Moment in Time
FEBRUARY 2022
By Mickey Dunaway | Reprinted with Permission by Limitless Magazine | Cornelius, NC
Given that February is the month of love, and in keeping with my somewhat offbeat approach to the events included in this column, I am going in the opposite direction. This month’s Moment in Time will focus on little known and/or significant battles that took place in February. I might even throw in a February divorce or two!
THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2022
(Information on Battles was taken from Wikipedia.com and other online sources.)
| February | Battle | Comments |
| 1, 1662 | Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes Taiwan after nine-month siege | I never knew the China and Taiwan issue went so far back. |
| 2, 1943 | Last German forces surrender to Soviet Army at the Battle of Stalingrad | The Russian winter claims another megalomanic bent on dominating the world. |
| 3, 1943 | U.S. Captures the Marshall Islands in WWII | The Marshall Islands had been occupied by Japan since the start of WWI. U.S. troops landed on January 31st and took control on February 3rd. |
| 4, 1985 | George Foreman divorces Andrea Skeet after 3 years | Maybe she didn’t appreciate his grill. Maybe she was right. |
| 5, 1945 | Gen. MacArthur fulfils promise and returns to Manila | MacArthur understood the far east better than any other American which made him perfect to manage Japan after the surrender. |
| 5, 1958 | Hydrogen bomb was lost by U.S. Air Force off coast of Savannah, GA and never recovered | NC had similar incident. On January 23, 1961, the Air Force accidentally dropped two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Had the last fail-safe mechanism not worked, much of the east coast have been wiped out. |
| 9, 1965 | First U.S. combat troops sent to South Vietnam | The emotionally moving Vietnam Memorial is worth a visit to D.C. My wife and I both have friend’s names on that polished black wall. |
| 10, 1258 | Mongols swamped Bagdad and burned it to the ground | It was captured by Hulagu Khan a grandson of Genghis Khan. As many as 800,000 people were killed |
| 11, 1943 | Gen. Dwight Eisenhower made Supreme Commander of armies in Europe | Controversial at first because several Brits were ranked higher and had more battle experience |
| 14, 1919 | Einstein divorced Mileva Maric after 16 years of marriage | Perhaps he could see the relativity of their marriage. Sorry. Couldn’t resist |
| 14. 1989 | Robin Givens divorces Mike Tyson | Tyson’s first time being knocked out? |
| 14, 1999 | Singer Prince divorces belly dancer Mayte Garcia after 2 years | I didn’t delve into why, but maybe she just didn’t move him anymore! Sorry again |
| 17, 1865 | Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman marched north from Savannah, and Union troops burn Columbia, SC in much the same manner and reasons as Atlanta. | Charleston thought that Sherman would march up from Savanah and lay waste to city. Sherman chose Columbia because he had an affinity for Charleston having served at Fort Moultry in the 1840s |
| 18, 1932 | Japan declares Manchuria independent from China | Japan’s war in Manchuria was one of the most brutal in history |
| 19, 1915 | Battle of Gallipoli began | Great Britain lost 115,000 troops. Most were under the command of Winston Churchill. Yet he recovered politically to lead England as only he could to victory in WWII |
| 23, 1836 | A 13-day siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio. | First time I saw the Alamo up close, I was disappointed that it was in downtown San Antonio! |
| 23, 1945 | Perhaps most iconic war was photo taken when a group of Marines reach the peak of Mt. Suribachi and are posed raising the American flag signifying victory. | 27,071 total casualties6,821 Marines killed539 Navy sailors killed19,709 wounded137 tanks destroyed153 airplanes destroyed |
| 25, 1921 | Democratic Republic of Georgia was re-occupied by Soviet Russia after the DRG declared its independence in May 1918 following the Russian Revolution. | A familiar refrain |
| 29, 1704 | French forces and Native Americans destroy Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children. Known as Queen Anne’s War. | My history book in back in American History class at Semmes High School in Semmes, Alabama in 1964 called this the French and Indian Wars |
| War of the Roses? | According to Texas Family Atttorney V.Wayne Ward (https://www.wwlawman.com/february-the-divorce-month/), “A recent study confirmed the post-Valentine’s Day increase in divorce activity: February divorce filings are about 18 percent higher than those in an average month. This statistic becomes all the more remarkable when you consider that February is also the shortest month of the year.” |
There was never a good war. Or a bad peace.
-Benjamin Franklin
Southern Exposures 