Tuesday, June 22, 2010

June 22, 1898: The Spanish American War - The US Invasion of Cuba



The US military landing at Daiquiri, Cuba, June 22, 1898, 
from Harper's Pictorial History of the War with Spain, 1899.


United States troops landed in Cuba on this day in 1898 at sites near the city of Santiago.  The main force landed at Daiquiri while a smaller contingent went ashore at Siboney.  US citizens and businesses would not begin to pay documentary and proprietary taxes to pay for the military actions until July 1, 1898.

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From the 1980 movie Airplane!:

Ted Striker: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.

Elaine Dickinson: When will you be back?

Ted Striker: I can't tell you that. It's classified.

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When I was a kid my dad made the best frozen daiquiris.  Lime only - never strawberry or banana or anything too fruity.  And being that we lived in New Orleans, I always had a little "taste."  And if my dad would turn his head I might have another taste, and another...  The Caribbean and Cuba have given us some great things, like rum, daiquiris, Cuba Libres, and great cigars. 

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