Doolittle Veterans

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History time. Monday, November 11th is Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day is a day that celebrates those who have served in the armed forces. A famous group of veterans are the surviving members of Doolittle’s Raid.

Doolittle’s Raid was a US military operation that occurred after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Lt. Colonel Doolittle proposed a risky plan of flying B-25s over the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Doolittle was told that once over Japan the B-25s would become low on fuel, furthermore there was no safe place to land. On April 18th 1942 Doolittle, along with an all-volunteer group of pilots, dropped bombs upon Tokyo. Some of Doolittle’s men were shot down then captured by Japanese forces, others crashed in the Pacific, most would bail out of their aircraft over China and survive.

Doolittle and his men would become American heroes; Doolittle himself would be given the Medal of Honor and promoted to Brigadier General. Today there are only four surviving members of Doolittle’s Raid. This year the surviving members held the last commemoration of the raid.

Nigel Tufnel Day

Although I usually write about politics, today is a very special day, special enough to write about something else.

In Asia, today is singles day (because the date is made up of ones). In the US (as well as many other countries), it is considered an auspicious day.

But for Spinal Tap fans such as myself, 11/11/11 is Nigel Tufnel Day.

This day was chosen based on the famous scene where Nigel explains why his amp goes to 11.

Now if you have not seen Spinal Tap, go see it, now. It is a fantastically funny movie as well as being a cultural staple.

I cannot count how many times I have seen and I am now at the point that I can recite almost every line.

What makes this movie special is that, although it makes fun of Rock & Roll, the musicians/actors in the movie are actually quite talented. They play hilarious songs but they play them well.

If you enjoy humor and good music, watch this movie. It will help you in dinner conversations when people refer to the movie and it will help you in life because every time you see the number 11 you will giggle a little bit.

P.S. I would like to also acknowledge Veteran’s Day. Although there is this very silly post about a very silly movie, it is also a day to say thank you to the people who put their life on the line every day. Thank you to those men an women who put their lives on the line to protect us at home. You get an 11 out of 10.