Tokyo Rose

During World War II, Allied forces in the South Pacific would often hear Japanese propaganda over the radio from an English-speaking Japanese woman. It was reported that she would accurately go into detail about the Allies' plans, and would even name individual servicemen. She was nicknamed Tokyo Rose, and most people know her today from the film Flags of Our Fathers. She is said to have playfully tormented the troops.

Following the war, two reporters, Harry T. Brundidge and Clark Lee, searched for Tokyo Rose, who they determined to be American-born Iva Toguri. They offered her $2,000 for an interview, which she agreed to. When she stepped forward, instead of getting paid, she was arrested. End of story, right?

Well, there's only one problem; Tokyo Rose never existed.

Iva Toguri was born on 4 July 1916 in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, Japanese immigrants, had came to America from Japan in 1913. As a child she was a Girl Scout. In 1940, she graduated from the University of California with a degree in Zoology. She was considered by everyone around her to be a loyal American.

On 5 July 1941, Iva sailed to Japan to visit a sick relative and to perhaps study medicine. She did not have a passport, so in September, when she decided to return to America, she filed a request for a passport so she could return home. Unfortunately, on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, and her request for a passport was denied, leaving her stranded in Japan. 

As the war in the Pacific between Japan and the Allied Forces began, Iva was pressured into revoking her American citizenship by the Japanese government. She refused. Because of this, she was declared and "enemy alien" and denied a war ration card.

To help support herself, she found a job as a typist at a Japanese news agency, and eventually ended up at Radio Tokyo. In November 1943, Allied prisoners were forced to air Japanese propaganda, and Iva was chosen to host parts of it, called The Zero Hour. The producer was an Australian Army officer, Major Charles Cousens, who had pre-war broadcast experience, and had been captured at the fall of Singapore. He had been tortured and forced to work on the radio show, along with his assistants, U.S. Army Captain Wallace Ince and Philippine Army Lieutenant Normando Ildefonso "Norman" Reyes".  Iva had risked her life to deliver food to the POW camp they had been held captive, therefore gaining their trust, which is why they chose her to host the program. She was assured by them that they would not have her say anything against the United States, and they didn't.

Iva took the stage name "Orphan Annie". Although she never took part in actual news broadcasts, she mostly acted in radio comedy skits, and announcing songs. She only made $7 a month (or ¥150), which she mostly used to buy food for POW camps, sneaking it in as she had done before.

Not one time did she ever refer to herself as "Tokyo Rose".

After the war, Iva heard about Harry T. Brundidge and Clark Lee's $2,000 offer for an interview with Tokyo Rose, and decided to take the offer. She needed the money to return home. She did not know that it was a trick, and she was arrested after being forced to sign a document "confessing" she was Tokyo Rose on 5 September 1945.

The reports used her arrest to attempt to further their career, and even tried to sell transcripts of their "interview" with Iva, where she "confessed". However, a year after she was arrested, she was released due to lack of evidence. The POWs who wrote her scripts backed her up and defended her, showing that she couldn't have been Tokyo Rose.

However, in 1945, she was brought to trial for treason. Even though she was defended by the POWs at the radio station, she was found guilty of treason do to the fact that she announced a loss of American ships in 1944. This was the "evidence" the court brought against her. She was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 1976, it was uncovered that several of her accusers' testimonies had been falsified, and had been coached on what to say on the stand. Due to this, then-President Gerald Ford granted a full and unconditional pardon to Iva Toguri D'Aquino on January 19, 1977, his last full day in office.

On 15 April 1945, Iva married Felipe D'Aquino, a Portuguese citizen of Japanese-Portuguese descent. During the trial, he was arrested. When he was released, he was exiled to Japan. Iva returned to the United States and lived in Chicago, where her father had opened the J. Toguri Mercantile Company Japanese-import retail store during the war, following the release of the Toguri family from internment at the Gila River War Relocation Center in September 1943. Due to Iva and Felipe's forced separation for thirty years with no chance of seeing each other, they officially divorced in 1980 so that they could go on with their lives.

