The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the 110th Infantry at the Bulge (12/16-19/1944)

Soon after 1 a.m. on December 16, 1944, elements of the 304th Panzergrenadier Regiment from the 2nd Panzer Division and the 39th and 77th Volksgrenadiers from the 26th Volksgrenadier Division began their 20-yard crossing of the Our in small rubber boats. By 2 a.m., the Germans were across and headed west through the snow-covered, forested draws of the Our River valley toward their objectives. Quietly, skillfully, they approached to within 300 yards of the American defenses at Marnach, Hosingen, Holzthum, Weiler, Munshausen and Clervaux, surrounding them with squads, platoons, companies or--in Hosingen's case--an entire battalion. Once they had worked themselves into position, the German formations sought cover and waited for the first shots of the artillery bombardment that signaled the beginning of the attack.

Colonel William Hurley Fuller

Just before dawn, the Germans began their artillery bombardment. Then around 7 a.m., after a brief period of calm, the German infantry who had infiltrated through the front lines began their assault. Well-coordinated attacks began to hit all of the 110th's positions almost simultaneously.

Shivering lookouts from Company K, posted in a water tower in Hosingen, were startled to see an entire company of white-clad Germans from the 77th Volksgrenadiers charging across an open field to their front and trying to force their way into the town. Despite their surprise, the lookouts were able to alert their fellow GIs in positions around Hosingen. Soon the Americans were firing a .30-caliber machine gun, a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and M-1 rifles at the advancing enemy. The firing lasted only a few minutes before the Germans were forced to retreat back to the shelter of the woods.

It was the same across the 110th's entire front. The Germans spilled out from cover, "coming out of the ground from all directions," as one American veteran put it. Most of those attacks, however, were quickly repulsed by the quick reaction of startled GIs along the front.

Despite their initial setback, however, the advancing Germans had been able to surround the 110th. Soon additional German infantrymen were coming to the front, increasing the pressure on the now isolated American positions. All along Skyline Drive the fighting was becoming more intense. So close had the action come that some artillerymen in batteries positioned between Munshausen and Consthum were engaged in close-quarter fighting. Although the artillerymen were able to successfully defend their positions, the distraction caused by the German attacks prevented them from supporting other hard-pressed American units. It was becoming clear to the American commanders that if the Germans could maintain the intensity of their attacks, there was no way the Americans' strongpoints could continue to hold.

Back at regimental headquarters in Clervaux, Fuller was in a sour mood. His lines of communications to his forward outposts had been cut, and his headquarters was now under fire. Desperate for news of what was happening, Fuller quickly dispatched his executive officer, Lt. Col. Daniel Strickler, to get down to Consthum or Holzthum to find out what was going on in the 3rd Battalion's sector. Fuller also managed to get word to General Cota that the Germans were making a major push against his command and that reinforcements were needed immediately. Cota informed Fuller that the division's other regiments were also being hit and that he was reluctant to dispatch his few reserves until the situation became clearer.

Despite the shock of the early morning attack, the GIs of the 110th had been able to considerably slow the German advance. As a result, Luttwitz's soldiers failed to seize their assigned objectives on the morning of December 16 as expected. At that point 12 infantry companies from the 2nd Panzer Division were pinned down at Marnach by the 110th's Company B and five 57mm cannons from the 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Twelve other companies from the 26th Volksgrenadier Division had been stopped at Hosingen by the 110th's Company K and Company B, 103rd Engineers.

PzKW IV

In the southern sector, meanwhile, Company I was holding out against five companies from the 26th Volksgrenadier Division at Weiler and Holzthum, and along the route assigned to Panzer Lehr the men of Company L were somehow managing to hold out against seven companies of attacking Volksgrenadiers.

After four more hours of desperate fighting, Cota determined that the main German effort was indeed aimed at Fuller's units. He then decided to dispatch 16 Sherman tanks from the 707th Tank Battalion to help relieve Marnach, Hosingen and Holzthum. Aware that all that stood between the Germans and a potentially critical rupture of American lines was the 110th RCT, Cota passed down a chilling order to the officers and men of his--"Hold your position at all costs."

Departing Wiltz a little after 1 p.m., the Shermans from the 707th Tank Battalion rumbled toward the front in a staggered column. About a mile from the Clerf, at a slushy fork in the road, the first four tanks were ordered to bear to the right and head for Holzthum to reinforce Company L. Once this platoon crossed the Clerf, it was forced to run a gantlet of fire from a half dozen squads of the 39th Volksgrenadiers, which had set up along the tree-lined road with MG42s. Fighting their way through to Consthum, the tank platoon was ordered to continue on to Holzthum. In the confusion of battle the lead tank mistook an anti-tank gun from Company M, which was posted near a cafe on the western side of Holzthum, for a German gun and fired on it, killing or wounding most of its crew.

Meanwhile, the rest of the tank column had taken the left fork out of Wiltz and had crossed the Clerf at Drauffelt. After going another mile and a half, the column once again split at a fork in the road. The first four tanks headed down the right fork and fought their way into Hosingen; the remainder took the left fork and headed north to Munshausen and Marnach. Of these, half stayed in Munshausen to reinforce Company C, some anti-tank guns from Company D and the 1st Battalion's headquarters. The other four tanks went on to Marnach, fighting their way through the surrounding German infantry.

Soon after dusk, the engineer battalions from the 2nd Panzer and Panzer Lehr divisions had, after considerable confusion and delay, finally completed the bridges over the Our at Dasburg and Gemund, and the assault guns began to cross. However, the delay caused by the slow construction of the bridges meant that, instead of making a 15-minute drive to the captured bridges over the Clerf as originally planned, the 216 tanks, assault guns and tank destroyers of Luttwitz's corps were now diverted to aid their infantry brethren in clearing the roads to Bastogne of the resolute men of the 110th Infantry.

General Manteuffel was not happy when he attempted to sum up the situation on the evening of December 16 to his superiors: "The Clerf was not reached at any point. The enemy was unquestionably surprised by the attack. He offered, however, in many places tenacious and brave resistance in delaying by skillfully fought combat tactics. His counterattacks, which started at once, partly supported by small armored groups, resulted in many points in critical situations....The tenacious resistance of the enemy, together with the road blocks placed...were the most essential reasons for the slowing of the attack whose timing was not going according to plan."

