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Bubble Bobble (video game)

Bubble Bobble (バブルボブル) is a 1986 platform game developed and published by Taito for arcades. It was distributed in the United States by Romstar, and in Europe by Electrocoin. Players control Bub and Bob, two dragons that set out to save their girlfriends from a world known as the Cave of Monsters. In each level, Bub and Bob must defeat each enemy present by trapping them in bubbles and popping, who turn into bonus items when they hit the ground. There are 100 levels total, each becoming progressively more difficult.

Bubble Bobble was designed by Fukio "MTJ" Mitsuji. When he joined Taito in 1986, he felt that Taito's game output was of mediocre quality. In response, he decided to make a game that was fun to play and could rejuvenate the company's presence in the industry. Mitsuji hoped his game would appeal to women, specifically couples that visited arcades. As such, he decided to make Bubble Bobble focus largely on its two player co-operative mode. He made bubbles the core mechanic as he thought they would be a fun element that girls would enjoy.

Bubble Bobble became one of Taito's biggest arcade successes, and is credited with inspiring the creation of many similar screen-clear platform games that followed. It was acclaimed by critics for its character design, memorable soundtrack, gameplay, and multiplayer, and is often listed among the greatest games of all time. Bubble Bobble was followed by a long list of sequels and successors for multiple platforms; one of these, Puzzle Bobble, has become successful in its own right and spawned its own line of sequels.

Plot
Brothers Bub and Bob are two happy go lucky brontosaures [sic] living in a magical forest. "Baron Von Blubba" has kidnapped the brothers' girlfriends. Bub and Bob have to finish 100 levels in the Cave of Monsters in order to rescue them. At the end of the game after fighting Super Drunk on level 100 in cooperative mode, it is revealed that Bub, Bob, and their girlfriends are humans transformed by magic and that Bub and Bob's parents were kidnapped as well.

Gameplay
In the game, each player controls one of the two dragons. Players can move along platforms, fall to lower ones, and jump to higher ones and over gaps. Each level is limited to a single screen, with no left/right scrolling; however, if a screen has gaps in its bottom edge, players can fall through these and reappear at the top. Each level has a certain number of enemies that must be defeated in order to advance. The players must blow bubbles to trap the enemies, then burst these bubbles by colliding with them. Each enemy defeated in this manner turns into a food item that can be picked up for extra points. Defeating multiple enemies at once awards higher scores and causes more valuable food items to appear. All bubbles will float for a certain length of time before bursting on their own; players can jump on these and ride them to otherwise inaccessible areas. Magic items appear from time to time and grant special abilities and advantages when picked up. Special bubbles occasionally appear that can be burst to attack enemies with fire, water, or lightning. Furthermore, if a player collects letter bubbles to spell the word EXTEND, a bonus life is earned and both players immediately advance to the next level.

A player loses one life upon touching any free enemies or their projectiles (rocks, fireballs, lasers, bottles). Enemies turn "angry"—turning pink in color and moving faster—if they escape from a bubble after being left too long or the players spend a certain amount of time on the current level. They return to normal if either player loses a life. After a further time limit expires, an additional invincible enemy appears for each player, actively chasing them using only vertical and horizontal movements. These disappear once the level is cleared, or when a player loses a life. When there is only one enemy left, it immediately becomes angry and remains in this state until defeated.

In the 100th and final level, players face a boss. This is one of the first games to feature multiple endings. Completing Level 100 in single-player mode reveals a message stating that the game has not truly ended and a hint to the player: "Come here with your friend". If two players complete the game, they see a "happy end", in which the brothers are transformed to their human selves and reunited with their girlfriends. This ending also includes a code that, when deciphered, allows the game to be played in the faster and more difficult "super" mode. If this mode is completed with two players, a second "happy end" is displayed in which Super Drunk (the defeated boss) is revealed to be the brothers' parents under the control of some outside influence. The brothers return to normal and are reunited with their parents and girlfriends.

Also, if the player(s) reach levels 20, 30, or 40 without losing a life, a doorway will appear in each of those levels, transporting the player to a secret room and displaying a coded message that, once decoded, gives the player a major hint / spoiler on how to beat the game.

Development and release
Bubble Bobble was designed by Fukio Mitsuji, a Japanese game designer at Taito. A fan of arcade games by Namco, specifically Xevious, Mitsuji felt that Taito's output by comparison were lackluster and of poor quality, hoping that he could help push the company to produce higher-quality arcade titles. His first game was the four-screen racer Super Dead Heat in 1985, followed by the shoot'em up Halley's Comet the same year. After work on these two games was completed, Mitsuji set out to make his next project a platform game, featuring cute characters and a more comical setting compared to his previous works.

Mitsuji wanted the game to be exhilarating and to appeal towards a female audience. Thinking about what kind of things women like to draw or sketch, Mitsuji created an extensive list of over 100 ideas, and after a process of elimination selected bubbles as the core game mechanic. He liked the idea of the screen being filled with bubbles, and thought that popping them all at once would provide a thrilling sensation to the player. His initial idea was to have the player control a robot with a spike on its head to pop bubbles—Mitsuji disliked it for not being "cool", instead preferring dinosaurs with ridges along their back. He liked to write down ideas on paper as soon as he thought of them, often flooding his office with stacks of paper filled with potential ideas for game mechanics.

Mitsuji constantly tried to think of new ways to make the game better than it was before, saying to have lost sleep while trying to figure out how he could improve it. He often worked on holidays and late at night to come up with new ideas for the game and to perfect it. Several of the enemies were taken from Chack'n Pop (1984), an older Taito game that is often considered a precursor to Bubble Bobble. Mitsuji intended the game to be played by couples, leading to the creation of the multiple endings, which differ based on player performance.

Bubble Bobble was first published in Japan on June 16, 1986, followed by a wide release in Japan in September and internationally in October of the same year. Alongside Arkanoid, Taito licensed the game to Romstar for distribution in the United States, and to Electrocoin Automatics for Europe.

Ports
Bubble Bobble was ported to many home video game consoles and computers, including the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Apple II, Amiga, Famicom Disk System, Nintendo Entertainment System, MSX2, and Master System—the last of these has two hundred levels as opposed to the arcade version's 100 levels, and was released in Japan as Final Bubble Bobble. A version for the X68000 was developed by Dempa and released in 1994, which includes a gamemode paying homage to Mitsuji's later arcade game Syvalion, titled Sybubblun. Conversions for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color were respectively released in 1991 and 1996, the GBC port being named Classic Bubble Bobble. A version of Bubble Bobble was also produced for the unreleased Taito WOWOW console. In 1996, Taito announced that the source code for Bubble Bobble had been lost, leading to all subsequent home conversions to be reverse-engineered from an original arcade board.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Bubble Bobble on their November 1, 1986, issue as the second-most-successful table arcade cabinet of the month, after Taito's Arkanoid. It went on to be the fifth-highest-grossing table arcade game of 1987 in Japan. In the United Kingdom, Bubble Bobble was the top-grossing arcade game for three months in 1987, from April to June. The home conversions were also successful in the United Kingdom, where the game appeared on the sales charts for several years. The ZX Spectrum budget re-release topped the UK charts in July 1991.

The arcade game received positive reviews from Computer and Video Games and Crash. Mean Machines gave the Game Boy port of the game a score of 91%, noting that, while some changes had been made, the game played identical to the original arcade port and "provides much addiction and challenge". The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that the Game Gear version is a faithful conversion of the original which works well in portable form. They particularly praised the simplicity of the gameplay concept and the graphics, and the two-player link option.

Bubble Bobble has been listed by numerous publications among the greatest video games of all time. Your Sinclair magazine ranked the ZX Spectrum version at #58 in their "Top 100 Games of All Time" in 1993 based on reader vote. In 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 19th on its "Top 100 Games of All Time". Yahoo! ranked it at #71 in their "100 Greatest Computer Games Of All Time" in 2005 for its charming premise and cute character designs. Stuff magazine listed it as part of their "100 Greatest Games" in 2008, while GamesTM magazine listed it in their "Top 100 Games" in 2010. Stuff.tv ranked it at #47 in their Top 100 Games in 2009, saying "Today's kids might laugh, but this was gold in 1986". GamesRadar+ ranked it at #95 in their "100 Best Games Of All Time" list in 2011, praising its multiplayer and secrets. GamesRadar+ also labeled it the 24th greatest Nintendo Entertainment System of all time in 2012 for its advancements over other games of its genre and its usage of multiple endings. IGN named it the 23rd best NES game. Hardcore Gaming 101 listed it in their book The 200 Best Video Games of All Time in 2015. Game Informer placed it in their "Top 300 Games of All Time" in 2018 for its long-lasting appeal and multiplayer.

Re-releases
The game has had at least 30 official ports to a large array of computers and consoles throughout the decades.

A remastered version named Bubble Bobble Old & New was made for Game Boy Advance, which also included the original arcade version.
 * Europe and North American versions by Empire Interactive
 * Japan version by MediaKite

In October 2005, a version was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows as part of the Taito Legends compilation.