Felipe D'Aquino passed away in 1996.

On January 15, 2006, the World War II Veterans Committee awarded Iva its annual Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship Award, citing "her indomitable spirit, love of country, and the example of courage she has given her fellow Americans". According to one biographer, she found it the most memorable day of her life.

Iva Toguri passed away on 26 September 2006 in a Chicago hospital of natural causes. She was 90 years old.

The Page

This isn't a regular post. I just thought I would take a moment to let anyone reading this blog know that there is a Facebook page and a G+ page.

I initially made "The Page" on Facebook as a joke, but then decided to use it to post random facts about stuff. I am constantly reading about all sorts of things online, and I decided to start sharing some of it. But my post so on there were, in my opinion, too long to be statuses. So I created this blog. At first I was trying to post every night, but that became too much, and the posts ended up not being very good because I would force topics. So now I just post when I can. I don't know if anyone reads this blog, but I do know that I have gotten several comments on some of these posts, while The Page has received zero activity since I created it. So this is me adverting the Facebook page of this blog. I sometimes do shorter posts on The Page of things that I don't think are long enough to go into a blog post. Feel free to Like the Facebook page. Also, feel free to leave suggestions for future blog posts on the Timeline. If anyone does read this, I just want to say thank you. I have alot of fun doing this, and if even one person enjoys reading these posts of mine, then that's just awesome.

LZ 129 Hindenburg

On 5 October 1930, British rigid airship R101 crashed, killing 48 people. The German airship company, Zeppelin Company, purchased 5 tons of the wreckage, which they used to build their Hindenburg class airships, LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin and LZ 129 Hindenburg.

LZ 129 was initially supposed to use helium, as it's not flammable. However, it's more expensive as it's only available through the United States. So hydrogen, which is cheap and easy to produce, was used instead.

On 4 March 1936, LZ 129 made it's first test flight. Even though the name was already selected for the airship, only it's formal registration number (D-LZ129) and the five Olympic rings (in support of the 1936 Olympics being held that August) were painted on it's hull for the first six flights. When he heard that the name of the airship was Hindenburg (named after former German president Paul von Hindenburg), Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbelswas angry, and demanded that the airship be renamed Adolf Hitler, but was refused. Three weeks later, the name Hindenburg was painted onto the side of the airship in six foot high letters.

On 26-29 March 1936, Hindenburg made it's public debut with a propaganda flight over Germany. After this, it made it's first transatlantic flight on 31 March. In 1936, Hindenburg made ten round trip flights to North America. Although designed to be a passenger airship, Hindenburg was first used for Nazi propaganda by the Air Ministry.

The following year, in late March 1937, the airship made it's first round trip to South America of the season. After it's return, Hindenburg left Frankfurt for Lakehurst, New Jersey. On board were 36 passengers and 61 crew members. It was the first flight to North America of the season.

Because of strong headwinds, the trip was slowed down. The crew knew they had to be on time, as the return trip was already booked solid and the passengers were going to the coronation of King George VI, which was to take place on 12 May 1937.

On 6 May 1937, the airship reached Lakehurst, but was delayed due to a line of thunderstorms in the area. Around 7pm, they were given clearance to land. Landing an airship is a precise procedure, and the captain noticed that the rear of the airship was drooping. He had the crew drain water from the back to level out the ship. But the ship was still leaning slightly, so he had several crew members come from the back to the front to shift some of the weight around.

After a couple of sharp turns, the captain ordered the landing lines to be dropped. After t he handlers on the ground had grabbed the lines and was starting to lower the ship, the tail end burst into flames. In 37 seconds, the entire ship was engulfed in flames and came crashed down, most of the passengers and crew jumped out as the ship was coming down. 13 passengers and 32 crew, as well as one person on the ground, were killed.

Because of the publicity surrounding the arrival of the airship, the incident was well documented. The image of the ship exploding is perhaps one of the most famous images in history.

After the destruction of Hindenburg, airships lost their appeal, and they were discontinued. It's sister ship, Graf Zeppelin was dismantled in 1940, never to be used as a passenger airship.