Determined to regain lost time, the Germans did not cease their attacks when darkness came. At Marnach, the lead elements of the 2nd Panzer Regiment rolled in to support the stymied 304th Panzergrenadier Regiment with tanks and halftracks. The subsequent combined arms assault was fast, furious and decisive. The Germans attacked the town with the help of artificial moonlight--tanks mounting spotlights, which bounced their beams off the low-lying clouds, illuminating the battlefield. Four Shermans from the 707th Tank Battalion and five towed guns from the 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion were quickly knocked out. In addition, all of the infantrymen in Marnach were killed, captured or driven from the town.

Farther south at Hosingen, the stymied 77th Panzergrenadier Regiment was relieved by the 78th Panzergrenadiers and its assault guns so the 77th could push on to Drauffelt and secure the bridge over the Clerf as originally intended. In the dark, the 78th made a few probes but was unable to organize a full-scale attack until the next day.

As the Germans licked their wounds at Marnach and Holzthum, Cota decided to give Fuller the last of his available reserves. Companies F and H, 110th Infantry, and the last company from the 707th Tank Battalion, 18 Stuart light tanks, were dispatched to join the four remaining Shermans in Munshausen.

Fuller believed that Marnach was still holding out, and he assembled a force to relieve the beleaguered members of Company B on December 17. Four Shermans from the 707th and a hundred or so infantrymen from Company C were directed to attack Marnach from the south. Companies E and F, supported by machine guns from Company H, were to attack directly east up the road from Clervaux, and the 18 Stuart tanks from Company A were to swing down from the north from Heinerscheid.

Although Fuller began his counterattack with high hopes, the assault was a complete failure. The Stuarts were almost wiped out by ferocious German anti-tank fire. Only seven of the lightly armored tanks were able to escape, retreating back into Heinerscheid and into the arms of Company A. The infantry attack of Companies E, F and H was quickly repulsed by well-placed machine-gun fire, and the four Shermans coming up from Munshausen were driven back by German Mark IVs.

Once this local counterattack was thrown back, Lauchert ordered the 2nd Panzer forward to take Clervaux and the bridge across the Clerf. The Germans were now becoming impatient to get the operation moving again.

Soldiers of a Chemical Battalion attached to the 35th Infantry Division fire a 4.2 Inch mortar in a belgium Town near Bastonge.

Lauchert's reconnaissance battalion sped down the road first, followed by 10 Mark IVs and a few assault guns. Hanging onto the sides of the vehicle were infantrymen who had not become tangled up in the fierce small actions of the previous day. While the reconnaissance battalion pinned down the American force in Clervaux, Lauchert readied another, much more powerful force, to encircle the town and prevent the garrison from escaping. This second force was assembled on the western side of Marnach and consisted of the remainder of Lauchert's Mark IVs, his 49 Panthers and the balance of his Panzergrenadiers.

Clervaux was not well situated for defense. It rested at the bottom of the Clerf River valley and was overlooked by a wooded ridgeline. The main north-south road bisected the town, and it was straddled on both sides by two- or three-story buildings and a few churches. The most prominent feature of Clervaux, on its northern edge, was a chateau with thick walls, which was strategically situated on a spur that ran off a wooded ridge that encircled the town.

Companies E, F and H, 110th Infantry, were the town's principal defenders. Aware of the desperate nature of the situation, however, Fuller had also directed Headquarters Company--scouts, cooks and clerks, plus men from other units of the division who had been trapped in Clervaux when the offensive began--to grab whatever weapons were available and take up positions in the buildings throughout the town. The 707th Tank Battalion's three remaining Shermans were deployed just outside of town. This gave Fuller, who was headquartered in the Hotel Claravallis on the northern edge of the town, about 450 men, three tanks and a few anti-tank guns to defend against Lauchert's 5,000 infantry and 120 tanks and assault guns.

Ardennes-Tintange Belgium

The battle for Clervaux could clearly become a bloody affair. Not wanting to become entangled in a vicious urban battle, the Germans hoped that, once encircled, the Americans would simply surrender. If they did not, however, the Germans knew that the town would have to be stormed, a costly proposition and one that the 2nd Panzer Division could ill afford. Fuller and the men of the 110th trapped in Clervaux, knew that surrender was not an option.

By the morning of the 17th, the leading vehicles of Lauchert's reconnaissance battalion crested the ridge that overlooked Clervaux. After a quick review of the situation, the 2nd Panzer's commander decided to bombard the low-lying town from the ridge while the 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment conducted a dismounted double envelopment, capturing the crucial bridge and suppressing any enemy anti-tank fire.

While this force occupied the defenders, 16 armored vehicles would charge down the road to the bridge over the Clerf. From there, the tanks would continue on to the critically important crossroads town of Bastogne, with the reconnaissance battalion once again in the lead. Lauchert directed that while his forces moved in and around the town, artillery and mortar fire would rain down upon American strongpoints, especially upon the fortresslike chateau that dominated the landscape.

Soon German shells were raining down on the town. Instead of quickly surrendering as Lauchert hoped under this massive bombardment, however, Fuller's command held out as best it could. Covered by direct and indirect artillery fire, Lauchert's Panzergrenadiers were able to swing around both sides of the town, taking the ridge that overlooked the chateau. By 10 o'clock, they had secured the crossing for Lauchert's tanks.

Desperate, Fuller called in what artillery he could from the division and ordered his four Shermans to come forward from the backside of the town to try to silence at least some of the assault guns, which were now among the buildings of the town and were cutting down his nearly defenseless men.

As the Shermans advanced through Clervaux, Sergeant Frank Kushnir exacted some revenge from the Germans who were now firing point-blank into American positions. Armed with a bolt-action M1903 Springfield sniper rifle in a tower of the chateau, Kushnir took the opportunity to kill a few careless Germans who were "smoking and joking" outside their armored vehicles instead of safely inside with the hatches shut.

When the Shermans arrived on the eastern edge of the town, they fired a few times at the German tanks that were deployed along the ridge and then moved astride the road up through a snowy field. Their effort was of little value. Soon after moving into the field they were smashed by the combined fire of dozens of 75mm guns, which were posted on the heights above.

With the Shermans dispatched and the town in flames, Lauchert now ordered his main attack. The American position became even more tenuous as several German armored vehicles with supporting infantry charged down the road and invested the town from the east.

The struggle was becoming more intense. The Americans, however, refused to surrender, and the fighting moved like a tidal wave from street to street, house to house, room to room. While tanks clanked down the street, blasting American strongpoints at close range, dismounted Panzergrenadiers followed, pointing out targets to the tankers, guarding the flanks and rear of the armored vehicles and spraying the houses with rifle and machine-gun fire.

