Stuck Mojo Remix for CAIR

Stix

The Twelfth Viking

From The Gates of Vienna, a great post about our counter-part to the 12th Imam.  All of you with Viking blood (and wannabes) need to know about Holger Danske.

Friday, December 29, 2006

The Twelfth Viking  by Baron Bodissey

At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the Frankish king Charles Martel defeated the Saracens and pushed the forces of Islam back into the Iberian Peninsula. It was not until 1492 that the Moors were finally thrown out of Europe, but in the meantime the Islamic virus was contained in Spain and Portugal, and thus kept out of the heart of Western Europe.

One of Charles Martel’s comrades-in-arms at Poitiers was a warrior of the North known Ogier le Danois, later Holger Danske, or Holger the Dane. Although Holger was a historical figure, little is known of him, and most of the written material about him is drawn from legend.

According to the chroniclers, Holger had previously done battle with the Franks over their incursions into Danish territory. But in 732 the menace of the Saracens forced him to set aside his differences with Charles Martel and journey southwards to fight side-by-side with the Frankish forces against the common enemy.

At the end of his days, Holger, like King Arthur, retired to a secluded keep to enter a twilight sleep from which he will awake in the hour of his country’s need. The location most frequently cited for Holger’s rest is Kronborg castle at Helsingør (or “Elsinore”, per Shakespeare).

Hans Christian Andersen has distilled the popular form of the ancient tale into one of his stories:

[Here the post recites in Danish which I will skip over and go straight to the English translation.]

But the fairest sight of all is the old castle of Kronborg, and under it sits Holger Danske in the deep, dark cellar which no one enters; he is clad in iron and steel and rests his head on his stalwart arm; his long beard hangs down upon the marble table where it has become stuck fast; he sleeps and dreams, but in his dreams he sees everything that comes to pass in Denmark. Every Christmas Eve an angel of God comes to tell him that all he has dreamed is true, and that he may go to back to sleep again, for Denmark is not yet in any danger! but if it should ever come, then old Holger Danske will rouse himself, and the table will break apart as he pulls out his beard! Then he will come forth, and strike a blow that shall be heard throughout all the countries of the world.

Now, if even a trace of the blood of the Men of the North runs in your veins, or if you have lived long enough among them to have acquired some of their spirit, the hair on the back of your neck will rise when you read these words, and you will say, “Yes! This is the hero, the man who will defend us during the troubles that are surely coming.”
- – - – - – - – - -

[Here the post quotes some poetry about Vikings being tough guys which you can read at your leisure at the webpage.]

We all know about the Twelfth Imam, the super-bad Muslim guy at the bottom of the well in Persia. When Armageddon arrives, when Gog grapples with Magog and battle rages across the plain at Megiddo, the Twelfth Imam will awaken and lead the armies of Islam to their final victory, establishing the kingdom of Allah here on Earth.

Forget the Twelfth Imam.

We’ve got our own dude sitting on the bench. Call him the Twelfth Viking. He’s suited up, ready to join the contest as soon as he’s required. The Men of the North form the core of the Counterjihad. They are already in action, clearing the back alleys of Anbar Province, riding point in Kabul, and forming up in self-organized groups to defend our borders with Mexico.

As I’ve said before, it’s not race that’s the issue here, it’s culture. The culture of the Danes, the Norsemen, the English, and the Celts. The culture of the hardy and self-reliant Men of the North, always ready to defend their ancient liberties with a ferocity that their enemies can scarcely imagine. The culture of productive enterprise and armed self-determination that has spread to all corners of the globe.

Holger Danske is the man who best represents us. He’ll be there in the hour of our greatest need.  The Twelfth Viking — I can see his eyelids fluttering even now…

Julia     -   BTW My mom and her mom’s people were tough and fearless Norwegian pioneers on the Kansas plains. 

