This month marks the 239th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps, and it all started because...

The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on 9 November 1775, consulting the Naval

Committee to send an amphibious expedition to Halifax in Nova Scotia. Congress was convinced that

by

Mike Prero

BULLETIN

PRESIDENT TREASURER EDITOR

John Bachochin Loren Moore Mike Prero

15731 S. 4210 Rd., POB 1181 12659 Eckard Way

Claremore, OK 74017 Roseville, CA 95678 Auburn,CA 95603

918-342-0710 916-783-6822 530-906-4705

No. 358 November 2014

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 2

sending marines to fight at sea and engage military operations ashore were paramount in destroying an

important British naval base in Halifax. On 10 November 1775, the Naval Committee was directed by

Congress to raise two marine battalions at the Continental expense. The United States Marine Corps still

celebrates 10 November, as its official birthday.

Despite their stellar service in foreign engagements, the Marine Corps played only a minor role during

the Civil War (1861–1865); their most important task was blockade duty and other ship-board battles, but

were mobilized for a handful of operations as the war progressed. On the opposite side of the lines, the

Congress of the Confederate States authorized the creation of the Confederate States Marine Corps on 16

March 1861.

During the Spanish–American War (1898), Marines would lead American forces ashore in the

Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, demonstrating their readiness for deployment. At the Battle of

Cienfuegos, Marines from the USS Marblehead and USS Nashville cut undersea telegraph cables under

heavy Spanish fire to support the blockade of Cuba, 12 of them earning the Medal of Honor for their

actions. The 1st Battalion, under Lt. Col Robert W. Huntington, invaded and captured Guantánamo Bay in

order to set up an advanced base and refueling station for the fleet. In the seizure of Cuzco Well, a Spanish

counterattack was aided by friendly fire from the USS Dolphin, and Sergeant John H. Quick would later

receive the Medal of Honor for braving both Spanish rifle fire and naval gunfire to signal the Dolphin and

shift fire.

Between 1900 and 1916, the Marine Corps continued its record of participation in foreign expeditions,

especially in the Caribbean and Central and South America, which included Panama, Cuba, Veracruz,

Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua. These actions became known as the "Banana Wars", and the

experiences gained in counter-insurgency and guerrilla operations during this period were consolidated

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 3

into the Small Wars Manual in 1935. Action in these places south of the United States continued through

World War I, and after for many. Many of these actions were part of the Monroe Doctrine; that is, the

efforts of the United States to prevent further colonization and interference in the Western Hemisphere.

Marines occasionally had to fight against their reputation as the private army of the State Department. A

total of 93 Marines would die throughout the various conflicts.

In World War I, battle-tested, veteran Marines served a central role in the United States' entry into the

conflict. Its most famous action of the war was their celebrated Battle of Belleau Wood, then the largest in

the history of the Corps, creating their reputation in modern history. Rallying under the battle cries of

"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!" and "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?", the

Marines drove German forces from the area.

In World War II, the Marines played a central role in the Pacific War, participating in nearly every

significant battle. The Corps also saw its peak growth as it expanded from two brigades to 475,000

Marines, the highest in its history. The battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Guam,

and Okinawa saw fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Japanese Army.

In the Korean War, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir entered Marine lore as an example of the toughness

and resolve of the Marine. Marines would continue a battle of attrition around the 38th Parallel until the

1953 armistice.

Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan...the Marines were always there. There’s just no room to detail their

exploits here. And wherever the next problem arises which needs the military, the Marines will be there as

well.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps]

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 4

Great Ships of the Seas:

MS Europa

This was not the first Europa, nor was it the last, but it was the most well-known. The North German

Lloyd Line could not have found a better acquisition than Swedish

American's smart Kungsholm of 1953. She went on the sales lists in

1965, just as the Swedes were preparing for their newest (and last) liner,

the fourth Kungsholm, completed in 1966.

