title: War in the Vendée

text: The Vendée revolt became an immediate symbol of confrontation between revolution and counterrevolution, and a source of unexpurgated violence. The region, and its towns, were eliminated; even the department name of "Vendée" was renamed "Venge". Towns and cities were also renamed, but at heart, in villages and farms, the old names remained the same. Beyond the controversial interpretations of genocide, other historians posit the insurrection as a revolt against conscription that cascaded to include other complaints. For a period of several months, control of the Vendée slipped from the hands of Parisian revolutionaries. They ascribed the revolt to the resurgence of royalist ideas: when faced with insurrection of the people against the Revolution of the People, they were unable to see it as anything "but" an aristocratic plot. Mona Ozouf and François Furet maintain it was not. The entire territory, none of it unified under a single idea from the "ancien regime", had never been a region morally at odds with the rest of the nation. It was not the fall of the old regime that aroused the population against the Revolution, but rather the construction of the new regime into locally unacceptable principles and forms: the new map of districts and departments, the administrative dictatorship, and above all the non-juring priests. Rebellion had first flared in August 1792, but had been immediately quelled. Even the regicide did not trigger insurrection. What did was the forced conscription. Although the Vendeans, to use the term loosely, wrote God and King large on their flags, they invested those symbols of their tradition with something other than regret for the lost regime.


title: War in the Vendée

text: The popular historiography of the War in the Vendée is deeply rooted in conflicts between different schools of French historiography, and, as a result, writings on the revolt are generally highly partisan, coming down strongly in support of the revolutionary government or the Vendéen royalists. This conflict originated in the 19th century between two groups of historians, the "Bleus", named for their support of the republicans, who based their findings on archives from the "Blancs", named for their membership in and support of the monarchy and the Catholic Church, who based their findings on "local oral histories". The "Bleus" generally argue that the Vendée was not a popular uprising, but was the result of noble and clerical manipulation of the peasantry. One of the leaders of this school of history, Charles-Louis Chassin, published eleven volumes of letters, archives, and other materials supporting this position. The "Blancs", generally members of the former nobility and clergy themselves, argue (using some of the same documents as Chassin, but also drawing from contemporary oral histories) that the peasants were acting out of a "genuine love" for the nobility and a desire to protect the Catholic Church.


title: War in the Vendée

text: The Counter-Enlightenment interpretation was popularized in the conservatizing English-speaking world of the Neoliberal era, with French historian Reynald Secher's 1986 "A French Genocide: The Vendée". Secher argued that the actions of the French republican government during the War in the Vendée was the first modern genocide. Secher's claims caused a minor uproar in France amongst scholars of modern French history, as many mainstream authorities on the period—both French and foreign—published articles rejecting Secher's claims. Claude Langlois (of the Institute of History of the French Revolution) derides Secher's claims as "quasi-mythological". Timothy Tackett of the University of California summarizes the case as such: "In reality ... the Vendée was a tragic civil war with endless horrors committed by both sides—initiated, in fact, by the rebels themselves. The Vendeans were no more blameless than were the republicans. The use of the word genocide is wholly inaccurate and inappropriate." Hugh Gough (Professor of history at University College Dublin) called Secher's book an attempt at historical revisionism unlikely to have any lasting impact. While some such as Peter McPhee roundly criticized Secher, including the assertion of commonality between the functions of the Republican government and Communist totalitarianism, historian Pierre Chaunu expressed support for Secher's views, describing the events as the first "ideological genocide".


title: War in the Vendée

text: Critics of Secher's thesis find his methodology is flawed. McPhee asserted that these errors are as follows: (1) The war was not fought against Vendeans generally but Royalist Vendeans; the government relied on the support of Republican Vendeans. (2) The Convention ended the campaign after the Royalist Army was clearly defeated—if the aim was genocide, then they would have continued and easily exterminated the population. (3) He fails to inform the reader of atrocities committed by Royalist against Republicans in the Vendée. (4) He repeats stories now known to be folkloric myths as fact (5) He does not refer to the wide range of estimates of deaths suffered by both sides, and that casualties were not "one-sided"; and more.


title: War in the Vendée

text: Peter McPhee says that the pacification of the Vendée does not fit either the United Nations' CPPCG definition of genocide because the events happened during a civil war. He states that the war in the Vendée was not a one-sided mass killing and the Committee of Public Safety did not intend to exterminate the whole population of the Vendée; parts of the population were allied to the revolutionary government.


title: War in the Vendée

text: Concerning the controversy, Michel Vovelle, a specialist on the French Revolution, remarked: "A whole literature is forming on 'Franco-French genocide', starting from risky estimates of the number of fatalities in the Vendean wars ... Despite not being specialists in the subject, historians such as Pierre Chaunu have put all the weight of their great moral authority behind the development of an anathematizing discourse, and have dismissed any effort to look at the subject reasonably."


title: War in the Vendée

text: Debate over the characterization of the Vendée uprising was renewed in 2007, when nine deputies introduced a measure to the National Assembly to officially recognize the republican actions as genocidal. The measure was strongly denounced by a group of leftist French historians as an attempt to use history to justify political extremism.


title: War in the Vendée

text: At the start of 2017 Jacques Villemain published [Vendée, 1793–1794: War crime? Crime against humanity? Genocide? A juridical study], which an analysis by him of the Vendée war from the perspective of the international courts of justice in The Hague (such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda). Jacques Villemain is a French diplomat, and is currently the vice representative of France at OECD and is representing France at the International Court of Justice. He presents a legal study on the War of Vendée based on current international law, then according modern findings in the international courts on genocide cases like the Rwanda Genocide, and the Srebrenica massacre, is that there were war crimes performed by The French Republic in March 1793, Crime against Humanity from April to July 1793 and Genocide from 1 August 1793 to middle of 1794.


title: War in the Vendée

text: In the heart of the modern controversy lies Secher's evidence, which Charles Tilly analyzed in 1990. Initially, Tilly maintains, Secher completed a thoughtful dissertation-style thesis about the revolutionary experience in his own village, La Chapelle-Basse-Mer, which lies near Nantes. In the published version of his thesis, he incorporated some of Tilly's own arguments: that conflicts within communities generalized into a region-wide confrontation of anti-revolutionary majority based in the countryside with a pro-revolutionary minority that had particular strength in the cities. The split formed with the application of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the oath to support it, in 1790–1792. From then, the local conflicts grew more sharply defined, over the choice between juring and non-juring priests. The conscription of March 1793, with the questionable exemption for Republican officials and National Guard members, broadened the anti-revolutionary coalition and brought the young men into action.


title: War in the Vendée

text: With , Reynald Secher's thesis for the began with a generalization of the standard arguments to the whole region. Although La Chapelle-Basse-Mer served him repeatedly as a reference point, Secher illustrated his arguments with wide citations from national and regional archives to establish a broader frame of reference. Furthermore, he drew on graphic, nineteenth century accounts widely known to the historians of the Vendee: Carrier drownings and the "infernal columns of Turreau". Most importantly, however, Secher broke with conventional assessments by asserting on the basis of minimal evidence, Tilly claims, that the pre-revolutionary Vendée was more prosperous than the rest of France (to better emphasize the devastation of the war and the repression). He used dubious statistical methods to establish population losses and fatalities, statistical processes that inflated the number of people in the region, the number and value of houses, and the financial losses of the region. Secher's statistical procedure relied on three unjustifiable assumptions. First, Secher assumes a constant birth rate of about 37 per thousand of population, when actually, Tilly maintains, the population was declining. Second, Secher assumes no net migration; Tilly maintains that thousands fled the region, or at least shifted where they lived within the region. Finally, Secher understated the population present at the end of the conflict by ending it 1802, not 1794.


title: War in the Vendée

text: Despite the criticism, a number of scholars continue the assertion of genocide. In addition to Secher and Chaunu, Kurt Jonassohn and Frank Chalk also consider it a case of genocide. Further support comes from Adam Jones, who wrote in "Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction" a summary of the Vendée uprising, supporting the view that it was a genocide: "the Vendée Uprising stands as a notable example of a mass killing campaign that has only recently been conceptualized as 'genocide and that while this designation "is not universally shared ... it seems apt in the light of the large scale murder of a designated group (the Vendéan civilian population)." Pierre Chaunu describes it as the first "ideological genocide". Mark Levene, a historian who specializes in the study of genocide, considers the Vendée "an archetype of modern genocide". Other scholars who consider the massacres to be genocide include R. J. Rummel, Jean Tulard, and Anthony James Joes.


title: War in the Vendée

text: In 2020, David Bell published a paper in "Journal of Genocide Research" to rebut the genocide theory.


title: War in the Vendée

text: Filmed on location in France, "The Hidden Rebellion", a docu-drama produced and directed by Daniel Rabourdin, presents the rebellion as an example of the courage and love for God and country that (it claims) the royalist peasants possessed. Winner of the 2017 Remi Film Award, it has aired on EWTN and is available for purchase on DVD.


title: War in the Vendée

text: The uprising in the Vendée was also the subject of an independent feature film from Navis Pictures. "The War of the Vendée" (2012), written and directed by Jim Morlino, won awards for "Best Film For Young Audiences" (Mirabile Dictu International Catholic Film Festival, at the Vatican) and "Best Director" (John Paul II International Film Festival, Miami, FL).


title: War in the Vendée

text: The Vendée Revolt was the setting for one of the BBC's "The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV series)" series entitled "Valentine Gautier" (2002).