The whole thing is at
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/12/twelfth-viking.html

Saddam is to be hanged tonight

Saddam will  meet his maker tonight.  He will be hanged between 9:30 and 10:00 PM EST.

H/T to NoisyRoom.net  (910 Group)

Official: Saddam to Be Executed Tonight
Dec 29 6:12 PM US/Eastern

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press Writers BAGHDAD, Iraq

The official witnesses to Saddam Hussein’s impending execution gathered Friday in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in final preparation for his hanging, as state television broadcast footage of his regime’s atrocities.

With U.S. forces on high alert for a surge in violence, the Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a "red card" _ an execution order introduced during Saddam’s dictatorship. As the hour of his death approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

The time was agreed upon during a meeting Friday between U.S. and Iraqi officials, said the adviser, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution," the official said. The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. Saddam has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003.

Al-Nueimi said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.

Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Saddam’s death sentence, said he was ready to attend the hanging and that all the paperwork was in order, including the red card.

"All the measures have been done," Haddad said. "There is no reason for delays."

As American and Iraqi officials met in Baghdad to set the hour of his death, Saddam’s lawyers asked a U.S. judge for a stay of execution.

Saddam’s lawyers issued a statement Friday calling on "everybody to do everything to stop this unfair execution." The statement also said the former president had been transferred from U.S. custody, though American and Iraqi officials later denied that.

Al-Maliki said opposing Saddam’s execution was an insult to his victims. His office said he made the remarks in a meeting with families of people who died during Saddam’s rule.

"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence," al-Maliki said.

State television ran footage of the Saddam era’s atrocities, including images of uniformed men placing a bomb next to a youth’s chest and blowing him up in what looked like a desert, and handcuffed men being thrown from a high building.

About 10 people registered to attend the hanging gathered in the Green Zone before they were to go to the execution site, the Iraqi official said.

Those cleared to attend the execution included a Muslim cleric, lawmakers, senior officials and relatives of victims of Saddam’s brutal rule, the official said. He did not disclose the location of the gallows.

Raed Juhi, spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, said documents related to the execution would be read to Saddam before the execution. The documents included the red card, al- Maliki’s signed approval of the sentence and the appeal court’s decision.

On Thursday, two half brothers visited Saddam in his cell, a member of the former dictator’s defense team, Badee Izzat Aref, told The Associated Press by telephone from the United Arab Emirates. He said the former dictator handed them his personal belongings.

A senior official at the Iraqi defense ministry also confirmed the meeting and said Saddam gave his will to one of his half brothers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Saddam’s lawyers later issued a statement saying the Americans gave permission for his belongings to be retrieved.

An Iraqi appeals court upheld Saddam’s death sentence Tuesday for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the hanging should take place within 30 days.

There had been disagreements among Iraqi officials in recent days as to whether Iraqi law dictates the execution must take place within 30 days and whether President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies had to approve it.

In his Friday sermon, a mosque preacher in the Shiite holy city of Najaf called Saddam’s execution "God’s gift to Iraqis."

"Oh, God, you know what Saddam has done! He killed millions of Iraqis in prisons, in wars with neighboring countries and he is responsible for mass graves," said Sheik Sadralddin al-Qubanji, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as SCIRI, a dominant party in al-Maliki’s coalition. "Oh God, we ask you to take revenge on Saddam."

BreitBart.com

Maybe we can learn from them.  Why is it that we have death row inmated in prison for years and years.

Stix

Freedom is not Free

rFreedom is not Free.  omst of us don’t know what this means.  It means that the freedoms we have do not just come to us without someone defending our freedoms.  Be it the military or the group that I just joined (910 Group).  I believe that most Americans do not believe we are at war with a ideology.  Ths Islamists are trying to bring Jihad to America and are using all means to bring about Shari’a law all over the world.  We need to West to wake up and see what the Islamists are doing all over the world.  Just look at my side bar and see how many terrorists attacks happened since 9/11.  Also look at the blogroll of the 910 Group on my side bar.

