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Military Support Links


Army	Navy	Air Force	Marines	Coast Guard

The Fisher House program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America's military in their time of need by providing homes close to a loved one during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

There are currently 31 houses located on the grounds of every major military medical center and several VA medical centers. These houses will play a critical role in caring for casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Donations will be used to help meet the cost of lodging for a family whose loved one was injured in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is a limit to the number of families who can stay in a Fisher House and program is committed to help provide lodging for families who must find commercial lodging, because the Fisher House is full.

Access the Wounded Heroes Guestbook to write a message of encouragement for a hero wounded in the line of duty.

Messages in the Wounded Heroes Guestbook are viewed by wounded soldiers, their loved ones, and the general public.

Visit the Veterans of Foreign Wars Home Page

Visit the Department of Veterans Affairs

VetsCoR is pleased to present: a CD message of support from America to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen deployed in the Middle East, and other places around the globe, in the ongoing war on terrorism.

If you have a family member deployed, and would like to send them a copy of the CD, please click here. (VetsCoR will mail a copy of the CD FREE to any APO/FPO or military address.) If you want a copy of the CD and you are not a member of the Armed Forces, you may order a copy for $5.00 each. Click the VetsCor Logo for more information.

Share your thoughts, good wishes and messages with American troops
deployed around the globe. In turn, we hope those in service will
be able to view them on this site, and perhaps respond themselves.

ADD A SERVICEPERSON: Please help make this tribute more
complete by creating a page for your own friends and family who
are currently deployed around the globe.

Support the Military Relief Societies!
Please support the the Military Relief Societies that help families whose loved
ones were injured or killed in battle. Click any one of the following:

Click here for info on
USO Canteen FReeper Style Business Cards

"HOW TO SIMULATE LIFE IN THE NAVY"

1. Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.

2. Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the walls.

3. Pump 10 inches of nasty, crappy water into your basement, then pump it out, clean up, and paint the basement "deck gray."

4. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.

5. Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.

6. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees. On Saturdays, and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.

7. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

8. Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 5am, and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout "Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up".

9. Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6am and read it to you.

10. Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock yourself out of the bathroom for 12 hours, and hang a sign On the door that reads "Secured-contact OA division at X-3053."

11. Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's OK for you to leave your house before 3pm.

12. Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months. After the 6
months is up, take down the boards, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home...you can't leave until the next day you have duty.

13. Shower with above-mentioned friends.

14. Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home (i.e., Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc).

15. Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.

16. Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This is to ensure your engine is properly "lighted off."

17. Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not. (Now sweepers, start your
brooms, clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all trashcans over the fantail)

18. Repaint your entire house once a month.

19. Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning you can get your hands on.

20. Use eighteen scoops of budget coffee grounds per pot, and allow each pot to sit 5 hours before drinking.

21. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item.

22. Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel.

23. Avoid watching TV with the exception of movies which are played in the middle of the night. Have the family vote on which movie to watch and then show a different one.

24. Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.

25. Sew back pockets to the front of your pants.

26. Spend 2 weeks in the red-light districts of Europe, and call it "world travel."

27. Attempt to spend 5 years working at McDonalds, and NOT get promoted.

28. Ensure that any promotions you do get are from stepping on the dead bodies of your coworkers.

29. Needle gun the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.

30. When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone, and shout at the top of your lungs that your home is under attack, and order them to man their battle stations. ("General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations")

31. Make your family menu a week ahead of time and do so without checking the pantry and refrigerator.

32. Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't pay attention to the menu any more so they just ask for hot dogs.

33. When baking a cake, prop up one side of the pan while it is in the oven. Spread icing on real thick to level it off.

34. In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have you family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.

35. Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. Then tell them that at the end of the 6th week you're going to take them to Disneyland for "weekend liberty." When the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been canceled due to the fact that
they need to get ready for Engineering-certification, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.

