them. It was a brilliant move that may have saved the entire battle for the Union. It certainly saved the day.
Their inspiration during the charge, many of the Union soldiers later attested, was a pale figure riding a horse with a sword many said was on fire. Even the Confederates saw this man, decked out in full Continental Army regalia, and tried to shoot him off his horse, but no one could stop him. On both sides, they all believed they saw none other than George Washington leading the way down the hill.
My history is not yet complete here; it gives me the satisfaction of looking back on what was then and now. It also helped me find others who have gone on the same path.
MSgt Michael Smith US Air Force (Ret)
Served 1971-1992
Author Matt Jackson grew up in a U.S. Navy family, spending his formative years at every naval submarine base on the American East Coast. Considering his family's proud Navy tradition, it might seem odd that Jackson would grow up and not only join the Army but stay for 25 years, serving in Vietnam and retiring as a commissioned officer. Today, Col. (ret.) Matt Jackson is a prolific author and creator of the "Undaunted Valor" series, one of the highest-rated book series set amid the Vietnam War.
In his first book, "Undaunted Valor, An Assault Helicopter Unit In Vietnam," Jackson introduces us to Cory, a helicopter pilot recounting the tale of his transition from high school to flight school. He then tells us the story of his time in the skies over Vietnam. When American ground troops make contact with the enemy, combat helicopter pilots must move in and bail them out, becoming a casualty themselves. Cory is a newly minted officer with that same mission.
Jackson's books are technically historical fiction, meaning the individual storylines may be fictional, but the wars in which they're set and some of the events that take place in the book are real, and the author draws from his military career for that material. There are six books in his "Undaunted Valor" series, books he wrote by tapping into his experience flying UH-1H helicopters in Vietnam. He also has another series called "Crisis in the Desert," about Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, where he commanded an Air Assault Infantry Battalion.
That experience is what lends so much realism to the "Undaunted Valor" series. Jackson's disciplined memory and attention to detail informs his writing and keeps readers riveted and turning pages. Among the thousands of reviews, many of them from Vietnam War-era grunts, the most telling are the ones that praise Jackson for his detail and accuracy. Many expressed gratitude for learning what the pilots and aircrews of those helicopters were thinking and feeling as they swooped in to support the soldiers on the ground.
The best way to learn about this small but important area of Vietnam War history is to read the books for yourself. "Undaunted Valor: An Assault Helicopter Unit in Vietnam" by Col. Matt Jackson is available at Amazon in hardcover and paperback, as well as Kindle ebook and Audible audiobook, starting at $17.46.
Born in 1930, Williams was a South Carolina native who convinced a county clerk to fudge the date on his birth certificate so he could enlist in the Navy at 17. After graduating from basic training in San Diego, he became a Boatswain's Mate. He didn't get the adventurous assignment he wanted from his first Navy enlistment, but he did learn a valuable lesson that would carry him through the rest of his career. 
Serving as boat captain and patrol officer aboard PBR 105 that day, Williams led his men against two enemy sampans, a kind of flat-bottom wooden boat used on the river by the Vietnamese. After killing the crew of one, he chased down the other but was led right into a flotilla of enemy ships in waiting: two junks and eight sampans. Small arms fire from the banks was also overwhelming. He didn't waver for a second.
Muslim clerics across Afghanistan actually voted to expel Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, but in the same vote, they decided that an invasion from the United States would trigger a jihad for the Muslim faithful. With that in mind, Mullah Muhammaed Omar, the founding leader of the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, decided not to deliver bin Laden. Al-Qaeda was, after all, a close ally of the Taliban. 
The Northern Alliance and the Taliban had been in a stalemate since Taliban fighters captured Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, forcing the Northern Alliance to withdraw 60 miles from the city to a place Taliban tanks could not reach. When the soldiers from ODA 595 arrived, they met eight operators from the CIA Special Activities Division along with Gen. Dostum and his forces. They were turning into a powerful alliance, but time was not on their side. As October turned to November 2001, the Taliban began moving thousands of defenders to the area. By the time the Americans and Northern Alliance were ready to move, more than 5,000 Taliban were defending the city and thousands more in the province.
On November 9, air strikes covered the approaches as Dostum and Atta began their attack on Mazar-i-Sharif on horseback. Some Alliance soldiers marched in on foot, others came by whatever vehicle they could find, but they were all headed into the city for the first time in years. By mid-afternoon, much of its critical infrastructure was under Northern Alliance control, and in the days that followed, thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fled the province under air assault to regroup. 
The First Battle of Mons took place on August 23, 1914, one of the earliest battles on the Western Front of World War I and the first time the British operated jointly with the French against the German invasion. The British were trying to protect the French left flank from an advance by the German 1st Army, and they held their ground well. 
That's when some believe that Saint George decided to come through. Shortly after saying the prayer, wrote author Arthur Machen, a spectral force of English longbowmen appeared. They were veterans of the Battle of Agincourt and were (apparently) in no mood to watch their countrymen get killed by some relentlessly pursuing enemy. The ghostly bowmen not only managed to frighten off the Germans, some of their equally ghostly arrows slaughtered them en masse.
