The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Hazcat on April 13, 2009, 04:05:44 PM
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What does the S in Ulysses S Grant stand for?
NO Cheatin' using google! ;D
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I believe it is like Harry S Truman....the S is just an S and doesn't stand for anything.
So I'm going with S is just an S.....
Drum Roll please....
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Nothing...
His name is Hiram Ulysses Grant or some such thing.....it's been a while since I took US history though, ask Tom, he'll read anything... ;D
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I believe it is like Harry S Truman....the S is just an S and doesn't stand for anything.
So I'm going with S is just an S.....
Drum Roll please....
Both of you are Correct!....
Now do you know why it is just an 'S'? (how it came about)
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Both of you are Correct!....
Now do you know why it is just an 'S'? (how it came about)
If I recall correctly it was part the presiditial campaign as in US Grant. I'm probably wrong, but at least not cheating.
FQ13
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He used the S from Simpson...his mother's maiden name.
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Yes, I do love hearing exactly why I'm right.
It happens so infrequently in my life.
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FQ, CDR,
Nope.
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I believe that there was a clerical error on his West Point application. While at West Point he was reffered to as "Sam" and the name U.S. Grant stuck.But then again my memory isn't all that great any more.
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I remember a story about a guy who was named R B Jones.....that's it.....R B Jones. All through his life he was constantly asked what R and B meant.
When he was enrolling in the military he filled his paperwork out to help clarify his name.
He wrote his name as " R(only) B (only) Jones.
Throughout his military life he was known as..........
Yup, You got it....
Ronly Bonly Jones
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Both of you are Correct!....
Now do you know why it is just an 'S'? (how it came about)
Come on Haz, it was 1972 when I last took US History man, can I google? I think Majer is on the right track but the circumstances were different...
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His name is Hiram Ulysses Grant.
When he entered West Point a clerk enrolled him as Ulysses 'S' Grant. He didn't bother to fix it. His friends started calling him Sam.
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Why do we have the '21 gun salute'?
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I remember a story about a guy who was named R B Jones.....that's it.....R B Jones. All through his life he was constantly asked what R and B meant.
When he was enrolling in the military he filled his paperwork out to help clarify his name.
He wrote his name as " R(only) B (only) Jones.
Throughout his military life he was known as..........
Yup, You got it....
Ronly Bonly Jones
Seriously? Is this a joke?
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Why do we have the '21 gun salute'?
I think it is because they used the number of states that were in the union at the time they set the standard, which was 21 at the time.
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I think it is because they used the number of states that were in the union at the time they set the standard, which was 21 at the time.
Yep, but that came a while after the tradition had been in use.
I helped my son write a paper for a history class last year and still had the file in his folder on the computer from the research we did.
This is one part from an Army link.
http://www.history.army.mil/faq/salute.htm
What is the origin of the 21-gun salute?
The use of gun salutes for military occasions is traced to early warriors who demonstrated their peaceful intentions by placing their weapons in a position that rendered them ineffective. Apparently this custom was universal, with the specific act varying with time and place, depending on the weapons being used. A North African tribe, for example, trailed the points of their spears on the ground to indicate that they did not mean to be hostile.
The tradition of rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them once rendered them ineffective. Originally warships fired seven-gun salutes--the number seven probably selected because of its astrological and Biblical significance. Seven planets had been identified and the phases of the moon changed every seven days. The Bible states that God rested on the seventh day after Creation, that every seventh year was sabbatical and that the seven times seventh year ushered in the Jubilee year.
Land batteries, having a greater supply of gunpowder, were able to fire three guns for every shot fired afloat, hence the salute by shore batteries was 21 guns. The multiple of three probably was chosen because of the mystical significance of the number three in many ancient civilizations. Early gunpowder, composed mainly of sodium nitrate, spoiled easily at sea, but could be kept cooler and drier in land magazines. When potassium nitrate improved the quality of gunpowder, ships at sea adopted the salute of 21 guns.
The 21-gun salute became the highest honor a nation rendered. Varying customs among the maritime powers led to confusion in saluting and return of salutes. Great Britain, the world's preeminent seapower in the 18th and 19th centuries, compelled weaker nations to salute first, and for a time monarchies received more guns than did republics. Eventually, by agreement, the international salute was established at 21 guns, although the United States did not agree on this procedure until August 1875.