What the Germans had hoped would be a lightning-swift attack had now turned into a desperate, slow-moving fight where advances were measured in inches. The American soldiers fought desperately, but with so much enemy infantry now swarming through the town, they were unable to take out any of the tanks or assault guns that were destroying Clervaux one building at a time.

The fighting continued off and on all day. Still the Americans held the town. The Germans would push down a block, and the Americans would respond with a withering fire that would slow the advancing German infantry. The Germans would then call up supporting armored vehicles and push back the Americans. Although the Germans were slowly gaining the upper hand, they knew that by this time Lauchert's Panthers were supposed to be moving out of Bastogne and heading north toward the Meuse. Instead of restoring the initiative to the German offensive, the 2nd Panzer was slugging it out with an ad hoc infantry battalion in Clervaux.

At 6:45, after fighting the Germans all day, Fuller sent his last message back to division. He requested that what remained of his battalion be allowed to retreat. Upon being told that this was not permissible and that he should fight on, Fuller responded that his command post was under direct enemy fire from German tanks and that he was going to try to get back to the division headquarters at Wiltz.

A German prisoner helps American GI's carry another wounded German prisoner of war to a jeep ambulance near Harlange, Luxembourg. Both of the German prisoners were in their teens.

Totally cut off, overwhelmed and out of ammunition, the defenders of Clervaux now tried to escape from the battle area using the wooded draws around the town for cover. Fuller was forced to leave his second-story command post when a German tank began pumping artillery rounds into the first floor. There was no formal order of retreat. Fuller, what was left of his staff, and some wounded riflemen went out a back window of the hotel and climbed a cold steel ladder up the face of the windblown cliff that overlooked Clervaux. As they were exiting the building, they could hear the thud of German jackboots on the floor below.

The few GIs who had escaped the struggle now began to make their way westward as best they could. As the American defense disintegrated, Lauchert's Panther Battalion, now two days behind schedule, began to roll through town and across the Clerf River. Fuller, without a command, tried to make his way westward. After a harrowing period of avoiding various German detachments, the unfortunate colonel was eventually captured. Unable to locate Fuller, Colonel Theodore Seeley returned to command what remained of the regiment.

Clervaux, however, was not yet completely in German hands. The chateau was still held by 50 or so stalwart souls under Captain Clark Mackey, commander of the 110th's Headquarters Company, and Captain John Aiken, Fuller's signal officer. All night long, as tanks of the 2nd Panzer Division raced west toward Bastogne, the Americans continued to fight.

Although the manpower was badly needed elsewhere, Lauchert was forced to leave an entire battalion behind to mop up opposition at the chateau. By the afternoon of December 18, totally out of ammunition and with the chateau burning and crumbling around them, the gallant defenders of "Fort Clervaux" finally surrendered.

Kushnir volunteered to exit the building first. He held a prisoner in front of him to ensure that a vengeful German would not shoot him as he left the chateau. When he was not fired on, the rest of the Americans followed the sergeant out to surrender. Soon after surrendering, Kushnir remembered, "a German colonel asked the German sergeant who we had held as prisoner, 'What was the treatment?' 'Well,' the sergeant said, 'they didn't mistreat us, they fed us good, they took care of our wounded, and they also protected us within the chateau so we wouldn't be under our own fire, you know.' And then the colonel comes out in perfect English: 'You men are so lucky. My intention was to shoot all of you for the dead comrades [who] are strung throughout the compound.'"

Farther south, Panzer Lehr was now finally crossing the Clerf at Drauffelt. The long since bypassed American garrisons of Holzthum and Hosingen, still battling German formations left behind to finish them off, fought stubbornly from house to house before making the individual decision to either flee the battle area on the evening of December 17 or surrendered late on the morning of the 18th.

By the evening of the second day of the offensive, the only organized resistance east of the Clerf was in Consthum, where the 110th's executive officer, Colonel Daniel Strickler, had assembled the scattered remnants of the 110th's 3rd Battalion, the 447th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, and some 105mm howitzers from the 109th and 687th Field Artillery battalions along the ridges that flanked the town. With help from the rest of the 687th Field Artillery back at Wiltz, Strickler's force now pounded the tanks and infantry of Panzer Lehr.

Strickler called in massive amounts of artillery fire on Bayerlein's tanks and then as they passed through the town. "We killed off practically all of their infantry," Strickler later proudly recalled. "We just slaughtered their infantry who were with the tanks and following the tanks...we then brought up our artillery to the front lines and had them fire directly at the tanks coming down the road."

Aware that he could not simply ignore this determined American force, Bayerlein was forced to detach badly needed tanks and men to subdue Strickler's force. After a good deal of close-quarters fighting and many additional casualties, the Germans were finally able to subdue that Americans by nightfall.

With the fall of Consthum, the last strongpoint held by the 110th RCT was finally eliminated. Unlike Fuller, how-ever, Strickler was somehow able to avoid German patrols and make it back to Wiltz, where he was ordered by Cota to gather what troops remained and hold the enemy back as long as possible.

By December 19, the 28th Division had been swept from the map by the XLVII Panzer Corps. However, the units demise had not been in vain. Luttwitz's panzers were now three days behind schedule. The time that the Allies gained by the sacrifice of the 110th and the other elements of the 28th Infantry Division had allowed Eisenhower to rush reinforcements to the Ardennes. General Middleton could be happy with his decision to appoint Fuller to command the 110th. He later commented that "The 110th Infantry of the 28th Division, which was overrun by the attack, did a splendid job....It put up very stiff resistance for the three days. Had not this regiment put up the fight it did the Germans would have been in Bastogne long before the 101st Airborne reached that town." Colonel Fuller had been redeemed. Appropriately enough, when the XLVII Panzer Corps finally did reach Bastogne, fighting alongside the 101st in Bastogne was Team SNAFU, which was composed of individual members of the 28th Division who had been able to make their way back to American lines after their positions had been taken during the first three days of the German offensive.

Of the 5,000 officers and men of the 110th RCT who manned positions along Skyline Drive on the morning of December 16, only 532 officers and men were fit for duty after Hitler's last great offensive had been defeated. Once the German offensive had been blunted and the Americans had a chance to catch their breath, the widely scattered elements of the 28th Division, including the 110th, which was now commanded by Strickler, were gathered together to reconstitute the division. In the spring of 1945, as the Allies went on the offensive all along the Western Front, the 28th was brought back up to strength with thousands of new replacements and sent to fight in the rugged Colmar Pocket. The division remained in combat until Germany surrendered in May 1945.