At the end of 2006, a new port for mobile phones in Europe and Japan was released.

In December 2007, the NES version of Bubble Bobble was released in North America on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii. The Famicom Disk System version of Bubble Bobble was also released for the Nintendo eShop on October 16, 2013, for the Nintendo 3DS and on January 29, 2014, for the Wii U.

The game was included in the NES Classic Edition in November 2016.

title: Bubble Bobble (video game)


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Blackwood convention

In the partnership card game contract bridge, the Blackwood convention is a bidding convention developed by Easley Blackwood in 1933 and still widely used in the modern game. Its purpose is to enable the partnership to explore its possession of aces, kings and in some variants, the queen of trumps to judge whether a slam would be a feasible contract. The essence of the convention is the use of an artificial 4NT bid made under certain conditions to ask partner how many aces he has; responses by partner are made in step-wise fashion to indicate the number held.

Blackwood's original summary
After developing the concept in 1933, Easley Blackwood submitted an article proposing his slam-seeking convention to The Bridge World magazine but it was rejected. Nevertheless, it gained awareness and use amongst players and was written about by several authors. In his own first publication on the convention in 1949, Easley Blackwood comments on the entries in books by others and noted that "...in every one of these books, they have it wrong!" He pointed out several misconceptions and concluded with a fifteen-point summary of the "complete and official" Blackwood Slam Convention. A synopsis of that summary follows:
 * 1) In order to make the 4NT ace-asking bid, you must first:
 * 2) think your partnership has sufficient strength for a slam,
 * 3) expect to be able to make at the five-level even if partner has no aces, and
 * 4) be prepared with a sound rebid no matter how partner responds
 * 5) Partner's responses to the 4NT ace-asking bid are made in step-wise fashion:
 * 6) 5 to indicate 0 or 4 aces
 * 7) 5 to indicate 1 ace
 * 8) 5 to indicate 2 aces
 * 9) 5 to indicate 3 aces
 * 10) When responding, do not count a void as an ace.
 * 11) Generally, 4NT is ace-asking when your side has bid a suit. There are exceptions:
 * 12) when notrump has previously been bid by partner and he subsequently removes one's four-level suit bid to 4NT
 * 13) when a previous opportunity to employ 4NT as ace-asking has not been taken
 * 14) When clubs are expected to be trumps, one must have at least two aces to employ 4NT ace-asking and when diamonds are to be trump, one must have at least one ace.
 * 15) The 4NT bidder is only partial captain of the auction and responder has certain rights:
 * 16) the 4NT bidder sets the level of the contract but partner may correct the denomination
 * 17) when responder has a void in the suit in which he would convey, at the five-level, the number of aces he possesses, he may jump to six of the void suit to convey both the number of aces and the location of the void.
 * 18) when responder has a void and his ace-showing response is in a suit of lower rank than the trump suit, he first tells partner the number of aces he has. If partner signs-off at the five-level, responder may continue to slam if his holding justifies it.
 * 19) If the 4NT bidder, after hearing partner's response, bids a previously unmentioned suit, responder must bid 5NT to end the auction.
 * 20) An ace shown by a cuebid by either partner should not be counted in responding to the 4NT ace-asking bid.
 * 21) A 5NT bid after a response to a 4NT ace-asking bid, asks for kings.
 * 22) Partner's responses to the 5NT king-asking bid are made in step-wise fashion:
 * 23) 6 to indicate 0 kings
 * 24) 6 to indicate 1 king
 * 25) 6 to indicate 2 kings
 * 26) 6 to indicate 3 kings
 * 27) 6NT to indicate 4 kings
 * 28) To ask for kings via 5NT, one must first ask for aces via 4NT even when possessing all four aces oneself.
 * 29) A jump to 5NT without employing the 4NT ace-asking bid is the Culbertson Grand Slam Force and obliges partner to bid the grand slam if he holds two of the three top trumps and a small slam if he does not.
 * 30) If the opponents interfere after the 4NT ace-asking bid, a Pass by responder indicates no aces, the suit one above the opponent's indicates one ace, two above indicates two and so on.
 * 31) Except in duplicate, the king-asking 5NT bid assures partner possession of all four aces.
 * 32) After a 5NT king-asking bid, neither partner is captain and either can set the final contract.

Variations based on 4NT as asking
Several versions of Blackwood are available: Standard Blackwood, Roman Blackwood and Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKC or RKCB). All versions are initiated by a bid of four notrump (4NT), and the entire family of conventions may be called Blackwood 4NT in both versions, or Key Card 4NT in the key card variation.

There are other 4NT conventions, such as Culbertson 4-5 Notrump, Norman Four Notrump and San Francisco, but almost all bridge partnerships employ some member of the Blackwood family (which includes Byzantine Blackwood) as part of their slam-investigation methods.

If the partnership's preceding call is a natural bid in notrump, then 4NT is usually played as natural. Over an opposing pass it is simply a raise and a invitation to six notrump, a small slam. Over an intervening four of a suit by opponents it is usually played as a competitive raise, expecting to play four notrump. Those natural interpretations may hold in other auctions where the partnership has previously bid notrump naturally or shown a balanced hand conventionally. In some situations where 4NT is a quantitative invitation, especially where 4 is a jump, many partnerships use the Gerber convention instead of the Blackwood family: 4 asks for the number of aces or key cards.

Where both sides are bidding, 4NT is often played as a conventional takeout asking partner to help choose one of two or three suits, similar to a lower-level takeout double or reply to such a double.

Standard Blackwood
Where standard Blackwood 4NT is in force, a four notrump bid (4NT) asks partner to disclose the number of aces in his hand. With no aces or four, partner replies 5; with one, two, or three aces, 5, 5, or 5, respectively. The difference between no aces and four is clear to the Blackwood bidder (unless the partnership lacks all four) so one member of the partnership knows the combined number of aces. That is often sufficient to set the final contract. (A common agreement is that when spades is not the trump suit, 5 asks responder to bid 5NT. That is useful when the reply to 4NT bypasses the intended trump suit but also shows that slam is likely to be a poor contract because two aces are missing.)

The continuation bid of 5NT asks for the number of kings according to the same code of replies at the six-level: 6 shows no kings or four, etc. Asking for the number of kings confirms that the partnership holds all four aces, so partner may reply at the seven level with expectation of taking thirteen tricks.

A void may be as good as an ace in some situations but it should not be counted as an ace. Some experts (Kantar for one ) recommend the 5NT reply to 4NT – the cheapest with no standard assigned meaning – to show a void plus two aces and six of a suit to show a void in the bid suit plus one ace.

Roman Blackwood
A variation of the standard Blackwood convention, known as Roman Blackwood, was popularized by the Italian Blue Team in the 1960s. In Roman Blackwood, the responses are more ambiguous, but more space-conserving. The basic outline of responses is: In practice, the ambiguity is unlikely to occur, as a strength difference between hands with 0 or 1 and 3 or 4 aces is big enough that it can be established in previous rounds of bidding. In other words, a partner who has previously shown, for example, 12-15 range of high points is unlikely to hold 3 aces for his bid, etc.

Even Roman Blackwood convention has several variations, revolving around 5 and 5 responses. In all variants, they denote 2 aces. One variation is that 5 shows extra values, while 5 does not. In other variations, responses 5 - 5NT denote specific combinations of aces (same color, same rank, or "mixed").

If the querying partner ascertains that all aces are present, he can continue as follows:
 * 5NT is the Grand slam force
 * The first available bid which is not the agreed suit is the Roman Blackwood for kings. The partner responds stepwise, as above.

Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB)
Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) has largely replaced the standard version among tournament players. It developed from the Roman Blackwood variant (see above). According to RKCB there are five equivalent key cards rather than just the four aces: the trump king is counted as the fifth key card. The key card replies to 4NT are more compressed than standard ones and they also begin to locate the queen of trumps.

Although the replies to 4NT are more compressed, it is almost always possible to infer which number of keycards is correct: 0 or 3, 1 or 4, 2 or 5. Evidence for that inference includes the entire auction as well as the number of key cards that the 4NT bidder holds.

The 5 and 5 replies with 2 or 5 key cards also deny and show the trump queen, respectively. (Responder may also show the queen with extra length in trumps, where the ace and king will probably draw all outstanding cards in the suit.)

The 5 and 5 replies tell nothing about the queen or extra length, but the 4NT bidder may ask about that using the cheapest bid other than five of the trump suit. The code for replies to that "queen ask" vary; a common rule is that the cheapest bid in the trump suit denies the queen or extra length and any other call shows it. An option is for the positive calls to show a feature, such as a king in that suit, and 6 of the trump suit can show the queen of trumps with no outside kings.

Roman Key Card Blackwood is predicated on existence of a trump suit, which determines which of the four kings and queens responder should show as key cards. Trump agreement is not necessary, however. One common rule is that the last suit bid before 4NT bid is the key suit, lacking trump agreement.