title: War in the Vendée

text: The Vendée Revolt was also the setting for "The Frogs and the Lobsters", an episode of the television program "Hornblower". It is set during the French Revolutionary Wars and very loosely based on the chapter of the same name in C. S. Forester's novel, "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" and on the actual ill-fated Quiberon expedition of 1795.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated CSM or C-Man; sometimes referred to as Cancer Man or the Smoking Man) is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the American science fiction drama television series "The X-Files". He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. In the show's sixth season, his name is said to be C.G.B. Spender, but Dana Scully suggests this is one of "hundreds of aliases"; the show's characters and fans continue to refer to him by variations of "the Smoking Man" because he is almost always seen chain-smoking Morley cigarettes. In the eleventh season, he reveals his full name to be Carl Gerhard Busch.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Although he utters only four audible words in the entire first season of the show, the Smoking Man eventually develops into the series' primary antagonist. In his early appearances he is seen in the offices of Section Chief Scott Blevins and Assistant Director Walter Skinner, Mulder and his partner Dana Scully's supervisors. An influential man working for the powers that be, he is a key member in a government-conspiracy unit known only as the Syndicate, who are hiding the truth of alien existence and their plan to colonize Earth. His power and influence remain strong, even after most of the Syndicate is destroyed.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The Smoking Man is portrayed by Canadian actor William B. Davis. When Davis first took the role, the character was written as an extra for the pilot episode. He returned for small cameo appearances during the first season, making increasingly more appearances in the seasons that followed. Davis never received an award for his portrayal alone, but he was nominated for ensemble awards.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The birth date, birthplace, and most of the history of the Smoking Man is never categorically confirmed. One possible version of his past is provided during the fourth-season episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", in which the conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen claim Smoking Man was first documented in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on August 20, 1940. His father was an ardent communist activist and a spy for the Soviet NKVD who was executed under the Espionage Act of 1917 "before his boy could walk". His mother was a cigarette smoker who died from lung cancer, also when he was an infant. Since he had no surviving family, he became a ward of the state and was sent to various orphanages in the Midwestern United States. He made no friends and spent most of his time reading. This episode contradicts the season 3 episode "Apocrypha" where young Smoking Man was seen in 1953 with Bill Mulder as already a shadowy agent and smoking. "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" has the Smoking Man still a young man and not part of the Syndicate in 1963, and does not smoke yet.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The same episode reveals that by the early 1960s he was a United States Army Special Forces captain involved in black operations and intelligence, and that he served alongside Fox Mulder's father, Bill. The Smoking Man was already involved in the CIA-backed failed invasion of Cuba and the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba and Rafael Trujillo before he was enlisted by a secret cabal to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. The assassination was motivated by Kennedy's mishandling of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the subsequent Cuban Missile Crisis. As part of the mission, the Smoking Man told the designated patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald, to bring the curtain rods as a way to frame him for the murder. Incidentally, it was Oswald himself who introduced the Smoking Man to cigarettes. By 1968, the Smoking Man had progressed enough in the hierarchy to push himself for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., concerned that King was "talking like a Maoist" and a threat to the American war effort in Vietnam. He did the deed himself because he had "too much respect for the man," and chose to frame a white racist because of his own sympathy for the American civil rights movement.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: At the same time, the Smoking Man was an aspiring writer of espionage (and later, science fiction) novels starring a fictional version of himself, Jack Colquitt, and based on his own secret activities, but all his drafts were rejected or altered by publishers who found them unrealistic and poorly written. This left him no choice but to continue working for the United States government. By 1991, the Smoking Man's power was pretty much absolute. He was in direct talks with Saddam Hussein and involved in one way or another on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy, moving the Rodney King trial to Simi Valley, California, keeping the United States government from interfering in the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Academy Awards nominations, keeping the Buffalo Bills from ever winning the Super Bowl, drugging the Soviet goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak before the Miracle on Ice, and executing extraterrestrials that survived landing on American soil.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Nevertheless, "X-Files" writer Frank Spotnitz stated that this version of events is only one possibility and is not accepted canon.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: In the eleventh-season episode "My Struggle III," the Cigarette-Smoking Man reveals his name to be Carl Gerhard Busch (the name of series creator Chris Carter's grandfather). In this backstory, he is shown to have been active back sometime after the Roswell incident and oversaw an experiment on an alien grey. These events preceded the Syndicate, with this new origin retconning the original series run by claiming that the Smoking Man was in fact playing against the Syndicate, despite having previously being seen taking orders from them. He is also confirmed to be the real killer of John F. Kennedy and is seen being present during the faking of the Moon Landing in 1969.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: In his first appearance in the series, he oversees FBI agent Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson) briefing and debriefing, and later disposes of evidence Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully had brought back from their investigation of an alien abduction. With the Smoking Man hiding truth from the public, Mulder seeks to reveal it to the public and the truth about the disappearance of his sister, Samantha. This leads to a rivalry that lasts until the end of the series.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: In later seasons, it is revealed that he is a member of a group known as the Syndicate, a shadowy organization within the United States government. The episode "Two Fathers" reveals his birth name or alias as C.G.B. Spender, and that he was formerly married to Cassandra Spender, with whom he had a son, Jeffrey Spender. He recruits FBI Special Agent Diana Fowley to be a subordinate of his because she has a close relationship with Mulder. In "One Son", Jeffrey finds out that his father, the Smoking Man, forced his mother Cassandra to undergo medical treatments that led to several nervous breakdowns during his childhood years. When the Smoking Man finds out, he seemingly kills Jeffrey. Knowing of the colonization plan, the Alien rebels return to Earth to try to persuade the Syndicate to join their side against their war with the Colonists. Not believing in the strength of the Alien rebels, the Syndicate members meet at El Rico Air Base to be transported to a spaceship to survive the colonization. However, the rebels appear instead of the Colonists and kill all remaining chief members of the Syndicate. Together with Fowley, the Smoking Man escapes the destruction of the Syndicate. Later in the sixth season, there is more evidence that suggested that the Smoking Man is Mulder's biological father. Eventually in "", Smoking Man tells Mulder, "I am your father," while Mulder has a flashback to his childhood of walking on the beach with his parents. Fowley comes in disagreement with him. Because of his plans to kill Mulder, Fowley helps Scully in her investigation to locate Mulder, which leads to her death. After the destruction of the Syndicate, the Smoking Man starts to operate as he wishes. However, his cancer resurfaces, and he begins using a wheelchair and has a tracheotomy. In the end, Alex Krycek and Marita Covarrubias betray him in the episode "Requiem", throwing him down a flight of stairs, where they presume him to be dead.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The Smoking Man is revealed to be alive in the ninth season episode "William", where it is also learned that his attempted murder of his son failed, which led him to subject his son to terrible experiments. In the series finale, "The Truth", Mulder and Scully travel through remote New Mexico and reach a pueblo where a "wise man" reputedly lives: he is, in fact, the Smoking Man. His condition has worsened since his disappearance, and he lives a primitive life in hiding from the "New" Syndicate. After taunting Mulder and Scully, he reveals to Scully what Mulder already knew, that the alien re-colonization of Earth is set for December 22, 2012. Shortly after, Smoking Man is again apparently killed by a rocket shot from a helicopter ordered by Knowle Rohrer.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: For the next 14 years, he is presumed dead. However, he appears again alive, but seriously burned and disfigured at the end of "My Struggle" (2016), the first episode of the "X-Files" miniseries, stating that the X-Files have been reopened. In the season finale, "My Struggle II", the Smoking Man puts into motion the conspiracy he had been working on all these years, releasing chemtrails into the atmosphere which trigger immune system breakdowns throughout the American population, which had been infected by the Spartan virus through mandatory flu vaccinations. Out of fondness for Mulder, he offers him the cure to the disease, but is rebuffed. The United States is thrown into chaos as the Syndicate plan for depopulation gets underway. However, in "My Struggle III", this is shown to be a vision experienced by Scully. It is revealed that the Smoking Man is trying to find Scully's son William in order to fulfill his plans, and that he is in conflict with a group led by two other surviving Syndicate members, who want the Smoking Man dead in order to carry out their own agenda. The Smoking Man approaches Walter Skinner to make him a deal, and offers him a chance to survive the end of humanity in exchange for Skinner helping him find William. The Smoking Man also reveals he was responsible for the creation of William, as he impregnated Scully with the use of alien technology.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: In the season 11 finale "My Struggle IV", the Smoking Man and Reyes follow Mulder, Scully and Skinner to an abandoned factory where they are chasing down William. Skinner points a gun at them and shoots Reyes dead, and the Smoking Man runs Skinner over in his car. The Smoking Man confronts "Mulder" (who is actually William in disguise) by a waterfront, and during the standoff shoots him in the head and causes him to fall into the water. The real Mulder appears and shoots the Smoking Man, who realizes that he has killed William, and he falls off the edge and into the water, with his body then carried away by the current.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Prior to the tenth televised series of "The X-Files" in 2016, Chris Carter worked with IDW Publishing in 2013 to produce a comic-book continuation of the show. It hints that the Smoking Man is alive and indirectly feeding information to both Mulder and The Lone Gunmen. Carter later said that the story from these comics would be disregarded in future television productions. A variation of the comic-book continuation was made canonical with "The X-Files: Cold Cases", an Audible adaptation of the series set between the events of the ninth and tenth seasons of "The X-Files", in which the Smoking Man presented in the series is revealed to be a shape-shifting alien imitating him.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Kim Manners, a director of several "X-Files" episodes, said that the Smoking Man was the show's version of Darth Vader. Some "X-Files" fans have categorized the Smoking Man as evil, making him out to be the villain. Series creator Chris Carter once called him "the devil", producing a mixed reaction among fans. Some fans, along with the portraying actor, see him as a hero, as he is forced to make choices others are not.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The Smoking Man is involved in the Syndicate, a shadow organization which includes members of the United States government that exists to hide from the public the fact that aliens are planning to colonize Earth. The Smoking Man often ruthlessly protects the secrets of the conspiracy, and serves as the main antagonist to Mulder, who has an equally consuming devotion to reveal the truth in the first seven seasons. His stated justification is a desire to prevent the alien colonization for as long as possible; in the episode "One Breath", he tells Mulder that he is in the conspiracy (which he calls "the game") because he believes that the secrets he keeps could, if publicly revealed, threaten the social order that preserves society: "If people were to know of the things that "I" know... it would all fall apart". He is at times shown working towards that goal, particularly in connection with developing a vaccine to protect people from the "black oil", a parasitic agent which the alien Colonists use to propagate themselves.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: When first cast for the role, portraying actor William B. Davis thought a show about the paranormal would not last for long. Before joining "The X-Files" cast, Davis had not smoked a cigarette in twenty years. For the first two episodes he appeared in, he smoked "real" cigarettes, but later changed to herbal cigarettes, giving the reason that smoking was dangerous for his health. In at least one early script draft from the "Pilot", a Special Agent named Lake Drazen is present at the meeting near the start of the episode, having chosen Scully for an assignment to evaluate the validity of Mulder's work on the X-Files. The scene was eventually deleted and replaced, and several crew members have hinted that Agent Drazen became the Smoking Man.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Kim Manners said that it seemed all the prominent pieces created for "The X-Files" were created by "accident". According to Manners, Davis was nothing more than an extra leaning on a shelf. At the start, the producers of the show were not sure about making the Smoking Man the main antagonist. Paul Rabwin commented once that he did not know if Davis could handle the role, because he was not sure if he was a "good enough" actor for the role. Manners later commented that Davis knew that the Smoking Man had two different characters, the first being the one played by Davis and the second was the cigarettes. He further stated that the cigarette smoke could tell a "whole story" by itself, thanks to Davis's talent.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Fans of the series were active in debating if the Smoking Man was actually dead after the events of the season five premiere "Redux". In his first response, Chris Carter said he had left clues in the episode, and he later officially announced that the character would appear in "The X-Files" movie. In one of his last comments on the matter, he said, "Not that we haven't brought deceased characters back before, in flashbacks or more paranormal ways. The great thing about "The X-Files" is that anything can happen."