Below is a news reel of the disaster.

Conspiracies

[Note: I will simply give you the info I have and let you decide for yourself what you think, Also, just because I include a conspiracy does not mean I believe it. It only means I find it interesting enough to include.]


Nixon murdered Joplin and Hendrix

I was originally only going to post about this tonight, but while I was researching it, I came across more things and decided to make this a collection of conspiracies. According to this one, President Richard Nixon was afraid to not be re-elected, so he has some high profile musicians followed and tapped. He didn't like the messages that Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were spreading to voters, so he had their drinks poisoned. This sounds like a ridiculous rumour, and probably is, considering that when Joplin and Hendrix died (1970), there wasn't an election in sight (Nixon started his term the previous year). Although it is true that some high profile musicians were watched, it's unlikely they would have been killed, much less by order of the President. If anything they would have been detained.


Jim Morrison faked his death and is still alive today

On 3 July 1971 the lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison, was found dead in a Paris apartment bathtub. No autopsy was conducted, and because of this many theories have popped up over the years. The biggest one is that he never died, but faked his death. He has even been found, supposedly. Of course, the same has been said of Michael Jackson.


Enhanced photo proves Grassy Knoll

Everyone knows the story of the Kennedy Assassination. There have been a thousand conspiracy theories made about it. In fact, the Wikipedia article for the conspiracies I linked just now is longer than the Wikipedia article about the actual event I linked before it. But the one that seems to stick around is that there was a second gunman on the Grassy Knoll. This is one I actually do believe. The evidence speaks for itself. If Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from behind, why did the bullet enter from the front and the back of his head explode like that? Anyway, a photo from that day has been enhanced to reveal what many believe to be proof of the shooter in the Grassy Knoll. Known as Badge Man, a figure of a person behind a puff of smoke is clearly visible.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

In the 1920s, an unknown animator known as Walter Disney made a series of animated/live action shorts known as the Alice Comedies, which were based upon Alice in Wonderland. From 1923 to 1927, Disney and his business partner, Ub Iwerks, made 57 Alice shorts. But in 1927, the two decided to end the series due to the rising costs and technical limitations.

Around this time, Universal Pictures wanted to start making and releasing animations. Disney and Iwerks decided to make an animated character that they could sell to Universal. What they came up with was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney and Iwerks signed a contract with Universal and Oswald became Universal's first animated series. On 5 September 1927, the first Oswald short was released, titled Trolley Troubles.





In the spring of 1928, Disney traveled to New York City to attempt to negotiate a more profitable contract. As the economy was already in a slump at the time, Universal cancelled Disney's contract. As Universal owned the rights to Oswald, Disney wasn't allowed to keep him, even though he created him and drew the shorts himself.

On the train ride back home, Disney and Iwerks brainstormed to find a new character they could use. By the time they made it back home, they had came up with the idea of a mouse named Mortimer Mouse. When Disney told his wife, she said that name didn't sound pleasant at all, and suggested naming him Mickey Mouse.

Meanwhile, Universal continued using Oswald, even making a sound short in 1929, until 1951, as a cameo in a Woody Woodpecker short.

In February 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Universal agreed on a trade. Disney gave ESPN Sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC Sports, and in exchange Universal gave Disney the rights to Oswald, including the rights to the shorts Disney has worked on. Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller had this to say about the exchange:

"When Bob was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word. Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun."

Al Michaels, who Disney traded for Oswald, had this to say:

"Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday."

In 2010, Oswald was one of the main protagonists in the video game Epic Mickey, as leader of forgotten cartoon characters.

Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

"With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter."

 -from "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning



Most of us grew up hearing the story of The Pied Piper, about how a village was suffering from a rat problem until the Pied Piper offered to rid them of the problem, which he did by playing his magic flute. When he went to receive his payment, the villagers refused. So, to get back at the villagers, he used his magic flute to make their children follow him out of the village to hide in a cave until the villagers agreed to pay him. This is the story I heard as a kid, although I have heard other variations over the years.