Some partnerships use the club response to show 1 or 4 and the diamond response to show 3 or none, dubbed "1430" (coincidentally the score for making a vulnerable small slam in a major suit), with the original version being dubbed "3014" when distinction is necessary. In order to facilitate the Queen Ask, an experts' version has been developed, where "1430" is used by the strong hand and "3014" is used by the weak hand. There are specific rules which determine when the asker hand is the weak one and when it is the strong one.

Key Card Blackwood (KCB)
A half-way house between standard Blackwood and RKCB is Keycard Blackwood. Again there are five key cards, including the trump king, but unlike RKCB, the queen of trumps is not considered.

5♣ – 0 or 4 key cards

5 – 1 or 5 key cards

5 – 2 key cards

5♠ – 3 key cards

This is advocated by Bernard Magee as being simpler for club players, as with RKCB players are sometimes unsure whether partner holds 0 or 3 key cards, or 1 or 4.

Kickback
"Kickback" is the variant of RKCB devised by Jeff Rubens in accordance with the Useful Space Principle. The step responses are the same as in RKCB, but the ask is not necessarily 4NT. Instead it is the 4-level bid immediately above the agreed trump suit; i.e.: Kickback has the advantage that it saves bidding space and, especially for minor-suit fits, provides safety at the 5-level if the required key cards are missing. Because the Kickback bid would otherwise be a control bid, 4NT is usually substituted as the control bid in that suit (e.g., 4NT is a control bid in hearts if the agreed trump suit is diamonds). The drawback is that in unpracticed partnerships there can be confusion as to whether a bid is Kickback, a control bid or preference for a different strain:

East intended 4 as Kickback, but West thought it was secondary support for hearts, and decided to pass with minimum values. As result, a reasonable grand slam in diamonds was missed.

An established partnership might have agreed that as hearts were not supported after opener's rebid, 4 cannot possibly show support, and must be ace asking in diamonds.

Redwood
"Redwood" is a variation of Kickback that is only used when a minor suit is trumps. A 4 level bid in the suit above the agreed trump suit is the ace / key card ask and the name comes from the fact that this bid will always be a red suit:

4– RKCB for clubs

4– RKCB for diamonds

Once key cards have been identified the next step bid (other than trumps) can be used to ask for Kings.

One advantage of this approach is that it avoids the potential for misunderstanding that can occur when using Minorwood but one disadvantage is that it uses up one more bid (than Minorwood) and might constrain the bidding later when asking for Kings or Queens.

Using "Redwood," the ace/key card ask of 4NT is still used when the trump suit is a major (hearts or spades).

Minorwood
"Minorwood" is a variation of Blackwood, in which the minor suit which the partners agree will be trumps is itself used as the ace/key card ask. The ask will be at the four level. Hence:

4– RKCB for clubs

4– RKCB for diamonds

One disadvantage to this convention is that either the partnership must agree to lose the natural 4 level bid in trumps or have clear agreement on which sequences are slam seeking and which are natural bids. The advantage of this approach is that it conserves bidding space. For example, the use of Redwood reduces the risk of a misunderstanding but uses up one more bid and might constrain the bidding later when asking for Kings or Queens.

Exclusion Blackwood
Exclusion Blackwood or Voidwood. was devised by Bobby Goldman as an attempt to resolve the situation when the Blackwood-asker has a void. In that case, he is not interested in the partner's ace in the void suit, as he already has the first-round control; partner's ace would present a duplicated value in that case. Many players, even experts, refuse to play Exclusion Blackwood because of the potential disaster of forgetting the agreement.

It is usually played as the Roman Key Card Blackwood, with only four key cards: the three Aces outside the void suit and the King of trumps. However, the asking bid is not 4NT, but the void suit — Voidwood is made by jumping on level 4 or 5 in the void suit after a fit has been found, for example:
 * 1st step – 0 or 3 key cards (1 or 4, if playing 1430)
 * 2nd step – 1 or 4 key cards (0 or 3)
 * 3rd step – 2 key cards without trump queen
 * 4th step – 2 key cards with trump queen

<!-- improved a lot, but still minor adjustments needed, immo. It hurts to destroy valuable information

Application
When the Blackwood bidder has a void, and partner shows one or more but not all missing aces, "asker" will not know whether partner's ace duplicates the void suit (where it would not be of great help) or covers side suit losers. For this reason cue bid to show aces explicitly, or Exclusion or Voidwood convention to ask for useful aces, is used with hands that contain a void.

Often non-experts ask for aces when they really need other information from partner, acting as if the convention is designed to ascertain whether the partnership holds all of the four aces or five key-cards. In fact the fundamental purpose should usually be to distinguish between lacking one and lacking two, because lacking two aces makes slam a bad bet. In other words, ace and key-card asking conventions should normally be used by one member of a partnership who plans at least to contract for 12 tricks if no more than one ace or key card is lacking.

A simplified way to think about Blackwood is this: "I am concerned that we may lose the first two tricks, if we bid a slam. I can use Blackwood as a kind of insurance policy, to guarantee that this will not happen." But Blackwood will not help if, due to the structure of the hands, there are multiple ways to lose the first two tricks. It only helps, for the most part, if the exclusive risk of losing the first two tricks is due to the opponents' holding two cashable aces. Obviously, the opposition might hold the ace and king of a side suit, and could bang those tricks right down, resulting in an immediate set.

Thus, a player should use Blackwood only when he can ascertain that the partnership holds at least second-round controls in all suits (kings or, if a suit fit is found, singletons). Thus, a Blackwood query by the player holding two quick losers in a side suit is a wild gamble, as it is still possible that the suit is not controlled by an Ace or a King.

For the same reason, it is generally wrong to use Blackwood with a void. This is not always true, but the rule of thumb is: Don't use Blackwood with a void unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing, and why you are doing it. You may be missing two aces, but your void may compensate for the lack of one of the enemy aces. Thus, Blackwood will not tell you what you want to know: Are we at risk of losing the first two tricks? If your side has two aces and a void, then you are not at risk of losing the first two tricks, so long as (a) your void is useful (i.e., does not duplicate the function of an ace that your side holds) and (b) you are not vulnerable to the loss of the first two tricks in the fourth suit (because, for instance, one of the partnership hands holds a singleton in that suit or the protected king, giving your side second round control).

Other problems can easily occur when a minor is the agreed trump suit, or the key suit when no trump suit is agreed. The reply to Blackwood could take the partnership past their agreed suit and going to the next higher level may be one trick too high. In these cases experts agree on using the Kickback or Redwood convention to save steps and be able to stop at 5 or 5. An alternative is to avoid using any type of Ace asking and use the cue bid alternative.

A further problem occurs when, after hearing his partner's response, the player who bid 4NT wants to stop in 5NT — as this is a forcing bid asking for Kings. A common agreement is that the first non-suit asks responder to bid 5NT. Whenever the first non-suit is a "queen ask", then the next non-suit asks to bid 5NT. This has to be planned in advance as if there is no such space partners have to bid a usually unmakeable slam contract.-->

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Blackwood convention


text:
Talk:Balts

Balts

 * Balts (German "Balten") are a group of people ,who live at the Baltic Sea . The Baltic Sea or Eastern Sea ("Ostsee") was earlier by Tacitus in 98 AD Agricola and Germania called Mare Suebicum after the Suebi.

 * The languages of the Balts, or [Baltic Languages]? are classified as [East Baltic]? and [West Baltic]?. The Baltic Germans (Balten-Deutsche) were forced out of their homelands in Lithuania, Latvia and Esthonia (earlier "Kurland, Livland, Lettland )by Stalin . They were either brought to Siberia , killed or escaped to the West, along with fifteen to eighteen million other ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe.

 * Some orphaned children of the German Balts and of neighboring Eastern Prussia were taken in and hidden from communist authorities . Stalin's military troups had overrun the Baltic lands and all of Eastern Europe, starting in winter 1944 .The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania ,Latvia and Esthonia for fifty years . After the fall of the Iron Curtain these children, called "Wolfskinder?" (children raised by wolfs) now are attempting to find out their identity.

 * Today only the Eastern Baltic countries are called Baltic States, because the Western Baltic country of Prussia has been dismembered by the Soviet Union, now Russia asOblast Kaliningrad.The larger part of West and East-Prussia is submerged into Poland. While millions of the inhabitants were killed or forced to leave ,some have been able to remain in their homeland of East or West Prussia, despited greatest hardships.In 1946/47 they received classification as "Autochthones" by the communist occupation Polish administration authorities.

The text above was removed by user:167.83.96.xxx saying "eliminated non relevant information".

 * 1946 Prussia was NOT the Western Baltic Country!!! - it was one of the German Lands. Real Baltic Prussians were already germanizated by the German Teutonic Order (and later by Polish-Royal Prussia and German Prussia) till XVI-XVII century.

