The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Russell Eustice and Troop Train 2980 (1/17/1945) - Nov 5th, 2003

World War II magazine ^ | Russell C. Eustice

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

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An Avoidable Tragedy

For 56 years I have been haunted by the memory of a human leg, torn off at the knee, sticking out of a soldier’s combat boot. The grisly limb was on a pile of bloody GI field jackets, trousers, helmet liners and boots at a French village in Normandy on January 17, 1945.

Near the pile of debris lay two long rows of bodies-one row for the dead, one for the injured. The able-bodied scurried about and searched frantically for blankets and first-aid kits. It was, no doubt, a sight commonplace on the battlefield, but this was not a scene of combat. This scene of death and destruction was a train wreck, and these were the bodies of men who had been on the Continent for only about six hours.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES. Although it was cold, many of the passengers on Troop Train 2980 dangled their legs outside the doors of their boxcars in order to get some fresh air and take stock of their new surroundings. This later led to some horrific injuries in the crash.

By late December 1944, the initial success of Adolf Hitler’s Ardennes offensive spurred the Americans to ship all available reinforcements to the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Army units of all descriptions hastened to complete their training in the United States and were ordered to Europe instead of their original destinations in the Pacific. The first convoy to proceed directly to France from the United States cast off from New York on January 1, 1945.

Among the ships carrying personnel and war material in that first convoy was Henry Gibbons. She had been built in 1943 as a troop transport, and New Year’s Day saw her loaded with armor, medical, engineer and quartermaster units. Sleeping arrangements belowdecks were cramped and uncomfortable, and meals were served only twice a day. Most soldiers, having trained together as a unit, stuck with their group during the voyage. Cards and gambling brought some of the men together, but the real social catalysts were the 40 nurses who were also on board. The nurses helped to forge friendships across unit lines and danced with the men to all the music played by impromptu bands formed during the voyage.


SS Henry Gibbons

The largest outfit on board was the 782nd Tank Battalion. Sporting a reputation as the best-trained group of tankers in the Army, it was made up of 695 enlisted men and 42 officers. Next in size was my own unit, the 134th Evacuation Hospital, numbering 388: 40 nurses, 35 doctors, a warrant officer, 305 enlisted men and seven medical administrative officers-of which I was one. The 1471st Engineer Maintenance Company and the 565th Quartermaster Railhead Company followed us in size. Finally there was the 553rd Ambulance Company, consisting of 80 men and three officers.

By the time Henry Gibbons came into Le Havre, France, on January 16, there was an atmosphere of friendly familiarity aboard. However, the discomfort of a lengthy voyage in stormy seas made the troops anxious to disembark and get on with their wartime responsibilities.

My unit was called first. Once down the gangplank, we were loaded onto waiting trucks. We understood that being the first to get off and loaded onto trucks was special treatment due to the presence of the nurses in our ranks. Nevertheless, it was not an easy trip. We sat on hard wooden benches in the back of open trucks with only a canvas covering overhead as we rode through darkened villages in a freezing wind. We were en route to a newly activated staging camp named, as they all were, for a popular American cigarette brand.



We arrived at Camp Lucky Strike at 2 a.m. and were assigned to tents pitched on the frozen ground. Miserable and complaining, we bedded down as best we could. Our bedrolls were back with the rest of the troops, but we opened up the musette bags we carried, which contained extra socks and underwear, toilet kits, a blanket and half a canvas pup tent. We officers chivalrously gave our blankets to the nurses and wrapped ourselves in the thin shelter halves, which did little to help us through the cold night.

Back in Le Havre, Henry Gibbons was relieved of the rest of her cargo of men and materiel. The troops came down the gangplank into a grim and silent port. Quietly, unit by unit, they trudged from the dock in biting cold to the railroad station through streets strewn with rubble of the war-damaged port city.

It was 11 p.m. when Lieutenant Reed Morse of Company C, 782nd, marched his platoon away from Henry Gibbons. At the station they were loaded into “Forty and Eights,” French boxcars built to carry 40 men or eight horses. The forward 24 cars of the train were wood, with sliding side doors and single pairs of wheels at either end. Simple couplings linked the cars, which were fitted with rounded steel bumpers to absorb the force of stops. As uncomfortable as these unheated railroad cars were, they were welcome refuge from the wind and rain. Lieutenant Morse and 20 of his men climbed into one of the boxcars toward the front of the train. Other units from Henry Gibbons loaded in turn as they arrived at the station.