The earlier Kungsholm was a dream ship—beautiful, mechanically

sound, finely maintained, supremely well thought of, and she had the

perfect ability to work either the two-class North Atlantic or sing-class

luxury cruises. The Germans rechristened her the Europa. Thee liner

offered a pre-war ambiance of glistening veneers and soft lighting, with

everything polished to perfection.

She first crossed to New York in January 1966 and then went directly

into winter Caribbean cruising. By the late sixties, however, along with

the larger Bremen, she faced increased operational costs and a declining

passenger trade. In 1970, when North German Lloyd merged with the

Hamburg American line, adjustments were made. After a century, the

Atlantic service was dropped in 1971. The Bremen was sold off, leaving

the Europa. Again, her wonderful interiors proved popular.

The Europa continued in German service until 1981, when she was

replaced by a newer, larger Europa. The older ship was then sold off to

the Italian Costa Line for service as the Columbus C, and later the Costa

Columbus. In July 1984, she rammed the breakwater at Cadiz, Spain.

Badly holed, she made her pier just in time to safely offload her

passengers and then capsize. She was damaged beyond economic

recovery. [Reprised from 1996]

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 5

The Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that

plays in the National League West Division. Originally known as the New York Giants, the team moved

to San Francisco in 1958.

As one of the longest-established professional baseball teams, the franchise has won the most games of

any team in the history of American baseball, and any North American professional sports team. They

have won 22 National League pennants and appeared in 19 World Series competitions – both records in

the National League. The Giants' 7 World Series Championships rank second in the National League (the

St. Louis Cardinals have won 11) and fifth overall (behind the New York Yankees (27), St. Louis Cardi-

nals (11), Oakland Athletics (9), and the Boston Red Sox (8)). The Giants have played in the World Series

19 times but boycotted the event in 1904.

The Giants have the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball. The Giants' rivalry with

the Dodgers is one of the longest-standing and biggest rivalries in American baseball. The teams began

their rivalry as the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, respectively, before moving west for the

1958 season.

The Giants played at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York, until the close of the 1957 season, after

which they moved west to California to become the San Francisco Giants. As the New York Giants, they

won 14 pennants and 5 World Series championships behind managers such as John McGraw and Bill

Terry and players like Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott, Bobby Thomson, and Willie Mays. The

Giants have won five pennants and two World Series championships since arriving in San Francisco.

In 2000, after forty years, the Giants

bade farewell to Candlestick Park and, as

long advocated, moved into a privately

financed downtown stadium (AT&T Park,

originally Pacific or "Pac" Bell Park and

later renamed SBC Park). The Giants rou-

tinely sell out their new nearly 43,000-seat

state-of-the-art stadium built for the 21st

century, whereas paltry paid attendances

of less than 10,000 were not uncommon in

Candlestick despite its nearly 60,000 seat-

ing capacity, although by the 1999 season

the Giants did manage to draw about

25,000 fans per game. The team in its

striking new location annually vies for

highest MLB season attendance in contrast

to often having lowest attendance in the

NL (or close to it) before.

...And, of course, as of this writing, The

Giants are on their way to the 2014 World

Series! [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

San_Francisco_Giants]

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 6

Boston’s Boston Symphony Orchestra

The BSO was founded in 1881 by Henry Lee Higginson. Its first conductor was George Henschel, who

was a noted baritone as well as conductor, and a close friend of Johannes Brahms. For the orchestra,

Henschel devised innovative orchestral seating charts and sent them to Brahms, who replied approvingly.

The orchestra's reputation increased during the music directorship of Serge Koussevitzky. One million

radio listeners tuned in when Koussevitzky and the orchestra were the first to perform a live concert for

radio broadcast, which they did on NBC in 1926. Under Koussevitzky, the orchestra gave regular radio

broadcasts and established its summer home at Tanglewood, where Koussevitzky founded the Berkshire

Music Center, which is now the Tanglewood Music Center. Those network radio broadcasts ran from

1926 through 1951, and again from 1954 through 1956. The orchestra continues to make regular live radio

broadcasts to the present day. The Boston Symphony was closely involved with the Boston's WGBH

Radio as an outlet for its concerts.