But what if I were to tell you that the fairy tale was actually a true story?

In 1285, the German village of Hamlin had a serious rat problem. A mysterious man appeared one day, many believe him to have been Nicholas of Cologne, offering to rid the village of their rats. He made an agreement with the mayor of Hamelin that he would get paid if he rid the village of their rats. It is said that he used his flute (whether magical or just really good at playing, I'll leave that for you to decide) and lured the rats into the Weser River. When the Piper went to the mayor for his payment, the mayor refused to pay him, denying they had an agreement.

That night, 26 June 1284, the Piper used his flute to lure the 130 village children out of the village. What happened next has been left out of most versions of the tale and replaced with a happy ending. The Piper led most of the children to the same river he led the rats to, and had those children drown themselves. The few who he didn't drown, he took to the top of Koppelberg Hill and had his way with them, killing them when he was done.

However, one child was able to get away, and told the villagers what was happening. By the time they caught up with the Piper, it was too late.

Mordern-day Hamelin holds reenactments every Sunday in the summer.

The Sad Life of Edgar Allen Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —

-from Alone by Edgar Allen Poe

Many of us know Edgar Allen Poe as the writer of such works as The Raven, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Masque of the Red Death. But not many people realize that his darkest story was his own.

Edgar Poe was born on 19 January 1809 in Boston. His parents were traveling actors, and he was the second child three children. When he was 3 years old, both his parents died suddenly, and he was taken to live with a wealthy tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia named John Allen, who raised Edgar to be a businessman. but Edgar wished to be a writer, like his hero, British poet Lord Byron. By the age of 13, Edgar had written enough poetry to compile into a book, but his headmaster advised Mr. Allen to not let him do it.

In 1826, Edgar attended the University of Virginia, but was already in debt. Mr. Allen only gave him about a third of the money he needed to cover the cost of his schooling, so he took up gambling to pay off some of his debt. By the end of the first year, he was so poor he had to burn furniture for warmth. In his anger at Mr. Allen for not providing enough funds to get him through school, he returned to the home of his fiancee, only to find she was engaged to someone else. He spent the next few months in the Allen home, until one day the two of them fought so much that Edgar just walked out, and decided to pursue becoming a great poet. He set out looking for adventure.

By the age of 18, he had accomplished the first goal by publishing Tamerlane. To accomplish the second goal, he decided to enlist in the United States Navy. But before he could, he got word that Mrs. Allen, the only mother he ever knew, was sick, so he made his way to go see her. By the time he made it back, she was already dead and buried. Edgar was heartbroken, but in their grief, Poe and Allen made up and Allen helped him get into West Point. Before he entered West Point, he published a second book of poems.

The feud between Edgar and Mr. Allen came back when Edgar got word that he had remarried without telling him first. He wrote to Allen letting him know how deeply offended he was, and said he would get himself thrown out of West Point, which he did. But he went on to publish a third book. Broke and alone, Edgar went to Baltimore to find some of his father's family. While there, he was robbed by his cousin. His Aunt Maria Clemm became a new mother figure to him. Her daughter (his cousin), Virginia, soon became a love interest of his.

While Edgar was in Baltimore, Mr. Allen passed away. He left Edgar out of his will, yet included an illegitimate child he'd never seen. By this time, Edgar was in poverty, but was also selling his short stories, and even won a contest by a local magazine. Because of that, he was able to get contacts on the inside that would later help him write more stories and poems. He soon landed a job at a magazine, The Messenger. Within a year, he had made that magazine one of the most popular in the South because of his stories and also for his book reviews. He was quickly getting a reputation for being ruthless in his reviewing, not only insulting the books but also insulting the author's themselves.

At the age of 27, Edgar married Virginia, his cousin, who wasn't even 14 yet. It was well-known that they were a happy family who loved to sing at night. Soon, Edgar became unhappy with his low pay and lack of editorial control at The Messenger, so he moved to New York. There, he had problems finding magazine work due to the Panic of 1837. As he was unable to find work, he published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, his only completed novel. A year later, he moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for several different magazines of a long period of time.

