BATTLE OF THE JAPAN SEA (1969) – Japan’s Toshiro Mifune led the cast of this Japanese film about their successful naval clashes with Russia during the often-forgotten Russo-Japanese War (February 1904 – September 1905). U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan played the Russians.
Fans of Reilly, Ace of Spies may remember that the Japanese attack on Port Arthur in 1904 was at the core of that program’s second episode.
Other footnotes that might excite interest in this film for people who aren’t familiar with the Russo-Japanese War – President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the peace between the two nations to end the war; one of the staff officers who accompanied Roosevelt on that venture was a young Douglas MacArthur; and Tsarist Russia’s humiliating loss in the war helped fuel the ultimately unsuccessful communist uprising in 1905.
On to the film itself. Battle of the Japan Sea employs the approach that moviegoers will recall from The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, Midway, even Inchon and others, by having an all-star cast (in the Far East) act out set pieces throughout the scattered fighting. Continue reading
NELLIE BLY (Elizabeth J. Cochrane), one of the most famous reporters in history, set forth on this date in 1889 in her well-publicized attempt to make it around the world in less than the 80 days used by Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg. She was 25 years old.
Another look at current events from 
Also, in November and December of 2016 anti-Trump fascists tried intimidating the members of the Electoral College into not casting their votes for Trump even though he won the election, even going so far as DOXING those Electors. I mention this because too many people seem to have forgotten the anti-Trump push for “Faithless Electors” 8 years ago. 
THE HAT IN THE RING GANG: THE COMBAT HISTORY OF THE 94th AERO SQUADRON IN WORLD WAR ONE – Written by Charles Woolley, this excellent book covers America’s 94th Aero Squadron aka The Hat in the Ring Gang. 
DOUGHBOY WAR: THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN WORLD WAR I – Written/ edited by James H Hallas. I feel this book is perfect for people who are just diving into World War One and don’t want inundated with all of the overwhelming details of more involved works. Doughboy War covers every aspect of American soldiers’ experiences in the Great War, often in their own words. 
Earlier today 
Congratulations to de facto Third Party President Donald Trump, America’s populist leader, for enduring a storm of cowardly, destructive attacks that no president since Abraham Lincoln had to endure from their enemies on the way to another term. 
Not to be forgotten are the many legislative and court victories for election integrity since the 2020 debacle. Balladeer’s Blog covered all those efforts to prevent a recurrence of such fraudulent tactics every step of the way. 
