Donald Scanga

❤️

As a Digital Historian, I research, write, design, and self-publish Military History in eBook form. Provided free to potential readers through my website. I do have a friend who edits my final drafts pre-publishing. To get an idea of what they look like, go to www. DonaldScanga .com and Click eBooks.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
- George Orwell

I published my first (free) eBook, “If It Flies, It Dies” almost eight months ago, and it has generated nearly 3,000 visitors to my website. Since my new career as a Digital Historian is a not-for-profit venture, my marketing plan was to solely use social media (Facebook & LinkedIn) and mass emails to advertise my eBooks while minimizing out-of-pocket marketing expenses.

As such, I created Personal and Professional profiles on each social platform. Both professional accounts enabled me selectively to “pay-to-boost” posts to a larger target audience than just my followers. As a baseline, I have approximately the same number of connections on both platforms and have used both identically concerning the number and content of my Digital Historian posts.

I’m an analyst at heart, so I monitored various metrics related to individual identical posts from both platforms. In addition, my WIX website platform provides detailed statistics, including which platforms website visitors originate from, which is what this graph represents.

The graph shows that while LinkedIn was somewhat beneficial in helping me build my insurance agency, due to its "reciprocal" nature, i.e., "you scratch my back and I will scratch yours" it has proven highly ineffective in helping me build a new reader base. It has only generated about 3% of my total website visitors.

Facebook came in first at 57%. People who went Directly to my website from other sources came in second at 31%. Not surprisingly, email marketing only generated 5%. However, most illuminating is that generic Google searches by random people generated more visitors to my website than LinkedIn!

As such, I plan to stop posting on LinkedIn effective January 1, 2024 and remove my "paid" LinkedIn DonaldScanga .Com professional page. However, I will keep my free personal LinkedIn account and check it periodically.

If you currently follow me on Linkedin and want to stay connected for any of my history blogs and new eBook announcements, please follow my Donald Scanga professional account on Facebook. Thanks!

Desmond Doss, an American pacifist Army combat medic who, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind.

Made famous in the Mel Gibson directed movie “Hacksaw Ridge” Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty, during the WWII Battle of Okinawa.

Veterans Day is held on November 11. But in many other parts of the world, the day is known as Remembrance Day. A day set aside to remember military personnel who have lost their lives in war.

Originally Established by King George V in 1919, Remembrance Day evolved out of Armistice Day, which marked the end of hostilities in WWI. Armistice Day is still celebrated on the same day. In the United Kingdom, Canada, France, South Africa, the U.S., Bermuda, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, citizens pause at observe one or two moments of silence at 11 a.m. (the time the armistice was signed) to remember the fallen.

The United States rebranded its November 11th celebration as Veterans Day, after the Korean War, to honor all U.S. veterans, living and dead.

In conjunction with the spirit of Remembrance Day worldwide, many wear a simple red poppy on the lapel, reminiscent of the red poppies that were among the first plants to bloom in the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium. The connection with the poppy and the fallen soldier was solidified with one of the era’s most famous poems, “In Flanders Field“, written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae in 1919.

“In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”

Compiled & edited from multiple sources
Donald Scanga

As a Digital Historian, I receive about a dozen monthly requests to help veterans or the families of veterans find information about the military unit(s) they or their loved ones served with. Typically, it is related to the Army due to the nature of my eBooks. This morning alone, I did three searches for individuals based on Facebook comment requests I received on a recent post. Each took less than a few minutes to complete.

So to reduce these requests, I am employing the old proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

I thought I would start by teaching you, civilians and military veterans alike, how to quickly “fish” for military unit information.

While my examples are Army-related, the methodology applies equally to all branches of service: Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard. It also will work on all search engines.

1) To begin, I suggest you search every internet search engine that is available to you. Not just one. Bing, Safari, Chrome, etc. This may increase your results. Typically, computers work better than mobile devices while providing access to various search engine platforms.

2) The next crucial element applies to a second computer-related adage: "garbage in, garbage out.” For the best search results, you should enter "complete" unit information in the most detailed, hierarchically correct manner possible! With the complete spelling of every element. No abbreviations or punctuation marks.