White
Similarity between the word Balt and Lithuanian word for white balta is most likely accidental and nothing but Folk etymology. There's no reliable linguistics study showing any connection between Lithuanian word balta and Mare Balticum, a name a German person came up with. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.206.100.239 (talk) 19:58, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Awkward
"In accordance with the 2008 research results of Russian and Estonian geneticists, the Northern Russians (a subethnic group) genetically are very similar to the Balts." - This very awkward sentence is based on an old work in ignorance of the much more recent specialist literature given here and was somehow patched up at the end in a pointless way. Because already better expressed in the first sentence, referenced to the same team, I deleted this one. HJJHolm (talk) 13:30, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

Ethnolinguistic group
The Balts are NOT an ethnolinguistic group (see that article for the Wikipedia definition) today. --95.24.68.172 (talk) 05:03, 24 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Balts


text:
Bill Bixby

Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known for his roles in the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian as Tim O'Hara, in the ABC sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father as Tom Corbett, in the NBC crime drama series The Magician as stage Illusionist Anthony Blake, and the CBS science-fiction drama series The Incredible Hulk as Dr. David Banner.

Early life
A fourth-generation Californian of English descent and an only child, Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III was born on January 22, 1934, in San Francisco, California. His father, Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby II, was a store clerk. His mother, Jane (née McFarland) Bixby, was a senior manager at I. Magnin & Co. In 1942, when Bixby was eight years old, his father enlisted in the Navy during World War II and traveled to the South Pacific. While in the seventh grade, Bixby attended Grace Cathedral and sang in the church's choir. In one notable incident, he shot the bishop using a slingshot during a service and was kicked out of the choir. In 1946, his mother encouraged him to take ballroom dance lessons and from there he started dancing all around the city. While dancing, he attended Lowell High School, where he perfected his oratory and dramatic skills as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. Though he received average grades, he also competed in high-school speech tournaments regionally.

After graduation from high school in 1952, he majored in drama at City College of San Francisco, against his parents' wishes.

During the Korean War, Bixby was drafted shortly after his 18th birthday. Rather than report to the United States Army, Bixby joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He served primarily in personnel management with Marine Attack Squadron 141 (VMA-141) at Naval Air Station Oakland, and attained the rank of private first class before his 1956 discharge.

Later, he attended the University of California, Berkeley, his parents' alma mater, and left just a few credits short of earning a degree. He then moved to Hollywood, California, where he had a string of odd jobs that included bellhop and lifeguard. He organized shows at a resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in 1959 was hired to work as a model and to do commercial work for General Motors and Chrysler.

Beginning acting
In 1961, Bixby was in the musical The Boy Friend at the Detroit Civic Theater, returning to Hollywood to make his television debut on an episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He became a highly regarded character actor and guest-starred in many television series, including Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Dr. Kildare, Straightaway, and Hennesey. He also joined the cast of The Joey Bishop Show in 1962. In 1963, he played a sailor with a Napoleon tattoo in the movie Irma La Douce, a romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder based on the 1956 French musical. During the 1970s, he made guest appearances on television series such as Ironside, Insight, Barbary Coast, The Love Boat, Medical Center, four episodes of Love, American Style, Fantasy Island, and two episodes each of The Streets of San Francisco and Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

My Favorite Martian and other early roles
Bixby took the role of young reporter Tim O'Hara in the 1963 CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian, in which he co-starred with Ray Walston. By 1966, though, high production costs forced the series to come to an end after 107 episodes. After its cancellation, Bixby starred in four movies: Ride Beyond Vengeance, Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!, and two of Elvis Presley's movies, Clambake and Speedway. He turned down the role as Marlo Thomas's boyfriend in the successful That Girl, though he later guest-starred in the show, and starred in two failed pilots.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father
In 1969, Bixby starred in his second high-profile television role, as Tom Corbett in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, a comedy drama on ABC. The series concerned a widowed father raising a young son, managing a major syndicated magazine, and at the same time trying to re-enter the dating scene. This series was in the vein of other 1960s and 1970s sitcoms that dealt with widowerhood, such as The Andy Griffith Show and My Three Sons. Eddie was played by novice actor Brandon Cruz. The pair developed a close rapport that translated to an off-camera friendship, as well. The core cast was rounded out by Academy Award-winning actress Miyoshi Umeki, who played the role of Tom's housekeeper, Mrs. Livingston, James Komack (one of the series' producers) as Norman Tinker, Tom's pseudo-hippie, quirky photographer, and actress Kristina Holland as Tom's secretary, Tina. One episode of the series co-starred Bixby's future wife, Brenda Benet, as one of Tom's girlfriends.

Bixby was nominated for the Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1971. The following year, he won the Parents Without Partners Exemplary Service Award for 1972.

Bixby made his directorial debut on the sitcom in 1970, directing eight episodes. ABC cancelled the sitcom in 1972 at the end of season three.

After the show was cancelled, Bixby and Cruz remained in contact, with Cruz making a guest appearance on Bixby's later series The Incredible Hulk. The death of Bixby's only child, in 1981, drew Bixby and Cruz closer still. The two remained in touch until Bixby's death in 1993. In 1995, Cruz named his own son Lincoln Bixby Cruz.

Brandon Cruz said of the show that developed a professional father-son relationship, compared to that of The Andy Griffith Show, "We dealt with issues that were talked about, but were never brought up on television. Bill wasn't the first actor to portray a single widowed father, but he became one of the popular ones, because of his easy-going way of this crazy little kid." Prior to Bixby's promotion to director, Brandon said, "He was looking for the best dolly grip, along with the boom operator that if something was called specifically and failed, Bill could be easily angry." On the kind of relationship Bill had wanted with his co-star, Brandon also said, "Bill would never speak down to me. Bill treated me as an equal. He made sure that we had a lot of time together, just so he could kinda crawl inside my head and see what actually made a kid tick." Upon the death of Bill's real-life father in 1971, Cruz stated, "He had that type of mentality that the show must go on, thinking it was just a great TV show, after he broke down weeping."

In a 2011 interview with Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith about how Bill Bixby's fame was supposed to posthumously honor him for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Cruz said, "When I found out they were putting this out, I thought, 'It's about time.' Bill Bixby had an amazing body of work, not only Courtship of Eddie's Father, but My Favorite Martian, The Magician, The Incredible Hulk, and so many other things, as an actor, as a director — and he never got an Emmy. He's never been recognized posthumously by the Academy. And he doesn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That is criminal.... There are people who have stars that, not to be blunt, but I wouldn't bother spitting on their stars. Bill's talent would take a couple of blocks of stars compared to them. It really demeans the whole thing that Bill is not included."

1973 to 1977
In 1973, Bixby starred in The Magician. The series was well liked, but lasted for only one season. An accomplished amateur magician himself, he hosted several TV specials in the mid-1970s which featured other amateur magicians, and was a respected member of the Hollywood magic community, belonging to The Magic Castle, an exclusive club for magicians. During the show's popular, although short-lived, production, Bixby invited a few old friends along to co-star such as Pamela Britton (in her final role), Kristina Holland, and Ralph O'Hara.

Also in 1973, he starred in Steambath, a play by author Bruce Jay Friedman, on PBS with Valerie Perrine and Jose Perez.

Bixby became a popular game-show panelist, appearing mostly on Password and The Hollywood Squares. He was also a panelist on the 1974 revival of Masquerade Party, which was hosted by Richard Dawson. He had also appeared with Dawson on Cop-Out, an unsold 1972 pilot produced by Chuck Barris, and on the 1972 revival of I've Got a Secret. In 1974–1975, he directed four episodes of the eighth season of Mannix, guest-starring as Mannix's friend-turned-villain in one of the episodes.

In 1975, he co-starred with Tim Conway and Don Knotts in the Disney movie The Apple Dumpling Gang, which was well received by the public.

Returning to television, Bixby worked with Susan Blakely on Rich Man, Poor Man, a highly successful television miniseries in 1976. He played a daredevil stunt pilot in an episode of the short-lived 1976 CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots, starring Gene Evans. In 1977, he co-starred in the pilot for the television series Fantasy Island; starred in "No Way Out", the final episode of the NBC anthology series Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (known in the United Kingdom as Twist in the Tale); and appeared with Donna Mills, Richard Jaeckel, and William Shatner in the last episode, "The Scarlet Ribbon", of NBC's Western series The Oregon Trail, starring Rod Taylor and Andrew Stevens. Bixby directed two episodes of The Oregon Trail.

In 1976, he was honored with two Emmy Award nominations, one for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in Drama or Comedy for The Streets of San Francisco and the other for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in Comedy or Drama Series for Rich Man, Poor Man.

Bixby hosted Once Upon a Classic on PBS from 1976 to 1980.

The Incredible Hulk
Bixby starred in the role of Dr. David Banner in the pilot movie The Incredible Hulk, based on the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Marvel characters. Kenneth Johnson, the creator, director, and writer, said that Bixby was his only choice to play the part. When Bixby was offered the role, he declined it – until he read the script and discussed it with Johnson. The success of the pilot (coupled with some theatrical releases of the film in Europe) convinced CBS to turn it into a weekly series, which began airing in the spring of 1978. The pilot also starred Susan Sullivan as Dr. Elaina Marks, who tries to help the conflicted and widowed Dr. Banner overcome his "problem" and falls in love with him in the process. In a retrospective on The Incredible Hulk, Glenn Greenberg declared Bixby's performance to be the series' "foremost" strength, elaborating that he "masterfully conveyed the profound loneliness and tragedy of Dr. Banner while also bringing to the role an abundance of warmth, intelligence, humor, nobility, likability, and above all else, humanity."