Conservative Beach Girl has got a great post on why you shoudl join the 910 Group.

Stix

Gerald Ford’s life

President Ford was a fottball player and a lawyer.  He went to the University of Michagan and was named most valuable player in his last year on the team.  he also went to Yale Law School after being the football coach and boxing before he was allowed into Yale’s Law School.  He graduated in the top fourth of his class and went back to Grand Rapids, Mi to be a lwyer.  He could have gone almost anywhere, but went back home.  He could have also played professional football, but instead went to law school. 

Life lessons From A President

Gerald Ford is best known for pardoning Richard Nixon. His extraordinary early life is too often ignored

Gerald Ford on the football field at the University of Michigan in 1933. Photograph by : Reuters

Brian Kalt, National Post

Published: Thursday, December 28, 2006

Unusually for a presidential library, Gerald Ford’s is in a simple, unassuming building, tucked away in a remote corner of the University of Michigan‘s campus in Ann Arbor. Gerald Ford and his presidency often seem tucked away, as well. His service was the briefest in the last 125 years. The most prominent parts of his presidency — the parts mentioned in the first line of every obituary — were spillover from the man he replaced, Richard Nixon. Looking back at Ford’s early adulthood, though, there is much to learn from and admire about this simple, unassuming, and decent man.

SCENE ONE: The Great Depression in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford, a star high school athlete, is working behind the counter at a cafe, trying to earn a little money to help support his struggling family. A well-to-do wool trader from out West named King, on his way back from buying a luxury car in Detroit, stops into the cafe, tells Ford that he is his real father, and leaves. Ford’s mother, it seems, had been married to King, only to find out the hard way that he was a vicious and abusive drunk. Soon after Ford was born, Ford’s mother was granted a (then-rare) divorce on grounds of extreme cruelty. King never paid the alimony or child support that the court ordered. If American daytime talk shows are any indication, people in Ford’s position often sink into depression — if they don’t go on crime sprees — over much less than this. Ford does neither; he rejects his biological father’s example and later becomes a loving husband and father of four.

SCENE TWO: Ford is a student-athlete at the University of Michigan. His sophomore and junior years, Ford is a second-string centre, and the team goes undefeated and wins national championships. In 1934, his senior season, Ford becomes the starting centre and is voted the team’s most valuable player — quite a distinction for someone playing such an unglamorous position — but the team loses every game but one. The most memorable game that year is against Georgia Tech. Tech refuses to play if Michigan fields its star — and Ford’s close friend — Willis Ward, who is black. Over protests from more enlightened students and faculty, Michigan’s coaches bench Ward. Ford has considered refusing to play if Ward was kept out of the game; but at Ward’s urging, Ford suits up and helps lead the team to its only victory of the year. In his later political career, Ford remembered this affront very well, and he followed a moderate path on civil rights.

SCENE THREE: Ford would like to go to law school at Michigan, but he has no way to pay for it. His coach at Michigan introduces him to Yale football coach "Ducky" Pond, who offers Ford a job as an assistant football coach. Ford figures that if he takes the Yale job, he will be able to go to law school there and have enough money to pay for it. He turns down offers from two teams to play football professionally, and heads out to Yale in 1935. Unfortunately, the law school will not admit him while he is working full time. For three years, Ford coaches football and boxing and tries to get into the law school. Eventually, the administration relents, and Ford graduates from Yale Law School in 1941 in the top quarter of his class. Rather than go to New York or Washington, D.C., Ford returns home to Grand Rapids, Michigan to practice law. For Ford, sports were a means toward an end. He wanted to be a lawyer, and even if he was better at football than he was at law, he knew which was more important.