Additional Sources:

www.35thinfdivassoc.com
www.chesterfieldarmament.com
helios.acomp.usf.edu
ardenne44.free.fr
www.milmag.com
www.house.gov
www.aboutjonesfamily.com
www.707tkbn.org
www.assonetart.com
www.militaryunits.com
www.stenbergaa.com
helios.acomp.usf.edu

Wars are planned by old men in the comfort of council rooms, far from the field of battle.

It was the 16th of September 1944. Adolf Hitler had summoned a group of his senior officers to his study in the huge, underground bunker called the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's secret headquarters, hidden deep underground in a pine forest in East Prussia. Those summoned were his closest and most trusted military advisors.

Among them, there was only one who wore the red stripes of the German General Staff on his uniform. He was the head of the Operations Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, General Alfred Jodl. The officers were waiting when Hitler entered. Looking considerably older than his fifty-four years, he was still recovering from the injuries he had received in the assassination attempt on his life two months earlier. His shoulders were sagging, his face was drawn and drained of color, and his skin had turned yellow, as if he had jaundice. He had a ruptured eardrum and at times he had an uncontrollable twitching of his right arm. Slowly taking his seat, Hitler instructed Jodl to sum up the situation on the Western Front.

Moonlight and cold - Luxembourg, Belgium border.

Jodl first noted that the strength of the opposing forces heavily favored the Western Allies. Over the past three months, the Germans had suffered more than a million casualties - half of them had been in the West. Jodl noted that there was one area of particular concern where the Germans had almost no troops. That area was the region of Belgium and Luxembourg called the Ardennes. At the word 'Ardennes', Hitler suddenly said, "Stop the briefing!" There was a long pause. Strained silence permeated the room. The silence was finally broken when Hitler, reminiscent of his once moving and powerful rhetoric said, "I have made a momentous decision!" His voice belied the weakened condition of his body, his blue eyes sparkled and were alight with a fervor that no one had seen since the attempt on his life. He pointed to the map unrolled on the desk before him and he boldly announced, "I shall go on the offensive here!" And he slapped his hand down on the map. "Here, out of the Ardennes! The objective is Antwerp!" Those assembled sat in stunned silence.

With those words Hitler set in motion preparations for a battle that was to assume epic proportions - the greatest German attack in the West since the campaign of 1940. While charging Jodl and his staff with preparing a detailed plan of operations, Hitler emphasized secrecy. Everyone who knew of the plan, from Field Marshals to clerks and typists, had to sign a pledge of secrecy. The penalty for a loose tongue was death.

But Hitler himself was less than discreet. When the Japanese Ambassador, Baron Oshima, called on him at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler was very candid with him. A day later, Ambassador Oshima reported the conversation to his government in Tokyo.

Since mid-1941, the United States had been intercepting and decrypting Japanese diplomatic traffic. Oshima's report that Hitler was planning a large-scale offensive operation in the West to start sometime after the first of November, was on the desks of intelligence officers in the Pentagon almost as soon as it reached the Foreign Office in Tokyo.

Gradually, very gradually, the German Commanders who would direct the battle were told of the plan, a few at a time. The operation would be launched along a sixty-mile front from Monschau in the north to the medieval town of Echternach in the south.

On the eve of the battle, in the medieval town of Echternach, a glamorous German-born film star, Marlene Dietrich, the star of a USO troupe, was entertaining the American troops. In a deep, sultry voice she sang "Lili Marlene" to the raucous applause of hundreds of GIs.

Meanwhile, on the German side of the line, in assembly areas across the front, German Commanders read a message from Field Marshal von Rundstedt. The message began as follows: "Soldiers of the West Front! Your great hour has arrived! We attack at dawn!"

In the early morning hours of 16 December, the tramping sound of hobnailed jack boots broke the stillness of that cold, silent night as Nazi troopers, with visions of past glory, strutted upon the field of battle as they marched to the line of departure and formed into assault formations.

Hitler was personally directing his grand offensive from the Adlerhorst, an underground bunker amid the wooded hills of Taunus. At the Adlerhorst, the door of the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall opened and the cuckoo bird came out and announced that the hour of destiny had arrived.

A split second after five-thirty a.m., an American soldier in the 28th Infantry Division manning an observation post high atop of a water tower in the village of Hosingen, frantically turned the crank on his field telephone. He reported to his Company Commander that in the distance, on the German side, he could see a strange phenomenon - countless flickering pinpoints of light piercing the darkness of the early morning fog and mist. Within a few seconds, both he and his Company Commander had an explanation. They were the muzzle flashes of over 2,000 German artillery pieces.

German Panther disguised as an American M-10

The early morning stillness of the fog-shrouded forest was suddenly shattered with the thunderclap of a massive artillery barrage landing on the Americans. The onslaught had begun! The German code name for the operation was AUTUMN MIST.

The Americans called it the BATTLE OF THE BULGE.

The Battle of the Bulge lasted from the l6th of December 1944 until the 28th of January 1945. More than a million men participated in this battle. It was to become the greatest battle ever fought by the United States Army.

The 16th of December was indelibly stamped in the memory of the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower. Early that morning, Eisenhower received notification of his promotion to the rank of five stars - General of the Army. Later that morning, he received a signal from Field Marshal Montgomery. Montgomery requested permission to return to England for the Christmas holidays since all was quiet on the Western Front. Request approved.

Aside from these activities, Eisenhower had something special he was looking forward to that day. His old Army buddy, General Omar Bradley, was coming back from his Army Group Headquarters to spend the night at Eisenhower's Headquarters. Eisenhower had prepared a special treat for his old friend, Brad. Taking advantage of a plane flying in from Washington, Eisenhower had ordered a bushel of oysters. Eisenhower loved oysters and he planned a special dinner for his old friend. Dinner would begin with oysters on the half shell, then oyster stew followed by fried oysters as the main course.

An "88" knocked out near Honville Belgium

In the fading light of a wintery sunset, the two Commanders and several of their staff officers were discussing the major problem at hand, the diversion of replacements by Washington from the European Theater to the Far East, when a Colonel from the Intelligence Section tiptoed into the discussion with the first wisp of information about the battle. He announced that the Germans had secured penetrations at five points along General Middleton's VIII Corps front.

