nPostednon December 22, 2015
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nOnnthis date in 1944, two pivotal things happened.
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nFirst,nin Belgium, German troops demanded the surrender of United Statesntroops. American General Anthony McAuliffe famously responded,n“Nuts!”
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nSecond,nin Indochina – what is now Vietnam – in response to Japanesenoccupation, the Vietnam People’s Army formed.
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nInnBelgium…
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nGeneralnMcAuliffe’s famous response was in context of the hard-fought “Battlenof the Bulge.” The Germans sent a 165-word ultimatum to McAuliffe –n165 words that could be summed up with three: “surrender or else!”nThe ultimatum was addressed “To the U.S.A. Commander of thenencircled town of Bastogne,” and it was signed, “The GermannCommander.”
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Whennthe Americans sent back the official reply, it looked like this:
Whennthe Americans sent back the official reply, it looked like this:n
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nTo the German Commander:
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nNUTS!
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nThe American Commander n
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nThenGerman major who received the message and was about to take it to hisngeneral didn’t understand what “NUTS!” meant in this context. Sonhe asked the colonel who had brought him the typed reply what itnmeant. The American said, “In plain English? Go to H—.”
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n(GeneralnMcAuliffe was famous for using words like “oh, nuts!” instead ofncurse words. NOT cursing was pretty unusual in the military.)
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nMcAuliffenand the other Americans were able to hold off the German attackers,nand it was an Allied victory. (The Allies were the U.S., Britain,nRussia, and other nations fighting against the Nazis and thenJapanese.) And of course, the Allies went on, eventually, to winningnthe war.
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InnIndochina…
InnIndochina…n
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nOfncourse, the Allied forces eventually defeated the Japanese in thenPacific. The Vietnam People’s Army went on to drive France out ofnVietnam and to fight against the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese forcesnin the Vietnam War.
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nThisnarmy still exists in Vietnam and is celebrated every December 22n(Armed Forces Day).
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversarynof the discovery of an asteroid
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nAnniversarynof the formation of the U.S. Golf Association
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nNationalnHaiku Poetry Day
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nAnniversarynof first string of Christmas lights
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nFirstnday of winter in Hong Kong
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest pages on:
Checknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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