3) All military units, regardless of branch, are designated from the smallest element on top, in terms of manpower size, down to the largest manpower units on the bottom. Most Business organizations have mirrored this approach. In military terms, this organizational structure is called the “Chain of Command.” Here are two examples to get you started on your search. For instance:

a. For an Army Air Defense unit, the order might begin with Battery, Battalion, and end at the top with the Air Defense Regiment. For instance, I served in “C” Battery of the 6th Battalion of the 65th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. What I would enter into the search engine might be as follows:

C Battery 6th Battalion 65th Air Defense Artillery Regiment

b. The hierarchal order for a typical Army Infantry unit might be Company, Regiment/Battalion, Division. For instance, let's use a fictitious WWII unit designated: “A” Company of the 14th Infantry Regiment assigned to the 25th Infantry Division. What I would enter into the search engine might be as follows:

A Company 14th Infantry Regiment 25th Infantry Division

This first step should return the best and highest number of search results for any given Army-related unit search. I will post more later. But don’t hesitate to comment with questions. My next post will relate to quickly finding detailed military history information on the internet about your loved ones' military service from any of their uniforms, military patches, medals, decorations, etc., which you might have access to.

Please consider sharing this post with your friends & family to increase my reach. Thanks!

Donald Scanga Digital Historian - DonaldScanga .Com - Army Vet. Retired IT Geek & Insurance Agent. Avid Golfer.

Leave it up to the Israelis ❤️

Rafael: DAVID’s SLING - Long Range Air & Missile Defense DAVID’s SLING's is a complete air defense system to defeat the full spectrum of long range air & missile threats - operational on IDF missions. Learn mroe

We may have turned 248, but I swear we don't look a day over 168! Happy Birthday Army (6/14/1775)

I have removed the requirement to become a member of my website to read my "If It Flies, It Dies" eBook.

If you are one of the 92% of my 1,854 website visitors who wanted to read my new eBook but didn’t want to create a logon.

Please try again! Click below and begin reading. Send me your feedback using my "Contact" form on my site. 👍

eBooks | Donald Scanga While now a popular boast among American duck hunters "If It Flies It Dies" was once the unofficial motto of the United States Army Air Defense Artillery.  Don's first eBook is a history of this Branch of the United States Army.  From it's roots when it first deployed Anti-Aircraft guns on our sho...

I have removed the requirement to become a member of my website to read my "If It Flies, It Dies" eBook.

If you are one of the 92% of my 1,854 website visitors who wanted to read my new eBook but didn’t want to create a logon.

Please try again! Click below and just begin reading. Send me your feedback using my "Contact" form on my site. 👍

eBooks | Donald Scanga While now a popular boast among American duck hunters "If It Flies It Dies" was once the unofficial motto of the United States Army Air Defense Artillery.  Don's first eBook is a history of this Branch of the United States Army.  From it's roots when it first deployed Anti-Aircraft guns on our sho...

I have removed the requirement to become a member of my website to read my eBooks. If you are one of the 92% of the my 1854 visitors who wanted to read my new eBook, but didn’t want to create a logon. Please try again! Click below and just begin reading 👍

eBooks | Donald Scanga While now a popular boast among American duck hunters "If It Flies It Dies" was once the unofficial motto of the United States Army Air Defense Artillery. Don's first eBook is a history of this Branch of the United States Army. From it's roots when it first deployed Anti-Aircraft guns on our sho.....

https://www.donaldscanga.com/post/why-is-it-called-d-day

Why Is It Called D-Day Seventy-nine years ago today, on June 6, 1944, 156,000 Allied troops landed on five separate beaches in Normandy, France. The invasion is historically referred to as “D-Day.” Some people think the “D” stands for something such as “Death Day” or “Doomsday.” It simply stands for “day...

Ethan Scanga

Finished this one last night.

This is a really good book! It's a children's book and I think it would work best for pre-teens and early teens. It's clean and wholesome which I thought was great. There aren't enough books out there for our kids to enjoy that are like this one. I also recommend it for adults! It was fast paced and I enjoyed it myself!

Follow the author John Guthrie, Author

At age 17, she was rejected from college.

At age 25, her mother died from disease.

At age 26, she suffered a miscarriage.

At age 27, she got married.

Her husband abused her. Despite this, her daughter was born.

At age 28, she got divorced and was diagnosed with severe depression. At age 29, she was a single mother living on welfare.

At age 30, she didn't want to be on this earth. But, she directed all her passion into doing the one thing she could do better than anyone else. And that was writing.

At age 31, she finally published her first book.

At age 35, she had released 4 books, and was named

Author of the Year.

At age 42, she sold 11 million copies of her new book, on the first day of release.

This woman is J.K. Rowling. Remember how she considered su***de at age 30?

Today, Harry Potter is a global brand worth more than $15

billion dollars. Never give up. Believe in yourself. Be passionate. Work hard. It's never too late.

She is J.K. Rowling.

Thanks for reading

For more👉Hassan Sas Bangura Blog

Reposted

https://www.donaldscanga.com/post/this-photo-only-tells-half-the-story

This Photo Only Tells Half The Story Feb. 1, 1968 - AP Photo (Eddie Adams) In this AP file photo, South Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, fires his pistol into the head of suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem (also known as Bay Lop) on a Saigon street early in the Tet Offensive campaign, one of the largest of the Vietnam War whic...

