topher

What is a topher?

The following is my interpretation: This comes from the name Christopher, which literally means "Christ-bearer". Using only the 't' (symbolic of the cross) of Christ, one would have "cross bearer".

If we are to be considered Christians, then perhaps we are all topher's or "cross bearers"

Matt 16:24-28 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

What is Faithful Citizenship?

It is my belief that Faithful Citizenship is our duty -- at least for Christians. This duty is implemented by prayer and how we live our lives. As Christians, we must set good examples for others, and it will be expected of us to make sacrifices (carrying our cross).There are four examples that would show one how to implement Faithful Citizenship in our lives. Key to all of these examples are faith, and putting that faith into action.
The first requirement of Faithful Citizenship is that Christians must be involved in the political process of the Government. In the case of E.D.S.A., which will be described later, twice a peaceful revolution occurred in the Philippines. This required the involvement of the people in the political process. Christians must also be Citizens. It is clear to most Christians the meaning of the conversion of the Good Thief -- at the cruxification of Jesus. But the conversion of the Centurian is important as it provided Jesus with a Roman protector of His flock. In a sense, it was how Jesus was in involved in Faithful Citizenship -- converting a Roman military leader just before or at the time of His death.
The first example is the Battle of Lepanto. It took courage for the Western nations of Europe to band together and stand against the Turkish fleet -- which might have overrun Western Europe with the Islamic faith.
In this great battle, all of the sailors were ordered to pray. It became not only a military battle but also a spiritual battle for this reason. The Christian forces seemed to be on the verge of a military defeat when there seemed to be a Divine intervention -- a change in the wind that was extremely unfavorable to the Turkish fleet and gave the victory to the Christians.
The second example are in the events in Fatima, Portugal from May of 1917 to October of 1917. These three children promoted the message of prayer and the warning about aspects of the Twentieth Century -- such as the fact that Fashions that would offend Jesus the Christ. There were also three parts of a secret entrusted to three shepherd children. The first two parts of this secret were that a second a more terrible war than World War I would occur if people would not repent of their sinful ways. The other part was a warning about Russia spreading its errors around the world. This second part seemed to be cryptic -- since the October 1917 Revolution had not yet occurred, and the children and others were unaware that this was a reference to Russia spreading Communism around the world. The final part of the secret was not revealed until the start of the Twenty-first Centry.
Larger and larger crowds started to gather at the Covia de Ira every 13th of the month. There was finally a prediction of a miracle occurring on the 13th of October 1917 -- exactly 33 years to the day after the vision of Pope Leo XIII with the coming battle between Satan and Saint Michael the Archangel. The events at Fatima, Portugal caused a direct clash between the atheistic government of Portugal and the three shepherd children. The children were even thrown into jail -- to prevent them from being at the Cove of Peace on the 13th of August, 1917. It was PRAYER that the children used to defeat this atheistic government. It should be noted that the three children were supported by thousands of people in prayer and action (by showing up on the 13th of the month in Covia de Ira.
The third example is the history behind the shrine of Our Lady of E.D.S.A. Many people in the Philippines believe in the power of prayer as a means to political change. But these same people took a courageous stand with their faith and defied a military force. This story can be found at The Story of Our Lady of EDSA. EDSA stands for Ephiphano de los Santos Avenue -- which is in the Quezon City portion of Manila in the Philippines. This story is not very well known in the United States. Suffice it to say that events at this place twice toppled governments in the Phillipines.
Perhaps the greatest story of an individual performing his role as a faithful citizen is that of Gabriele Possenti. This fourth story of Faithful Citizenship is that of Gabriele Possenti, a young monk training to be a Catholic priest in a Mountain village -- the village of Isola. As only a monk in that mountain village, took on twelve hoodlums who were pillaging, raping, and burning the village he was in. He was able to defeat Twelve Men single-handedly. Each of the Twelve Men had pistols when he set out to engage them. He was unarmed initially, but he "stole" two of the pistols from the pillagers... This is the story of St. Gabriele Possenti -- or Patron Saint of Handguns

Samuel Eliot Morison Remembered...

Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian, noted for producing works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. A sailor as well as a scholar, Morison garnered numerous honors, including two Pulitzer Prizes, two Bancroft Prizes, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The above is from wikipedia.org: Samuel Eliot Morison: American Historian, Sailor, Scholar, Author, and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Samuel Eliot Morison is the official US Naval Historian of World War II. His fifteen volume work contains detailed accounts of the Naval Actions of World War II by the ships of the US Navy.

Gallant Protector of Carriers: the USS South Dakota

The USS Enterprise had the tremendous AA support of the USS South Dakota for the battle of Santa Cruz Islands. The armament for the USS South Dakota besides her 9 16 inch guns were an impressive ability to shoot down enemy aircraft. This was comprised of an array of 16 of the 5 inch "Dual Purpose" guns, 68 40mm Swedish Bofors and 26 20mm Swedish Bofors.

This was the most impressive arsenal of anti-aircraft guns on any US warship: it had "eleventy" protection or a total of 110 Anti-Aircraft guns. In contrast the USS Washington and USS North Carolina had only 36 anti-aircraft guns -- about 1/3 the number of anti-aircraft guns fielded by the USS South Dakota.

The Naval Battles of Guadalcanal: November 12-15, 1942

The battle for Guadalcanal raged fast and furious in the November crisis of 1942. There had been two prior Naval Battles for Guadalcanal. At stake was the strategic airbase of Guadcanal. This airbase was started by the Japanese, but quickly seized by the United States in August of 1942. Admiral Chester Nimitz was looking for some way to follow up the decisive victory at Midway. Guadalcanal appeared to be a key in the Pacific campaign.

The first of these two night engagements between warships of the United States and Japan saw the US lose Admirals Callaghan and Scott, as well as the story of the tragedy of the five Sullivan brothers. The Japanese were turned back and lost a battleship crippled from the night before -- easy prey to American aircraft at Henderson Field, which later sent this Jap battleship to the bottom.

The next battle would see the first battleship-to-battleship encounter between Japan and the United States in World War II.

A Battleship Named Washington and an Admiral named Lee...

For the Joust of the Giants, the United States had two modern battleships, the USS South Dakota and the USS Washington, to throw at the Japanese task force. The weak link for the US forces was the destroyer screen -- a scratch team that had not worked together and taken from various Destroyer divisions. This would see only a single destroyer of this screen survive.

There was a the great lesson proved by this battle -- the benefit of repeated practice and drilling. Admiral Willis Augustus Lee was a great believer in this -- hone the skills of seaman so that when his battleship engaged the enemy, they were firing as rapidly and as accuracely as possible. The application of repeated practice and training was demonstrated by the perfection seen in engagements by 31 Knot Arleigh A Burke. Admiral Lee believed in having gunfire training drills to hone the ability to launch lethal salvos from battleships.

The USS Washington, after an earlier skirmish, joined the USS South Dakota, found the opposing Jap Battleship on radar. Before opening fire, Admiral Lee made sure that this was not the USS South Dakota, and bravely checked fire as the range closed with the enemy.

When the USS Washington decided to open fire on the opposing Jap battleship, this ship fired 75 16-inch rounds in a period of a few minutes. There were nine devastating hits on the Jap battleship. Additionally, the USS Washington scored over 40 hits with its 5-inch Dual Purpose guns. The Japanese loudly camplained about these 5-inch guns as being illegal and unfair. They were in fact semi-automatic with the ability to provide AA cover as well as surface action gunfire.

With Admiral Willis Augustus Lee at the command of the USS Washington, the United States decisively turned the tide at Guadacanal. In these two engagements of November 13-15, 1942, the Japanese lost two battleships as well as a number of other ships.

The key goal of the night attacks were the bombardments of Henderson Field. Gone now was the threat from any battleship to participate in any strike. The Japanese would pay dearly for being unable to interrupt the operation of Henderson Airfield on Guadalcanal. After this point, the United States was in a position to strengthen its position on Guadalcanal.

After the victories at Guadalcanal in the November crisis, Winston Churchill spoke of this as marking the End of the Begining