During the series' run, Bixby invited two of his longtime friends, Ray Walston and Brandon Cruz, to guest-star with him in different episodes of the series. He also worked on the series with his friend, movie actress Mariette Hartley, who later starred with Bixby in his final series, Goodnight, Beantown, in 1983. Hartley appears in the well-regarded double-length episode "Married", and subsequently won an Emmy Award for her guest appearance. Future star Loni Anderson also guest-starred with Bixby during the first season. Bixby directed one episode of the series, "Bring Me the Head of the Hulk", in 1980 (original airdate: January 9, 1981). The series was cancelled after the following season, but leftover episodes aired as late as the next June. Bixby later executive-produced and reprised the role in three television movies – The Incredible Hulk Returns, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk – the last two of which he also directed, and the first of which he has been said to have unofficially co-directed.

Later work
Bixby was executive producer and co-star of the short-lived sitcom Goodnight, Beantown (1983–84). He also directed three episodes of the series. During the same time, Bixby directed several episodes of another short-lived television series, Wizards and Warriors, which aired in 1983. From 1982 to 1984, he hosted a documentary series for Nickelodeon entitled Against the Odds. The series, which was cancelled after only two seasons, consists of short biographies of famous people throughout history. From 1986 to 1987, he hosted the syndicated weekday anthology series True Confessions. In 1987, he directed eight episodes of the satirical police sitcom Sledge Hammer!, including the episode "Hammer Hits the Rock" in season two, where he made an uncredited appearance as Zeke.

Bixby hosted two specials regarding Elvis conspiracy theories and his alleged sightings: The Elvis Files (1991) and The Elvis Conspiracy (1992).

Bixby made his last acting appearance in 1992, guest-starring in the television movie Diagnosis Murder: Diagnosis of Murder.

He finished his career by directing 30 episodes (in seasons two and three) of the NBC sitcom Blossom.

Personal life and death
Bixby's first marriage was to actress Brenda Benet. They were married in 1971, and she gave birth to their son, Christopher, in September 1974. They divorced in 1980. A few months later, in March 1981, six-year-old Christopher died while on a skiing vacation at Mammoth Lakes with Benet. He went into cardiac arrest after doctors inserted a breathing tube when he suffered acute epiglottitis. Benet committed suicide the following year.

Bixby met Laura Michaels, who had worked on the set of one of his Hulk movies, in 1989. They married a year later in Hawaii. In early 1991, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent treatment. He was divorced in the same year.

In late 1992, friends introduced Bixby to the artist Judith Kliban, widow of the cartoonist B. Kliban. He married her in October 1993.

In early 1993, after rumors began circulating about his health, Bixby went public with his illness, making several appearances on shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Today, and Good Morning America, among others.

On November 21, 1993, six days after his final assignment on Blossom, Bixby died of complications from prostate cancer in Century City, Los Angeles, California. He was 59 years old.

title: Bill Bixby


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Boers

Boers (Boere are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.

In addition, the term Boeren also applied to those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to colonise in the Orange Free State, Transvaal (together known as the Boer Republics), and to a lesser extent Natal. They emigrated from the Cape to live beyond the reach of the British colonial administration, with their reasons for doing so primarily being the new Anglophone common law system being introduced into the Cape and the British abolition of slavery in 1833.

The term Afrikaners or Afrikaans people is generally used in modern-day South Africa for the white Afrikaans-speaking population of South Africa (the largest group of White South Africans) encompassing the descendants of both the Boers, and the Cape Dutch who did not embark on the Great Trek.

European colonists

The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC) was formed in the Dutch Republic in 1602, and at this time the Dutch had entered the competition for the colonial and imperial trade of commerce in Southeast Asia. The end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 saw European soldiers and refugees widely dispersed across Europe. Immigrants from Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland traveled to the Netherlands in the hope of finding employment with the VOC. During the same year, one of their ships was stranded in Table Bay near what would eventually become Cape Town, and the shipwrecked crew had to forage for themselves on shore for several months. They were so impressed with the natural resources of the country that on their return to the Republic, they represented to the VOC directors the great advantages to be had for the Dutch Eastern trade from a properly provided and fortified station at the Cape. As a result, the VOC sent a Dutch expedition in 1652 led by Jan van Riebeek, who constructed a fort and laid out vegetable gardens at Table Bay and took control over Cape Town, which he governed for a decade.

Free Burghers
VOC favoured the idea of freemen at the Cape and many workers of VOC requested to be discharged in order to become free burghers. As a result Jan van Riebeeck approved the notion on favourable conditions and earmarked two areas near the Liesbeek River for farming purposes in 1657. The two areas which were allocated to the freemen, for agricultural purposes, were named Groeneveld and Dutch Garden. These areas were separated by the Amstel River (Liesbeek River). Nine of the best applicants were selected to use the land for agricultural purposes. The freemen or free burghers as they were afterwards termed, thus became subjects of VOC and were no longer its servants.

In 1671, the Dutch first purchased land from the indigenous Khoikhoi beyond the limits of the fort built by Van Riebeek; this marked the development of the Colony proper. As the result of the investigations of a 1685 commissioner, the government worked to recruit a greater variety of immigrants to develop a stable community. They formed part of the class of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers ('free citizens'), former VOC employees who remained at the Cape after serving their contracts. A large number of vrijburgers became independent farmers and applied for grants of land, as well as loans of seed and tools, from VOC administration.

Dutch free immigrants
VOC authorities had been endeavouring to induce gardeners and small farmers to emigrate from Europe to South Africa, but with little success. They were only able to attract a few families through tales of wealth, but the Cape had little charm in comparison. In October 1670, however, the Chamber of Amsterdam announced that a few families were willing to leave for the Cape and Mauritius during the following December. Among the new names of burghers at this time are Jacob and Dirk van Niekerk, Johannes van As, Francois Villion, Jacob Brouwer, Jan van Eden, Hermanus Potgieter, Albertus Gildenhuis, and Jacobus van den Berg.

French Huguenots
During 1688–1689, the colony was greatly strengthened by the arrival of nearly two hundred French Huguenots, who were political refugees from the religious wars in France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They joined colonies at Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Franschhoek and Paarl. The influence of the Huguenots on the character of the colonists was marked, leading to the VOC directing in 1701 that only Dutch should be taught in schools. This resulted in the Huguenots assimilating by the middle of the 18th century, with a loss in the use and knowledge of French. The colony gradually spread eastwards, and in 1754 land as far as Algoa Bay was included in the colony.

At this time the European colonists numbered eight to ten thousand. They possessed numerous slaves, grew wheat in sufficient quantity to make it a commodity crop for export, and were famed for the good quality of their wines. But their chief wealth was in cattle. They enjoyed considerable prosperity.

Through the latter half of the 17th and the whole of the 18th century, troubles arose between the colonists and the government as the VOC administration was despotic. Its policies were not directed at development of the colony, but to using it to profit the VOC. VOC closed the colony against free immigration, kept the whole of the trade in its own hands, combined the administrative, legislative and judicial powers in one body, prescribed to the farmers the nature of the crops they were to grow, demanded a large part of their produce as a kind of tax, and made other exactions.

Trekboers
From time to time, indentured VOC servants were endowed with the right of freeburghers but the VOC retained the power to compel them to return into its service whenever they deemed it necessary. This right to force into servitude those who might incur the displeasure of the governor or other high officers was not only exercised with reference to the individuals themselves; it was claimed by the government to be applicable to their children as well.

The tyranny caused many to feel desperate and to flee from oppression, even before 1700 trekking began. In 1780, Joachim van Plettenberg, the governor, proclaimed the Sneeuberge to be the northern boundary of the colony, expressing "the anxious hope that no more extension should take place, and with heavy penalties forbidding the rambling peasants to wander beyond". In 1789, so strong had feelings amongst the burghers become that delegates were sent from the Cape to interview the authorities at Amsterdam. After this deputation, some nominal reforms were granted.

Invasion of the Cape Colony
The Invasion of the Cape Colony was a British military expedition launched in 1795 against the Dutch Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The Netherlands had fallen under the revolutionary government of France and a British force under General Sir James Henry Craig was sent to Cape Town to secure the colony from the French for the Prince of Orange, a refugee in England. The governor of Cape Town at first refused to obey the instructions from the Prince, but when the British proceeded to land troops to take possession anyway, he capitulated. His action was hastened by the fact that the Khoikhoi, escaping from their former enslavers, flocked to the British standard. The burghers of Graaff Reinet did not surrender until a force had been sent against them; in 1799 and again in 1801 they rose in revolt. In February 1803, as a result of the peace of Amiens (February 1803), the colony was handed over to the Batavian Republic which introduced many reforms, as had the British during their eight years' rule. One of the first acts of General Craig had been to abolish torture in the administration of justice. The country still remained essentially Dutch, and few British citizens were attracted to it. Its cost to the British exchequer during this period was £16,000,000. The Batavian Republic entertained very liberal views as to the administration of the country, but had little opportunity to enact them.