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: The Smoking Man is the only character in the series, in addition to Mulder and Scully, to appear in both the first episode, "Pilot" and the last, "The Truth" of the series. Portraying actor William B. Davis was listed as CIA Agent in the first season episode "Young at Heart", instead of his usual character, the Smoking Man. Actor Chris Owens for a time portrayed the Smoking Man as a young man in flashbacks. He later plays his son, Jeffrey Spender. Young Cigarette Smoking Man was first played by Craig Warkentin, with Davis' voice dubbed over in "Apocrypha".


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: While not being nominated for any of his work alone on "The X-Files", William B. Davis and several other cast members were nominated in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" by the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1997, 1998 and 1999, but did not win. The character was regularly voted "The Nastiest Villain" on television polls during the '90s. "TV Guide" listed Cigarette Smoking Man 20th in their "25 Greatest TV Villains" list. According to the portraying actor, the character had garnered protest from "pro-smokers". "Entertainment Weekly" writer Jennifer Armstrong cited the character as an example of the old tradition of having only "bad guys" smoking on television.


title: Cigarette Smoking Man

text: Davis was included in "Entertainment Weekly"s list of the 50 Biggest Emmy Snubs, the list's author saying that the presence of the "Cigarette Smoking Man" was as important as "black oil, alien implants, and Scully's skepticism". The Malaysian newspaper the "New Straits Times" called the Smoking Man one of the most "intriguing" characters of the show. However, "Christianity Today" said that the mystery behind the Smoking Man had evaporated by the late season episodes. Likewise, Ken Tucker from "Entertainment Weekly" felt that "the monotonous evil of Cancer Man" had "become actively annoying" in later seasons of the show, being that his lurking presence did not seem as mysterious anymore. "Salon" reviewer Jeff Stark felt the show was at its best when you "didn't exactly know the motivations of the Smoking Man".


title: Sceptre

text: A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty.


title: Sceptre

text: The "Was" and other types of staves were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt. For this reason they are often described as "sceptres", even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called "mks"-staff.


title: Sceptre

text: The sceptre also assumed a central role in the Mesopotamian world, and was in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This is valid throughout the whole Mesopotamian history, as illustrated by both literary and administrative texts and iconography. The Mesopotamian sceptre was mostly called "ĝidru" in Sumerian and "ḫaṭṭum" in Akkadian.


title: Sceptre

text: Among the early Greeks, the sceptre (, "skeptron", "staff, stick, baton") was a long staff, such as Agamemnon wielded ("Iliad", i) or was used by respected elders ("Iliad", xviii. 46; Herodotus 1. 196), and came to be used by judges, military leaders, priests, and others in authority. It is represented on painted vases as a long staff tipped with a metal ornament. When the sceptre is borne by Zeus or Hades, it is headed by a bird. It was this symbol of Zeus, the king of the gods and ruler of Olympus, that gave their inviolable status to the "kerykes", the heralds, who were thus protected by the precursor of modern diplomatic immunity. When, in the "Iliad", Agamemnon sends Odysseus to the leaders of the Achaeans, he lends him his sceptre.


title: Sceptre

text: Among the Etruscans, sceptres of great magnificence were used by kings and upper orders of the priesthood. Many representations of such sceptres occur on the walls of the painted tombs of Etruria. The British Museum, the Vatican, and the Louvre possess Etruscan sceptres of gold, most elaborately and minutely ornamented.


title: Sceptre

text: The Roman sceptre probably derived from the Etruscan. Under the Republic, an ivory sceptre ("sceptrum eburneum") was a mark of consular rank. It was also used by victorious generals who received the title of "imperator", and its use as a symbol of delegated authority to legates apparently was revived in the marshal's baton.


title: Sceptre

text: Under the Roman Empire, the "sceptrum Augusti" was specially used by the emperors, and was often of ivory tipped with a golden eagle. It is frequently shown on medallions of the later empire, which have on the obverse a half-length figure of the emperor, holding in one hand the "sceptrum Augusti", and in the other the orb surmounted by a small figure of Victory.


title: Sceptre

text: The ancient Tamil work of Tirukkural dedicates one chapter each to the ethics of the sceptre. According to Valluvar, "it was not his spear but the sceptre which bound a king to his people."


title: Sceptre

text: The codes of the right and the cruel sceptre are found in the ancient Tamil work of "Tirukkural", dated before 5th century CE. In its chapters 55 and 56, the text deals with the right and the cruel sceptre, respectively, furthering the thought on the ethical behaviour of the ruler discussed in many of the preceding and the following chapters. The ancient treatise says it was not the king's spear but the sceptre that bound him to his people—and to the extent that he guarded them, his own good rule would guard him.


title: Sceptre

text: With the advent of Christianity, the sceptre was often tipped with a cross instead of with an eagle. However, during the Middle Ages, the finials on the top of the sceptre varied considerably.


title: Sceptre

text: In England, from a very early period, two sceptres have been concurrently used, and from the time of Richard I, they have been distinguished as being tipped with a cross and a dove respectively. In France, the royal sceptre was tipped with a "fleur de lys", and the other, known as the "main de justice", had an open hand of benediction on the top.


title: Sceptre

text: Sceptres with small shrines on the top are sometimes represented on royal seals, as on the great seal of Edward III, where the king, enthroned, bears such a sceptre, but it was an unusual form; and it is of interest to note that one of the sceptres of Scotland, preserved at Edinburgh, has such a shrine at the top, with little images of the Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, and Saint James the Great in it. This sceptre was, it is believed, made in France around 1536 for James V. Great seals usually represent the sovereign enthroned, holding a sceptre (often the second in dignity) in the right hand, and the orb and cross in the left. Harold Godwinson appears thus in the Bayeux tapestry.


title: Sceptre

text: The earliest English coronation form of the 9th century mentions a sceptre ("sceptrum"), and a staff ("baculum"). In the so-called coronation form of Ethelred II a sceptre ("sceptrum"), and a rod ("virga") appear, as they do also in the case of a coronation order of the 12th century. In a contemporary account of Richard I’s coronation, the royal sceptre of gold with a gold cross ("sceptrum"), and the gold rod with a gold dove on the top ("virga"), enter the historical record for the first time. About 1450, Sporley, a monk of Westminster, compiled a list of the relics there. These included the articles used at the coronation of Saint Edward the Confessor, and left by him for the coronations of his successors. A golden sceptre, a wooden rod gilt, and an iron rod are named. These survived until the Commonwealth, and are minutely described in an inventory of the regalia drawn up in 1649, when everything was destroyed.


title: Sceptre

text: For the coronation of Charles II of England, new sceptres with the Cross and the Dove were made, and though slightly altered, they are still in use today. Two sceptres for the queen consort, one with a cross, and the other with a dove, have been subsequently added.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Jonathan Keith Gosselin (born April 1, 1977) is an American former television personality, previously known for his appearances with former wife Kate Gosselin and their eight children on the American reality TV show "Jon & Kate Plus 8".