1794 by President George Washington, the Naval Armament Act called for the construction of six frigates to be built at shipyards along the eastern seaboard. The three-masted wooden hull heavy frigate USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") keel was laid at Hartt's Shipyard in Boston, MA, in 1794, built there, and finally launched on 21 Oct 1797. After some debate and prompting by President Washington, Congress had agreed to continue funding the construction of the three ships nearest to completion: United States, Constellation, and Constitution. It was first commissioned under its official name on 22 Jul 1798. Between 1800 and 1940, she had been decommissioned and recommissioned eighteen times. The vessel was changed to Miscellaneous Unclassified (IX-21) on 8 Jan 1941 until that was withdrawn on 2 Sep 1975 by order of the Secretary of the Navy. On 28 Oct 2009, President Obama signed a law making the USS Constitution the nation's "ship of state," in effect, a national flagship. Retired from active service in 1881 and today berthed at Pier 1 in the old Charleston Navy Yard of Boston Harbor, Old Ironsides remains the oldest commissioned US Navy ship still afloat. At this point in time, Navy TWS lists 477 members who have served with her in some official capacity. In her long service, she has had seventy-five captains, including one female, CDR Billie J. Farrell USN, in 2022.
The use of battle streamers had its beginnings in antiquity when various emblems were carried into combat. Today, the battle streamer recognizes fourteen significant actions by the US Navy during the War of 1812. It is one of twenty-eight authorized to be affixed to the military flags of the United States as colorful symbols and reminders of the decisive influence of sea power on the establishment of the nation. Stars on Navy streamers follow the practice initiated during the World War II period for ribbons and medals -- that is, a bronze star for each action and a silver star in lieu of five bronze stars. The Navy applies stars to appropriate ribbons throughout its history.":
For the fifteen years before returning to Boston, Old Ironsides was a receiving ship at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where it began to deteriorate. In the 1890s, this came to the attention of Boston Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, grandfather of JFK, who rallied support to return her safely to Boston by 21 Sep 1897. In 1954, Charleston Navy Yard was designated her official homeport by an act of Congress. On 23 Jul 2017, thousands celebrated the Constitution's refloating after two years of restoration. 
Historically, appealing a VA decision was a complicated process, requiring an in-person hearing before a Judge at VA's Board of Veterans Appeals. This process generally took between three and seven years to resolve, leading to frustration. Often, Veterans hired lawyers, expending personal funds to get what they pointed out was "rightly theirs."
A key benefit of this review is that a more senior VA representative looks at the same evidence and may be able to quickly identify and resolve an error. While you cannot submit new evidence, you can identify where you believe the error was made and where, in the existing evidence, you provided an item that the VA said didn't exist or was missing.
The Supplemental Claims process is done entirely by submitting information and documentation. You must describe the issues you want reviewed and produce information that demonstrates the accuracy of your position. The key is to produce new and relevant evidence tied directly to the issues cited that persuades the reviewer to rule in your favor.
That negotiated peace would never come. Despite trepidation about President Lincoln, the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania, and the draft riots in New York City, Union forces persevered and overcame them. Some might attribute these victories to the Army's leadership at the time, but there are strange stories that attribute them to the Army's leadership of another time – specifically George Washington. 
The police were quickly overpowered. Union troops in the city, especially members of the 1st Battalion of the U.S. Invalid Corps, a reserve component made of wounded and disabled troops, were under assault. The War Department ordered regiments from Gettysburg to quell the uprising, but they would not arrive in the city for another day. The rioters were left unabated and didn't care that the Union Army's wounded troops might not be a good target for their ire.
not a position the Union Army planned to defend, but it turned out they needed to hold it at all costs. After some initial jockeying, the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Joshua Chamberlain, held Little Round Top against two successive enemy charges. After the second charge was repulsed, the Union troops were tired and low on ammunition. Chamberlain soon realized the rebels were getting ready for another charge, one his men might not be able to hold back. 
Author Matt Jackson grew up in a U.S. Navy family, spending his formative years at every naval submarine base on the American East Coast. Considering his family's proud Navy tradition, it might seem odd that Jackson would grow up and not only join the Army but stay for 25 years, serving in Vietnam and retiring as a commissioned officer. Today, Col. (ret.) Matt Jackson is a prolific author and creator of the "Undaunted Valor" series, one of the highest-rated book series set amid the Vietnam War. 
That experience is what lends so much realism to the "Undaunted Valor" series. Jackson's disciplined memory and attention to detail informs his writing and keeps readers riveted and turning pages. Among the thousands of reviews, many of them from Vietnam War-era grunts, the most telling are the ones that praise Jackson for his detail and accuracy. Many expressed gratitude for learning what the pilots and aircrews of those helicopters were thinking and feeling as they swooped in to support the soldiers on the ground.