Trained in the repair and maintenance of heavy rolling stock, Lieutenant David Matteson and the members of the 1471st were not impressed by the French boxcars. The 1471st’s Sergeant Lowell Sell vividly remembered the events of that night: “The 4th Squad of the 2nd Maintenance Platoon was given an empty car, Number 13. Thinking we had plenty of room, this seemed lucky, so we spread out over the floor. Suddenly, the door slid open and two groups from the tank outfit filled our car. Fortunately, our squad decided to stay in a group. We moved in tight, sitting with our backs against the front of the car. Stafford was on my right, while Schonce was in the corner and on my left. Our 4th Squad and the tankers were jammed in tight. I remember a major in their group at the left side sliding door.” Meanwhile, the 553rd Ambulance Company climbed onto the train. The four officers and 170 men of the 656th Quartermaster Railhead Company were among the last to arrive. Activated in March 1944, they were well prepared for their mission to distribute rations to units operating on the front lines. Sergeant Horace Wesche recalled, “We boarded the train near midnight in cold rain turning to snow.” Arriving at the station after most of the other units, they were allotted the metal cars at the rear of the train.

After what seemed like a wait of hours, around 2 a.m. the engine jerked the cars into motion and Troop Train 2980 began to roll. The men removed their steel helmets and used their field packs as back cushions. The cold, the train’s uneven motion and the hard floor guaranteed a sleepless ride.



They did not know that their impatience to get underway was matched by that of the officials who were responsible for the train’s schedule. The pressure was on. During January 1945, Le Havre had become the principal debarkation point in the ETO. Within a two-week period, the capacity of the port was almost doubled. Not far away, Camp Lucky Strike was designated the largest staging camp in Western Europe, with room for 66,000 military personnel. The plan was to move GIs by truck or rail from the port to the camp, where they were to remain about six weeks to assemble equipment and prepare for movement to the front.

Hard-driving Maj. Gen. Frank S. Ross, the ETO’s chief of transportation, demanded that the troop trains move quickly. Any delay had to be explained in detail to transportation officials.

Troop Train 2980 was no exception. To assure continuous operation along the train’s route, a second engineer and fireman rested behind the coal car in a passenger car equipped with a small stove and bunks. The train’s two French crews rotated duty under the direction of a U.S. Army transportation officer. An English locomotive powered number 2980, drawing 45 Forty and Eight boxcars -24 wooden cars with well-worn mechanical brakes and 21 steel cars in better mechanical shape. In the face of wartime demands, the British engine had been placed in service without a speedometer or speed-recorder.

[SAMWolf]

After departing Le Havre, the train crawled the 32 miles east to Motteville. It took five hours to cover the distance. A rest stop at Motteville allowed the engine crews to rotate duties. Some soldiers warmed themselves by exercising along the tracks while cocoa and doughnuts were served to the engine’s crew. During the pause, one engineer took a moment to protest about what he considered the engine’s poor brakes, but he was reassured by his superior that there was nothing to worry about and sent on his way to St. Vaast. The stop at St. Vaast brought additional queries from the concerned engineer about brake safety, but he was again ignored and told to head for St. Valery.



Sergeant Sell remembered: “The night was long and cold. It seemed like most of the night the train moved very slowly or was stopped a lot. I supposed the devastated rail yards we crossed made movement difficult. It appeared that after daybreak we did move a little faster and more steadily, perhaps 10-15 miles an hour.”

The train stopped and started, swayed and creaked through the early morning. Twice it stopped in villages and soldiers climbed on board, yelling to nearby buddies and smoking. Dawn broke while they were at one stop. The engine was uncoupled and sent to the rear of the train. It now took off in another direction, with the engine leading what had been the rear. The engine was later returned to its previous position.