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Jonathan Keith Gosselin was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania as the middle child in a family of three children. He has two brothers, Thomas and Mark. Gosselin's mother, Pamela Castello (née Lyum), was born and raised in Hawaii as a second-generation Korean American. Gosselin's father died on January 13, 2005. Jon graduated from Wyomissing High School in 1995.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Gosselin met Kate Kreider at a company picnic on October 5, 1997. They married on June 12, 1999. On October 8, 2000, their twin daughters, Cara Nicole and Madelyn "Mady" Kate, were born. Initially, Jon was against having a third child, but he and Kate eventually decided they would try again. On May 10, 2004, Kate gave birth to sextuplets: sons Aaden Jonathan, Collin Thomas, and Joel Kevin, and daughters Alexis Faith, Hannah Joy, and Leah Hope. The sextuplets were born 10 weeks premature, which is common in cases of multiple births.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: They received local media coverage until the sextuplets were 17 months old, when Discovery Health offered the couple a reality series chronicling the lives of their family.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: The Discovery Health special, called "Surviving Sextuplets and Twins", first aired in September 2005. One year later, the family was featured in another special titled "Sextuplets and Twins: One Year Later". Both specials received high Nielsen ratings, and Discovery Health signed the couple to a series that aired beginning in April 2007. During this time, the family was filmed for three to four days per week, and received payment for appearing on the show.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Gosselin co-wrote "Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets" with then-wife Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson, a book that made "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: It was announced on the June 22, 2009 episode of the show that the couple were separating, and that divorce proceedings had begun. Gosselin then began looking for a new apartment in New York City, reportedly visiting Donald Trump-owned Trump Place in Manhattan's Upper West Side.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Jon stated that it is Kate who wanted the divorce, while Kate stated that "Jon's activities" left her with "no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect" herself and the children. Jon released a statement in response, noting that his wife was the first to make a legal move, and speaking of his continuing love for his children. Speculation rose that Jon's relationship with Hailey Glassman, the daughter of Kate's plastic surgeon, was the cause for the divorce, but Glassman denied the speculation, saying that her relationship with Jon began only after Jon and Kate had been separated for months.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On August 13, 2009, the police were called to the Gosselin family home in Wernersville, Pennsylvania after Jon and Kate were engaged in a heated argument. She arrived at the home during his time with their eight children because she did not approve of the babysitter he was using. No arrests were made and no charges were filed against either party.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On September 29, 2009, TLC announced that, as of November 3, 2009, "Jon & Kate Plus 8" would change its name to "Kate Plus 8". Jon Gosselin would continue to appear on the show, but less frequently. However, on October 1, 2009, People.com reported that Jon Gosselin filed a legal action against TLC to prevent the show from resuming and would consider the entry of production crews into the family home as criminal trespassing. The final episode of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" aired on November 23, 2009, announced by TLC three days earlier.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: In late September 2009, Jon filed paperwork seeking to stall the divorce for 90 days, saying, "I regret my conduct since Kate and I separated ... I used poor judgment in publicly socializing with other women so soon." Among the terms of the divorce was a child support order for $22,000 a month.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On October 15, 2009, it was announced that TLC had filed suit against Jon for allegedly violating their contract with paid and unpaid television appearances he had recently made on several media outlets. The network claimed it lost more than $30,000 as a result of his alleged breach of their contract. His attorney responded that the contract was null and void once TLC renamed the show "Kate Plus 8", and that in any event the contract is unenforceable because it was signed while Jon had no legal representation.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On December 18, 2009, it was announced that the couple's divorce had been finalized. Kate was granted primary custody of the children and the ownership of the family home. Earlier in the month, Jon's girlfriend, Hailey Glassman, announced that she broke up with Jon because she discovered during a deposition in his lawsuit against TLC that he had been unfaithful to her by having a relationship with Kate Major, a reporter for "The Star" tabloid.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Since the divorce, Jon has had a difficult relationship with his ex-wife, which has repeatedly made headlines. He is also estranged from most of his children, as Cara, Mady, Alexis, Aaden, Leah, and Joel have cut off all contact with him. Alexis, Aaden, Leah, and Joel moved with Kate to North Carolina when she relocated to the state in March 2021. The twins are currently both away at college in New York, with Cara at Fordham University and Mady at Syracuse University. However, Cara and Mady reside with Kate when home from their respective colleges. The only children Jon sees are Hannah and Collin, as both children now live with him. On August 22, 2017, the police were called to an orthodontist's office in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania after Jon and Kate got into a custody dispute over one of their sextuplet daughters. It was reported that either Jon or Kate took their then 13-year-old daughter to the orthodontist and the argument erupted over who would be taking her home. No one was arrested, and in the end, Jon took the daughter home while Kate was referred to Berks County District Attorney's office for a more clear interpretation of the child custody agreement. It was later reported that the sextuplet daughter involved in the dispute may have been Hannah.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: In August 2018, Jon revealed in an Instagram live video that Hannah was "permanently" living with him; there has been an ongoing custody battle with Kate over their daughter. It was reported that in April 2018, a judge awarded custody of Hannah to Jon. Kate would appeal this decision on May 4, 2018. The judge denied the appeal on June 14, 2018, as Kate "did not present legal argument to justify this Court's jurisdiction," according to court documents.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On October 24, 2018, Jon and his attorney filed papers for physical and legal custody of Collin. They claimed that it would be in Collin's best interest to live with his father upon his release from an inpatient center, where Kate enrolled him in 2016. On December 4, 2018, Jon won sole physical and legal custody of Collin, as Kate and her attorney failed to appear. It was reported on December 26, 2018, that Collin was released from the inpatient center and returned home with Jon for good. As of 2018, Jon and his ex-wife are no longer in communication, except through their attorneys.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On December 26, 2009, upon returning to his New York apartment after visiting his children for Christmas, Gosselin discovered that his apartment had been broken into. The damage was estimated at $100,000. A note with his ex-girlfriend's name was found attached to Gosselin's dresser with a knife, but law enforcement officials stated that did not prove she was associated with the acts.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: In January 2012, Gosselin began dating Liz Jannetta, a divorced mother of three who works with computers. The relationship lasted for two years, as they broke up in September 2014 after they made an appearance on the VH1 reality show "Couples Therapy".


title: Jon Gosselin

text: In July 2015, it was reported that Gosselin had been in a relationship with a registered nurse named Colleen Conrad. They dated from October 2014 to February 2021.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: In February 2011, Gosselin was working for Green Pointe Energy in Pennsylvania, installing solar panels. In September 2013, he was a waiter at two restaurants in Pennsylvania, near his home in Robeson Township. He was later reported to become a maitre d' at one of the restaurants.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: As of December 2016, Gosselin worked at T.G.I. Friday's in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a prep cook eight hours a week.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: Gosselin has worked as a DJ. It was previously reported that he DJs 12 to 15 gigs a month in his hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.


title: Jon Gosselin

text: On an appearance on "Dr. Oz" November 2021, Gosselin stated he had been working on a hip hop album for approximately five years. In May 2022, Gosselin released a hip hop track titled "Voicemail" with DJ Casper. "HuffPost" called the slow-jam song "heavily auto-tuned". "Today"'s Randee Dawn agreed with their critique, writing "That's a "lot" of Auto-Tune." Both Gosselin and DJ Casper promoted the song, with Gosselin stating the two are working on releasing more music.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), as well as various types thereof (RDW-CV or RCDW and RDW-SD), is a measure of the range of variation of red blood cell (RBC) volume that is reported as part of a standard complete blood count. Red blood cells have an average volume of 80-100 femtoliters, but individual cell volumes vary even in healthy blood. Certain disorders, however, cause a significantly increased variation in cell size. Higher RDW values indicate greater variation in size. Normal reference range of RDW-CV in human red blood cells is 11.5–15.4%. If anemia is observed, RDW test results are often used together with mean corpuscular volume (MCV) results to determine the possible causes of the anemia. It is mainly used to differentiate an anemia of mixed causes from an anemia of a single cause.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: Deficiencies of Vitamin B or folate produce a macrocytic anemia (large cell anemia) in which the RDW is elevated in roughly two-thirds of all cases. However, a varied size distribution of red blood cells is a hallmark of iron deficiency anemia, and as such shows an increased RDW in virtually all cases. In the case of both iron and B deficiencies, there will normally be a mix of both large cells and small cells, causing the RDW to be elevated. An elevated RDW (red blood cells of unequal sizes) is known as anisocytosis.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: An elevation in the RDW is not characteristic of all anemias. Anemia of chronic disease, hereditary spherocytosis, acute blood loss, aplastic anemia (anemia resulting from an inability of the bone marrow to produce red blood cells), and certain hereditary hemoglobinopathies (including some cases of thalassemia minor) may all present with a normal RDW.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: The "width" in RDW-CV is sometimes thought to be "misleading", since it in fact is a measure of deviation of the "volume" of RBCs, and not directly the diameter. However, "width" refers to the width of the volume curve (distribution width, here presented as the coefficient of variation, or CV), not the width of the cells. Thus, it is a reasonably accurate term.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: Anemia in the presence of a normal RDW may suggest thalassemia. A low Mentzer Index, calculated from CBC data [MCV/RBC < 13], may suggest this disorder but a hemoglobin electrophoresis would be diagnostic. Anemia of chronic diseases show normal RDW.