When the War of the Third Coalition broke out in 1803, a British force was once again sent to the Cape. After an engagement (January 1806) on the shores of Table Bay, the Dutch garrison of Castle of Good Hope surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird, and in the 1814 Anglo-Dutch treaty the colony was ceded outright by The Netherlands to the British crown. At that time the colony extended to the line of mountains guarding the vast central plateau, then called Bushmansland (after a name for the San people), and had an area of about 120,000 sq. m. and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were whites, 17,000 free Khoikhoi and the rest enslaved people, mostly non-indigenous blacks and Malays.

Dislike of British rule
Although the colony was fairly prosperous, many of the Dutch farmers were as dissatisfied with British rule as they had been with that of the VOC, though their grounds for complaint were not the same. In 1792, Moravian missions had been established which targeted the Khoikhoi, and in 1799 the London Missionary Society began work among both Khoikhoi and Bantu peoples. The missionaries' championing of Khoikhoi grievances caused much dissatisfaction among the majority of the Dutch colonists, whose views temporarily prevailed, for in 1812 an ordinance was issued which empowered magistrates to bind Khoikhoi children as apprentices under conditions which differed little from slavery. Simultaneously, the movement for the abolition of slavery was gaining strength in England, and the missionaries appealed from the colonists to the mother country.

Slachter's Nek
A farmer named Frederick Bezuidenhout refused to obey a summons issued on the complaint of a Khoikhoi, and, firing on the party sent to arrest him, was killed by the return fire. This caused a small rebellion in 1815, known as Slachters Nek, described as "the most insane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage war against their sovereign" by Henry Cloete. Upon its suppression, five ringleaders were publicly hanged at the spot where they had sworn to expel "the English tyrants". The feeling caused by the hanging of these men was deepened by the circumstances of the execution, as the scaffold on which the rebels were simultaneously hanged broke down from their united weight and the men were afterwards hanged one by one. An ordinance was passed in 1827, abolishing the old Dutch courts of landdrost and heemraden (resident magistrates being substituted) and establishing that henceforth all legal proceedings should be conducted in English. The granting in 1828, as a result of the representations of the missionaries, of equal rights with whites to the Khoikhoi and other free coloured people, the imposition (1830) of heavy penalties for harsh treatment of enslaved people, and finally the emancipation of the enslaved people in 1834, were measures which combined to aggravate the farmers' dislike of government. Moreover, what the Boers viewed as the inadequate compensation for the freeing of the slaves, and the suspicions engendered by the method of payment, caused much resentment; and in 1835 the farmers again removed themselves to unknown country to escape the government. While emigration beyond the colonial border had been continuous for 150 years, it now took on larger proportions.

Cape Frontier Wars (1779–1879)

The migration of the trekboers from the Cape Colony into the Eastern Cape parts of South Africa, where the native Xhosa people had established settlements, gave rise to a series of conflicts between the Boers and the Xhosas. In 1775 the Cape government established a boundary between the trekboers and the Xhosas at the Bushmans and Upper Fish Rivers. The Boers and Xhosas ignored the boundary, with both groups establishing homes on either side of the frontier. Governor van Plettenberg attempted to persuade both groups to respect the boundary line without success. The Xhosas were accused of stealing cattle and in 1779 a series of skirmishes erupted along the border which initiated the 1st Frontier War.

The frontier remained unstable, resulting in the outbreak of the 2nd Frontier War in 1789. Raids carried out by Boers and Xhosas on both sides of the boundary caused much friction in the area which resulted in several groups being drawn into the conflict. In 1795, the British invasion of the Cape Colony resulted in a change of government. After the government takeover the British began to draw up policies with regards to the frontier resulting in a Boer rebellion in Graaff-Reinet. The policies caused the Khoisan tribes to join some Xhosa chiefs in attacks against British forces during the 3rd Frontier War (1799–1803).

Peace was restored to the area when the British, under the Treaty of Amiens, returned the Cape Colony to the Dutch Batavian Republic in 1803. In January 1806 during a second invasion, the British reoccupied the colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg. Tensions in the Zuurveld led the colonial administration and Boer colonists to expel many of the Xhosa tribes from the area, initiating the 4th Frontier War in 1811. Conflicts between the Xhosas on the frontier led to the 5th Frontier War in 1819.

The Xhosas, due to dissatisfaction with vacillating government policies regarding where they were permitted to live, undertook large-scale cattle thefts on the frontier. The Cape government responded with several military expeditions. In 1834 a large Xhosa force moved into the Cape territory, which began the 6th Frontier War. Additional fortifications were built by the government and mounted patrols were not well received by the Xhosas, who continued with raids on farms during the 7th Frontier War (1846–1847). The 8th (1850–1853) and 9th Frontier Wars (1877–1878) continued at the same pace as their predecessors. Eventually the Xhosas were defeated and the territories were brought under British control.

Great Trek
The Great Trek occurred between 1835 and the early 1840s. During that period some 12,000 to 14,000 Boers (including women and children), impatient with British rule, emigrated from Cape Colony into the great plains beyond the Orange River, and across them again into Natal and the vastness of the Zoutspansberg, in the northern part of the Transvaal. Those Trekboers who occupied the eastern Cape were semi-nomadic. A significant number in the eastern Cape frontier later became Grensboere ('border farmers') who were the direct ancestors of the Voortrekkers.

The Boers addressed several correspondence to the British Colonial Government before leaving the Cape Colony as reasons for their departure. Piet Retief, one of the leaders of the Boers during the time, addressed a letter to the government on 22 January 1837 in Grahamstown stating that the Boers did not see any prospect for peace or happiness for their children in a country with such internal commotions. Retief further complained about the severe financial losses which they felt had resulted from the laws of the British administration. While there was financial compensation for the freeing of the people they had enslaved, the Boers found it to be inadequate. They also felt that the English church system was incompatible with the Dutch Reformed Church. By this time the Boers had already formed a separate code of laws in preparation for the great trek and were aware of the dangerous territory they were about to enter. Retief concluded his letter with "We quit this colony under the full assurance that the English Government has nothing more to require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its interference in future".

Boer states and republics

As the Voortrekkers progressed further inland, they continued to establish Boer colonies on the interior of South Africa.

Anglo-Boer wars

Following the British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877, Paul Kruger was a key figure in organizing a Boer resistance which led to expulsion of the British from the Transvaal. The Boers then fought the Second Boer War in the late 19th and early 20th century against the British in order to ensure the republics of the Transvaal (the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and the Orange Free State, remaining independent, ultimately capitulating in 1902.

Boer War diaspora
After the Second Boer War, a Boer diaspora occurred. Starting in 1903, the largest group emigrated to the Patagonia region of Argentina and to Brazil. Another group emigrated to British colony of Kenya, from where most returned to South Africa during the 1930s, while a third group under the leadership of General Ben Viljoen emigrated to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in the southwestern United States.

1914 Boer Revolt
The Maritz Rebellion (also known as the Boer Revolt, the Five Shilling Rebellion or the Third Boer War) occurred in 1914 at the start of World War I, in which men who supported the re-creation of the Boer republics rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa because they did not want to side with the British against the German Empire so soon after the war with the British.

Many Boers had German ancestry and many members of the government were themselves former Boer military leaders who had fought with the Maritz rebels against the British in the Second Boer War. The rebellion was put down by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts, and the ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment. One, Jopie Fourie, an officer in the Union Defence Force, was convicted for treason when he refused to take up arms alongside the British, and was executed by the South African government in 1914.

Language
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken widely in South Africa and Namibia, and to a lesser extent in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the mainly Dutch colonists of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century. Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as Cape Dutch (also used to refer collectively to the early Cape colonists) or kitchen Dutch (a derogatory term used in its earlier days). However, it is also variously (although incorrectly) described as a creole or as a partially creolised language. The term is ultimately derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning African Dutch.

Culture

The desire to wander, known as trekgees, was a notable characteristic of the Boers. It figured prominently in the late 17th century when the Trekboers began to inhabit the northern and eastern Cape frontiers, again during the Great Trek when the Voortrekkers left the eastern Cape en masse, and after the major republics were established during the Thirstland ('Dorsland') Trek. One such trekker described the impetus for emigrating as, "a drifting spirit was in our hearts, and we ourselves could not understand it. We just sold our farms and set out northwestwards to find a new home". A rustic characteristic and tradition was developed quite early on as Boer society was born on the frontiers of white colonisation and on the outskirts of Western civilisation.

The Boer quest for independence manifested in a tradition of declaring republics, which predates the arrival of the British; when the British arrived, Boer republics had already been declared and were in rebellion from the VOC.

