Well, if you recall our first post of the day, Louis XIII both succeeded his father and was succeeded by his son on this date. So he no doubt remembered the first event, but not the second. Alas, he only lived a total of XXXXI.V years. Or more accurately, XLI.V, I guess. Though the last part, after the decimal is open to interpretation.
Fanny Mendelssohn died on this date in 1847. Perhaps you're more familiar with her brother Felix. Or her grandkids Paul and Kurt Hensel. But she was also a composer of some worth, whose compositions were often published under the name of her bro. Dad, among many others, didn't cotton to chicks playing or composing music, as it happened. Alas, Fanny only lived XLI.V years herself, before dying from a stroke. Oddly, Felix died VI months later, also from a stroke. BTW, both their parents and their grandfather, philosopher Moses Mendelssohn also died of strokes. So if I were a member of that family I wouldn't have done a lot of saving for retirement.
Jumping back to Germany (sort of), we note the 1906 death of Carl Shurz. Born in 1829, he was a student in Germany when the 1849 Revolution broke out. He, along with Franz Sigel, who crossed paths later with Shurz, fought for the rebels. Until they lost, at which point Shurz fled. He did return to bust a friend out of prison, then fled to Paris, where he was forced to leave by the government as things heated up there. He wound up in the good old US of A, along with his wife (who had a hand in creating the kindergarten for US kids. For good or ill, I guess). At any rate, Carl got into politics here, which led to him playing a role in the Civil War. Not a particularly glorious one, as his field commands were primarily in the Army of The Potomac's XI Corps (I swear, that is how it's usually described, and it's not an attempt to milk the theme of the day), which is best known for getting its collective ass handed to it at both Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. The Corps had a strong German presence, which is odd- one doesn't normally associate a German military unit with incompetence, but the facts are there. After the War, he worked as a newspaperman, where among other things he hired a young man named Joseph Pulitzer. He then was elected to the Senate, where he favored fiscal responsibility and integrity- kinda like Paul Ryan if you're a Republican, or... somebody... if you're a Democrat. He continued in politics and other stuff, and then died. In 1906.
In 1919, Henry J. Heinz died. He founded the HJ Heinz company, which now allows John Kerry to waste time in the Senate talking about how rich people (like his wife, the widow of a Heinz) are evil. While living in mansions and owning boats and fleets of cars.
Another German died on this date too. And he was of course a general. And a darn good one. his name was Heinz Guderian, and he is generally regarded as the Father of the Blitzkrieg (lighting war). His ideas were the synthesis of writings by Fuller and Liddell-Hart, a couple of British officers, but nobody in Britain paid them a lot of attention. Germany did. So they had a lot of success in the early days of the War, until the British figured out what they were doing. Guderian, by the way, led the assault on France, and had a lot of success in Russia too. Until he was fired for insubordination, which he may or may not have been guilty of. Later, Rommel suggested that he be sent to North Africa to take command, but Hitler was having none of that. Eventually he was brought out of retirement as Inspector-General of Armored Troops, where his opinions were pretty much ignored. Then he became Chief of Staff of the Army, where his opinions were pretty much ignored. Until Hitler got tired of arguing with him, and fired him again. Right before the War ended. He helped recreate the German Army after the War, and died of congestive heart failure in 1954. His son, also named Heinz, was a general in that version of the German army. And served as Inspector of Armored Troops. Which could become quite confusing, I guess.
In 1968, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel died. He was the commander of the US Pacific Fleet on December 7, 1941. But not for long after that, as you can no doubt understand. He's gotten the shaft, in my opinion. He was not given a lot of information which would have been useful to know in the last hours before the Japanese attack. And while he's criticized for how his fleet was anchored that morning, his instructions were to prepare the fleet for war- which meant refitting ships, loading supplies, and resting crews. All of which needs to be done in port. And part of "resting crews" is giving them time off. Like, say, a Sunday morning when there's nothing going on (as far as you know, because the war warning the government sent out the day before was inexplicably not sent to you). At any rate, he had a couple courts of inquiry look into his actions, with mixed results. Interestingly, he suffered a very minor wound from a spent bullet which came through the window of his office, causing him to reflect to an aide that it would have been better if the round had killed him. What's even more interesting is that Nimitz, who replaced Kimmel in command, said that it was a mercy the fleet was in Pearl Harbor. Had Kimmel known what was coming, he would have tried to intercept the Japanese fleet, which would have basically wiped out his entire force in a place where the crews would have all been either captured or drowned, and where the ships couldn't be raised, as most of the ships sunk in the attack were. So it's a trade-off. Since his death, there have been several attempts to get him restored to his full rank (he was an acting 4 Star Admiral at the time, but was reduced to his permanent 2 star rank after the attack. According to one staff member, during the attack he tore off his 4 star insignia and replaced them with the other, knowing full well what was coming). While he's now considered to be officially not completely to blame, no president has seen fit to give him the rank back.
Back to Germany we go, and acknowledge Colonel Walter Rauff, who was an SS officer in the War. He's considered by some to have been responsible for over 100,000 deaths, but he never faced charges, and died in South America in 1984. Rather than wishing him a "rest in peace", we give him a "burn in Hell" to celebrate.
In Hollywood news, both Rita Hayword and Ol' Blue Eyes died on this date. Whatever else one thinks of Sinatra- and my mother doesn't care for him, though it's in large part due to his continuing to tour and perform when he couldn't sing or even recall the words to his own songs- I've always liked that Mark Steyn says Sinatra's kids are the most normal "hollywood" kids he's met. That's worth something, I suppose. And I suppose he really did do it his way (sorry, but that cliche is required when speaking of Sinatra).
And on that note we'll end.
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