# Millard Fillmore and the Mayaguez Incident **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 2, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525 "2002-10-02T13:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/1 "2002-10-02T13:01:47Z")
In this Cecil column on [Millard Fillmore](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_107.html), he writes… > [@](#): > > But every dog has his day, and Fillmore’s Mayaguez came when he settled an historic dispute… I was surprised at the reference to the Mayaguez in this context, yet I suppose it fits. It seems Cecil was being a little sarcastic about Fillmore’s accomplishment, and it is not much of a stretch to compare it to the [Mayaguez Incident.](http://members.tripod.com/~GranzowMissingLinks/POW_MIA.html) (Here’s [another site describing the incident.](http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0991valor.html)) It is best known as the last battle of Vietnam, but while the mission achieved its objective, it was accomplished at very high cost. Not a Pyrrhic Victory certainly, but more of a Hollow Victory. I remember the incident as being somewhat embarrassing, even though it was trumped up as a great success. I certainly don’t want to minimize the valor or heroism of the soldiers who fought this battle. That’s not the point. Perhaps Cecil was trying to coin a phrase, parallel to “Napoleon’s Waterloo”. If so, he was less than successful. There is probably not 1 out of a 100 people today who even recognize the name Mayaguez. Then again, I’m not sure when this classic column first appeared, so perhaps the Mayaguez was fresher in people’s minds than it is today. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/2 "2002-10-02T13:23:08Z")
I;ve been searching on-line for the Millard Fillmore Society, and the references I’ve found suggest it still exists, but no trace of a website. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/3 "2002-10-02T13:56:04Z")
Is guano a generic term for animal waste used for fuel or something? Until this column, I had never heard of guano being seagull droppings- it has always been presented as bat droppings. What’s the scoop? -j Sorry for the hijack- didn’t know if I needed to start a new thread on the same column ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/4 "2002-10-02T14:27:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smoke \* > \*\*Is guano a generic term for animal waste used for fuel or something? Until this column, I had never heard of guano being seagull droppings- it has always been presented as bat droppings. > > What’s the scoop? > \*\* Scoop – har! According to [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/), **guano** is “composed chiefly of the excrement of seafowl and used as a fertilizer,” although the term also refers to a “similar substance (as bat excrement or cannery waste) . . .” RR ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/5 "2002-10-02T14:39:01Z")
And here I am getting all my information from Young Guns, and none of it from the dictionary! :smack: Thanks, RiverRunner ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Arctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Tom\_Arctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Arctus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/6 "2002-10-02T16:57:22Z")
It should be mentioned here that the St. Paul Riverfront Corp. and other civic-minded organizations will be recreating the [Grand Excursion of 1854](http://www.riverfrontcorporation.com/asp/page44.asp) in which 1200 notables, including President Fillmore, steamed from Rock Island, Ill. to the headwaters of the Mississippi at St. Paul, then took carriages to St. Anthony Falls in what is now Minneapolis. A local firm plans to issue a Millard Fillmore coffee blend in time for the great celebration. If President Fillmore said anything of note on his river trip it went unrecorded by history. One wonders just what might be known of, say, Jesse Ventura a hundred years after he’s gone . . . P.S. Go Twins! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/7 "2002-10-03T01:49:21Z")
Ian Fleming, in “Dr. No,” an early James Bond book, wrote that guano is the only thing of value produced by seagulls. That was proven when, in the early days of MTV, a video by A Flock Of Seagulls got heavy rotation. Cecil never quite explained, though, what ol’ Millard did to settle the birdpoop dispute. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/8 "2002-10-05T07:21:22Z")
Thanks, **Algernon**. I was so confused. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/millard-fillmore-and-the-mayaguez-incident/130525/9 "2002-10-05T16:06:12Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if **smoke** ’s associating of guano with bats comes from the film Dr Strangelove where there is a character called Colonel Batguano.