title: Red blood cell distribution width

text: High RDW may be a result of the presence of fragments, groups of agglutination, and/or abnormal shape of red blood cells.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is approximately northeast of Dayton; Wright Field is approximately northeast of Dayton.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The host unit at Wright-Patterson AFB is the 88th Air Base Wing (88 ABW), assigned to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Air Force Materiel Command. The 88 ABW operates the airfield, maintains all infrastructure and provides security, communications, medical, legal, personnel, contracting, finance, transportation, air traffic control, weather forecasting, public affairs, recreation and chaplain services for more than 60 associate units.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The base's origins begin with the establishment of Wilbur Wright Field on 22 May and McCook Field in November 1917, both established by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps as World War I installations. McCook was used as a testing field and for aviation experiments. Wright was used as a flying field (renamed Patterson Field in 1931); Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot; armorers' school, and a temporary storage depot. McCook's functions were transferred to Wright Field when it was closed in October 1927. Wright-Patterson AFB was established in 1948 as a merger of Patterson and Wright Fields.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In 1995, negotiations to end the Bosnian War were held at the base, resulting in the Dayton Agreement that ended the war.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The 88th Air Base Wing is commanded by Col. Christopher B. Meeker. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Lloyd E. Morales. The base had a total of 27,406 military, civilian and contract employees in 2010. The Greene County portion of the base is a census-designated place (CDP), with a resident population of 1,821 at the 2010 census.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Prehistoric Indian mounds of the Adena culture at Wright-Patterson are along P Street and, at the Wright Brothers Memorial, a hilltop mound group.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Aircraft operations on land now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base began in 1904–1905 when Wilbur and Orville Wright used an plot of Huffman Prairie for experimental test flights with the Wright Flyer III. Their flight exhibition company and the Wright Company School of Aviation returned 1910–1916 to use the flying field.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: World War I transfers of land that later became WPAFB include (including the Huffman Prairie Flying Field) along the Mad River leased to the Army by the Miami Conservancy District, the adjacent purchased by the Army from the District for the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, and a complex for McCook Field just north of downtown Dayton between Keowee Street and the Great Miami River. In 1918, Wilbur Wright Field agreed to let McCook Field use hangar and shop space as well as its enlisted mechanics to assemble and maintain airplanes and engines under the direction of Chief of Air Service Mason Patrick.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: After World War I, 347 German aircraft were brought to the United States—some were incorporated into the Army Aeronautical Museum (in 1923 the Engineering Division at McCook Field "first collected technical artifacts for preservation"). The training school at Wilbur Wright Field was discontinued. Wilbur Wright Field and the depot merged after World War I to form the Fairfield Air Depot. The Patterson family formed the Dayton Air Service Committee, Inc which held a campaign that raised $425,000 in two days and purchased northeast of Dayton, including Wilbur Wright Field and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In 1924, the Committee presented the deeds to president Calvin Coolidge for the construction of a new aviation engineering center. The entire acreage (including the Fairfield Air Depot) was designated Wright Field, which had units such as the Headquarters, 5th Division Air Service (redesignated 5th Division Aviation in 1928), and its 88th Observation Squadron and 7th Photo Section. New facilities were built 1925–27 on the portion of Wright Field west of Huffman Dam to house all of the McCook Field functions being relocated.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright Field was "formally dedicated" on 12 October 1927 when "the Materiel Division moved from McCook Field to the new site" At the time of the dedication expenditures of approximately $5 million had been involved in the new facility after 18 months work, with the total amount expected to rise to between $7 and $8 million. The ceremonies included the John L. Mitchell Trophy Race (won by Lt. I. A. Woodring of the 1st Pursuit Group—Speed: 158.968 mph) and Orville Wright raising the flag over the new engineering center.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: On 1 July 1931, the portion of Wright Field east of Huffman Dam (land known today as Areas A and C of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base which included the Fairfield Air Depot and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field) was redesignated "Patterson Field" in honor of Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson. Lt. Patterson was the son of Frank J. Patterson, co-founder of National Cash Register.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Shortly before the end of WW1, 1Lt Patterson and observer 2Lt LeRoy Swan, both of the 137th Aero Squadron, were killed at Wright Field in the crash of their de Havilland DH.4 after its wings collapsed during a dive while firing at ground targets with a new synchronized-through–the–propeller machine gun. Patterson's grave and memorial arch is at Woodland Cemetery and Aborateum in Dayton, Ohio.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The area's World War II Army Air Fields had employment increase from approximately 3,700 in December 1939 to over 50,000 at the war's peak. Wright Field grew from approximately 30 buildings to a facility with some 300 buildings and the Air Corps' first modern paved runways. The original part of the field became saturated with office and laboratory buildings and test facilities. The Hilltop area was acquired from private landowners in 1943–1944 to provide troop housing and services.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The portion of Patterson Field from Huffman Dam through the Brick Quarters (including the command headquarters in Building 10262) at the south end of Patterson Field along Route 4 was administratively reassigned from Patterson Field to Wright Field. To avoid confusing the two areas of Wright Field, the south end of the former Patterson Field portion was designated "Area A", the original Wright Field became "Area B", and the north end of Patterson Field, including the flying field, "Area C."


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In February 1940 at Wright Field, the Army Air Corps established the Technical Data Branch (Technical Data Section in July 1941, Technical Data Laboratory in 1942). After Air Corps Ferrying Command was established on 29 May 1941, on 21 June an installation point of the command opened at Patterson Field. The Flight Test Training unit of Air Technical Command was established at Wright Field on 9 September 1944 (moved to Patterson Field in 1946, Edwards AFB on 4 February 1951).


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Two densely populated housing and service areas across Highway 444, Wood City and Skyway Park, were geographically separated from the central core of Patterson Field and developed almost self-sufficient community status. (Wood City was acquired in 1924 as part of the original donation of land to the government but was used primarily as just a radio range until World War II. Skyway Park was acquired in 1943.) They supported the vast numbers of recruits who enlisted and were trained at the two fields as well as thousands of civilian laborers, especially single women recruited to work at the depot. Skyway Park was demolished after the war. Wood City was eventually transformed into Kittyhawk Center, the base's modern commercial and recreation center.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In the fall of 1942, the first twelve "Air Force" officers to receive ATI field collection training were assigned to Wright Field for training in the technical aspects of "crash" intelligence (RAF Squadron Leader Colley identified how to obtain information from equipment marking plates and squadron markings. In July 1944 during the Robot Blitz, Wright Field fired a reconstructed German pulse-jet engine (an entire V-1 flying bomb was by 8 September at Republic Aviation.)


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The first German and Japanese aircraft arrived in 1943, and captured equipment soon filled six buildings, a large outdoor storage area, and part of a flight-line hangar for Technical Data Lab study (TDL closed its Army Aeronautical Museum). The World War II Operation Lusty returned 86 German aircraft to Wright Field for study, e.g., the Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter, while the post-war Operation Paperclip brought German scientists and technicians to Wright Field, e.g., Ernst R. G. Eckert (most of the scientists eventually went to work in the various Wright Field labs.)


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Project Sign (Project Grudge in 1949, Project Blue Book in March 1952) was WPAFB's T-2 Intelligence investigations of unidentified flying objects (UFO) reports that began in July 1947. In 1951, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) began analysis of crashed Soviet aircraft from the Korean war. In March 1952, ATIC established an Aerial Phenomena Group to study reported UFO sightings, including those in Washington, DC, in 1952. By 1969, the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) and its predecessor organizations had studied 12,618 reported sightings: 701 remained unexplained when the Air Force closed its UFO investigations, and a 1968 report concluded that "there seems to be no reason to attribute [the unexplained sightings] to an extraterrestrial source without much more convincing evidence."


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The FTD sent all of its case files to the USAF Historical Research Center, which transferred them in 1976 to the National Archives and Records Service in Washington, DC, which became the permanent repository of the Project Sign/Grudge/Blue Book records. In a 1988 interview, Senator Barry Goldwater claimed he had asked Gen. Curtis LeMay for access to a secret UFO room at WPAFB and an angry LeMay said, "Not only can't you get into it but don't you ever mention it to me again."


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The Army Air Forces Technical Base (Air Force Technical Base before being designated a USAF base) was formed on 15 December 1945, under Brig Gen Joseph T. Morris, during the World War II drawdown by merging Wright Field, Patterson Field, Dayton Army Air Field, and—acquired by Wright Field for 1942 glider testing—Clinton Army Air Field. The Jamestown Radar Annex became a leased installation of the Technical Base in 1946, and the "custodial units at Dayton and Clinton County AAFlds were discontinued in 1946".


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: An 8000-foot concrete runway with 1000-foot runoffs at each end was built 1946–1947 in Area C to accommodate very heavy bombers, initially referred to locally as the "B-36 runway". The 1947 All-Altitude Speed Course at Vandalia became a detached installation of the Technical Base. After the USAF was created in September 1947, Morris' base headquarters was redesignated Headquarters, Air Force Technical Base, on 15 December 1947.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was redesignated from the Air Force Technical Base on 13 January 1948—the former Wright Field Areas A and B remained, while Patterson Field became "Area C" and Skyway Park became "Area D" of the installation. In 1951 all locally based flying activities were moved to the Area B flight line. The 1948 All-Altitude Speed Course, later the Missile Tracking Annex, at Sulphur Grove, Ohio became a detached installation of Wright-Patt.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Headquarters, Air Engineering Development Division, was at WPAFB from 1 January 1950 to 14 November 1950, followed by the Air Research and Development Command from 16 November 1950 to 24 June 1951 (began move to Baltimore on 11 May 1951). By 1952 the WPAFB headquarters of the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) included a Plans and Operations Department (WOO) and Divisions for Aeronautics (WCN), Flight Test (WCT), Research (WCR), Weapons Components (WCE), Weapons Systems (WCS). On 15 February, WADC medical examinations "for the final selection of the Mercury astronauts were started" at the Aerospace Medical Laboratory (Wright-Patt test pilots Neil Armstrong and Ed White became NASA astronauts.)