As Ford once recalled in a speech, he "grew up in a household where there were three rules: Work hard, tell the truth, and be sure to be home at dinnertime." Ford said of his three rules, "It is not a very sophisticated philosophy, but it has gotten me through a lot of tough, tough times." Note that Ford had no rules about winning at all costs, about maintaining his self esteem or about rewarding his friends. With his simple, decent values, Ford got the country through tough, tough times as well.

kalt@law.msu.edu

- Brian Kalt is a professor at Michigan State University College of Law.

Canada.com

H/T to Julia aka Mom

Islamists lose in Samolia

The Ethiopian backed Somali troops routed the Isalamists in Samolia. 

Islamists Lose Somali Capital; Leaders Resign

Written by The Media Line Staff Published Thursday, December 28, 2006

The official government of Somalia, backed by Ethiopian forces has recaptured the country’s capital Mogadishu, according to media reports from the area. The leaders of the Islamist alliance that held most of the country until this week have resigned, SomaliNet news agency reported. “Since the Islamists came to power in Somalia, they did a lot of significant acts for the people, particularly in terms of security, justice, development, improving internal and foreign politics, reopening the air and sea ports and so on,” the outgoing leadership said in the statement. Islamist fighters are said to have handed their weaponry to warlords in the Mogadishu area. Earlier, the Ethiopian army and the military forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) took two more major cities – Jouba and Jawhar. The Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) has retreated from much of the territory it seized over the past 10 months. Somali Ambassador to Ethiopia ‘Abd Al-Karim Farih told the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat the government forces and Ethiopia’s army would not invade Mogadishu. "We will not fight to control Mogadishu so as to avoid civilian casualties. Our forces will lay siege to Mogadishu until they [the SCIC] surrender," Farih added. Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council again failed to agree on a statement calling on Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia. Qatar, which is one of the 15-nation Security Council, was the only country to insist on Ethiopia’s retreat from Somalia. "The solution to the Somalia problem is going to require a broader perspective and approach that will include direct negotiations between the transitional government authorities… and the SCIC," U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Alejandro Wolff told Reuters. The African Union and the Arab League have issued a joint statement condemning Ethiopia’s involvement in the conflict.

Copyright © 2006 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved. Over at Gates of Vienna , Baron Bodissey has a good post about Samolia’s history.  Stix

News from Afghanistan

Via CENTCOM

Sgt. Maj. Daniel Wood, the command sergeant major of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, right, discusses NCO training with Lt. Col. Khawar, center, commander of Pakistan’s 11th Corps Battle School.  Sgt. Maj. Safi Roshan, the sergeant major of the Afghan National Army, looks on at left. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Christopher DeWitt.

December 28, 2006
By Tech. Sgt. Christopher DeWitt
Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan public affairs

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Senior enlisted leaders from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States militaries met Dec. 27 for a second time this year to share insights among their services as part of a trilateral noncommissioned officer exchange program.

“This trip is about relationship building,” said Sgt. Maj. Daniel Wood, the command sergeant major for Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan.  “Our countries are fighting a common enemy, and it is important that we strengthen the relationship between Pakistan and the developing Afghan military.”

Senior NCOs met in August in Kabul for the first exchange of information between the three countries, which is linked to the U.S. Central Command’s Theater Security Cooperation program, designed to foster relationships between U.S. military and partner countries.

“It was very good to have so much information to help our relationship,” said Sgt. Maj. Safi Roshan, the sergeant major of the Afghan National Army. “They were very happy. They said they wish they had more time to spend with us.”

Throughout the day, participants discussed the differences in their respective rank structures, NCO career progression and training opportunities.

A counter-terrorism briefing from NCOs and officers of the Pakistan Army’s 11th Corps Battle School kicked off the tour.

“We welcome this opportunity to learn from the experiences of each other,” said Lt. Col. Khawar, Battle School commander.  “I hope we learn and mutually benefit.”

Participants gained insight into the different regions of Pakistan, its military training and the effects of its military operations. Border operations were also discussed with emphasis on Pakistan’s western border.

“We do not have any ‘no go’ areas along the border,” said Maj. Youni, Battle School instructor. “Pakistan is ready to fight against terrorism.”

