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Boom-de-yadda
There were never any "good old days" — they are today, they are tomorrow
(in)famous last words 
28th-Feb-2006 09:39 am
Lexi in the woods
lexica510
scott_lynch's post about possibly mis-heard last words reminded me of the last words of one of my illustrious ancestors. (Well, not a direct ancestor, as he died without marrying or (presumably) having children, but still part of the family tree.)

From usa-civil-war.com's page on the battle of Spotsylvania:
Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, commander of the Sixth Corps, was one of the most popular senior officers in the Army of the Potomac. On the morning of May 9, 1864, Sedgwick arrived here to direct some minor redeployment of his troops. Ignoring warnings from his chief-of-staff, Sedgwick stalked about admonishing his men to cease worrying about the occasional fire of Confederate sharpshooters concealed in the woodline far to your front. "I am ashamed of you. dodging that way,"scolded Segdwick. "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Shortly thereafter, a bullet slammed into the General's face, killing him almost instantly.
Oops.
Comments 
28th-Feb-2006 06:28 pm (UTC)
kshandra
That line is immortalized on the wall of the USMC Sniper School in Quantico, VA, as "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--" (gridlore went through the school, in one of the last classes to accept external candidates. We remain uncertain how closely this was related to the fact that there was not a single Marine in the top 10 of Doug's class....)
28th-Feb-2006 06:44 pm (UTC)
lexica510
If you can't stand the heat, prevent anyone else from getting in the kitchen and showing what a low-temperature wimp you are? Makes a certain kind of (non)sense, I suppose... :-)
28th-Feb-2006 06:46 pm (UTC)
kshandra
These are Marines we're talking about, after all. ;-) (The Army really needed their own school, anyway. Dunno where the Fibbies get their training now.)
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