36. In your grim, gray dumpster (refer to #1), with 200 of your not-so-closest friend (cite par. 12) regardless of gender, suffer through PMS!

37. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have you wife whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep. She should then shine a flashlight in your eyes and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack."

38. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub, move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you shut off the water while you soap down.

39. When there is a thunderstorm in your area, find a wobbly rocking chair and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.

40. Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.

41. For ex-engineering types: leave the lawn mower running in your living room eight hours a day.

42. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.

43. Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot onto your neighbors house. Ignore his complaints.

44. Every other month buy green or red marine primer and put it in a paint sprayer. Spray it over the roof of your house onto your neighbors car. Ignore his complaints.

45. Lock wire the lug nuts on your car.

46. Buy a trash compactor, but use it only once a week. Store the garbage on the other side of your bathtub.

47. Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread.

48. Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night, jump up and get dressed as fast as you can making sure you button up the top button on your shirt, stuff you pants into your socks. Run out into the backyard and uncoil the garden hose.

49. Once a month, take every major appliance apart and put them back together again.

50. Install a fluorescent lamp under the coffee table and then get under it and read books.

51. Raise the thresholds and lower the top sills of your front and back doors so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through one of them.

52. Every so often, throw the cat in the pool and shout "Man overboard, starboard side" Then run into the house and sweep all the pots and dishes off the counter. Yell at the wife and kids for not having the kitchen "stowed for sea."

53. Put on the headphones from your stereo set, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck with string. Go stand in front of your stove. Say ... to no one in particular "Stove manned and ready" Stand there for three or four hours. And say again to no one in particular "stove secured." Roll up your headphones and paper cup and place them in a box.

Submitted by Michael Wiggs

I am the Egg man. Coo Coo Ca Choo!

Good morning Troops!

Good morning Canteen crew!

SALUTE!

Good morning, Diva! Good morning, Canteen Crew! Good morning, EVERYBODY!

GOOD

MORNING

TROOPS!!

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:

A man walks into a shoe store, and tries on a pair of shoes. "How
do they feel?" asks the sales clerk.

"Well they feel a bit tight," replies the man.

The assistant promptly bends down and has a look at the shoes and
at the man's feet. "Try pulling the tongue out," the clerk says.

"Well, theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth."

Current Conditions:
As reported at KORD, O'Hare Arpt..
Last update Tue 3 Jun 2003 4:55 AM CDT.

	Cloudy
52°F	Feels Like: N/A°F
UV Index:	0 Minimal
Wind:	From the NE at 10 mph
Humidity:	93 %
Visibility:	6.00 miles
Barometer:	29.91 inches and Falling

Today's Forecast
Tue 03 Jun 2003 03:01 AM CDT

TUE

Showers
Low 49°F
High 59°F

5 Day Forecast
Tue 03 Jun 2003 03:01 AM CDT

WED		Partly Cloudy Low 50°F High 65°F
THU		Partly Cloudy Low 55°F High 71°F
FRI		Few Showers Low 53°F High 69°F
SAT		Partly Cloudy Low 51°F High 69°F
SUN		Partly Cloudy Low 53°F High 69°F