A dinner at the Frontier Corps Headquarters located in Fort Balahisar in Peshawar concluded the first day of the trip, and the visiting delegation was treated to traditional music and dancing before a traditional meal.

“Our expectation is (strengthening) the relationship between the NCO corps,” Roshan said. “This has been excellent — we are talking and learning about our counterparts.”

Future meetings are planned, Wood said, to continue to strengthen the ties between the three allies in their concerted efforts in the war against terror.

Stix

More News from Iraq

Via Centcom

Balad Ruz mayor Mohammed Maroof Al-Hussein cut the ribbon which opened the doors to free speech and the Al Noor radio station on Dec. 18. Photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud.

Radio station opens doors, gives chance for free speech

Dec 28, 2006
By Spc. Ryan Stroud
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Division Public Affairs

BALAD RUIZ, Iraq -In a city where there is no means for releasing information to its people, coalition forces have developed a project to give the people a chance at free speech.

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the Al Noor radio station, also known as the ?The Light,? located here, opened its doors to many with high hopes and happy faces from the Iraqi Army and police department as well as city officials of Balad Ruz and members of the 5-73 Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
"This is a great day for Balad Ruiz and its people," said Mayor Mohammed Maroof Al-Hussein, city mayor. "I think this is a new stage for our city and a new way to serve our people.

"This is a free station," he continued. "The people can say what they want, they can speak freely."

With the help of the 5-73, civilians will now be able to hear news and get more information in their homes other than what terrorists want to put out, said the mayor.

"I remember the first night we were here at Forward Operating Base Caldwell and hearing an Iranian broadcast in English to target American Soldiers," said Capt. John Pratt, Company B, 404th Civil Affairs. "These terrorists were getting their message out, but the people here didn?t have a way to get their message out."

"This is a pro-government radio station that counters what terrorists are saying," said Pratt. "It also lets the people know what the coalition forces are doing in their area to help them."

Pfc. Timothy Bramhall, a member of 5-73, said this mission was one of the most important missions he had been on. Not just for the coalition forces, but for the Iraqi people as well.

"This is a chance for the city and its officials to reach out to their people," Bramhall said. "It’s also a chance for us to let them know we’re here to help them and to try and make Balad Ruz a better place."

Primarily farm land, Balad Ruz is currently behind in technological progress. Pratt feels this is a big chance for the government to prove to its people changes in the economy are just waiting to happen.

"Even though this is mostly an agricultural community, this is proof that Balad Ruz’s new government is able to take the first technological step to bettering their economy," said Pratt. "This means more jobs and growth for the community."

Though hopes of progress are high, Balad Ruz government officials and the coalition forces primarily hope the radio station raises awareness and the morale of the Iraqi people.

"I hope this new service will encourage other cities to start stations to better serve their people," said Al-Hussein.

Bramhall echoed the Mayor’s words: "I hope the Iraqi citizens feel good about this. I hope it gives them a chance to say what they want to say. I think it’s better for them to hear information from their own people than from us.

"It’s also gives the people a chance to reflect their points of view," he added. "It also lets listeners know they are not alone with their views."

Bramhall said he hoped the Iraqi people would understand this freedom to say what they feel.

"Something we, as Americans, forget about at times – our right to freedom of speech,"he said. "They will now know what that’s like."

"This radio station is for the people," Pratt added. "It’s a way to put out information about what’s happening in their community to better serve the people."

Employees of Al Noor are presently sending out flyers across the city to promote the station and begin its mission of informing the people.

Photo: Balad Ruz mayor Mohammed Maroof Al-Hussein cut the ribbon which opened the doors to free speech and the Al Noor radio station on Dec. 18. Photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud

News from Iraq

Via CENTCOM

Iraqi children play with stuffed animals delivered by the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers to a orphanage in An Nasiriyah in a gesture of goodwill. DoD photo.