Toward the front of the train, Sergeant Julius Farney asked Lieutenant Morse, “Lieutenant, how long will we be in this cattle car?” “Sergeant,” responded the lieutenant, “your guess is as good as mine. But if you think about it we’ll have to stop somewhere to get our tanks and equipment, so relax.”

A few minutes after resuming the trip, the train seemed to pick up speed. The men of the tank battalion agreed that things were finally progressing. Troops in the other cars opened the sliding doors and sat with their legs dangling out. Lieutenant Morse’s men worked to open their door, but it was stuck tight, so they settled back to await the end of the ride.

The six miles of track from St. Vaast sloped unforgivingly to St. Valery and the English Channel. Although the engineer appreciated the need to limit his speed, his brakes did not respond adequately, and the train gradually gained momentum. The cars with air brakes slowed, but the rest gained speed and neutralized the engineer’s efforts. The engine and trailing cars soon began to weave and sway. With brakes on, sparks flew from the wheels and tracks. The engineer blasted his whistle, but the troops on the train, joyful to finally be moving, ignored the warning.

In car 13, Sergeant Sell’s platoon noticed: “After one stop, perhaps this is when the train relief crew took over, we did finally move faster, maybe 20-25 mph. We all commented that it would not be long now. Soon we began to move much faster and we were pleased.” Sergeant Wesche in the quartermaster company recalled, “The train moved slowly most of the night, but about 10 a.m. on the 17th it picked up speed.”

The acceleration, however, soon began to seem excessive. The cars started to rock and the snowbound countryside flew by. Gaining speed on the downhill grade, the whole train pitched and rocked, building momentum every minute. The relief crew in their rest car realized the rate of speed and motion was dangerous. In preparation for an impeding crash they wrapped themselves in their bedrolls and lay against the wall of their car. Horrified at the sound and sight of the train hurtling toward their town, the villagers in St. Valery crossed themselves and watched the troops sitting happily in some of the boxcar doors, legs and feet hanging out.

As the train picked up even more speed, Sell realized “the car was skipping on the tracks. Then there was this jerking and lunging. Then the sense of being airborne.” There was a squeal of metal on metal, and sparks were now flying from around the wheels. The men in Sell’s car could see other men jumping. When Lieutenant Morse’s car began to pitch and rock, he tried again to open the sliding door, but it would not budge and he shouted to his tankers, “You men put on your helmets!” Suddenly, the screech of metal on metal pierced the car. There was a scramble-and then a crash.

At 10:35 a.m. the engine blasted into the cul-de-sac at the end of the line at St. Valery at about 60 miles an hour. It tore through the metal guardrail and crossed the sidewalk into the brick station. Shattering the near wall, it hurtled through the empty waiting room and poked 4 feet of its boiler through the opposite wall. The coal car fell into the station basement, and the whole train came to a sudden halt.

The force of the crash caused wooden boxcars to splinter and pile up on each other, hurling wheels and couplings about randomly. Sliding doors slammed shut on soldiers’ legs; cars accordioned into one another behind the coal car, crushing men and pinning them in the wreckage. One bumper tore loose and flew into a mass of injured men at the bottom of one car. The relief crew, still wrapped in their bedrolls, was thrown 30 feet clear as their car crashed.

For Sergeant Sell, the airborne sensation came to an abrupt stop. “I sat stunned for a moment, not knowing what happened,” he recalled. “A large chunk of iron had come through the front end of our car, right between Stafford and me. It was either the coupling or a buffer from another car in front of us. Stafford and I had both been hit on our shoulders, but we both said we were OK. I saw French people running toward the train, most of them with wine bottles. I could not see down the right-hand side of the pile, but I could see to the left. We were high up on the top of six or seven cars. As I climbed down, I saw bodies and much blood. But I kept on climbing down. I felt helpless!”

At Camp Lucky Strike, muffled shouts and the thud of running feet woke me. My shelter half, thin as a sheet, had worked its way from under me, and I felt the frozen ground chilling every joint. The sun was beginning to warm the tent. I was alone. As the adjutant, I knew the colonel would expect me to know what the commotion was about, so I struggled up, scrambled to my feet and went outside. As one of the doctors, Captain Edward Boone, rushed by, I asked, “What’s going on, Ed?”