In keeping with the Army’s commitment to remove the names of Confederate Generals from existing Army Posts, Fort Benning (GA) will be redesignated Fort Moore in honor of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore.

If his name is familiar, his story was told in his first book, “We Were Soldiers Once… and Young” which was made into the movie “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. It dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang (Vietnam) on November 14, 1965.

I am not a proponent of erasing history. The good, the bad, or the ugly. This tribute is well deserved. Just wish it could have been made some other way. - Don Scanga

https://www.donaldscanga.com/post/if-it-flies-it-dies-has-been-published

My New eBook "If It Flies, It Dies" Has Been Published! I am excited to officially announce my first eBook, “If It Flies, It Dies” - A History of the United States Army Air Defense Artillery has been published! It is free of cost from my website! No Strings. This is a passion. Not a business. It’s a quick read of 50 pages filled with layers of info...

Just did my first live presentation to my Kiwanis Club of Belmar.
It went better than expected, but I had a friendly audience😉.

Have a couple more trial runs before my presentation to the Veterans Museum Broomfield on 6/24/23.

Would love to have a few family and friends join me that morning. I'll post the details as the date gets closer.

Even on hard days, just keep writing!❤️

History is difficult.

One thing that makes history difficult is that many times historical monuments are interpreted through the politics of the present.

Stone Mountain Monument has been under Georgia preservation since 2001. Georgia law states that “the memorial to the heroes of the Confederate States of America graven upon the face of Stone Mountain shall never be altered, removed, concealed, or obscured in any fashion.”

Many of those who argue for keeping Confederate statues claim to do so based on an “outpouring of grief and remembrance for the hundreds of thousands who had died in the war [when] nearly a quarter of Southern white men in their twenties were killed or died from disease” (Davidson, 2017).

Yet those who argue for their removal noted that many were erected not in the aftermath of the Civil War but in the first half of the 20th century in a symbolic effort to reassert White dominance amid challenges to racist policies and practices.

Regardless of which side if the debate you stand, we should all agree that history must be preserved. The Good. The Bad. And most of all, The Ugly.

History education should invite debate, not stifle it. History materials should not be banned. History lessons should not be designed to convince students to believe certain ideas. But rather to encourage them to question them.

History should be deliberately provocative. Because it gets students thinking, it gets them debating. It engages them to want to drill deeper. To want to learn more.

- Donald Scanga

Sources:
“Lawmakers Push to Ban ‘Project 1619’ From Schools” - Education Week
“History Is Hard & Dangerous” - Washington Post 4/27/2020

4/30/1945 - “As the flames leaped high above the shallow pit at 6pm on the last day of April 1945 in the Reich Chancellery garden, just a few metres from the only exit of Hi**er’s Führerbunker, eight N***s, including Bormann and Goebbels, stood staring at the blazing inferno with their right arms held rigidly straight out in a most macabre salute.

The corpses of Adolf Hi**er, Führer and Chancellor of the Third German Reich and his new wife of only forty hours, Eva Anna Paula Hi**er nee Braun, were being reduced to cinders in the flaming pyre.

At 1am earlier that same morning, Adolf and Eva had been married. At 2.30pm, later that day, the couple had retired to Hi**er’s private room, deep down underground in the Bunker that had been built for him only the year before and in which he and Eva had been confined since 15 January 1945.

Now nothing but a pile of white ash and a few bones remained of either of them. Hi**er was dead but the war was not over.

The Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Head of the Kriegsmarine, as a most loyal N**i and dedicated supporter, had been appointed by Hi**er in his last will and testament to be the new Head of State, the President of Germany.

The problem was he was not in or near the Bunker on 30 April and others, like Bormann and Goebbels, were not in any hurry to pass on the message to Dönitz who remained unaware of his Führer’s death.

The two former henchmen wanted some time to consider their own best options at that moment.”

- FREE EXTRACT from Lucky Hi**er's Big Mistakes.

😉

Just bought this from a writer I’m connected to. Eager for it to arrive from Amazon!

Start you weekend with Diamonds in The Dark!

Written in first person.
Dual perspectives.
Some spice ❤️

Trigger warnings(drug abuse, attempted r**e, su***de.)

It is a drama filled romance with a twist
Available across Amazon including Kindle unlimited ❤️

https://a.co/d/1eQypgL

Left Picture: V-J Day in Times Square. August 14, 1945.

Right Picture: A San Diego Tribute Immortalizing That Moment.