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 03:
1761 Henry Scrapnel English inventor (shrapnel shell)
1780 William Hone England, author/bookseller (The Every-Day Book)
1804 Richard Cobden founder Anti-Corn-Law League
1808 Jefferson Davis Ky, Pres of Confederate States of America (1861-5)
1844 Garret Augustus Hobart (R) 24th US VP (1897-99)
1864 Ransom Eli Olds auto (Oldsmobile) & truck (REO) manufacturer
1865 George V king of England (1910-36)
1877 Raoul Dufy France, Fauvist painter (The Palm)
1895 Kavalam Madhava Panikkar India, statesman/diplomat/writer
19-- Kerry King rock guitarist (Slayer-Die by the Sword)
1901 Maurice Evans Dorchester England, actor (Maurice-Bewitched)
1904 Dr Charles Drew Washington DC, pioneer of blood plasma preservation/first director of the Red Cross blood bank
1904 Jan Peerce [Jacob Pincus Perelmuth], NYC, tenor (NY Met Opera)
1906 Josephine Baker dancer/singer/Parisian night club owner
1911 Dr Mason Gross TV professor (Think Fast, Two for the Money)
1911 Olaf Okern Norway, Nordic skier (Olympic-medal-1948)
1911 Paulette Goddard [Marion Levy], Switz, actress (The Great Dictator)
1913 Ellen Corby Racine Wisc, actress (Grandma Walton-The Waltons)
1922 Alain Resnais France, director (Providence, Hiroshima, Mon Amour)
1925 Tony Curtis [Bernard Schwartz], actor (Some Like It Hot, Trapeze)
1926 Allen Ginsberg beat poet (Howl)
1926 Colleen Dewhurst Montreal Canada, actress (Maggie-Blue & Grey)
1929 Chuck Barris Phila, TV game show producer/host (Gong Show)
1942 Curtis Mayfield singer (Freddie's Dead, Superfly)
1943 Billy Cunningham NBA/ABA (Phila 76ers, Carolina Cougers)
1944 Michael Clarke drummer (Byrds)
1945 Hale Irwin PGA golfer (US Open 1974, 79)
1946 Ian Hunter England, rocker (Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes)
1946 Tristan Rogers Australia, actor (Robert Scorpio-General Hospital)
1950 Suzi Quatro Detroit, singer (Stumblin' In)/actress (Happy Days)
1951 Christopher Cross Texas, singer (Sailing)
1951 Deniece Williams singer (Love Wouldn't Let Me Wait)
1952 Billy Powell keyboards (Lynyrd Skynyrd-That Smell, Freebird)
1956 Suren Nalbandyan USSR, lightweight (Olympic-gold-1976)
1958 Scott Valentine actor (Nick-Family Ties, My Demon Lover)

Deaths which occurred on June 03:
1875 Georges Bizet France, composer (...and that's no Bull!)
1881 Japanese giant salamander dies in Dutch zoo at 55; oldest amphibian
1933 William Muldoon Belfast NY, boxing commissioner, dies at 88
1949 Amedos Peter Giannine founder of Bank of America dies at 79
1963 Paul Maxey actor (Matt-Lassie, Mayor-People's Choice), dies at 57
1963 Pope John XXIII dies at 81
1975 Ozzie Nelson actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet), dies at 69
1981 Dr Carleton Coon anthropology prof (What in the World), dies at 76
1986 Patricia Wheel actress (Christine-Woman to Remember), dies at 42
1987 Will Sampson actor (From Here to Eternity, Yellow Rose), dies at 54
1991 Harry Glicken volcanologist, killed by Mt Unzen Volcano in Japan
1991 Thomas C Lasorda artist/son Dodger manager, dies of pneumonia at 33

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 KRYSZAK THEODORE E. BUFFALO NY.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1966 MARTIN RUSSELL D. BLOOMFIELD IA.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1966 MULLINS HAROLD E. DENVER CO.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1966 ROSE LUTHER L. HOWE TX.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1966 SMITH HARDING E. LOS GATOS CA.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1966 WARREN ERVIN PHILADELPHIA PA.
[WRECKAGE SITED NO TRACE OF CREW]
1967 BODDEN TIMOTHY R. DOWNERS GROVE IL.
[LAST SEEN IN CRASHED ACFT]
1967 CIUS FRANK E.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG,ALIVE IN 98]
1967 DEXTER RONALD J. ABILENE TX
[07/67 DIC PER FRANK E. CIUS]
1967 GARDNER JOHN G. HOT SPRINGS NC.
[LAST SEEN IN CRASHED ACFT]
1967 HANSON STEPHEN PAUL BURBANK CA.
[LAST SEEN IN CRASHED ACFT]
1967 KEARNS JOSEPH THOMAS JR. SEA CLIFF NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED 8/88 CACCF/CHNGE 6/89 SEA GIRT NJ]
1967 LANEY BILLY R. GREEN ACRES CITY FL.
[LAST SEEN IN CRASHED ACFT]
1967 SPRINGSTON THEODORE JR. SAN FRANCISCO CA.