“There’s been a train wreck in the town,” he said, “and they’ve called for a bunch of doctors and nurses to help with the casualties. Our equipment is still on the ship, so it will be rough trying to treat them. Someone said they were troops from our transport. Maybe we weren’t so unlucky to be brought out here on those trucks after all. See you later. They’re ready to go.”

I hurried on to the headquarters tent, where Sergeant Nester was cutting temporary orders for all 35 doctors and 40 nurses. The authorization was from the Base Section commander, so I signed the orders and made it official. When the colonel came into the tent, I tried to learn more about what had happened.

“We don’t know,” he told me, “but they’ve told us that 45 French boxcars filled with troops from our ship jumped the track and went through the station. It is the end of the line in a village called St. Valery-en-Caux. They say it’s not far from here on the English Channel.”

When we reached St. Valery, the scene we encountered was one of chaos and horror. Pinned men crawled from the debris as they gradually freed themselves. Ten cars were piled as high as the station roof, while wreckage to the rear formed an even higher pyramid. Some unfortunate men dangled from splintered cars by their damaged legs, while others had suffered spontaneous amputations and crushing injuries. Eight men in a forward car were dead of no visible injuries.

The engineer and fireman, though injured, were saved by the bulk and weight of the engine. The stunned relief crew survived with mild concussions. Some men were untouched, but were stunned to find neighbors on either side dead or dying.

[SAMWolf]

The French villagers did what they could. Monsieur Cherfils, the mayor, and Monsieur Brouard, the head of the local police, rushed to organize local assistance. Fortunately, the station had been empty. Even the stationmaster’s wife was on an errand in the downtown area of St. Valery. So there were no civilian casualties. Military police were dispatched from nearby camps, and a cordon of security surrounded the accident scene.


RUSSELL C. EUSTICE. The scene at St. Valery after the tragic train accident of Troop Train 2980 that cost 89 GIs their lives.

Uninjured medics from the units on the train used their aid kits and syringes of morphine to help the injured. Military doctors and nurses rushed in from the 134th Evacuation Hospital and went right to work. Captain S.J. Beale, one of our doctors, later recorded his impressions of what he found: “News of a wreck. They need help. Stirred to go to help. Horror! Brain churned with disbelief. Clumsy boxcars piled in a tangle of wood and wheels three tiers high. A poor GI starting to jump from the top car-left arm, left leg and head outside-middle of him crushed as doors closed on him, staring through sightless eyes. A small fire between ties and a rail of the railroad under a helmet with boiling water. Nobody else near it. Who to help? Crawling under the wreckage and over a crushed body dressed in GI twill.

“A voice, ‘Jim, you’re here to help!’ A guy from the tank battalion with whom we had played cards on the ship. His legs were pinned in wreckage-fully alert and mindful of his situation. A useful corpsman had started an IV. Another voice from behind, ‘We’ll be getting him out soon.’ ‘So long.’ ‘So long, Jim.’

“Outside, utter dismay at the helplessness. A journey to the local hospital, to follow French doctors and some of our senior medical officers observing injured personnel who survived. I couldn’t do a damn thing to help anybody!”



Sergeant Albert Lufburrow of the 1471st Engineers escaped without injury. In his efforts to give help, he cradled a GI with head injuries. The man looked away and said, “It’s getting dark. I want to go home.” Then he died. Eight or 10 men from the 1471st supported the side of a demolished car while Captain Boone crawled underneath and finished a partial leg amputation with his penknife. Remembering the contents of my own bedroll, I searched frantically for it. I wanted blankets, whiskey, a first-aid kit-anything to relieve the suffering that lay all around me. Most of the bedrolls had been torn open and ransacked as villagers and soldiers tried to help the wounded. During the frenzied search, I came across that dismembered leg still shod in its boot.

Sergeant Sell remembered Captain Brown getting the 1471st together. I started hunting for Bob Luginbill of the 565th Quartermaster Railhead Company, and finally we found each other. Fortunately, his company had been riding close to the rear of the train, where most of the cars were still upright. Some had slipped off the tracks but were otherwise all right. I finally got back in formation with the 1471st.