Always in search of better opportunities, Poe moved to New York again in 1844 and introduced himself to the city by perpetrating a hoax. His “news story” of a balloon trip across the ocean caused a sensation, and the public rushed to read everything about it—until Poe revealed that he had fooled them all. In January of 1845, he published The Raven,which made him famous enough to draw large crowds when he did lectures or other events. He published two books that year, and briefly lived his dream of running his own magazine.

However, that failed to work out. His wife’s health was deteriorating,, and rumors spread about him having a relationship with a married woman, drove him out of the city. At this time he moved to a tiny cottage in the country. It was there, in the winter of 1847 that Virginia died at the age of 24, after only 10 years of marriage. Edgar was devastated, and was unable to write for months. His critics assumed he would soon be dead. They were right. Poe only lived another two years and spent much of that time traveling from one city to the next giving lectures and finding backers for his latest proposed magazine project.

Edgar Allen Poe died on 7 October 1849. The cause of his death remains unknown. Even though he is arguably the most famous poet who ever lived, he died penniless, homeless, and depressed.

Edgar Allen Poe

Edison Kills An Elephant

We all know Thomas Edison, world renounced for all his inventions, and also for being the reason not many people talk about  Nikola Tesla. The two were constant competitors. Edison wanted the world to use his Direct Current (DC) instead of Tesla's Alternate Current "AC", so to prove to the public how "unsafe" Tesla's idea was, he got an idea. . .

Topsy the Elephant was an elephant who part of the attractions at Coney Island. Because she had killed some people, including her abusive trainer, she was sentenced to death by hanging, because apparently they used to do that. But Edison requested that they use Tesla's AC, while he filmed it.

On 4 January 1903, Topsy was killed using 6,600 volts of AC electricity

Even though it only proved how sick and twisted Edison was, the public wanted nothing more to do with Tesla's AC current, and we've been using the current of a psychopath ever since.

Tesla ended up eating crackers and talking to imaginary birds.

Below is the disturbing video Mr. Psychopath made that day.

Braveheart

The 1995 epic film "Braveheart" tells the story of William Wallace, who led the war of independence in Scotland. In the film, Wallace begins a rebellion, and is later betrayed by Robert the Bruce who, in the end, feels so guilty about his betrayal that he leads Scotland to freedom. As the film shows, that only happened a few months after William Wallace's death. Because William Wallace is the most important figure in Scotland's history, and Mel Gibson's version is exactly how the events took place.

Right?

Of course not. Mel Gibson's film is nothing more than a historical fan fiction. Probably the only thing in the film that is true is that Wallace started a rebellion by taking out an outpost. But even that statement is the only true part from that scene. The motives and manner of the attack was different in real life. One of the first thing the film tells you, that Wallace's father was a commoner, is even false. William Wallace was the son of a knight. The film shows Wallace leading the rebels into battle, but had they actually showed the battles scenes instead of flying through them perhaps the most epic part of the film. Wallace's knowledge of the battlefield led for some pretty intense battles.

Robert the Bruce never betrayed Wallace. In fact, both Wallace and Bruce were pretty much fans of each other. After Wallace was executed (oh, another true part of the film, and actually probably the most accurate scene. Except Wallace didn't scream, "FREEDOM" as he died), King Edward (who didn't just happen to die as Wallace did) became even so sure that Scotland was his that he marched into Scotland to claim it. He wasn't counting on the Scots to still want freedom. After MANY YEARS (not months), Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland as Robert I. He did, in fact, win Scotland's independence.

He told his people that if he were to die on the battlefield, to remove his heart and take it on a crusade. When the time came, his heart was taken on a crusade, but the carrier died on the way. The heart was found on a battlefield and sent back to Scotland.

The point I am trying to get to is: William Wallace was NOT Braveheart. That nickname belonged to Robert the Bruce. Mel Gibson not only focus the film on the wrong guy, he set it at the wrong time.


Also, this is William Wallace                                           As opposed to

 

And this is Robert the Bruce                       As opposed to