Upcoming Virtual Events
Contact recorder@continentalcommandery-nous.org to add your events here.
July 2024 - Virtual Lecture
The Coast Guard with the Marines in the Pacific World War II
July 25, 2024 (Thursday, 1900 EST)
ISCM (AW) David Mattingly, USN (ret.)
Docent at the National Museum of the US Marine Corps
When the Coast Guard transitioned to the Department of the Navy in 1940, it seamlessly continued its assigned duties, such as manning lifeboat stations, coastal security, and marine inspections. The Navy capitalized on the Coast Guard's experience during prohibition, transferring several destroyer escorts to the Coast Guard and troop transports. Additionally, the Navy capitalized on the Coast Guard's experience with small boats working in coastal waters. When the shipyards began producing the amphibious ships and boats needed in the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation, many were commanded and crewed by Coasties.
Douglas Munro immigrated from Canada to Washington as a child. He grew up in rural America doing what boys did in the 1930s, including playing in the Sons of the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps. He was a natural athlete at his high school. After graduating from high school, he attended Central Washington College of Education, a local college, for one year before getting the urge to see the world.
With the events unfolding in Europe, Munro discussed the possibility of being drafted into the military, as compulsory military service was being debated in Congress. Munro researched each branch, talked to local veterans at the American Legion post, and decided to enlist in one of the sea services. He eventually enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard because their multi-mission included helping others and saving lives! However, the Coast Guard had few opportunities for new recruits. The Coast Guard had not taken a recruit in seven years due to cutbacks after World War I and the depression. Eventually, there were a small number of openings, and he reported to the induction center.
At the induction center in Seattle, Munro failed his physical exam because he was underweight. He needed to gain six pounds in 10 days. His mother had no problem putting weight on him, and he returned to Seattle, where he passed the physical. While processing, he met Ray Evans, whom he would serve with throughout his short career, and Evans would be with him when he was killed.
David Mattingly entered the Navy in 1973. After completing recruit and Photographic Intelligenceman training, he reported to his first command. In June 1974, he reported to the only foreign-homeported aircraft carrier, USS Midway CV-41, and was assigned to the Carrier Intelligence Center (CVIC). In 1975, the USS Midway participated in Operation Frequent Wind, evacuating US citizens and refugees from Saigon. During his career, he has served in numerous intelligence and operational commands as a Navy Intelligence Specialist. He obtained the rank of Master Chief Intelligence Specialist (E-9) and served as a Command Master Chief. He retired after nearly 33 years of service. He is a contributing book reviewer for US Naval Institute Proceedings and Naval History journals, Naval Intelligence Professionals Readbook, Naval Order of the United States, and other journals. He volunteers at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
August 2024 - Virtual Lecture
NAVAL BATTLE OF PUNGDO, 1884 SINO-JAPANESE WAR: Diplomatic Obfuscation as Strategy
August 29, 2024 (Thursday, 1900 EST)
CAPT Roger Crossland, USN (ret.)
In 1894, the Donghak peasant rebellion broke out in the Kingdom of Korea. it was fomented by Japanese unfair trade and other practices. Korea requested Chinese assistance under the terms of its tribute agreement. Beginning with 1868 Meiji Accession. Japan and China would engage in several violent disputes over Korea, the last had ending a Japanese coupe d’etat attempt on the Korean royal family. The last truce known as the Convention of Tientsin required China to give Japan notice of any troop movements into Korea. China sent Japan noticed was sending troops to Korea to engage the Dongbaks. Japan unintelligibly rejected the notice insisting its salutation to the Emperor was “incorrect” and a nullity. In the meantime, Japan attacked an unaware British transport carrying 1,100 Chinese troops and its escorts to Korea of 800 Chinese soldiers and 47 British crewmen. This surprise attack would launch a half-century pattern of undeclared, or at least obfuscated, Japanese war ignitions.
Commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy upon his graduation from Columbia College in 1970 with a B. A. Degree in history, As a platoon officer with SEAL Team ONE, he completed a combat tour in Ca Mau, An Xuyen Province, Vietnam, Immediately following his Vietnam tour, he served as an advisor teaching unconventional warfare tactics to the South Korean Underwater Demolition Teams in Chinhae, Korea. He commanded Naval Reserve SEAL Team TWO, the Navy’s first reserve SEAL team, and commanded Naval Reserve COMUSKOREA, the Naval and Marine Corps reserve staff unit which mobilizes to the Commander U. S. Forces Korea. In January of 2002 he was recalled to active duty in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. CAPT Crossland includes U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings and the New York Times among his credits. His articles “Rusty Hand of Steel” (Proceedings, December 1979) and “Unconventional Warfare Afloat” (Proceedings, November 1981) were respectively required, and recommended, reading at the Naval War College. Most recently, has authored the prizewinning historical novel, THE ABALONE UKULELE: A Tale of Far Eastern Intrigue, a multi-cultural sea story set in 1913 Shanghai (New Academia, June 2021.
Septmber 2024 - Virtual Lecture
Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962: “One Minute to Midnight”
September 26, 2024 (Thursday, 1900 EST)
John Lowery, Docent USS Midway Museum
It was the time when the world faced the imminent threat of thermonuclear war. After WW2, the United States and Russia entered into “Existential Combat” with each party intending to destroy the “Ideology” of the other. For seventeen years, between 1945 and 1962, the world watched the U.S. and Russia engage in a dangerous game of “Diplomatic Brinkmanship”. And ... in 1962 the game turns deadly with a showdown in Cuba. The U.S. is threatened with Russian Nuclear Missiles installed in Cuba just 100 miles South of Miami, FL. In October 1962, the U.S. and Russia entered into a “HOT” Cold War, and Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy played up to the very edge of the thermonuclear abyss.
The author had a front-row seat to the conflict as a Division officer and Qualified officer of the deck aboard the USS Wren (DD-568), a crucial element of the US blockade strategy. Unintended thermonuclear catastrophe was present in every aspect of the decision-making throughout the conflict. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special advisor to President Kennedy, said of the crisis ... "this was THE MOST DANGEROUS MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY”. Kennedy and Khrushchev narrowly averted disaster as the clock approached..."One Minute to Midnight."