When the noise, dust and confusion died down around the railyard, Lieutenant Morse discovered he was “hanging upside down by one leg and unable to reach the ground.” He later recalled: “Blood was running down my leg to my belt, and a long sliver of wood was through my upper leg just above the knee. I reached up and pulled it out. During the hour I was hanging, I talked with one of my brother officers who was pinned but otherwise uninjured, and one of my 17-year-old soldiers whose chest was crushed and who kept asking me to help him. I reassured him as much as I could, but he died in the hospital two days later. I hung there for over an hour, feeling no pain and in such intense shock that one of our medics I met some years later told me he thought I had died.



“It was a scene of complete horror, a total shambles. There was just about every conceivable injury among the men who died and the injured: heads snapped off, single and double amputees, much crushing of heads and bodies.”

Nurses from the 134th followed the injured to a local hospital. Despite language difficulties, they worked alongside the French staff to aid and comfort the injured.

Brief news articles about the disaster appeared in the Herald Tribune’s European edition, The New York Times, the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Tribune and the French Normandie on January 18 and 19. The French newspaper’s description of the accident incorrectly indicated that an American engineer had been at the controls and that the brakes locked the wheels of train. In fact, it had been the 580 tons of men and equipment that overrode all efforts to slow or stop the train.



French rail authorities held an immediate investigation and delivered their findings on February 21, 1945. They concluded that the brakes were inadequate and that the absence of a speedometer had hindered the engineer. The investigators also determined that the crew operating the engine was relatively inexperienced on the St. Vaast-to-St. Valery grade and that there was no cause for further inquiry. In his summary report to French rail headquarters and the U.S. Army years later, Lucien Maffiers, representative to the French Railway System, stated: “A lack of judgment and evaluation of speed would never have existed on a locomotive provided with a speedometer; it was a convoy unfit for transporting men, but we were at war.”

Eighty-nine soldiers had been killed, and 152 were injured. The 85-man ambulance company in the first four cars lost 33 dead and 28 injured. Despite their losses, all the units were filled with replacements and sent into action. It took the 782nd Tank Battalion until April 23, just weeks before the German surrender, to move to the front. The 553rd Ambulance Company was outfitted with 10 ambulances and put to work within one week of the disaster. The 1471st Engineers and the 565th Quartermaster Company were operational by mid-March. Although the French had conducted an inquiry after the accident, the U.S. Army did little to investigate the tragedy. The Transportation Corps’ meeting minutes of that time only mention the wreck at St. Valery twice in passing.

Minutes of the Transportation Corps meeting held in the office of the chief of Transportation of the ETO on January 18, 1945, under the Military Railways classification, read: “Twelve ammunition trains (5,500 tons) were moved out of Le Havre yesterday. The discharge of ammunition is around 2,600 tons, resulting in a decrease in the backlog of approximately 2,000 tons. Military Railways reported on the train accident at St. Valery yesterday.” Minutes of the meeting for January 19, 1945, discuss the weak points in the supply plan, namely barge loadings at Antivey and rail movement out of Le Havre. This sentence is in the middle of a lengthy paragraph: “Military Railways reported that the French at Le Havre sent all of their mechanics to the scene of the accident at St. Valery and were therefore unable to operate the freight trains out of that port.”



The logistical history of the Normandy Base Section, dated June 12, 1945, gives the only concrete reference to the tragedy: “A troop train wreck occurred at St. Valery in District ‘A’ on 17 January 1945, at 10:30 hours in which 89 were killed and 152 injured.” It is evident that the train was overloaded for its braking capacity and was driven by a relatively inexperienced engineer without the benefit of a speedometer. Despite two protests, the engineer was ordered to continue his trip by U.S. Army Transportation Corps officials under pressure from higher authority. It was a tragedy based on ignorance and poor judgment, for which there was no alternative or satisfactory outcome.

On January 17, 1945, 10-year-old Jean Claude Vigreux watched in horror as the train tore through his town. Years later, as mayor of St. Valery, he headed the effort by townspeople to memorialize the 89 Americans killed in the wreck. On September 11, 1994, the citizens of St. Valery gathered at the rebuilt railroad station and dedicated a plaque that reads: “To the memory of the American soldiers come to free the soil of France who were killed accidentally at St. Valery-en-Caux. The 17th of January, 1945.”