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

On this day...
1098 Christian Crusaders seize Antioch, Turkey
1539 Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain
1621 Dutch West India Company receives charter for "New Netherlands"
1770 Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded in Calif
1781 Jack Jouett rides to warn Jefferson of British attack
1789 Alex Mackenzie explores Mackenzie River (Canada)
1833 4th national black convention meets (Phila)
1851 1st baseball uniforms worn. Knickerbockers wear straw hat, white shirt & blue long trousers
1860 Comanche, Iowa completely destroyed by 1 of a series of tornadoes
1861 1st Civil War land battle-Union defeats Confederacy at Philippi, WV
1864 Battle of Cold Harbour continues
1875 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #144 Vibilia & #145 Adeona
1884 John Lynch (R-MS) chosen 1st black major-party natl convention chair
1888 "Casey at the Bat" published (SF Examiner)
1916 ROTC established by Act of Congress
1918 Supreme Court rules child labor laws unconstitutional
1919 Liberty Life Insurance Co (Chicago) organized by blacks
1921 A sudden cloudburst kills 120 near Pikes Peak, Colorado
1924 Gila Wilderness Area established by Forest Service
1925 Goodyear airship "Pilgrim" makes 1st flight (1st with enclosed cabin)
1929 1st trade show at Atlantic City Convention Center (electric light)
1929 Border dispute between Peru & Chile resolved
1932 Lou Gehrig hits 4 consecutive HRs; Yanks beat A's 20-13
1933 A's score 11 runs in 2nd, Yanks score 10 in 5th & win 17-11
1933 Pope Pius XI encyclical "On oppression of the Church in Spain"
1934 Dr Frederick Banting co-discoverer of insulin, is knighted
1935 French Normandie sets Atlantic crossing record of 1,077 hours
1937 Duke of Windsor (Edward 8) weds Mrs Wallis Warfield Simpson in France
1941 Author Irving Wallace marries writer Sylvia Kahn
1948 200" (5.08 m) Hale telescope dedicated at Palomar Observatory
1948 Korczak Ziolkowski begins sculpture of Crazy Horse near Mt Rushmore
1949 1st negro to graduate from US Naval Academy (Wesley Anthony Brown)
1949 Dragnet is 1st broadcast on radio (KFI in Los Angeles)
1957 Howard Cosell's 1st TV show
1959 1st US Air Force Academy graduation
1962 Air France Boeing 707 crashes on takeoff from Paris, kills 130
1964 Ringo Starr collapses from tonsilitis & pharyngitis
1964 Rolling Stones begin 1st US tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee)
1965 Gemini 4 launched; 2nd US 2-man flight (McDivitt & White)
1966 European DX Council formed in Copenhagen (shortwave listeners)
1966 Gemini 9 launched; 7th US 2-man flight (Stafford & Cernan)
1968 Yanks turn 21st triple-play in their history lose 4-3 to Twins
1971 Chic Cub Ken Holtzman 2nd no-hitter beats Cin Reds, 1-0
1972 Yanks score 8 times in 13th beating White Sox 18-10
1976 Queen's Bhoemian Rhapsody goes gold
1976 US presented with oldest known copy of Magna Carta
1977 Balt Orioles pull their 6th triple play (9-6-4-6-6 vs KC Royals)
1979 "The Madwoman of Central Park West" opens on Broadway
1979 Ixtoc I rig in Gulf of Mexico blows; 3 million bbl of oil spilled
1980 Crew of Soyuz 36 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 35
1980 ESPN begins televising college world series games
1980 Jimmy Carter wins enough delegates for renomination
1981 Pope John Paul II released from hospital after attempt on life
1984 Patty Shoehan wins LPGA by a record 10 strokes
1986 E F Helin discovers asteroid #3767
1987 Cubs & Astro tie Oriole & Ranger record of 3 grand slams in a game
1988 Margo Adams sues Red Sox 3rd baseman Wade Boggs for palimony
1989 Chinese troops kill hundred of pro-democracy students in Beijing
1989 Country singer Rebe McEntire weds her manager Narvel Blackstone
1989 Houston Astros beat LA Dodgers, 5-4, in 22 innings (7:14:09)
1989 Troops in China shoot & kill 100s of students demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing
1991 Mount Unzen erupts in Japan. Worst eruption in Japanese history