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: From 6 March 1950 to 1 December 1951, Clinton County Air Force Base was assigned as a sub-base of WPAFB, and from 1950 to 1955, Wright-Patt had two Central Air Defense Force fighter-interceptor squadrons (1 from 1955 to 1960).


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In 1954, of land adjacent to the Mad River at the northeast boundary of the base, near the former location of the village of Osborn, were purchased for a Strategic Air Command dispersal site. Area D structures were demolished in 1957 (donated to the state in 1963 for Wright State University). In February 1958 the Wright Field (Area B) runways were closed to all jet traffic (1959 Area C operations included 139,276 takeoffs and landings, Area B had 44,699.) The West Ramp complex was built between August 1958 and July 1960.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The 4043rd Strategic Wing began KC-135 Stratotanker operations in February 1960 and B-52 Stratofortress operations in June 1960. On 1 July 1963, the wing was re-designated the 17th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) and continued its mission under this unit until 7 July 1975, when the last of its 11 B-52s was transferred to Beale Air Force Base, California. From 1957–1962, WADC's Hurricane Supersonic Research Site in Utah was a detached installation of Wright-Patt.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The NORAD Manual Air Defense Control Center for 58th Air Division interceptors was at Wright-Patterson AFB by 1958, and Brookfield Air Force Station near the Pennsylvania state line became operational as an April 1952 – January 1963 sub-base of WPAFB. The 1954–79 "Wright-Patterson Communications Facility #4" was at Yellow Springs, Ohio (which also had the 1965–77 Celestial Guidance Research Site.)


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: WPAFB also had an Army Air Defense Command Post for nearby Project Nike surface-to-air missile sites of the Cincinnati-Dayton Defense Area were at Wilmington (CD-27, ); Felicity (CD-46, ); Dillsboro (CD-63), and Oxford (CD-78, ). The AADCP activated in the spring of 1960 and moved to Wilmington—with BIRDIE CCCS—by 1965 (closed March 1971). Wilkins Air Force Station was a 1961–8 Air Defense Command station of Wright-Patt, and Gentile Air Force Station (later the Gentile Defense Electronics Supply Center) was assigned to the base on 1 July 1962.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In December 1975, Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft transferred to the 4950th Test Wing at WPAFB. Following the July 1992 merging of WPAFB labs, the base's Wright Laboratory included a Flight Dynamics Directorate. Superfund sites (39 initial areas) of WPAFB were found to be contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds and benzene compounds (soils and groundwater), and an EPA/USAF Federal Facilities Agreement was signed in 1981 for remediation and continued investigation (the Installation Restoration Program for WPAFB identified 65 areas, including 13 landfills, 12 earth fill disposal zones, 9 fuel or chemical spill sites, 6 coal storage piles, 5 fire-training areas, 4 chemical burial sites, and 2 underground storage tanks). In November 1995, the "Dayton Peace Accords" held at WPAFB created the "Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina" signed in Paris on 14 December.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Huffman Prairie was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990 and named part of the 1992 Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The West Ramp facility switched from the 4950th Test Wing to AFRC's 445th Airlift Wing with C-17 Globemaster III transports. The permanent party work force at WPAFB as of 30 September 2005, numbered 5,517 military and 8,102 civilian.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In 1995, Alija Izetbegović, the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Franjo Tuđman, the President of Croatia; and Slobodan Milošević, the President of Serbia, arrived at Wright-Patterson AFB to commence negotiations to end the Bosnian War, an ethnic conflict that by 1995 was between the Bosnia and Herzegovina's Bosniaks and the Croats (who had put aside their differences) on one side versus Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serbs on the other side. American diplomat Richard Holbrooke led the negotiations. Eventually an agreement was made to have Bosnia and Herzegovina have two internal entities, a Bosniak-Croat federation known as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a Serb territory known as Republika Srpska.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the base sent airmen from the 88th Medical Group to Detroit for two months, where they setup a COVID-19 vaccination site in support of the Federal Emergency Management whole-of-government COVID response. The base sent medical Air Force professionals to New York City after airmen from the 445th Airlift Wing were deployed to aid the city's response.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In addition to the command headquarters, major units formerly assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base include:


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Located adjacent to the base proper is the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The oldest and largest military aircraft museum in the world, it houses such aircraft as the only XB-70 Valkyrie in existence, an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, and the World War II B-17 bomber, "Memphis Belle".


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright-Patterson AFB is "one of the largest, most diverse, and organizationally complex bases in the Air Force" with a long history of flight tests spanning from the Wright Brothers into the Space Age.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: It is the headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command, one of the major commands of the Air Force. "Wright-Patt" (as the base is colloquially called) is also the location of a major USAF Medical Center (hospital), the Air Force Institute of Technology, and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, formerly known as the U.S. Air Force Museum.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The 88th Air Base Wing consists of more than 5,000 officers, enlisted Air Force, civilian and contractor employees responsible for three primary mission areas: operating the installation; deploying expeditionary Airmen in support of the Global War on Terrorism; and defending the base and its people.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: It is also the home base of the 445th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command, an Air Mobility Command-gained unit which flies the C-17 Globemaster heavy airlifter. Wright-Patterson is also the headquarters of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright-Patterson is the host of the annual United States Air Force Marathon which occurs the weekend closest to the Air Force's anniversary.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Wright-Patterson, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base includes Area A (former Patterson Field and Wood City area) and Area B (former Wright Field). The USGS Geographic Names Information System separately designates the military installation, the airport, and the census-designated place (CDP). The CDP area, entirely in Greene County, primarily in Bath Township and extending south into Beavercreek Township, is , with of it (0.80%) being water. The southwest end of the base, now the National Museum of the United States Air Force, is within the city of Riverside in Montgomery County.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In 2010, Wright-Patt had a total of 27,406 military, civilian and contract employees. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,656 people, 1,754 households, and 1,704 families residing on the base. The population density was 219.8/km (569.2/sq mi). There were 2,096 housing units at an average density of 69.2/km (179.2/sq mi). The racial makeup of the base was 76.11% White, 15.25% Black or African American, 0.45% Native American, 2.30% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 2.09% from other races, and 3.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.45% of the population.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: There were 1,754 households, out of which 78.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 89.0% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.8% were non-families. 2.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.60 and the average family size was 3.64.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: On the base the population was spread out, with 42.5% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 41.5% from 25 to 44, 4.2% from 45 to 64, and 0.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 105.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.1 males.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The median income for a household on the base was $43,342, and the median income for a family was $43,092. Males had a median income of $30,888 versus $21,044 for females. The per capita income for the base was $15,341. About 1.6% of families and 1.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: As of 30 September 2005, Wright-Patterson had base housing amounting to 2,012 single-family units, 300 units for unaccompanied enlisted personnel, and 455 visitor or temporary living units.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In May 2016, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ordered a drinking water well on the base to be shut down because of water contamination with perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a persistent chemical used in firefighting foam. April 2016 water samples from two wells showed 110 parts per trillion of PFOS, which is above the new EPA lifetime threshold of 70 parts per trillion. In June 2016, the EPA asked the base commander to speedily clean up the wells to prevent the contaminants from reaching more wells on base and Dayton's seven drinking water wells at Huffman Dam. Base officials stated in June 2020 that the on-base ground water tests confirmed that current PFOS contamination is below EPA required levels, a claim the City of Dayton disputes.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: Hangar 18 in Area B is purported to be the repository of a crashed UFO from Roswell, New Mexico and UFO research in general.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: In Season 2, Episode 8, the History Channel's series "Project Blue Book" makes mention of "Hangar 18" being a storage facility the Roswell crash UFO and other alien artifacts.


title: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

text: The base was featured in the young adult book series "The 5th Wave" and the 2016 film of the same name as the base of operations for "The Others".


title: Melanie Hill

text: Melanie Jane Hill (born 11 January 1962) is a British actress, known for playing Hazel Redfern in "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" (1985–1986), Aveline in "Bread" (1986–1991), Rita Dolan in Kay Mellor drama "Playing the Field" (1998–2002), Maggie Budgen in the BBC One school-based drama series "Waterloo Road" (2012–2015), Julie Travers in BBC One drama series "The Syndicate" (2015) and Cathy Matthews in ITV soap opera "Coronation Street" (2015–2022)


title: Melanie Hill

text: Hill was educated at Monkwearmouth School before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she won the Vanbrugh award.


title: Melanie Hill

text: Hill replaced Gilly Coman as the character of Aveline in the last three series' of Carla Lane's BBC television sitcom "Bread". She has also appeared in such programmes as "The Bill" playing Marie Carver (née Graham), "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" playing Hazel Redfern, "Hot Money" playing Liz Hoodless, "Juliet Bravo" playing Jean Simpson, "Emmerdale" playing Avril Kent and "Cape Wrath" playing Brenda Ogilvie.


title: Melanie Hill

text: On 17 March 2009, she was featured in an episode of "Holby City", a medical drama broadcast weekly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. She appeared in subsequent episodes, following a story arc relating to the death of her on-screen husband. She also appeared in an episode of "The Thick of It" (series 3 episode 3).


title: Melanie Hill

text: In April 2011, she appeared in the BBC television comedy drama series "Candy Cabs" and in November, in the fantasy series "Merlin" as Mary Howden. In April that year, she appeared as Cissie Charlton, mother of footballers Jack and Bobby Charlton, in the BBC drama "United", about the 1958 Munich air disaster involving Manchester United.