Beliefs
The Boers of the frontier were known for their independent spirit, resourcefulness, hardiness, and self-sufficiency, whose political notions verged on anarchy but had begun to be influenced by republicanism.

The Boers had cut their ties to Europe as they emerged from the Trekboer group.

The Boers possessed a distinct Protestant culture, and the majority of Boers and their descendants were members of a Reformed Church. The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk ('Dutch Reformed Church') was the national Church of the South African Republic (1852–1902). The Orange Free State (1854–1902) was named after the Protestant House of Orange in the Netherlands.

The Calvinist influence, in such fundamental Calvinist doctrines such as unconditional predestination and divine providence, remains present in a minority of Boer culture, who see their role in society as abiding by the national laws and accepting calamity and hardship as part of their Christian duty. Many Boers have since converted denominations and are now members of Baptist, Charismatic, Pentecostal or Lutheran Churches.

Modern usage
During recent times, mainly during the apartheid reform and post-1994 eras, some white Afrikaans-speaking people, mainly with conservative political views, and of Trekboer and Voortrekker descent, have chosen to be called Boere, rather than Afrikaners, to distinguish their identity. They believe that many people of Voortrekker descent were not assimilated into what they see as the Cape-based Afrikaner identity. They suggest that this developed after the Second Anglo-Boer War and the subsequent establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Some Boer nationalists have asserted that they do not identify as a right-wing element of the political spectrum.

They contend that the Boers of the South African Republic and Orange Free State republics were recognised as a separate people or cultural group under international law by the Sand River Convention (which created the South African Republic in 1852), the Bloemfontein Convention (which created the Orange Free State Republic in 1854), the Pretoria Convention (which re-established the independence of the South African Republic 1881), the London Convention (which granted the full independence to the South African Republic in 1884), and the Vereeniging Peace Treaty, which formally ended the Second Anglo-Boer War on 31 May 1902. Others contend, however, that these treaties dealt only with agreements between governmental entities and do not imply the recognition of a Boer cultural identity per se.

The supporters of these views feel that the Afrikaner label was used from the 1930s onwards as a means of politically unifying the white Afrikaans speakers of the Western Cape with those of Trekboer and Voortrekker descent in the north of South Africa, where the Boer Republics were established.

Since the Anglo-Boer war, the term Boerevolk ('farmer people') was rarely used in the 20th century by the various regimes because of the effort to assimilate the Boerevolk with the Afrikaners. A portion of those who are the descendants of the Boerevolk have reasserted use of this designation.

The supporters of the Boer designation view the term Afrikaner as an artificial political label which usurped their history and culture, turning Boer achievements into Afrikaner achievements. They feel that the Western-Cape based Afrikaners – whose ancestors did not trek eastwards or northwards – took advantage of the republican Boers' destitution following the Anglo-Boer War. At that time, the Afrikaners attempted to assimilate the Boers into the new politically-based cultural label.

In contemporary South Africa, Boer and Afrikaner have often been used interchangeably. The Boers are the smaller segment within the Afrikaner designation, as the Afrikaners of Cape Dutch origin are more numerous. Afrikaner directly translated means African, and thus refers to all Afrikaans-speaking people in Africa who have their origins in the Cape Colony founded by Jan Van Riebeeck. Boer is a specific group within the larger Afrikaans-speaking population.

During apartheid, Boer was used by opponents of apartheid in various contexts, referring to institutional structures such as the National Party, or to specific groups of people, such as members of the Police Force (colloquially known as Boere) and Army, Afrikaners, or white South Africans generally. This usage is often viewed as pejorative in contemporary South Africa.

Politics

 * Boere-Vryheidsbeweging
 * Boerestaat Party
 * Freedom Front Plus
 * Front National
 * Herstigte Nasionale Party
 * National Conservative Party of South Africa

Education
The Movement for Christian-National Education is a federation of 47 Calvinist private schools, primarily in the Free State and the Transvaal, committed to educating Boer children from grade 0 through to 12.

Media
Some local radio stations promote the ideals of those who identify with the Boer people, like Radio Rosestad 100.6 FM (in Bloemfontein), Overvaal Stereo and Radio Pretoria. An internet-based radio station, Boerevolk Radio, promotes Boer separatism.

Territories
Territorial areas in the form of a Boerestaat ('Boer State') are being developed as colonies exclusively for Boers/Afrikaners, notably Orania in the Northern Cape and Kleinfontein near Pretoria.

Notable Boers
Voortrekker leaders
 * Sarel Cilliers
 * Andries Hendrik Potgieter
 * Andries Pretorius
 * Piet Retief

Great trek
 * Racheltjie de Beer
 * Dirkie Uys
 * Marthinus Jacobus Oosthuizen

Participants in the Second Anglo-Boer War
 * Koos de la Rey, general; regarded as being one of the great military leaders of the Second Anglo-Boer War
 * Danie Theron, soldier
 * Christiaan Rudolf de Wet, general
 * Siener van Rensburg, considered a prophet by some

Politicians
 * Hendrik Verwoerd, chief architect of apartheid
 * Louis Botha, first prime minister of South Africa (1910–1919) and former Boer general
 * Petrus Jacobus Joubert, general and cabinet member of the Transvaal Republic
 * Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal Republic
 * Martinus Theunis Steyn, 6th State President of the Orange Free State

Spies
 * Robey Leibbrandt
 * Fritz Joubert Duquesne, Boer captain known as the Black Panther who served in the Second Boer War

In modern fiction
The history of the Cape Colony and the Boers in South Africa is covered at length in the 1980 novel The Covenant by American author James A. Michener.

title: Boers


text:
Bronze Star Medal

The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.

When the medal is awarded by the Army, Air Force, or Space Force for acts of valor in combat, the "V" device is authorized for wear on the medal. When the medal is awarded by the Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard for acts of valor or meritorious service in combat, the Combat "V" is authorized for wear on the medal.

Officers from the other Uniformed Services of the United States are eligible to receive this award, as are foreign soldiers who have served with or alongside a service branch of the United States Armed Forces.

Civilians serving with U.S. military forces in combat are also eligible for the award. For example, UPI reporter Joe Galloway was awarded the Bronze Star with "V" device for actions during the Vietnam War, specifically rescuing a badly wounded soldier under fire in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, in 1965. Another civilian recipient was writer Ernest Hemingway.

General information
The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944 (superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962, as amended by Executive Order 13286, 28 February 2003).

The Bronze Star Medal may be awarded by the Secretary of a military department or the Secretary of Homeland Security with regard to the Coast Guard when not operating as a service in the Department of the Navy, or by such military commanders, or other appropriate officers as the Secretary concerned may designate, to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Space Force of the United States, after 6 December 1941, distinguishes, or has distinguished, herself or himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight—
 * (a) while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
 * (b) while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
 * (c) while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

The acts of heroism are of a lesser degree than required for the award of the Silver Star. The acts of merit or acts of valor must be less than that required for the Legion of Merit but must nevertheless have been meritorious and accomplished with distinction.

The Bronze Star Medal (without the "V" device) may be awarded to each member of the Armed Forces of the United States who, after 6 December 1941, was cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat against an armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. For this purpose, the US Army's Combat Infantryman Badge or Combat Medical Badge award is considered as a citation in orders. Documents executed since 4 August 1944 in connection with recommendations for the award of decorations of higher degree than the Bronze Star Medal cannot be used as the basis for an award under this paragraph.

Effective 11 September 2001, the Meritorious Service Medal may also be bestowed in lieu of the Bronze Star Medal (without Combat "V" device) for meritorious achievement in a designated combat theater.

Appearance
The Bronze Star Medal was designed by Rudolf Freund (1878–1960) of the jewelry firm Bailey, Banks & Biddle. (Freund also designed the Silver Star. )

The medal is a bronze star 1+1/2 in in circumscribing diameter. In the center is a 3/16 in diameter superimposed bronze star, the center line of all rays of both stars coinciding. The reverse bears the inscription "HEROIC OR MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT" with a space for the name of the recipient to be engraved. The star hangs from its ribbon by a rectangular metal loop with rounded corners. The suspension ribbon is 1+3/8 in wide and consists of the following stripes: 1/32 in white 67101; 9/16 in scarlet 67111; 1/32 in white; center stripe 1/8 in ultramarine blue 67118; 1/32 in white; 9/16 in scarlet; and 1/32 in white.

Authorized devices
The Bronze Star Medal with the "V" device to denote heroism is the fourth highest military decoration for valor. Although a service member may be cited for heroism in combat and be awarded more than one Bronze Star authorizing the "V" device, only one "V" may be worn on each suspension and service ribbon of the medal. The following ribbon devices must be specifically authorized in the award citation in order to be worn on the Bronze Star Medal, the criteria for and wear of the devices vary between the services:
 * Oak leaf cluster – In the Army, Air Force, and Space Force, the oak leaf cluster is worn to denote additional awards.
 * 5 / 16 inch star – In the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, the 5 / 16 inch star is worn to denote additional awards.
 * "V" device – In the Army, the "V" is worn solely to denote "participation in acts of heroism involving conflict with an armed enemy."; in the Air Force and Space Force, the "V" is worn to denote heroism in combat.
 * Combat "V" – In the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, the "V" is worn to denote combat heroism or to recognize individuals who are "exposed to personal hazard during direct participation in combat operations".