A review of the operations map revealed that there were two U. S. Armored Divisions out of the line. After much discussion, Eisenhower, who alone of those assembled had the benefit of the intercepts of Baron Oshima's reports to Tokyo, believed that it might be more than a spoiling attack and said, "I think we had better send Middleton some help. Send the two Armored Divisions."

In the dinner that followed, it almost went unnoticed that Bradley was allergic to oysters and had to be served "powdered" eggs instead.

Far from the comfort of the council rooms of the high-ranking Generals and Field Marshals was the soldier on the front line. As the last rays of daylight fell dim and purple on the snow-covered hills of the Ardennes, there were no oysters on the half shell for Willie and Joe and their comrades on the front lines that night! The order of the day for them was man's first law - self-preservation. They were dry-mouthed and their bowels churned with fear as masses of German troopers dressed in greatcoats emerged through the veil of the early morning fog and mist, and charged towards them like men possessed. Low in their foxholes they prayed to the Lord, and the enemy discovered the fury of their rifles.

The real story of the Battle of the Bulge is the story of these soldiers and the intense combat action of the small units: the squads, the platoons, the companies, and the soldiers who filled their ranks. For the most part they were children of the 20's - citizen soldiers, draftees - young men hardly more than boys. Raised during the Great Depression, they did not experience the carefree days of childhood. They watched as the worry and stress of the times wrinkled their mothers' faces. They watched as the dust storms, the stock market crash and the breadlines humbled their fathers, impoverished their families and dashed their hopes and dreams of the future.

Laying Anti-Tank mines

Then, as the Depression receded, the world staggered into war and they received a letter from their local Draft Board: "Greetings --- Orders to Report for Induction". Summoned by the clarion call to arms, they came from across the land, from the farms and the factories, from their offices and schools, from the sidewalks of New York to the shores of San Francisco, they came. They raised their right hand and pledged their sacred honor to defend their country. In their youth their hearts were touched by the flame of patriotism.

Resourceful, tough, and tempered as hard as steel in the crucible of the Great Depression, these men were as tough as the times in which they were raised. These are the men who made up the fighting strength of the divisions, carried out the orders of the Generals and engaged the Germans in mortal combat:

Battalion Commanders and Company Commanders - young, lean, tough, battle-wise and toil-worn.

And Second lieutenants - newly minted officers and gentlemen, some still sporting peach fuzz on their upper lips - too young to require a razor.

And Grizzly NCO's with faces chiseled and gaunt by the gnawing stress of battle and the rigors of a soldier's life in combat.

And seasoned troopers, scroungy and unkempt, but battle-hardened, competent and disciplined in the automatic habits of war never learned in school.

Around their necks hung their dog tags and rosaries, on their head was their steel pot, and in their pocket, next to their heart was a picture, the picture of their girl back home.

Surprised, stunned and not understanding what was happening to him, the American soldier found himself in a situation that was as confusing as trying to read a compass in a magnet factory. Nevertheless, he held fast until he was overwhelmed by the German onslaught, or until his commanders ordered him to withdraw.

The battle was very personal for them. Concerned with the fearful and consuming task of fighting and staying alive, these men did not think of the battle in terms of the 'Big Picture' represented on the situation maps at higher headquarters. They knew only what they could see and hear in the chaos of the battle around them. They knew and understood the earth for which they fought, the advantage of holding the high ground and the protection of the trench or foxhole. They could distinguish the sounds of the German weffers and the screaming sound of incoming German 88's.

And they knew the fear of having German artillery rounds falling like raindrops around them, without pattern, in the snow. As the soldiers in their foxholes listened to the sounds of the symphony of war around them, they were re-assured by the bass section as the low pitch of friendly cannons roared and thundered to that 1944 overture.

They knew the satisfying sound of friendly artillery rounds passing overhead. And they were reassured by the sudden stabs of flame through the darkness of night as friendly artillery tubes belched tongues of fire into the air, spreading a glow of flickering light above the blackened trees of the snow-covered forest.

They knew the overwhelming loneliness of the battlefield, the feeling of despair, confusion and uncertainty that prevails in units in retreat. And they knew that feeling of utter exhaustion --- the inability of the soldier's flesh and blood to continue on, yet they must, or die. They knew first hand the violent pounding of the heart, the cold sweat, the trembling of the body and the stark terror that mortal combat brings. It was a hell that had to be endured, and they endured it.

Even Mother Nature was their enemy with bitterly cold weather. The ground was frozen solid. The skies were gray. The days were short, with daylight at 8 and darkness by 4. The nights were long and frigid and snow, knee-deep, covered the battlefield. GI's, their bodies numb, were blue-lipped and chilled to the bone.

At night, the German ground assault was assisted by artificial moonlight created by giant German searchlights bouncing their lights off the low-hanging clouds. The night sky was aflame with shimmering lights and pulsating patterns, casting an eerie, ghostly light in the fog and mist over the snow-covered field of battle.

When the chips were down and the situation was desperate, the American soldier, molded in the adversity of the Great Depression, proved to be unusually adept at taking charge of the situation and "going into business for himself" on the battlefield. GIs on that battlefield were craftier than crows in a cornfield.

These are the soldiers who, when their officers lay dead and their sergeants turned white, held the enemy at bay in the days when the heavens were falling and the battlefield was in flames with all the fire and noise humanly possible for over a million warriors to create.

For a brief moment in history, these men held our nation's destiny in their hands. They did not fail us. They blew the trumpets that tumbled the walls. Theirs was the face of victory. Super heroes---super patriots. Their legacy - victory, victory in the greatest battle ever fought by the United States Army.

But the cost of victory was high. There, on that cold, brutal field of battle, 19,000 young Americans answered the angel's trumpet call and had their rendezvous with death. Heroes sacrificed on the altar of the god of war, whose valor in many cases died unrecognized with them on the field of battle.

Tonight we look into the mirror of the past and we remember them. In the muffled cadence of memory only, they go marching by, and we salute them. We hear the echo from those years long ago as the drum beats the long, slow roll of the soldier's last tattoo, and the bugler blows the sad and bitter notes of Taps.

Back home in America, Western Union telegraph lines hummed with those dreaded messages of sadness: "The Secretary of War regrets to inform you" -- telegrams that forever shattered the lives of the innocent, bringing tears and sadness to homes across our land. Aged mothers and the youthful wives must bear the burden of grief throughout the remainder of their lives.

