Posted on 03/30/2008 3:15:26 PM PDT by doug from upland
In this series, exclusive to FreeRepublic, we will examine the military resume of Senator Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. She did much more than dodge sniper fire in Bosnia with her daughter because Bill was too afraid to go, and the voters are entitled to know about her exploits before they decide whom they want for commander in chief.
No. 1 - THE ENOLA GAY
No. 2 - CROSSING THE DELAWARE
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The charge up an obscure Cuban hill on July, 1 1898 was a pivotal point in Theodore Roosevelt's political career. When war broke with Spain in April of that year, Roosevelt was serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He immediately quit his position and helped form a regiment of volunteers. The "Rough Riders" enlisted cowboys and college men led by Roosevelt under the command of Leonard Wood. They arrived in Cuba in time to take part in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
America's conflict with Spain was later described as a "splendid little war" and for Theodore Roosevelt it certainly was. His combat experience consisted of one week's campaign with one day of hard fighting. "The charge itself was great fun" he declared, and "Oh, but we had a bully fight." His actions during the battle earned a recommendation for the Congressional Medal of Honor but politics intervened and the request was denied. The rejection crushed Roosevelt. As though in consolation, the notoriety from the charge up San Juan Hill was instrumental in propelling him to the governorship of New York in 1899. The following year Roosevelt was selected to fill the Vice Presidential spot in President McKinley's successful run for a second term. With McKinley's assassination in September 1901, Roosevelt became President.
In the confusion surrounding their departure from Tampa, half the members of the Rough Riders were left behind along with all their horses. The volunteers made the charge up San Juan Hill on foot. They were joined in the attack by the 10th (Negro) Cavalry. The 10th never received the glory for the charge that the Rough Riders did, but one of their commanders - Captain "Black Jack" Pershing (who later commanded American troops in World War I) - was awarded the Silver Star. "Roosevelt...made you feel like you would like to cheer."
Richard Harding Davis was a reporter who observed the charge up San Juan Hill. We join his account as American forces have massed at the bottom of the hill - the Spanish entrenched in a dominate position on its top. Behind the Americans, advancing troops have clogged the roads preventing an escape. The Americans appear to be stymied - unwilling to move forward and unable to retreat. Suddenly, Theodore Roosevelt emerges on horseback from the surrounding woods and rallies the men to charge: "Colonel Roosevelt, on horseback, broke from the woods behind the line of the Ninth, and finding its men lying in his way, shouted: 'If you don't wish to go forward, let my men pass, please.' The junior officers of the Ninth, with their Negroes, instantly sprang into line with the Rough Riders, and charged at the blue block-house on the right.
I speak of Roosevelt first because, with General Hawkins, who led Kent's division, notably the Sixth and Sixteenth Regulars, he was, without doubt, the most conspicuous figure in the charge. General Hawkins, with hair as white as snow, and yet far in advance of men thirty years his junior, was so noble a sight that you felt inclined to pray for his safety; on the other hand, Roosevelt, mounted high on horseback, and charging the rifle-pits at a gallop and quite alone, made you feel that you would like to cheer. He wore on his sombrero a blue polka-dot handkerchief, a la Havelock, which, as he advanced, floated out straight behind his head, like a guidon. Afterward, the men of his regiment who followed this flag, adopted a polka-dot handkerchief as the badge of the Rough Riders. These two officers were notably conspicuous in the charge, but no one can claim that any two men, or anyone man, was more brave or more daring, or showed greater courage in that slow, stubborn advance than did any of the others. . . .
I think the thing which impressed one the most, when our men started from cover, was that they were so few. It seemed as if someone had made an awful and terrible mistake. One's instinct was to call them to come back. You felt that someone had blundered and that these few men were blindly following out some madman's mad order. It was not heroic then, it seemed merely terribly pathetic. The pity of it, the folly of such a sacrifice was what held you.
They had no glittering bayonets, they were not massed in regular array. There were a few men in advance, bunched together, and creeping up a steep, sunny hill, the top of which roared and flashed with flame. The men held their guns pressed across their breasts and stepped heavily as they climbed. Behind these first few, spreading out like a fan, were single lines of men, slipping and scrambling in the smooth grass, moving forward with difficulty, as though they were wading waist high through water, moving slowly, carefully, with strenuous effort. It was much more wonderful than any swinging charge could have been. They walked to greet death at every step, many of them, as they advanced, sinking suddenly or pitching forward and disappearing in the high grass, but the others' waded on, stubbornly, forming a thin blue line that kept creeping higher and higher up the hill. It was as inevitable as the rising tide. It was a miracle of self-sacrifice, a triumph of bulldog courage, which one watched breathless with wonder. The fire of the Spanish riflemen, who still stuck bravely to their posts, doubled and trebled in fierceness, the crests of the hills crackled and burst in amazed roars, and rippled with waves of tiny flame. But the blue line crept steadily up and on, and then, near the top, the broken fragments gathered together with a sudden burst of speed, the Spaniards appeared for a moment outlined against the sky and poised for instant flight, fired a last volley and fled before the swift-moving wave that leaped and sprang up after them. The men of the Ninth and the Rough Riders rushed to the blockhouse together, the men of the Sixth, of the Third, of the Tenth Cavalry, of the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry, fell on their faces along the crest of the hills beyond, and opened upon the vanishing enemy. They drove the yellow silk flags of the cavalry and the Stars and Stripes of their country into the soft earth of the trenches, and then sank down and looked back at the road they had climbed and swung their hats in the air. And from far overhead, from these few figures perched on the Spanish rifle-pits, with their flags planted among the empty cartridges of the enemy, and overlooking the walls of Santiago, came, faintly, the sound of a tired, broken cheer."