History

Colonel Russell P. "Red" Reeder conceived the idea of the Bronze Star Medal in 1943; he believed it would aid morale if captains of companies or of batteries could award a medal to deserving people serving under them. Reeder felt another medal was needed as a ground equivalent of the Air Medal, and suggested calling the proposed new award the "Ground Medal". The idea eventually rose through the military bureaucracy and gained supporters. General George C. Marshall, in a memorandum to President Franklin D. Roosevelt dated 3 February 1944, wrote "The fact that the ground troops, Infantry in particular, lead miserable lives of extreme discomfort and are the ones who must close in personal combat with the enemy, makes the maintenance of their morale of great importance. The award of the Air Medal has had an adverse reaction on the ground troops, particularly the Infantry Riflemen who are now suffering the heaviest losses, air or ground, in the Army, and enduring the greatest hardships."

The Air Medal had been adopted two years earlier to raise airmen's morale. President Roosevelt authorized the Bronze Star Medal by Executive Order 9419 dated 4 February 1944, retroactive to 7 December 1941. This authorization was announced in War Department Bulletin No. 3, dated 10 February 1944.

President John F. Kennedy amended Executive Order 9419 per Executive Order 11046 dated 24 August 1962 to expand the authorization to include those serving with friendly forces. This allowed for awards where US service members become involved in an armed conflict where the United States was not a belligerent. At the time of the Executive Order, for example, the US was not a belligerent in Vietnam, so US advisers serving with the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces would not have been eligible for the award.

Since the award criteria state that the Bronze Star Medal may be awarded to "any person ... while serving in any capacity in or with" the US Armed Forces, awards to members of foreign armed services serving with the United States are permitted. Thus, a number of Allied soldiers received the Bronze Star Medal in World War II, as well as UN soldiers in the Korean War, Vietnamese and allied forces in the Vietnam War, and coalition forces in recent military operations such as the Persian Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War. A number of Bronze Star Medals with the "V" device were awarded to veterans of the Battle of Mogadishu.

World War II infantry award
As a result of a study conducted in 1947, a policy was implemented that authorized the retroactive award of the Bronze Star Medal (without the "V" device) to all soldiers who had received the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge during World War II. The basis for this decision was that these badges were awarded only to soldiers who had borne the hardships which resulted in General Marshall's support of the establishment of the Bronze Star Medal. Both badges required a recommendation by the commander and a citation in orders.

U.S. Air Force criteria controversy
In 2012, two U.S. airmen were allegedly subjected to cyber-bullying after receiving Bronze Star Medals for meritorious non-combat service. The two airmen, who had received the medals in March 2012, had been finance NCOICs in medical units deployed to the War in Afghanistan. The awards sparked a debate as to whether or not the Air Force was awarding too many medals to its members, and whether the Bronze Star should be awarded for non-combat service. This prompted the Air Force to take down stories of the two posted to the internet, and to clarify its criteria for awarding medals. The Air Force contended that meritorious service awards of the Bronze Star outnumber valor awards, and that it views awards on a case-by-case basis to maintain the integrity of the award.

This is not the first time that the USAF has been criticized for offering this award. The Department of Defense investigated the award of the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) by the USAF to some 246 individuals after operations in Kosovo in 1999. All but 60 were awarded to officers, and only 16 of those awarded were actually in the combat zone. At least five were awarded to officers who never left Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. During this campaign, the Navy had awarded 69 BSMs, and the Army with 5,000 troops in neighboring Albania (considered part of the combat zone) awarded none. In the end, there was a Pentagon review and decision by Congress in 2001 to stop the awarding of Bronze Stars to personnel outside the combat zone.

Notable recipients

 * Joe Medicine Crow, Crow War Chief and historian
 * Julius Ochs Adler, publisher and journalist
 * Eddie Albert, actor
 * James Arness, actor
 * Robert H. Barrow, 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Eben Bartlett, member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
 * Tony Bennett, singer
 * Rocky Bleier, NFL football player
 * Rudy Boesch, contestant on Survivor: Borneo and Survivor All Stars
 * Bill Bowerman, Coach; Co-founder of Nike, Inc. 4 Bronze Stars received
 * Omar Bradley, US Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
 * Edward Brooke, US Senator
 * Russell Adam Burnham, U.S. Army Soldier of the Year in 2003
 * Hugh Carey, Governor of New York State
 * Leonard F. Chapman Jr., 24th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Joseph S. Clark Jr., Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 * Cordelia E. Cook, first woman recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart
 * Erastus Corning 2nd, Mayor of Albany, New York
 * Tom Cotton, US Senator
 * Alan "Ace" Cozzalio, US Army helicopter pilot
 * Dan Crenshaw, Former United States Navy SEAL officer serving as the United States representative for Texas's 2nd congressional district since 2019.
 * Robert E. Cushman Jr., 25th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Dieter Dengler, aviator and escaper
 * Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida
 * Bob Dole, US Senator
 * Dale Dye, actor
 * Frank Sutton, actor
 * George Kennedy, actor
 * Jeremiah Denton, US Senator
 * Donnie Dunagan, actor
 * Mark Esper, 27th US Secretary of Defense
 * Walter Fetterly, Colonel who led a rescue mission deep in enemy territory
 * Kenneth Raymond Fleenor, Mayor of Selma, Texas
 * Henry Fonda, actor
 * Joseph L. Galloway, war correspondent
 * Maurice R. Greenberg, CEO of American International Group (AIG)
 * Eric Greitens, Governor of Missouri
 * Bob Gunton, actor
 * Michael Hagee, 33rd Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Ernest Hemingway, writer and war correspondent
 * Gil Hodges, Hall of Fame baseball player and manager
 * Leo Hoegh, former Governor of Iowa
 * Daniel Inouye, US Senator
 * Bernard Jackvony, Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
 * James L. Jones, 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps, 22nd US National Security Advisor
 * Bob Kalsu, NFL football player
 * Otto Kerner Jr., Governor of Illinois
 * Bob Kerrey, US Senator
 * John Kerry, 68th US Secretary of State, senator of Massachusetts
 * Ben Key, Royal Navy Admiral
 * Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State and foreign affairs consultant
 * Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Muslim-American soldier
 * Charles C. Krulak, 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Sharon Ann Lane, Army Nurse Corps
 * Eddie LeBaron, NFL football player
 * Dallas S. Linscheid, Captain, U.S. Army - 101st Airborne, 3x recipient, 2 tours in Vietnam,
 * Douglas MacArthur, US General of the Army and Field Marshal of the Philippines
 * Jim Mattis, 26th US Secretary of Defense
 * John McCain, US Senator
 * Ed Meads, NFL player
 * Charles Mergendahl, novelist, television writer
 * Glenn Miller, jazz musician and band leader
 * John U. Monro, Dean of Harvard College
 * Bud Moore, NASCAR team owner and crew chief, two Bronze Stars received
 * Hal Moore, US Army Lieutenant General
 * Robert Neller, 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Scott O'Grady, Lieutenant most known for having the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines (2001 film) based on his events in the Bosinan War
 * Peter Pace, 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
 * Ferruccio Parri, leader of the Italian resistance movement
 * George S. Patton, legendary general
 * David Petraeus, Director of the CIA
 * Colin Powell, 65th US Secretary of State, 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
 * Geronimo Pratt, high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party, two Bronze Stars received
 * Lewis B. Puller, legendary US Marine Corps general
 * Tony Radakin, 24th Chief of the Defence Staff
 * Elliot Richardson, 11th US Secretary of Defense, 69th Attorney General, and Secretary of Commerce
 * Tom Ridge, Governor of Pennsylvania, Secretary US Department of Homeland Security
 * Mickey Rooney, actor
 * Justus Rosenberg, member of the French Resistance, Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, and Emeritus Professor of Languages and Literature
 * Jack Rudin, real estate developer
 * Rod Serling, writer/creator of The Twilight Zone
 * Raymond P. Shafer, Governor of Pennsylvania
 * Lloyd Stowell Shapley
 * Larry Siegel, writer
 * EJ Snyder, survivalist and television personality
 * Oliver Stone, director
 * Grace Thorpe, environmentalist and Native rights activist
 * Pat Tillman, NFL player and US Army Ranger
 * Lee Van Cleef, actor
 * John Paul Vann, soldier and state department official
 * Richard Vinroot, Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina
 * John Walsh, US Senator
 * Edward Warburg, philanthropist
 * Leroy H. Watson, Mayor of Beverly Hills, California
 * Douglas Wilder, Governor of Virginia
 * Elmo Zumwalt, 19th Chief of Naval Operations
 * Desmond Doss, Combat Medic in Battle of Okinawa
 * Robert M. Filbert III, Philosopher and MS LEO

title: Bronze Star Medal