Lt. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard, who inspired the storied retort "nuts" to a German surrender ultimatum during the Battle of the Bulge, died Monday in Arlington, Va. He was 93.
General Kinnard parachuted into Normandy in the first hours of D-Day. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism during Operation Market Garden, the airborne attack in the German-occupied Netherlands. And he helped pioneer the airmobile concept, sending troops into combat aboard helicopters during the Vietnam War.
But he was perhaps best remembered for what happened in December 1944 at the Belgian town of Bastogne, where the 101st Airborne Division, short on clothing and boots in a snowstorm and bitter cold, was surrounded by German troops.
Bastogne, at the intersection of important roads, was a crucial objective for the Germans in their surprise attack in the Ardennes region of Belgium, an offensive that had created a "bulge" in Allied lines.
On Dec. 22, two German officers approached the American lines in Bastogne carrying a demand that the American commander surrender his troops within two hours or face annihilation from an artillery barrage.
The message was passed on to Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, acting as division commander while Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor was in Washington.
General Kinnard, a lieutenant colonel at the time and the division's operations officer, would recall that General McAuliffe "laughed and said: 'Us surrender? Aw, nuts.' "
As General Kinnard related it long afterward in an interview with Patrick O'Donnell, a military historian: "He pondered for a few minutes and then told the staff, 'Well, I don't know what to tell them.' He then asked the staff what they thought, and I spoke up, saying, 'That first remark of yours would be hard to beat.'
"McAuliffe said, 'What do you mean?' I answered, 'Sir, you said, 'Nuts.' All members of the staff enthusiastically agreed. McAuliffe then wrote down: 'To the German Commander, Nuts! The American Commander.' "
The note was carried back to the German officers by Col. Joseph Harper, a regimental commander. The officers did not seem to understand it, so Colonel Harper told them, "If you don't know what 'nuts' means, in plain English it is the same as 'go to hell.' "
The 101st held out, and four days later an American column broke through the German lines, lifting the siege. That response of "nuts" came to epitomize the grit of American soldiers in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.
Harry William Osborne Kinnard II, a native of Dallas, entered military service after graduating from West Point in 1939.
Having fought extensively with the airborne, he oversaw a more modern way to get troops into combat quickly when he commanded the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), created at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1963 to develop the airmobile concept.
That became the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and General Kinnard commanded it in November 1965 when it undertook the Army's first major engagement of the Vietnam War, the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. North Vietnamese casualties were heavy, but that encounter in the Central Highlands left more than 300 Americans dead and foreshadowed a long war of attrition. The battle was recounted in the 1992 book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young," by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway.
General Kinnard retired from military service in 1969. He is survived by his wife, Libby; his sons, Crew and Robert; his daughters, Susan Payson, Kathleen Coursey and Cynthia Harmon; his stepdaughters, Libby Nicholson and Janmarie Hall; his stepson, Col. Tom Nicholson Jr.; 16 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.
General McAuliffe became famed for the "nuts" reply, but sometimes grew weary of hearing the story retold. On one occasion, he thought he had a respite.
"One evening a dear old Southern lady invited me to dinner," he recalled. "I had a delightful time talking to her and her charming guests. I was pleased because no mention was made the entire evening of the 'nuts' incident. As I prepared to depart and thanked my hostess for an enjoyable evening, she replied, 'Thank you and good night, General McNut.' "
A piece of history has been unearthed at Antietam National Battlefield in Washington County -- the remains of a soldier who died in that Civil War battle, almost 150 years ago. Archeologists are now working to find out as much as they can about that soldier, and give him a proper burial.
The Battle of Antietam on September 17th, 1862 remains the bloodiest day in American history. On that one day, more than 23,000 men were killed, wounded or captured. The bodies of hundreds of soldiers were buried on the field. Years later, the Army moved many of the Union dead to the Antietam National Cemetery. Confederates were moved to cemeteries in Hagerstown or Frederick.
But some bodies were missed. And this past October, a man walking through the battlefield came upon what he thought were human remains, and he was right. Part of what he found was a human tooth. 'Actually it was an impacted wisdom tooth was what it was,' said John Howard, superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield.
The National Park Service called in a team of archeologists to search the site, and they found more artifacts including the soldier's belt buckle, and several buttons from his jacket. 'Each one was spaced exactly the same distance apart so you know that when they laid him to rest his coat was buttoned and it laid directly down his chest,' Howard said.
The buttons also revealed the man was a Union soldier from New York State. Scientists at the Smithsonian studied the tooth, and determined that he was between 18 and 21 years old, but it's unlikely that they'll ever know exactly who he was. 'For example if there was only one New York Soldier left unknown, well then it would work but there are more than that,' Howard said. 'There's probably close to 60 or 70 that we know of just from very fast research.'
Regardless, the remains are being treated with the utmost respect. 'He was somebody's brother, perhaps somebody's father, definitely somebody's son. And that's the way we treat these remains,' Howard said.
The last discovery like this was in 1989, when the remains of four Union soldiers were found. The man who found the remains this time left the battlefield without telling anyone who he was. Officials with the park service are hoping he'll come forward, because they would like to thank him.