SPECIAL NOTE: a diary was recently recovered from one of the men who was a part of that charge up San Juan Hill. On Page 10 was a startling revelation. "Hillary Rodham joined our unit just a month before the charge up San Juan Hill. Despite the fact that she was a woman, had thick glasses, and was too old for the Marines, she joined us. We were glad to have her and would have never won the battle without her. Someday, I have no doubt that she will show courage under fire with a corkscrew landing in Bosnia."
She does tend to think she’s Molly Pitcher, Clara Barton and Marie Curie all rolled into one, doesn’t she? *SMIRK*
hillary-ous as always mr. doug.
I already knew it was Hillary who named the Enola Gay. It was a precursor to her plan to allow gays in the military.
She also conferred with MacArthur on many occasions and helped draft the unconditional Japanese surrender document.
Doug, Im forwarding this to a friend whose great grandfather really charged up the hill. He’ll be thrilled to know his ancestor was a FOH...!
My Mother’s Grandfather was one of the NYC contingent of the Rough Riders. He’s mentioned in TR’s book.
This series may help us all learn a little more history while skewering Hillary. What could be better than that?
I looked at doing Iwo Jima, but the faces are not the camera. There will be more mocking to come.
The Spanish American War was essential training for the former First Lady, as she was able to develop her strategic and Leadership skills under fire — a unique opportunity for women at the time.
Later, she was able to apply these skills at Gallipoli at Lone Pine, where she became the first woman — and indeed the first American — to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
Hillary foresaw the Second World War and the rise of Fascism, and along with Ernest Hemingway and other volunteers from the Western Nations, joined the anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War. It was here that she first saw the Nazi War Machine in action — including the dreaded Blitzkrieg — an experience that proved valuable later during the Second World War.
In August 1939 Hillary became more and more concerned at the passive response that the West was giving to the rising Nazi threat. Chamberlain had paid no attention to her repeated and dire warnings. And so it was that she befriended Churchill — there were rumors at the time that they may have had an affair — and she was thus in the privileged position of being able to influence and guide the inexperienced Churchill during Britain’s darkest hours. Indeed, it was Hillary who wrote many of Churchill’s rousing speeches.
Mid-war, it became apparent that a second front needed to be opened. Accordingly, Hillary trained with the Lovat Scouts as a commando and, in the deep of night, parachuted into Warsaw, where she led the uprising. Unfortunately, they were out-gunned by the Nazis and she narrowly escaped with her life.
From there, Hillary decided that the best use of her skills was in the Pacific Theater of War. And the rest is, as you know, History...
Don’t you mean Herstory?
I’m also looking to the episode of how she invented Television and appeared in many war scenes of the program “ You were There”...She was in the Blitz of London, seen darting from one building to the next, then was seen leading the men at Omaha Beach, helping the frozen troops in the Battle of the Bulge, then riding on one of Patton’s Third Army tanks around the outskirts of Berlin..Later she starred as the mom in Leave it to Beaver but a spinoff from that program—My Favorite Beaver did not do so well and it was dropped by it’s sponsor-Kamel cigarettes.
I suspect memories of Hauptmann Hillary’s contribution to the charge up San Juan Hill have been tempered by a Cuba Libre - or four! But, silly me, somehow I’m always suspicious of our super-heroes and heroines accomplishments!
You can try, but you will NEVER get her to admit that she is Amelia Earhart. Yes, THE Amelia Earhart.
Some have claimed to be the lost aviator, but hidden deep in the vaults of modern history, is the fact that Amelia was rescued. She stayed anonymous because she had proof of the ongoing build up of the Japanese forces, and plans to attack the U.S.
She at first worked with the Roosevelt Administration to forge the conquest of Japan. Then she worked with President Eisenhower to build the, now clogged, freeway system across the U.S. She has made major accomplishments with every President since.
NOW, is HER time. She has earned this triumph. May she ever live in the hearts and nightmares of Democrats everywhere.
Doug,
Do you mean that all this is a parody?
The bitch didn't really charge San Juan Hill?
Why did they call it san juan HILL, if she wasn't there?
Gee, you have a point. Maybe this isn’t parody. I’m working on the YouTube.
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