Army engineers bring joy to Iraqi orphanage

27 December 2006
By Mohammed Aliwi
Gulf Region South District

AN NASIRIYAH — Orphanages recently received numerous packages of stuffed animals delivered to promote goodwill between Iraqi and U.S. children and help the rebuilding effort in Iraq.

“The children were extremely happy and did not believe that the stuffed animals were given especially for them,” said Edmay Mayers, a program analyst with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

An Iraqi associate told Mayers the headmistress of the orphanage welcomed the team that delivered the toys and appreciated what the Americans were doing for the Iraqis.  On her first tour to Iraq, Mayers visited one of the elementary schools and saw a beautiful interaction between the Americans and the children. “The children of Iraq have stolen my heart,” Mayers said. “They are precious, young and innocent, and if only a child remembers that an American, British, South African or Australian person gave them something that made them feel special as a child, then we have done our part to help these little ones.” For her, the children need these toys as much if not more than the school supplies. 

They need something to hold close to them and love, and these stuffed animals have a lot of love left in them for these children, she said.

“I wanted to tell all that we are receiving tons and tons of stuffed animals, toys, school supplies, clothes, et cetera,” Mayers said.  “All are being given to Iraqi children in schools, orphanages, clinics and now the Basrah Children’s Hospital. I am so thrilled that so many individuals have opened their hearts to the mission in Iraq.”

Robin Parks, a project manager with GRS, said all children love stuffed animals. They are brightly colored, soft and huggable, and can provide cheer and comfort to children. “Everyone involved in this exchange wins, but the person who is happiest is the lucky Soldier or civilian who has the honor of actually giving that toy to a child,” Parks said. “They probably feel like Santa Claus. One day the Iraqi children may remember that a stranger gave them a favorite gift.” Mayers said countless Iraqis are displaced and have been unable to restore their lives, but they still see the children smile in spite of all the bad living conditions that surround them. “We put the toys, animals and candy into plastic baggies to give to the children,” Parks said. “Sending the stuffed animals makes the people at home happy to be a part of this effort; receiving the animals makes the children here happy; and I am happy that I can help in some small way to make this exchange happen. Everyone wins.” Mayers typed into a Web browser the words “free stuffed toys” and came up with an Internet hit saying that someone was looking to give away “gently used” stuffed animals. “I e-mailed the (Web site manager) and she immediately posted it to her Web site and called it ‘Spread the Word,’” Mayers said. “It is now on approximately 50 or so Web sites. It also has been announced on a radio station in North Carolina, and an article in a newspaper in Troy, NY. People have read the Web sites, newspapers, listened to the radio and opened their hearts to these beautiful children. I have also been in touch with a gentleman in (England) who has lots of toys to send us.” 

According to the Air Force 1st Lt. Richard L. Hallon, a project engineer with the Thi Qar Residence Office of Gulf Region South, a stuffed animal is like a companion to the children; it helps them when they are scared of the dark and helps them to fall asleep.

“One day, I saw a 4-year-old Iraqi child looking up at a Soldier, smiling with wide eyes, trying to communicate with hand signs and gestures. His little shiny eyes were not directed to me, but stopped me from thinking about war,” Hallon said. “If a smile can do this, imagine what a toy can do. It is in an effort symbolizing the notion of people helping people regardless of beliefs.”

Stix

Jerry Ford – Unsung War Hero

I’m so shocked that the NYT has this article about President Ford today. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/opinion/28drury.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
     Here’s a portion of that article.

How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship

By ROBERT DRURY and TOM CLAVIN       East Hampton, N.Y.

FOR Americans under a certain age, Gerald Ford is best remembered for his contribution to Bartlett’s — “Our long national nightmare is over” — or, more likely, for the comedian Chevy Chase’s stumbling, bumbling impersonations of him on “Saturday Night Live.” But there’s a different label we can attach to this former president, one that has been overlooked for 62 years: war hero.