Over 23,000 American soldiers were captured during the heat of battle. Prisoners of war who staggered in tattered columns as they were marched to German stalags. There they were forced to serve behind barbed wire in silence and with courage, each in his own way until the war's end.

Purple Hearts were awarded by the thousands. The bleeding wounds of 81,000 young Americans stained the snow and left the 'red badge of courage' on that blood-soaked field of battle.

Amid the serene hills of the Ardennes to this very day reposes the dust of American soldiers listed as "missing and unaccounted for" from that battle. Those known only to God, who were left behind, never to return. There, on that field of battle they perished and disappeared as though they had never been born. History cannot record their deeds for it knows not even their names.

We muster here tonight to honor and pay tribute to all those brave young warriors who served with honor and won that battle. We are reminded of what their journey through life has left behind for us.

The warriors of "the greatest generation", a generation that is taking their final curtain calls and soon will leave the stage of life. They have passed "Old Glory" on to the next generation unsoiled, their swords untarnished, their legacy a great nation under God, with liberty, justice and freedom for all.

Look at these old warriors gathered here tonight. They are yesterday's heroes. They were soldiers once and young - the vibrant youth of that time, men who were there on that battlefield 57 years ago.

These men are the soldiers who, in the hours when the earth's foundation shook, and the ground did tremble, stood their ground amid the whine of bullets, the blast of mortars and the zinging sound of jagged artillery shrapnel filling the air around them.

Some bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, or a certain faraway look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a steel pin holding a bone together or a piece of shrapnel still in their arm or leg. But they all bear another kind of inner steel, a spirit forged with their comrades on that field of battle. The spirit of a band of warriors, a band of warriors called Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. Veterans bound together with a bond as strong as right itself and as lasting as their lifetime.

With their fellow warriors on that field of battle, they followed duty's call and lived the code of the soldier: duty, honor, country.

When history calls the roll of heroes, these warriors earned the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with their forebears from Valley Forge, Fredericksburg and the Marne. Before them, the Nazis' visions of glory drifted away like the sound and fury of battle. When the smoke had cleared, more than 120,000 enemy soldiers lay stiff in the snow, wounded or captured, and over 800 enemy tanks were left burning and rusting in the wooded hills of the Ardennes.

THE BULGE WAS NO MORE.

During the final days of their countdown to victory, these American soldiers were as pitiless as a hanging judge as they brandished the sword of retribution and raced across Germany, greeted by signs on buildings all along the way: "Alles est kaput!"

And finally, the bells of liberty did ring and peace spread her lovely mantle softly over the land. The lights came on again all over.

With duty done, with their saber in their scabbard placed and their colors furled away, their dreams turned to the journey home, the harbor lights of New York and the girl they left behind. Their place in history secured as "the greatest generation", the generation that saved the sum of all things we hold dear. And all this for love of their country and the meager pay of a soldier.

Ask yourselves now, with heads bowed, from where, Oh God came such men as these?

This country was truly blessed.

The Ardennes woods are silent now,
The battle smoke has fled.
Fifty years and seven have past----
Now…only memories…and the dead.

May God Bless Each of You.

God Bless the USA.

Thank You.

Brigader General William E. Carlson
Sep. 28th, 2001

Today's classic warship, USS Idaho (BB-42)

New Mexico class battleship
displacement. 32,000 t.
length. 624'
beam. 97'5"
draft. 30'
speed. 21 k.
complement. 1,081
armament. 12 14", 14 5", 4 3", 2 21" tt.

The USS Idaho (BB-42) was launched by New York shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., 30 June 1917; sponsored by Miss H. A. Limons, granddaughter of the Governor of Idaho; and commissioned 24 March 1919, Captain C. T. Vogelgesang In command.

Idaho sailed 13 April for shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, and after returning to New York received President Pessoa of Brazil for the voyage to Rio de Janeiro. Departing 6 July with her escort, the battleship arrived Rio 17 July 1919 . From there she set course for the Panama Canal, arriving Monterey, Calif., in September to join the Pacific Fleet. She joined other dreadnoughts in training exercises and reviews, including a Fleet Review by President Wilson 13 September 1919. In 1920 the battleship carried Secretary Daniels and the Secretary of the Interior on an inspection tour of Alaska.

Upon her return from Alaska 22 July 1920 Idaho took part in fleet maneuvers off the California coast and as far south as Chile. She continued this important training until 1925, taking part in numerous ceremonies on the West Coast during the interim. Idaho took part in the fleet review held by President Harding in Seattle shortly before his death In 1923. The battleship sailed 15 April 1925 for Hawaii, participated in war games until 1 July, and then got underway for Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. On the return voyage Idaho embarked gallant Comdr. John Rodgers and his seaplane crew after their attempt to fly to Hawaii, arriving San Francisco 24 September 1925.

For the next 6 years Idaho operated out of San Pedro on training and readiness operations off California and in the Caribbean. She sailed from San Pedro 7 September 1931 for the East Coast, entering Norfolk Nary Yard 30 September for modernization. The veteran battleship received better armor, "blister" antisubmarine protection, and better machinery during this extensive overhaul. Gone were the "cage" masts that were such a distinguishing feature of American battleships of her era, now replaced with a tower superstructure supporting up-to-date gunfire controls. After completion 9 October 1934 the ship conducted shakedown in the Caribbean before returning to her home port, San Pedro, 17 April 1935.

As war clouds gathered in the Pacific, the fleet increased the tempo of its training operations. Idaho carried out fleet tactics and gunnery exercises regularly until arriving with the battle fleet at Pearl Harbor 1 July 1940. The ship sailed for Hampton Roads 6 June 1941 to perform Atlantic neutrality patrol, a vital part of U.S. policy in the early days of the European fighting. She moved to Iceland In September to protect American advance bases and was on station at Hvalfjordur when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941 and catapulted America into the war.

Idaho and sister ship Mississippi departed Iceland 2 days after Pearl Harbor to join the Pacific Fleet, and arrived San Francisco via Norfolk and the Panama Canal 31 January 1942. She conducted additional battle exercises in California waters and out of Pearl Harbor until October 1942, when she entered Puget Sound Navy Yard to be regunned. Upon completion of this work Idaho again took part in battle exercises, and sailed 7 April 1943 for operations in the bleak Aleutians. There she was flagship of the bombardment and patrol force around Attu, where she gave gunfire support to the Army landings 11 May 1943. During the months that followed she concentrated on Kiska, culminating in an assault 15 August. The Japanese were found to have evacuated island in late July, thus abandoning their last foothold in the Aleutians.