While those killed at St. Valery have been remembered in France, there has not been any recognition of the incident by the U.S. government to this date. Some survivors of the wreck have even been refused treatment at Veterans Administration hospitals in recent years on the basis that there was no train wreck involving U.S. soldiers at St. Valery. It never happened.

Additional Sources:

www.skylighters.org
drwebman.com
john.curtin.edu.au
illustratedgallery.com
www.northnet.org
www.navsource.org
ourworld.compuserve.com
www.warfoto.com
www.ku.edu/~kansite
http://www.40and8.com

[SAMWolf]

'Since before the Great War of 1914-1918, the French railroad companies had painted on the side of these freight cars not only the serial number of each car, but the standard markings.

In their traditional and practical manner - and the American penchant for catchy names - the "Doughboys" of World War One and the "GI's" of World War Two simply called them "Forty and Eights."



To these men, the "Forty and Eights" symbolized "their" war but, to me, the "Forty and Eights" represent a lot more, as they characterize nearly every aspect of the war that I observed from 1939 to 1945 and that I survived as I grew up close to a major rail line in Eastern France.

People of many nationalities, soldiers and civilians, men, women and children, lived, suffered and endured every type of torment and agony in these innocuous looking freight cars...Many died in them...more died because of them...'

-- Jacques Adnet

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

Veterans Day 2003
PDN News Desk ^ comwatch

November is Here - Veterans Day is right around the corner.

It only takes a few minutes to write a letter to the kids and share a story of why you served.

If you aren't a Veteran then share your thoughts on why it is important to remember our Veterans on Veterans Day. 

It's an opportunity for us to support our troops, our country and show appreciations for our local veterans. It's another way to counter the Anti-Iraq campaign propaganda.  Would you like to help?  Are there any VetsCoR folks on the Left Coast?  We have a school project that everyone can help with too, no matter where you live.  See the end of this post for details.

Three Northern California events have been scheduled and we need help with each:

 

Friday evening - November 7th Veterans in School (An Evening of Living History, A Veterans Day Ice Cream Social)

http://www.patriotwatch.com/V-Day2003c.htm

 

Saturday - 11 a.m. November 8th: Veterans Day Parade (PDN & Friends parade entry)

http://www.patriotwatch.com/V-Day2003b.htm

 

Sunday November 9, 2003 Noon to 3:00 PM Support our Troops & Veterans Rally prior to Youth Symphony Concert

http://www.patriotwatch.com/V-Day2003d.htm

 

Each of the WebPages above have a link to e-mail a confirmation of your interest and desire to volunteer.  These are family events and everyone is welcome to pitch in.  We'd really appreciate hearing from you directly via each these specific links.  This way, we can keep you posted on only those projects you want to participate in.

---

Veterans in School - How you can help if you're not close enough to participate directly. If you are a veteran, share a story of your own with the children.  If you have family serving in the military, tell them why it's important that we all support them. Everyone can thank them for having this special event.  Keep in mind that there are elementary school kids. 

Help us by passing this message around to other Veteran's groups.  I have introduced VetsCoR and FreeperFoxhole to a number of school teachers.  These living history lessons go a long way to inspire patriotism in our youth.  Lets see if we can rally America and give these youngsters enough to read for may weeks and months ahead.  If we can, we'll help spread it to other schools as well.

  Click this link to send an email to the students.

[SAMWolf]

Bugles Across America
http://www.buglesacrossamerica.org/


Bugles Across America, NFP was founded in 2000 by Tom Day, when Congress passed legislation stating Veterans had a right to at least 2 uniformed military people to fold the flag and play taps on a CD player. Bugles Across America was begun to take this a step further, and in recognition of the service these Veterans provided their country, we felt that every Veteran deserved a live rendition of taps played by a live Bugler. To this end, we are actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families

Our Organization now has 1500 bugler volunteers located in all 50 states and growing number overseas. Since the Department of Veterans Affairs is expecting more than 1/2 million veterans to pass every year for the next 7 years, Bugles Across America is ALWAYS recruiting new volunteers.