title: Melanie Hill

text: In August 2013, it was announced that Hill had joined the cast of the BBC Two sitcom "Hebburn". The next year she joined the Craig Cash sitcom After Hours.


title: Melanie Hill

text: In February 2015, it was announced that Hill would join the cast of "Coronation Street" as Cathy Matthews, and she made her first appearance on 20 April 2015. She was introduced as a potential love interest for Roy Cropper (David Neilson), which Hill was nervous about, as Roy's deceased wife, Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh), was loved by the nation. Hill also starred in the third series of "The Syndicate" in June 2015.


title: Melanie Hill

text: Hill's feature film roles include Sandra in "Brassed Off" (1996), the witch Ditchwater Sal in the fantasy film "Stardust" (2007), and Sonya in "White Girl" (2008)"."


title: Melanie Hill

text: Born to Anthony and Sylvia (née Pratt) Hill in Brighton, Hill was raised in her mother's native city of Sunderland. She married fellow actor Sean Bean in December 1990. They have two daughters: Lorna, born October 1987, and Molly, born September 1991. They divorced in August 1997. She is a supporter of Sunderland A.F.C. She married writer and producer Jimmy Daly on 29 April 2017 at a pub in Muswell Hill, North London.


title: Invictus Games

text: The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' means 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of the fighting spirit of the wounded, injured and sick service personnel and what they can achieve, post injury.


title: Invictus Games

text: The Invictus Games were founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. The inspiration came from his visit to the Warrior Games in the United States, where he witnessed the ability of sport to help both psychologically and physically.


title: Invictus Games

text: The Games were launched on 6 March 2014 by Prince Harry at London's Copper Box arena, used as a venue during the 2012 Olympics. Having seen a British team competing at the US Warrior Games held in Colorado in 2013, the prince wished to bring the concept of a similar international sporting event to the United Kingdom. With the backing of Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Ministry of Defence, the event was put together over ten months. £1m of funding for the project was provided by The Royal Foundation, a charity established by Prince Harry along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with an equal amount being pledged by Chancellor George Osborne from Treasury funds generated by fines imposed on banks as a result of the Libor scandal. The Games were also sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover. Speaking at the launch, the Prince said that the Games would "demonstrate the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and demonstrate life beyond disability". He also said that their long-term objective was to ensure that injured troops are not forgotten as Britain's involvement with the War in Afghanistan comes to an end.


title: Invictus Games

text: The Invictus Games Foundation is the owner of the brand and the selector of future Host Cities. It is responsible for sport and competition management, rules, categorisations and branding.


title: Invictus Games

text: Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time Formula One World Champion, was appointed as the first ambassador; he visited Tedworth House before the announcement. In July 2015, Lewis invited some Invictus Games athletes to the British Grand Prix.


title: Invictus Games

text: The first Invictus Games were held on 10–14 September 2014. Around 300 competitors from 13 countries which have fought alongside the United Kingdom in recent military campaigns participated. Competitive events were held at many of the venues used during the 2012 Olympics, including the Copper Box and the Lee Valley Athletics Centre. The Games were broadcast by the BBC.


title: Invictus Games

text: 14 countries were invited to the 2014 games, 8 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 2 from North America and 2 from Oceania. No countries from Africa were invited. Teams from all the invited countries, except Iraq, took part.


title: Invictus Games

text: The closing concert was broadcast on BBC Two, hosted by Clare Balding and Greg James. The concert was hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Fearne Cotton, with live performances from Foo Fighters, Kaiser Chiefs, James Blunt, Rizzle Kicks, Bryan Adams and Ellie Goulding.


title: Invictus Games

text: On 14 July 2015, Prince Harry, Patron of Invictus Games Foundation, announced the 2016 Invictus Games would take place from 8–12 May 2016 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.


title: Invictus Games

text: On 28 October 2015, Prince Harry, USA's First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden launched Invictus Games 2016 at Fort Belvoir.


title: Invictus Games

text: In order to bring Invictus Games to the US, Military Adaptive Sports Inc. (MASI) was created, and worked to build on the success of the Invictus Games 2014 held in London. Ken Fisher served as chairman and CEO for Invictus Games Orlando 2016.


title: Invictus Games

text: Toronto hosted the 2017 Invictus Games in September 2017 during Canada's sesquicentennial. Building from hosting the Pan American and Parapan American Games in 2015, Toronto's organizers planned to feature more competitors, nations and sports—such as ice events—than previously.


title: Invictus Games

text: Unlike prior games which were hosted at a single site, multiple venues around the Greater Toronto Area hosted the 12 sporting events and opening and closing ceremonies. The Air Canada Centre hosted the ceremonies. Fort York National Historic Site hosted the archery; Nathan Phillips Square hosted wheelchair tennis; Ryerson University's Mattamy Athletic Centre hosted the indoor rowing, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby; St. George's Golf and Country Club hosted the golf; The Distillery District hosted the Jaguar Land Rover driving challenge; High Park hosted cycling; Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre hosted swimming, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball; and York Lions Stadium hosted the athletics.


title: Invictus Games

text: Michael Burns was the CEO for the 2017 Games, and the official mascot for the Games was Vimy, a Labrador.


title: Invictus Games

text: All 15 countries from the 2016 Games were invited back, with new invitations going to Romania and Ukraine.


title: Invictus Games

text: Bids to host the 2018 Invictus Games closed in December 2015. The Gold Coast in Australia announced its intention to bid, using facilities built for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In November 2016, Sydney, Australia, was announced as the host city.


title: Invictus Games

text: Patrick Kidd was the CEO. The Royal Australian Mint released a commemorative $1 coin featuring Braille text in the lead-up to the Games.


title: Invictus Games

text: The games were to be held on 9–16 May 2020 at the Zuiderpark Stadion in The Hague, Netherlands, but were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were then postponed again to the Spring of 2022. The new dates were 16 April to 22 April 2022.


title: Invictus Games

text: In April 2021, it was announced that "Heart of Invictus", a Netflix documentary series in partnership with Invictus Games and Archewell, would surround the competitors from the 2022 Invictus Games. Prince Harry would executive produce the series and appear on camera. The funding from the documentary series would go to the Invictus Games Foundation, and their work supporting international wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans.


title: Invictus Games

text: Games were to be held in 2022 in Düsseldorf, Germany, in the Merkur Spiel-Arena. Following the postponement of the 2020 Games to 2022, the Düsseldorf Games have now been postponed to 2023.


title: Invictus Games

text: On 22 April 2022, Prince Harry announced that the 2025 games will take place in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada. It is planned to be the first games to feature winter adaptive sports, including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling. The bid to host the games was submitted by True Patriot Love Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Canada, the province of British Columbia and the two Canadian municipalities and in partnership with the local Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh indigenous nations.


title: Joe Greene

text: Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1981. A recipient of two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, five first-team All-Pro selections, and ten Pro Bowl appearances, Greene is widely considered to be one of the greatest defensive linemen to play in the NFL. He was noted for his leadership, fierce competitiveness, and intimidating style of play for which he earned his nickname.


title: Joe Greene

text: Born and raised in Temple, Texas, Greene attended North Texas State University (now University of North Texas), where he earned consensus All-America honors as a senior playing for the North Texas State Mean Green football team. He was drafted by the Steelers fourth overall in the 1969 NFL Draft and made an immediate impact with the team, as he was named the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year. Greene is credited with providing the foundation upon which Steelers coach Chuck Noll turned the dismal franchise into a sports dynasty. He was the centerpiece of the "Steel Curtain" defense that led Pittsburgh to four Super Bowl championships in a six-year span.


title: Joe Greene

text: Throughout his career, Greene was one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL, able to overpower opposing offensive linemen with ease and disrupt blocking. Former teammate Andy Russell called Greene "unquestionably the NFL's best player in the seventies." He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, and his number 75 jersey is one of only two retired by the Steelers. Greene is also well known for his appearance in the "Hey Kid, Catch!" Coca-Cola commercial, which aired during Super Bowl XIV and solidified his reputation as a "tough football player who's a nice guy."


title: Joe Greene

text: Charles Edward Greene was born September 24, 1946, in Temple, Texas. He played high school football at Dunbar High School in Temple. Despite Greene's talents, the Dunbar Panthers had a mediocre record, and he was not heavily recruited by colleges. His options were limited further due to segregation of the Southwest Conference. He was eventually offered a scholarship to play college football at North Texas State University (now University of North Texas), where he played on the varsity team from 1966 to 1968. He led the team to a 23–15–1 record during his three seasons. In his 39 games at defensive tackle, North Texas State held the opposition to 2,507 yards gained on 1,276 rushes, a per-carry average of less than two yards. Greene was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection.


title: Joe Greene

text: In his junior season Greene married Agnes Craft, also a student at North Texas State and the daughter of a Dallas businessman. Tight on money, they were wed at Craft's sister's house in Dallas. Chuck Beatty, Greene's teammate at North Texas and later again in the NFL with the Steelers, served as best man.


title: Joe Greene

text: As a senior, Greene was a consensus pick as a defensive tackle for the 1968 All-America team, earning first-team honors from United Press International (UPI), the Newspaper Enterprise Association, and "The Sporting News", among others. His college coach, Rod Rust, said of Greene: "There are two factors behind Joe's success. First, he has the ability to make the big defensive play and turn the tempo of a game around. Second, he has the speed to be an excellent pursuit player." A pro scout said, "He's tough and mean and comes to hit people. He has good killer instincts. He's mobile and hostile."