#2
The man died for arguably one of the greatest causes in human history. Its nice to see that he is being treatet with the respect he deserves.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/11/2009 1:04 Comments ||
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#3
Not far from where I live is a Civil War burial ground with at least 22 graves. The University of Tennessee did a little work and determined there are 18 Confederates and 4 Union but nothing has been done in 15 years to try to determine who they were. It's on private land and is the place where the dead from a Skirmish on the Holston River are burried. There were 300 Confederate Infantry and 2000 Union Cavalry. I have an ancestor who took part in this fight. The landowner keeps the place cleaned of all undergrowth and debris.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/11/2009 9:40 Comments ||
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SAN MIGUEL, Costa Rica, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Rescue workers dug into collapsed hillsides on Saturday searching for bodies and possible survivors two days after a strong earthquake killed 20 people. Rescuers fanned out into remote jungle areas on the flanks of the Poas Volcano to excavate landslides in search of 40 people missing from Thursday's 6.1-magnitude quake.
The Red Cross in Costa Rica said 20 bodies have been recovered. About 40 people were still missing, civil protection spokesman Reinaldo Carballo told Reuters.
Colombia and the United States sent military helicopters to help the Costa Rican government, which does not have an army. Bottled water, electric generators and rations sent by the U.S. military began to reach shelters crammed with Costa Ricans who lost their homes.
Hundreds of Costa Ricans and foreign tourists stranded by cut-off roads have already been moved to shelters or evacuated by air to the capital San Jose.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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A Muslim man who attacked his sister leaving her covered in bruises all over her body has been jailed for 10 months.
Mohammed Ellahi arrived at his parents' home to find his mother and sister involved in a heated row. But 34-year-old Ellahi, a married man from Hitchin, decided to get involved himself and after calling his sister a bitch began punching her about the face and head. His sister Tasleem Begum lived there with her parents.
The prosecutor said Ellahi then used two metal rods that were part of the structure of a glass topped coffee table to hit Tasleem all over her body. The court heard the sister subsequently spent three days in hospital being treated for her injuries.
The prosecutor said the sister had been divorced after an arranged marriage had broken down and the mother was not happy with her choice of friends. It was also being suggested that the sister should travel to Pakistan. It was then that Ellahi attacked the girl leaving her covered in bruises to her face, arms, shoulder, legs and back.
The court heard the sister managed to escape from the house when her brother went upstairs to look for her mobile phone so he could see who her friends were. Miss Carter said Tasleem ran to the home of friends who phoned for an ambulance. Police also arrived on the scene and accompanied her to hospital.
#1
Stupid man! Doesn't he know that a woman is to be beaten everywhere except her face and head, so as not to spoil her beauty for her future husband? On the other hand, it is nice to see a grown man so protective of his mother.
#2
If he had been in Pakistan, and had killed his sister, he probably would have claimed it was an honor killing, and gotten an even lighter sentence, if any.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/11/2009 12:41 Comments ||
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#1
What is this, a slow news week? We get Prince Harry goofing around three years ago and an O!bama interview from the last millennium. I guess there is only so much Juice-bashing you can do before the readers get tired.
In other news, whale oil futures down; pirates infest the Barbary Coast.
#2
I have a sister on my mothers side, she is half Indonesian like my mothers second husband, and I also have brothers and sisters on the Kenyan side. They are very scattered, some live in Germany, others in Kenya, some here in the U.S." ....Scattered I tell you! Scattered! Some are on the moon, and there are even more that I know nothing about. Did I tell you I was born in Hawaii?
Rather than giving a knee-jerk reaction by boycotting American goods, Muslims will be in a better position to fight oppression by strengthening their economic position.
Johor Corporation Berhad (JCorp) chief executive officer Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim said this when asked about the drive to boycott American products in protest against Israel's self-defense atrocities against the Palestinians. "The boycott will only hurt our own people as the businesses provide thousands of jobs here."
He was speaking at the Intelligent Chess Challenge 2008/2009 at Persada Johor Convention Centre here yesterday. He had earlier presented prizes to the winners of the challenge.
Ali said Arab countries were unable to fight Israel because of their economic dependence on the United States. "If we go to war with Israel, we will be wiped out because of its superior technology and weaponry. We can only afford the same level of technology and weaponry if our economy is on par with it." He said the business jihad advocated by JCorp could be the foundation to improve the economic position of Muslim countries although it might take a long time.
On the possibility of KFC Holdings (KFCH) Berhad being boycotted, Ali said the bulk of Malaysia's trade with the United States consisted of non-food products such as aircraft and computer software. He said it was unlikely that Malaysia or other Muslim countries could do without these products. "Are we going to drive Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia to the ground just because they use Boeing aircraft? Can we afford to dump our computers because they use Microsoft software?"
Ali said although the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise originated in the United States, the owners in Malaysia were locals. He said there was no drop in KFCH sales following the call to boycott American brands.
#2
He said the business jihad advocated by JCorp could be the foundation to improve the economic position of Muslim countries although it might take a long time.
The reality is every Muslim country is a tick/parasite the western world. For them to jump off the infidel world would be a benefit to the infidel world. So it ain't gonna happen, parasites are just that...parasites.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Lt. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard, who inspired the storied retort "nuts" to a German surrender ultimatum during the Battle of the Bulge, died Monday in Arlington, Va. He was 93.
A piece of history has been unearthed at Antietam National Battlefield in Washington County -- the remains of a soldier who died in that Civil War battle, almost 150 years ago. Archeologists are now working to find out as much as they can about that soldier, and give him a proper burial.
A Muslim man who attacked his sister leaving her covered in bruises all over her body has been jailed for 10 months.
Rather than giving a knee-jerk reaction by boycotting American goods, Muslims will be in a better position to fight oppression by strengthening their economic position. 
