Roy Exum: Walmart Is Doing What?

  • Wednesday, September 4, 2019
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

One week from today the American people will remember the greatest attack ever perpetrated in our nation’s history, one that is still the worst singular act of terrorism the world has ever known. On September 11, 2001, a diabolical plan leveled our Twin Trade Centers in New York City, killed 3,000 and grievously injured 6,000 others. As though anything could possibly heighten such carnage, I will never forget that 343 firefighters and 72 police officers gave their lives as well after saving thousands of us.

In the very face of the 18th anniversary of 9/11 I am told Walmart, in an ultimate “snowflake” moment, announced it will no longer sell pistol ammunition, believing such a ridiculous manifesto will make a dent in the fact there are believed to be over a billion (with a ‘b’) rounds of ammunition readily on hand in America today.  At the same time presidential aspirant Joe Biden wants to outlaw any gun that will hold more than one bullet at a time, which is equally absurd in a country where there are more guns than people – statistics show there are 121.5 firearms for every 100 people. How’s this? Of the 858 million personal use guns in the world, it is believed almost 400 million are in the United States. And the WallyWorld answer is to quit selling pistol bullets?

A goofy Congresswoman, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, has just loudly claimed 500 Americans die every day from gun violence but the Centers for Disease Control say the truth is closer to approximately 100 per day. If you want an even-better truth, a full 60 percent of fatal gunshots in America every day are now part of a sky-rocketing suicide rate. Take away self-inflicted fatalities and you have 40 dead by gunfire each day, this in a nation where 36.82 million hunting licenses were sold in 2017 (the most recent certified number.) And, yes, hunting and fishing remain the America peoples’ favorite outdoor activity … over 36.8 million hunters who don’t shoot each other!!

Instead of imposing more and more taxation on gun owners, stricter rules, and ridiculous campaign promises, why not shift the focus to mental health, which would include zany non gun-related behavior such a limiting shotguns to one round, embellishing gun deaths by five times the truth and no longer selling pistol ammo when there is far more-lethal still on the shelf. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 102 Americans are killed each day but Walmart has not announced what it may cease to sell from that venue – oil or tires. Then again, would it be virtuous to raise the gas-per-gallon sales from its company-owned outlets in an effort to keep more cars off the roads?

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“SUMMER SHOOTING SEASON” ENDS IN CHICAGO

In Chicago, what is loosely called “The Summer Shooting Season,” ended with Labor Day and since “Opening Day” on Friday, May 24th, The Windy City’s totals this year were 164 homicides plus nearly 900 shot and wounded. For Labor Day weekend, 10 were killed and 38 wounded. 2019 Year to Date? Since Jan. 1, 2019, 321 killed, 1,575 wounded. (In 2018, there were 496 killed and another 2,466 over the 12-month period.)

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WHEN BOMBS FELL OVER MONTANA

It has always been thought that no bombs have even been dropped on the Continental United States but recently a little-known incident came to light that confirmed a B-17 Flying Fortress did indeed go on a bombing mission in southeastern Montana in March of 1944 and saved the little town of Miles City (about 175 miles southeast of Billings) Here is what Robin Schneider wrote in the North Platte Telegraph on January 29, 2005:

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On a cold March morning in 1944, Miles City, Mont., Mayor L.S. Keye put out an urgent and unique request through the governor’s office: “Send in the bombers!” What would happen next would be reported as the only aerial bombing of a community during wartime on U.S. soil, a mission that would involve North Platte resident Earl Tagge.

On March 21, the residents of Miles City, located where the Tongue River enters the mighty Yellowstone River, awoke to find their quaint little town in danger of being completely submerged under frozen water. Ice jams were backing up on the Yellowstone River, and the flow from the Tongue River raised the ice packs even higher until the rivers overflowed their banks.

The reading at the city’s pumping plant was reported as being 16.3 feet on Tuesday morning, according to the day’s issue of The Miles City Star. Normal flow for that time of year was usually in the 4.3-foot range. Freezing water and large chunks of ice were filling the town, forcing people to evacuate their homes. Keye called in explosives experts from a nearby town to drop several 50-pound homemade bombs on the frozen Yellowstone River in an effort to break up the ice, but to no avail. Keye’s only other option was to contact the military in hopes they could find a solution.

Back in Rapid City, S.D., 20-year-old Army Air Force Staff Sergeant Earl Tagge was sitting in his barracks marking time following training for high-altitude bombing and gunnery practice. He was scheduled to ship out to New Guinea in a matter of days.

When officers approached the troops asking for volunteers to aid in the unusual mission, Tagge accepted and was quickly at work fusing and loading the 250-pound bombs onto the World War II B-17 Flying Fortress.

Within a matter of hours, Tagge, along with pilot Richard F. Ezzard and a crew of eight, flew the B-17 in the middle of a blizzard headed for Miles City. “We had to fly by instruments for about the first half hour because we couldn’t see out of the cockpit,” Tagge said. The original plan was for the group to take the bombs to Miles City, where they would be transferred to a dive-bomber, who would then drop the bombs.

“After we landed in Miles City, the ceiling was too low, it was 1,000 feet. They changed the plan and we dropped the bombs,” Tagge said. Ezzard had planned on dropping the bombs at an altitude of 10,000 feet, but was unable to get that high because of cloud cover. Instead, Ezzard was forced to fly at 2,600 feet.

At 7:30 p.m., the crew, with the addition of a local man who knew the area well, went back up to begin the mission. The crew could see from the air that the Yellowstone River was jammed for at least two miles on each side of the river’s bend. After a few initial passes, the crew released a test bomb.

“It seemed to go in the right place, but you couldn’t really tell it did anything,” Tagge said. The crew made two more passes over the river, dropping six bombs on each pass. Hundreds of onlookers stood by holding their collective breath in suspense, waiting for the inevitable loud blasts they had assumed would come from the bombs. “People thought they would make a lot of noise,” Tagge said. “We had them triggered to detonate underwater.”

What happened instead was a tornado- like effect that swirled upward, carrying mud, water and ice 150 feet into the air, as reported in the Miles City Star. Within an hour, Tagge said, the ice loosened up and the water began to flow down. The mayor and several other dignitaries stood on the Seventh Street Bridge, watching the improving flow.

“There were big pieces of ice hitting the bridge,” Tagge said, with a chuckle. “I guess it was pretty shaky, and they got off it real fast.” The reading at the pumping plant on Wednesday morning was 6.3 feet, a drop of 10 feet from the previous day.

The crew was put up in a local hotel for the night and fed steak dinners in appreciation for their efforts. The next day, as the crew began their flight home to Rapid City, Ezzard flew over Miles City at 50 feet, tipping his wings from side to side, a gesture that everything was well.

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This is what forged the America I love.

royexum@aol.com

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