title: Joe Greene

text: While sources agree the name is a reference to North Texas' athletics teams, the Mean Green, there are conflicting accounts as to how, when, and why Greene received his "Mean Greene" nickname. When he first arrived at North Texas, the university's moniker was the Eagles. In 1966, Greene's first year on the varsity team, the team adopted the "Mean Green" moniker. Two possible origins of the nickname are two separate cheers that supposedly developed independently during North Texas' 1966 game against UTEP. One cheer was by Sidney Sue Graham, wife of the North Texas sports information director. In response to a tackle by Greene, she blurted out, "That's the way, Mean Greene!" Bill Mercer, former North Texas play-by-play announcer, states Graham's thought behind the nickname was the Mean Green defense. Meanwhile, in the student section, North Texas basketball players Willie Davis and Ira Daniels, unsatisfied with the unenthusiastic crowd, began to sing, "Mean Green, you look so good to me". The rest of the crowd soon followed. "After that we did it every game," Davis said. "A lot of people later on started associating it with Joe because his last name was Greene, but it actually started with that simple chant that Saturday night at Fouts Field. And that's the truth."


title: Joe Greene

text: Although it stuck with him throughout his professional career due to his playing style, Greene himself was not fond of the nickname, insisting it did not reflect his true character. "I just want people to remember me as being a good player and not really mean," he said. "I want to be remembered for playing 13 years and contributing to four championship teams. I would like to be remembered for maybe setting a standard for others to achieve."


title: Joe Greene

text: As for the “Joe” part of his nickname (since his given name was Charles, not Joseph), that came from one of his aunts.


title: Joe Greene

text: During a 2014 interview with NFL Films, Greene said that his aunt nicknamed him Joe due to his resemblance to boxing legend Joe Louis, who at the time of Greene's birth was in the middle of his 12-year reign as heavyweight champion.


title: Joe Greene

text: "She thought I was hefty and bulky enough to be called Joe Louis," Greene said. "She started calling me Joe, and it kind of stuck."


title: Joe Greene

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers franchise was one of the most downtrodden in the NFL, having experienced many losing seasons before the hiring of Chuck Noll as head coach in 1969. Noll and the Rooney family, which had owned the franchise since its formation, agreed that building the defensive line was crucial to rebuilding the team. Thus, they decided on Greene with the fourth pick of the 1969 NFL Draft. The selection proved unpopular with fans and media, who were hoping for a player that would generate excitement; the relatively unknown Greene did not appear to meet their expectations. Meanwhile, Greene, who was highly competitive, was disappointed he was picked by a team that had such a reputation for losing. "I did not, did not want to be a Steeler," he admitted in a 2013 interview. Noll saw immense potential in Greene and insisted on drafting him. Ken Kortas, who had played in all 42 games as defensive tackle over the previous three seasons, was soon traded away to the Chicago Bears to accommodate him on the roster. In a matter of months he established himself as one of the most dominant players in the league at his position. Despite his team finishing 1969 with a 1–13 win–loss record, the Associated Press (AP) named Greene the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and he was invited to his first Pro Bowl.


title: Joe Greene

text: Former teammate Andy Russell called Greene "unquestionably the NFL's best player in the seventies," saying "No player had a greater impact or did more for his team." Greene and coach Noll are widely credited with turning the Steelers franchise around. The Steelers finished 1970 with a 5–9 record and went 6–8 in 1971. Greene was invited to the Pro Bowl in both seasons. In 1972, Pittsburgh finished 11–3 and won its first division title and its first playoff game—the "Immaculate Reception" game against the Oakland Raiders. During the season, Greene tallied 11 quarterback sacks and 42 solo tackles, and he was recognized as the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula lauded Greene, saying, "He's just a super super star. It's hard to believe he isn't offside on every play. He makes the other team adjust to him." By this time, Noll had built a formidable defense. "We have maybe 10 guys now capable of making All-Pro," said Greene in 1972. "I'm just like all the other guys, doing my best in a team effort."


title: Joe Greene

text: With the drafting of defensive tackle Ernie Holmes in 1972, the Steelers assembled what became known as the "Steel Curtain" defensive line of Greene, Holmes, L. C. Greenwood, and Dwight White. Greene was invited to the Pro Bowl for 1973, joining White and Greenwood on the American Football Conference (AFC) roster.


title: Joe Greene

text: Greene won his second AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award after the 1974 season, becoming the first player to receive the award multiple times. That year, he developed a new tactic of lining up at a sharp angle between the guard and center to disrupt the opposition's blocking assignments. His coaches were at first skeptical of the tactic and did not allow him to try it during the regular season. He first implemented it against the Buffalo Bills in the division championship game. It proved to be highly effective, as it impeded Buffalo's blocking, and running back O. J. Simpson managed only 48 yards rushing. The following week, the Steelers faced the Oakland Raiders in the AFC championship game, with the defining match-up being Greene against All-Pro center Jim Otto. At one point Greene, consumed by emotions, kicked Otto in the groin. Later, on a third-down play, Greene threw Otto to the ground with one arm before leaping to sack quarterback Ken Stabler. Oakland was held to 29 rushing yards in the Steelers' 24–13 victory. On January 12, 1975, the Steelers won their first of four Super Bowl championships in a six-year span by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 16–6 in Super Bowl IX. In that game, lined up against center Mick Tingelhoff, Greene recorded an interception, forced fumble, and fumble recovery in what is considered one of the greatest individual defensive Super Bowl performances. Pittsburgh limited the Vikings to only 119 total yards of offense, 17 of which were gained on the ground. After the season, Greene was honored by the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" at its 39th Dapper Dan dinner as Pittsburgh's outstanding sports figure of the year.


title: Joe Greene

text: Greene missed four games in 1975 due to a pinched nerve, snapping a streak of 91 straight games started since he entered the league. In December 1975, he and the other members of the Steel Curtain appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine. After leading the Steelers to another Super Bowl win after the 1975 season over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X, Greene missed the first several games of the 1976 season with a back injury. The Steelers started off the season 1–4 and looked like they would not make the playoffs. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw was also injured and was replaced by rookie Mike Kruczek. Greene returned and the Steelers defense carried the team to nine-straight wins and the playoffs. With a defense considered one of the best in NFL history, the 1976 Steelers held opponents to an average of less than 10 points per game (138 points over 14 games). During their nine-game winning streak, the Steelers defense recorded five shutouts, including three straight, and surrendered a total of 28 points (roughly 3 points per game). The defense allowed only two touchdowns over those nine games. The Steelers were defeated by the Raiders in that year's AFC championship game.


title: Joe Greene

text: By 1977, Greene was the captain of the Steelers defense, although his reduced effectiveness over the previous two seasons due to injuries led to rumors that he was washed up. He was never again able to attain the same success as a pass rusher after his pinched nerve in 1975. Spurred by the rumors, he returned in 1978 to lead all Pittsburgh linemen in tackles, and he had four sacks and a career-high five fumble recoveries. The Steelers defense allowed a league-low 195 points during the season, en route to a 35–31 victory over the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII. In that contest, Greene had one of Pittsburgh's five sacks of Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach.


title: Joe Greene

text: Pittsburgh finished the 1979 season with a 12–4 record, and ranked second in total defense and fifth in scoring defense. Greene was named a first-team All-Pro by the Pro Football Writers Association and "Pro Football Weekly" and was invited to his final Pro Bowl. He was also deemed the NFL's Man of the Year in recognition of his off-field contributions. In the AFC championship game against the Houston Oilers, the Steelers held NFL MVP Earl Campbell to just 15 rushing yards on 17 carries. Pittsburgh then defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV for an unprecedented fourth Super Bowl title. With the fourth title came Greene's fourth Super Bowl ring, inspiring his famous phrase, "one for the thumb", an allusion to winning a fifth championship. His wish went unfulfilled, however, as the Steelers failed to reach the playoffs in each of his final two seasons.


title: Joe Greene

text: Greene retired as a player following the 1981 season. He finished his career having played in 181 out of a possible 190 games, and recorded 77.5 sacks (unofficially, as sacks were not an official statistic until 1982) and 16 fumble recoveries. His spot in the lineup was technically not replaced; the Steelers switched to a 3–4 defensive alignment for the 1982 season, which has only one nose tackle as opposed to two defensive tackles. The team has used the 3–4 as its base alignment continuously in the years since Greene's retirement, and more recently have used alignments that deploy only two true linemen.


title: Joe Greene

text: Greene's nickname remained popular due to his exploits on the playing field, where he was described as ferocious and intimidating. He instilled fear in opponents with the intensity of his play. In a 1979 game against the Houston Oilers, with only seconds remaining and Houston leading 20–17, the Oilers lined up near the Pittsburgh goal line to run their final play. With victory already assured for the Oilers, Greene pointed angrily across the line of scrimmage at Houston quarterback Dan Pastorini, warning, "If you come into the end zone, I'll beat the crap out of you! I'm gonna kill you!" Pastorini responded by taking a knee, ending the game. Afterward, Greene laughed and said, "I knew you weren't going to do it."


title: Joe Greene

text: In his early years with the Steelers, Greene was at times uncontrollable, and often let his temper get the best of him. On one occasion during a 1975 game against the rival Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Greene repeatedly kicked Browns lineman Bob McKay in the groin while McKay was lying on the ground. He also punched Denver Broncos guard Paul Howard and spat at quarterback Fran Tarkenton, and he frequently clashed with officials.