In 2004, James Levine became the first American-born music director of the BSO. Levine received

critical praise for revitalizing the quality and repertoire since the beginning of his

tenure, including championing contemporary composers. During Levine's tenure,

by February 2009 the BSO had performed 18 world premieres.

To fund the more challenging and expensive of Levine's musical projects with

the orchestra, the orchestra established an "Artistic Initiative Fund" of about $40

million. This is in addition to the current endowment of the orchestra, which is the

largest of any American orchestra at about $300 million. [http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Boston_Symphony_Orchestra]

An American Tour:

86

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 7

CA 92104, (619) 295-2101.

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Readers Write

George Cosentini, CA: Had I

known you were going to write

something about Honda Point, I

could have sent you photocopies

of 2 covers I had in my

collection, no cancel, just return

address, one from the Young and

one from the Chauncey.

Supposedly when the storm

passed, some salvage was done

and it included some mail that

was eventually posted. How

many covers ?? I was told no

more than 20 from all the ships

put together.

Among other goodies, they cost

me a cover from the Wahoo.

No. 358 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-November 2014 Page 8

Replace with advertising text

Company Name

COMING

UP

Dec: “Amadeus!”

Jan: “Hiltons”

Feb: “Calendars”

SIERRA-DIABLO...we’re

the hottest club in the

hobby!

....November Auction

Ohhhh! Lots of good items...as

usual. We’ve got quality; we’ve got

old; we’ve got interesting!

http://matchcover.org/sierra

And, don’t forget...you can see

more auction cover pics at:

www.matchcovercollector.com

Happy Birthday!

Berger, Jerry.......................11-2

Kamm, M.S.........................11-2

Alley, Oscar........................11-4

Acejas, Tino........................11-5

Cherny, Louis.....................11-5

Fawcett, Scott.....................11-5

Milas, Lee.........................11-23

Ginrich, Don.....................11-24

Adams, Alma....................11-25

Boal, John.........................11-25

Thompson, Rich................11-30

Burnell, Dennis...................12-5

Ready, Duane......................12-6

Rauzy, Jim..........................12-9

Dalton, Rob.......................12-15

Reaves, Mindy..................12-17

Valachovic, Tom...............12-17

Burton, Charles.................12-29

Clark, John........................12-29

The Sierra-Diablo Bulletin is a

publication of the Sierra-Diablo

Matchcover Club. Deadline for all

submissions is 2 weeks before the

issue month. Any information

herein may be reproduced with

appropriate credit line. Dues of $5

(e-bulletin); or $10 hard copy

(individual), $15 (family), $15

(Canada/Mexico) or $20 (outside

N. America) are payable to the

Sierra-Diablo Matchcover Club, c/

o Loren Moore, POB 1181,

Roseville, CA 95678

Visit the Sierra-Diablo Web Site

at: http://www.matchcover.org/

Sierra. You can reach the Ed. on

line at RMSED@matchpro.org for

h e lp wi th Bu l l e t in /h obby

questions, concerns or problems.

(registration), so let them know

as early as you can. Makes

planning sooooooo much easier.

*You know those couple of

trades that have been sitting on

the desk for the last two

months? You might want to

answer them.

*If you belong to RMS (and

you should), start thinking about

nominations for Hall of Fame

and Outstanding Collector of the

Year. Complete instructions are

on the RMS web site, and

they’ll also be run in the Jan/Feb

issue of the RMS Bulletin. It’s a

nice way to recognize the efforts

of other collectors.

John Boal, CA: Great article on

the Honda Point disaster.

Thought you might like to

see some of the pictures taken of

some of the destroyers. [2 shown

on previous page]

Reminders

*Auction Master Dan Bitter

says there will be an auction in

December.

*January 1st is coming soon,

and many clubs have their dues

due then. You might want to

check! (Dues date for our club is

April 1st! No joke!)

*Make your plans to attend

AMCAL, RMS, and any other

get-togethers you can possibly

get to. The conventions and

swapfests want prior-notice

November’s Smile

[Courtesy of Loren Moore]