In 1944, Lt. j.g. Jerry Ford — a lawyer from Grand Rapids, Mich., blond and broad-shouldered, . . . was a 31-year-old gunnery officer on the aircraft carrier Monterey. The Monterey was a member of Adm. William Halsey’s Third Fleet, and in mid-December, Lt Ford was sailing off the Philippines as Adm Halsey’s ships provided air cover for the second phase of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s “I shall return” Philippine invasions.

The Monterey had earned more than half a dozen battle stars for actions in World War II; during the battle of Leyte Gulf, Lt Ford, in charge of a 40-millimeter antiaircraft gun crew on the fantail deck, had watched as a torpedo narrowly missed the Monterey and tore out the hull of the nearby Australian cruiser Canberra. Two months later, in the early morning hours of Dec. 18, the Japanese were the least of the Monterey’s worries, as it found itself trapped in a vicious Pacific cyclone later designated Typhoon Cobra.

Lt Ford had served as the Monterey’s officer of the deck on the ship’s midnight-to-4-a.m. watch, and had witnessed the lashing rains and 60-knot winds. . . The waves reeled in from starboard, . . . cresting at 40 to 70 feet. In his 18 months at sea, Lt Ford had never seen waves so big. . . [H]e could just barely make out the distress whistles sounding about him — the deep beeps of the battleships, the shrill whoops of the destroyers.

After his watch Lt Ford had [just] strapped himself into his bunk below decks . . . when the Monterey’s skipper, Capt. Stuart H. Ingersoll, sounded general quarters, calling all hands to their stations. Lt Ford bolted upright in his dark sea cabin. He thought he smelled smoke amidships. Racing through a rolling companionway dimly lighted by red battle lights, he reached the outside skipper’s ladder leading to the pilothouse and began to climb. At that precise moment a 70-foot wave broke over the Monterey. The carrier pitched 25 degrees to port, and Lt Ford was knocked flat on his back. He began skimming the flight deck as if he were on a toboggan.

Just as he was about to be hurled overboard, Lt Ford managed to slow his slide, twist like an acrobat, and fling himself onto the catwalk. He got to his knees, made his way below deck, and started back up again. By the time he reached the Monterey’s pilothouse, the fighter planes in its hangar deck had begun slamming into one another as well as the bulkheads . . . and the collisions had ignited their gas tanks. The hangar deck of the Monterey had become a cauldron of aircraft fuel, and because of a quirk in its construction, the flames from the burning aircraft were sucked into the air intakes of the lower decks. As fires broke out below, Lt Ford remembered the smoke he smelled when he’d bolted from his bunk.

Adm Halsey had ordered Cpt Ingersoll to abandon ship, and the Monterey was ablaze from stem to stern as Lt Ford stood near the helm, awaiting his orders. “We can fix this,” Cpt Ingersoll said, and with a nod from his skipper, Lt Ford donned a gas mask and led a fire brigade below.

Aircraft-gas tanks exploded as hose handlers slid across the burning decks. Into this furnace Lt Ford led his men, his first order of business to carry out the dead and injured. Hours later he and his team emerged burned and exhausted, but they had put out the fire.

Three destroyers were eventually capsized by Typhoon Cobra, a dozen more ships were seriously damaged, more than 150 planes were destroyed, and 793 men lost their lives. It was the Navy’s worst “defeat” of World War II. But the Monterey and nearly all of its men survived to take part in the battle of Okinawa, and the future president ended his Navy stint in 1946 with the rank of lt commander.

Like his fellow World War II veterans, Mr. Ford returned home and resumed his life, rarely speaking publicly of his heroism. But in contrast to the public’s image of him as a clumsy nonentity, Mr. Ford was a man whose grace under pressure saved his ship and hundreds of men on it.

Robert Drury and Tom Clavin are the authors of the forthcoming “Halsey’s Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm and an Untold Rescue.”

Julia