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

Kentucky, Louisana : Confederate Memorial Day (1868)
Massachusetts : Teachers' Day - - - - - ( Sunday )
Ireland : Bank Day - - - - - ( Monday )
Bahamas : Labour Day - - - - - ( Friday )
New Zealand : Queen's Birthday - - - - - ( Monday )
Western Australia : Foundation Day (1838) - - - - - ( Monday )

Religious Observances
Buddhist : Memorial of Broken Dolls
RC : Feast of St Clotilda, queen of the Franks
RC, Ang : Mem of SS Charles Lwanga & 21 companions, Ugandan martyrs
Luth : Commemoration of John XXIII, Bishop of Rome

Religious History
1098 Armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) captured the city of Antioch (in modern Syria).
1726 Birth of Philip William Otterbein, German Reformed pastor who in 1800 helped found the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (an early branch of the modern United Methodist Church).
1853 Central College was chartered in Pella, Iowa under Baptist auspices. (In 1916 the university passed to Dutch Reformed leadership.)
1930 Missionary linguist Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter: 'As we grow older all our paths diverge, and in all the world I suppose I could find nobodym who could wholly understand me excepting God.'
1972 In Cincinnati, Ohio, Sally J. Priesand, 25, became the first woman in Reform Judaism to be ordained as a rabbi.

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

Thought for the day :
"They know enough who know how to learn."

Click on the pic and I'll guide you
to the start of today's thread

Are you healthy enough to be a Navy SEAL?
When it comes to physical training, these guys are the real deal.
The world's toughest military regimen makes our fitness expert's exercise routine look like kid stuff.

Even in my "prime" I would have never been able to qualify.
It's no wonder only 30% that start ever become a bona fide SEAL
26 weeks of sea, land and air training THEN 6 months probation on a SEAL team.
One full year before you are finally a SEAL.

From the USO Website
"The USO mission is to provide morale, welfare and recreation-type services
to uniformed military Personnel."
USO CANTEEN FREEPER STYLE MISSION STATEMENT
Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.
CLICK HERE TO FIND LATEST THREAD.

The USO Canteen FReeper Style does not show any bias
towards any particular faith or political party.

This is the same as the real USO AND Free Republic itself.

From the front page of Free Republic.

"Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent,
grass-roots conservatism on the web."

To our military readers, we remain steadfast in keeping the Canteen doors open.
The Canteen is Free Republics longest running daily thread specifically designed
to provide entertainment and morale support for the military.
The doors have been open since Oct 7 2001,
the day of the start of the war in Afganistain.
We are indebted to you for your sacrifices for our Freedom.

To every service man or woman reading this thread.
Thank You for your service to our country.
No matter where you are stationed,
no matter what your job description
Know that we are are proud of each and everyone of you.

I want YOU
to e-mail a service person today!

Please Thank someone in the military for ensuring our Freedom.
Take a moment and Thank a Service Man or Woman.
Just Click on the graphic to SEND an e-mail.

From the men in the Military and the Canteen

This is a fantastic thread!
Thanks!