Idaho returned to San Francisco 7 September 1943 to prepare for the invasion of the Gilbert islands. Moving to Pearl Harbor, she got underway with the assault fleet 10 November and arrived off Makin Atoll 20 November. She supported the fighting ashore with accurate gunfire support and antiaircraft fire, remaining in the Gilbert until sailing for Pearl Harbor 5 December 1943.

Next on the Pacific timetable was the invasion of the Marshalls, and the veteran battleship arrived off Kwajalein early 31 January to soften up shore positions. Again she hurled tons of shells into Japanese positions until 5 February, when the outcome was one of certain victory. After replenishing at Majuro she bombarded other islands in the group, then moved to Kavieng, New Ireland, for a diversionary bombardment 20 March 1944.

Idaho returned to the New Hebrides 25 March, and after a short stay In Australia arrived Kwajalein with a group of escort carriers 8 June. From there the ships steamed to the Marianas, where Idaho began a preinvasion bombardment of Saipan 14 June. With this brilliantly executed landing assault underway 15 June, the battleship moved to Guam for bombardment assignments. As the American fleet decimated Japanese carrier air power in the Battle of the Philippine Sea 19 to 21 June, Idaho protected the precious transport area and reserve convoys. After returning briefly to Eniwetok 28 June to 9 July the ship began preinvasion bombardment of Guam 12 July, and continued the devastating shelling until the main assault eight days later. As ground troops battled for the island, Idaho stood offshore providing vital support until anchoring at Eniwetok 2 August 1944.

The ship continued to Espiritu Santo and entered a floating dry dock 15 August for repairs to her blisters. After landing rehearsals on Guadalcanal in early September, Idaho moved to Peleliu 12 September and began bombarding the island, needed as a staging base for the invasion of the Philippines. Despite the furious bombardment, Japanese entrenchments gave assault forces stiff opposition, and the battleship remained off Peleliu until 24 September providing the all-important fire support for advancing marines. She then sailed for Manus and eventually to Bremerton, Wash., where she arrived for needed repairs 22 October 1944. This was followed by battle practice off California.

Idaho's mighty guns were need for the next giant amphibious assault on the way to Japan. She sailed from San Diego 20 January 1945 to join a battleship group at Pearl Harbor. After rehearsals she steamed from the Marianas 14 February for the in vasion of Iwo Jima. As marines stormed ashore 19 February Idaho was again blasting enemy positions with her big guns. She remained off Iwo Jima until 7 March, when she underway for Ulithi and the last of the great Pacific assaults-Okinawa.

Idaho sailed 21 March 1945 as part of Rear Admiral Deyo's Gunfire and Covering Group and flagship of Bombardment Unit 4. She arrived offshore 25 March and began silencing enemy shore batteries and pounding installations. The landings began 1 April, and as the Japanese made a desperate attempt to drive the vast fleet away with suicide attacks, Idaho's gunners shot down numerous planes. In a massed attack 12 April the battleship shot down five kamikazes before suffering damage to her port blisters from a near-miss. After temporary repairs she sailed 20 April and arrived Guam five days later.

The veteran of so many of the landings of the Pacific quickly completed repairs and returned to Okinawa 22 May to resume fire support. Idaho remained until 20 June 1945, then sailed for battle maneuvers in Leyte Gulf until hostilities ceased 15 August 1945.

Idaho made her triumphal entry into Tokyo Bay with occupation troops 27 August, and witnessed the signing of the surrender on board Missouri 2 September. Four days later she began the long voyage to the East Coast of the United States, steaming via the Panama Canal to Norfolk 16 October 1945. She decommissioned 3 July 1946 and was placed in reserve until sold for scrap 24 November 1947 to Lipsett Inc., of New York City.

Idaho received seven battle stars for World War II service.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on December 16:
1485 Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of England's King Henry the Eighth
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven Bonn Germany, composer (Ode to Joy)
1775 Jane Austen (author: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility)
1825 Henry Heth Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1863 George Santayana (philosopher/poet: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.")
1882 Walther Meissner, German physicist (Meissner effect)
1890 Harlan Sanders, founder/CEO (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
1899 Sir Noel Coward (actor, director, composer, playwright: Private Lives)
1900 V.S. Pritchett, literary critic
1901 Margaret Mead Philadelphia PA, anthropologist (Coming of Age in Samoa)
1906 Leonid Brezhnev (Russian leader of the Communist Party)
1917 Arthur C[harles] Clarke, sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, Childhood's End)
1920 George Schaefer (director)
1928 Philip K[indred] Dick US, sci-fi author (Hugo-1963, Blade Runner)
Tom Brookshier (football: Philadelphia Eagles; sportscaster: CBS Sports)
1939 Liv Ullman, in Tokyo Japan (Cries and Whispers)
1941 Lesley Stahl (Shameless shill: White House correspondent; reporter: CBS News, Face the Nation, 60 Minutes)
1943 Steven Bochco, prod (Hill St Blues, LA Law, St Elsewhere, NYPD Blue)
1945 Anthony Hicks (musician: lead guitar: group: The Hollies)
1947 Ben Cross England, actor (Chariots of Fire, Far Pavillions)
1952 Elayne Boosler, Comedian
1962 William Perry, Chicago Bears (The Refrigerator)

Deaths which occurred on December 16:
0714 Pippin II of Héristal, Duke/prince of France, dies
0875 Ado of Vienne French archbishop of Vienne, dies at about 75
0882 John VIII Italian Pope (872-82), dies
0999 Adelheid the Saint German empress of Otto I/saint, dies at about 68
1404 Albrecht of Bavaria duke of Bavaria, dies at about 74
1672 John II Casimir Vasa cardinal/king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1852 Andries H Potgieter South African/Transvaal explorer, dies at 59
1920 Ma Mua-Ming-Hsin the Benovelent, Chinese muslim rebel (holy war), dies
1976 George a goose that lived to 49 years 8 months, dies
1980 Harland "Colonel" Sanders founder Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
1989 Lee Van Cleef US actor (Good, Bad & Ugly), dies at 64

Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 WICKHAMM DAVID W. II---WHEELING WV.
1967 HILL HOWARD J.---RANTOUL IL.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 LOW JAMES FREDERICK---SAUSILITO CA.
[08/04/68 RELEASED HANOI]
1969 BUCKLEY VICTOR P.---FALLS CHURCH VA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0882 John VIII ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0882 Marinus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1431 King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
1538 King François I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1577 Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king István Báthory
1617 Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Río de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)
1631 Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000
1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland & Ireland
1659 General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1689 English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1761 Russian army occupies Kolberg
1773 Big tea party in Boston harbor-Indians welcome (Boston Tea Party)
1809 Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by the French Senate
1811 Most violent & prolonged quakes in US begins in Midwest region; 8.0 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO
1835 Fire consumes over 600 buildings in New York NY
1838 Boers beat Zulu chieftain Dingaan in South Africa
1857 Earthquake in Naples, Italy
1862 Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution
1864 Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities
1880 Republic of South-Africa forms
1884 Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1886 Rift at Dutch Reformed Church over "Doleantie"
1890 Negro Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Jackson TN
1893 Anton Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premieres
1897 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1900 Boer army under General Kritzinger take Cape colony
1903 Majestic Theater, New York NY, becomes 1st in US to employ women ushers
1905 "Variety", covering all phases of show business, 1st published
1907 Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on its World Cruise
1907 Eugene H Farrar is 1st to sing on radio (Brooklyn Navy Yard NY)
1908 1st credit union in US forms (Manchester NH)
1909 US pressure forces Nicaraguan President José Santos Zelaya from office
1912 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20¢ parcel post, issued
1912 Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
1913 Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1914 French offensive in Artois (Pétain)
1915 Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity"
1920 Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000² miles (Kansu China)
1922 Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs formally organizes
1926 Kenesaw Mountain Landis renewed 7-years as baseball commissioner
1929 1st NHL game at Chicago Stadium; Chicago Blackhawks beat Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1
1930 Golfer Bobby Jones wins James E Sullivan Award
1931 German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism
1932 Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed
1940 British air raid on Mannheim
1940 Joe Louis KOs Al McCoy in 6 for heavyweight boxing title in Chicago
1941 Sarawak occupied by the Japanese
1942 Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia & Balkan
1943 "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
1944 Battle of the Bulge begins in Belgium
1944 General Eisenhower's clerk Rickey marries corporal Pearlie
1944 German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill)
1944 US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads" Wahlerscheid
1945 Cleveland Rams win NFL championship
1949 Sukarno becomes President of Indonesia, Mokammed Hatta premier
1950 Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1953 1st White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower & 161 reporters)
1953 Charles E Yeager flies over 2,575 kph (1,650 mph) in Bell X-1A (first man to fly at nearly two and one-half times the speed of sound)
1959 Snow falling in Lowarai Pass West Pakistan kills 48
1960 134 die as United DC-8 & TWA Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York NY
1962 Constitutional Monarchical Hindu State of Nepál adopts new constitution
1962 New York Giant YA Tittle sets NFL season touchdown pass record at 33 with 6 touchdowns vs Dallas (41-31)
1962 David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" premieres
1964 US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
1965 Gemini 6 returns to Earth
1965 Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit
1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its 1st single, "Hey Joe", in the UK
1967 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia 76ers scores 68 points vs Chicago
1968 KFIZ TV channel 34 in Fond du Lac WI begins broadcasting
1969 British House of Commons votes 343-185 abolishing the death penalty
1970 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR)
1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1971 Don McLean's 8+ minute version of "American Pie" released
1972 Miami Dolphins become 1st undefeated NFL team (14-0-0)
1973 O J Simpson becomes 1st NFLer to rush 2,000 yard in a season
1973 US kidnap victim Paul Getty III freed
1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1974 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 1st broadcast of "One Day at a Time" on CBS TV
1975 Bill Veeck buys 80% of White Sox from John Allyn
1976 Government halts swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis
1976 Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN
1976 Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
1978 Cleveland becomes the first U.S. city to default since the depression
1978 Ronald Reagan denounces President Jimmy Carter's recognition of China People's Republic
1979 QB Roger Staubach's last regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys
1980 President-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as Secretary of State
1983 Riverside CA judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
1983 Yogi Berra named Yankee manager for 2nd time
1983 Spokesperson for The Who announces the group is disbanding
1985 Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 51-L mission
1987 Roh Tae Woo wins Presidential Election in South Korea
1988 Political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax, mail fraud
1990 Reverend Jean-Betrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
1991 UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
1991 Florida Marlins sign their 1st player, 16 year old pitcher Clemente Nunez
1992 Israel orders deportation of 415 Palestinians after escalating terrorist activity
1997 President Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"
1998 U.S. prosecutors indicted five more men in the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania.
2001 Police in India said four suspects in custody had named Pakistan-based terrorist groups as being responsible for the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi that left 14 dead.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Bahrain : National Day
Bangladesh : Victory Day (1971)
México : Posadas Days/Lodgings
Namibia, South Africa : Day of the Covenant
Nepál : Constitution Day (1962)
Pretoria, South Africa : Foretrekkers' Day
South Africa : Dingaan's Day (1838)
World : Underdog Day (Friday)
US : Humans Will Never Fly Society Meeting
Made In America Month

Religious Observances
Old Roman Catholic : Feast of St Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, martyr

Religious History
1786 Birth of Konrad Kocher, German chorister and composer of the hymn tune DIX ("For the Beauty of the Earth"). Kocher did much to popularize four_part singing in the churches.
1826 Birth of John Ellerton, Anglican clergyman and writer of children's hymns. Among his better_known compositions are "Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise" and "Welcome, Happy Morning."
1867 Birth of Amy Carmichael, Scotch_Irish missionary. She went to India in 1895 under the Zenana Missionary Society, remaining there without furlough until her death 56 years later. An invalid her last 20 years, she worked to rescue children from Hindu cult prostitution, and founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1925.
1870 The Colored Methodist Church of America was established at Jackson, TN. Its name was changed in 1954 to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination today is comprised of approximately 3,000 congregations.
1935 Death of Walter S. Martin, 73, Disciples of Christ clergyman, teacher and evangelist. He is remembered best today as composer of the hymn tune GOD CARES ("Be Not Dismayed, Whate'er Betide" a.k.a. "God Will Take Care of You").

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"When forced to choose between two evils, try the new one."

Question of the day...
What's another word for thesaurus?

Murphys Law of the day...
Never stand between a fire hydrant and a dog

WOW!! did you know...
The Statue of Liberty's tablet is two feet thick.

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