The gun salute system of the United States has changed considerably over the years. In 1810, the "national salute" was defined by the War Department as equal to the number of states in the Union--at that time 17. This salute was fired by all U.S. military installations at 1:00 p.m. (later at noon) on Independence Day. The President also received a salute equal to the number of states whenever he visited a military installation.
In 1842, the Presidential salute was formally established at 21 guns. In 1890, regulations designated the "national salute" as 21 guns and redesignated the traditional Independence Day salute, the "Salute to the Union," equal to the number of states. Fifty guns are also fired on all military installations equipped to do so at the close of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect.
Today the national salute of 21 guns is fired in honor of a national flag, the sovereign or chief of state of a foreign nation, a member of a reigning royal family, and the President, ex-President and President-elect of the United States. It is also fired at noon of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect.
Gun salutes are also rendered to other military and civilian leaders of this and other nations. The number of guns is based on their protocol rank. These salutes are always in odd numbers.
Source: Headquarters, Military District of Washington, FACT SHEET: GUN SALUTES, May 1969.
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Great post Peg. Thanks.
FQ13
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Saved this thread for last (desert ;D ) so I wound up missing out till both had been answered :(
Got the makings of a GREAT thread though that's for sure. ;D
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OK...here's one to keep the trivia going.........
I heard this on the History channel and looked it up...there are several answers, but only one is considered as 'the' actual one.
Where did the term "balls to the wall" come from?
Might be too easy.
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The heavy metal German band Accept sang a song "Balls to the Wall" but I'm guessin' that ain't the correct answer!
~turns up the 8 track~
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My guess
Airplane throttle has a ball on it. push forward (to the fire wall) for full power.
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I think Haz is on the right track.
From watching "Top Gun", when Mav was coming in to land the captain said "you've got the ball"
Damn, now I'm quoting movies. :-[
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My guess
Airplane throttle has a ball on it. push forward (to the fire wall) for full power.
Correct.....good guess...! ;)
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I think Haz is on the right track.
From watching "Top Gun", when Mav was coming in to land the captain said "you've got the ball"
Damn, now I'm quoting movies. :-[
That ball has to do with carrier landings by aircraft. There is a visual aid used on carriers to let pilots know if they are on the proper glide slope to land on the deck. The part that moves up and down depending on how you're doing on the glide slope looks like a ball or "meat ball". The fact that you have a visual on the approach aid dictates a call to the controller on the ship. When the controller says "you've got the ball" he's released the pilot for his final approach and it's the pilots job to trap the arresting cable unless he's waved off.. Pilots are graded on what cable they trap when landing. Imagine doing it at night onto a flight deck that's pitching twenty or thirty feet....
PUCKER UP!!!
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My guess
Airplane throttle has a ball on it. push forward (to the fire wall) for full power.
Correct.....good guess...! ;)
Saw a show about WWII aviators on the History channel a while back. It was fascinating hearing some of those men telling about their experiences in the air. One P-51 pilot was telling a story and he mentioned the term and then explained it to mean just what you said, 'throttle levers forward against the firewall'.
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An interesting side note on this....when a fighter "crash lands" on an aircraft carrier as soon as he/she traps the arresting cable, they "go balls to the wall" full power. The exact opposite of what you would think they should do. The reason for this is IF they miss the cable and need to relaunch, they have the power to do so...otherwise they generally go swimming...or die.
Sometimes they do everything perfectly and some still die........those guys got BIG BRASS ones, IYKWIM...
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OK....what significant event involving a handgun happened today in history?
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John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln in the Ford theatre.....April 14, 1865
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John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln in the Ford theatre.....April 14, 1865
Did Booth have a CCW?
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Did Booth have a CCW?
Yes...............but I'm afraid back then it was just called the 2nd Amendment. ;)
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Did Booth have a CCW?
Worse than that! He had an unregistered GUN in DC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Worse than that! He had an unregistered GUN in DC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
;D
But revolvers are OK right?
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An interesting side note on this....when a fighter "crash lands" on an aircraft carrier as soon as he/she traps the arresting cable, they "go balls to the wall" full power. The exact opposite of what you would think they should do. The reason for this is IF they miss the cable and need to relaunch, they have the power to do so...otherwise they generally go swimming...or die.
Sometimes they do everything perfectly and some still die........those guys got BIG BRASS ones, IYKWIM...
That's what I was thinking, thanks for the other explanation.