BTT

Hugs and joy were the order of the day Monday for Sgt. Josh Holden, top right, and other members of the Marine Reserves who returned to Tucson from Iraq. Among those welcoming Holden were Brandy Craig, with the hug, and niece Tiffany Holden, reaching out.

Hundreds cheer homecoming of Marine Reserves

By Carol Ann Alaimo
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Halfway around the world, through choking dust storms, hellish heat and homesick nights, one thought kept Marine Cpl. Vanessa Matlock going as she served in the war in Iraq.

She dreamed of getting a welcome home kiss from her 3-year-old son. On Monday, she came home to collect it.

"I've got butterflies in my stomach. I've been dreaming about this for months," Matlock, 23, said as she hoisted son Ruben for a smooch as scores of other Tucsonans laughed, cried and hugged their own returning loved ones.

Duty ~ Honor ~ Country

Click above to visit "A Day in the Life of President Bush"

Good Morning FReepers and may God bless you all.

A PRAYER OF PROTECTION

The light of God surround you
The love of God enfold you
The power of God protect you
The presence of God watch over you
Wherever you are,God is,
And all is well.
Amen.

Bless This House



Bless this house O Lord we pray;
Make it safe by night and day;
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out:
Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let thy peace lie over all;
Bless this door, that it may prove
ever open to joy and love.


Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heav'nly light;
Bless the hearth a'blazing there,
with smoke ascending like a prayer;
Bless the folk who dwell within,
keep them pure and free from sin;
Bless us all that we may be
Fit O Lord to dwell with thee;
Bless us all that one day we
May dwell O Lord with thee.

(Click on praying hands above, or on banner at the top to hear the music)

Thanks, Diva, for a wonderful thread about the Navy Seals. Lots of good reading and links for later.

Ping!

Today's classic warship, USS Cherokee

Cherokee class gunboat
Displacement. 606 t.
Lenght. 194'6"
Beam. 25'2"
Draft. 11'6"
Speed. 13 k.
Complement. 92
Armament. 2 20-pdr. r., 4 24-pdr. sb.

USS Cherokee, an 606-ton (burden) screw steam gunboat, was built in 1859 at Renfrew, Scotland, for commercial employment. Under the name Thistle she successfully ran through the Federal blockade into Charleston, South Carolina, in late January 1863. She ran aground while attempting to leave port a month later. Salvaged, sold to another owner and renamed Cherokee, she again attempted to an outbound passage, but was captured by USS Canandaigua on 8 May. Prior to delivery to the Boston Prize Court in July, she was used in the search for the Confederate raider Tacony. She was subsequently purchased by the Navy, converted to a warship at Boston Navy Yard, and commissioned 21 April 1864, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant J. F. Nickels in command.

Cherokee sailed from Boston 11 May 1864, bound for duty off the coast of North Carolina with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In addition to contributing to Union victory by cutting the Confederacy off from overseas sources of supply, this squadron repeatedly bombarded coastal defenses, and cooperated with the Army in amphibious expeditions up the many bays, inlets, and rivers of the serrated coast. Cherokee 's operations included the capture of blockade runner Emma Henry 8 December 1864, and bombardments at Fort Fisher, N.C., in December and January 1865. On 30 January she was ordered close inshore at New Inlet to reconnoiter the Half Moon Battery, where she discovered a large party of Confederates approaching the fortifications recently secured by Union troops. Cherokee threw heavy fire ashore, which drove the Confederates away after three determined rushes at the Union lines.

In February 1865, Cherokee joined the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, and patrolled against blockade runners between Key West and Havana until the close of the war. She was decommissioned at Boston 23 June 1865, and sold there 1 August 1865.

In 1866 she returned to civilian trades. In 1868 the steamer was sold to the Chilean Government. She served Chile's Navy for a decade under the name Ancud and spent another decade as a merchant vessel. The former Cherokee was wrecked at Chiloe, Chile, on 25 August 1889.