Bugler Volunteers can be male or female. They can play a traditional bugle with no valves, or they can perform the ceremony on a Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, or a 1, 2 or 3 valved bugle. The bugler can be of any age as long as they can play the 24 notes of Taps with an ease and style that will do honor to both the Veterans, their families, and the burial detail performing the service.

Thanks quietolong

[snippy_about_it]

.......FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

.......Good Wednesday Morning Everyone!


If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

Folks, please be sure to update your anti-virus software and get the very atest critical updates for your computer.

It feels a bit nippy here in SW Oklahoma. Temps in the lower 40's. How's things where you are?:-D

[manna]

Present!

[snippy_about_it]

Mornin' EGC. Warm this morning but rain on the way and cooler temps.

Thanks for the reminder of the software updates.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning manna.

[The Mayor]

I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. —John 13:15

We show our love for God when we share His love with others.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor.

[snippy_about_it]

The train wreck that never happened. Well, now we have it out here for folks to see that it did happen.

Thanks SAM. A tragic but good read.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on November 05:
1818 Benjamin F Butler Union general/presidential candidate (anti-monopoly)
1849 Rui Barbosa Brazil, statesman/jurist/essayist/civil liberties
1855 Eugene V Debs labor organizer, Socialist presidential candidate
1857 Ida Tarbell muckraker (Standard Oil was very unhappy)
1876 Raymond Duchamp-Villon cubist sculptor (Head of Baudeaire)
1884 James Elroy Flecker English poet/dramatist (Hassan)
1885 Will Durant writer/historian (Story of Civilization)
1887 Paul Wittgenstein Vienna Austria, left hand specialist pianist
1891 Earle (Greasy) Neale NFL coach (Philadelphia Eagles)
1894 Eugen Zador Bataszek, Hungary, Hungarian/American composer (Diana)
1905 Joel McCrea South Pasadena CA, actor (Marshal-Wichita Town)
1911 Roy Rogers Cincinnati Ohio, cowboy (Happy Trails, Roy Rogers Show)
1912 Natalie Schaeffer Rumson NJ, actress (Lovey Howell-Gilligan's Island)
1913 John McGiver NYC, actor (Patty Duke Show, Jimmy Stewart Show)
1913 Vivien Leigh (Gone With Wind) Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn
1915 Moe Biller NYC, labor union officer (AFL-CIO, Postal Workers)
1919 Myron Floren Webster San Diego CA, accordionist (Lawrence Welk Show)
1927 Robert Abernethy Geneva Switzerland, Newscaster (NBC News Encore)
1930 Herb Edelman Brooklyn NY, actor (Good Guys, Strike Force, 9 to 5)
1931 Ike Turner AKA Mr Tina Turner!, singer (A Fool in Love)
1932 Arthur L Liman NYC, trial lawyer (Oliver North)
1935 Dick Davalos Bronx, actor (Jeff-The Americans)
1938 Chris Robinson Florida, actor (Stanley, General Hospital, Another World)
1941 Patricia Harty Wash DC, actress (Occasional Wife, Blondie)
1942 Art Garfunkel NYC, singer/actor (Sounds of Silence, Carnal Knowledge)
1942 Elke Sommer Berlin Germany, actress (Oscar, 10 Little Indians)
1942 Richie Scheinblum Bronx-born outfielder for the Kansas City Royals (Sporting News All Star Right fielder 1972 American League)
1943 Sam Shepard US, actor/playwright (Frances, Crimes of the Heart)
1946 Patricia K Kuhl speech & hearing scientist
1947 Oleg Antropov USSR, volleyball player (Olympic-gold-1968)
1947 Peter Noone rocker (Herman-Herman's Hermits-Silhouettes)
1951 Cindy Brooks Gettysburg PA, playmate (April, 1985)
1952 Bill Walton NBA center (Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics)
1957 Jon-Erik Hexum Tenafly NJ, actor (Voyager, Cover-up)
1959 Bryan Adams Vancouver BC Canada, singer (Heaven)
1959 Rob Fisher rocker (Climie Fisher-Love Changes)
1963 Andrea McArdle Philadelphia PA, actress (Annie); "Sun Will Come Out Tommorrow"
1963 Tatum O'Neal Los Angeles CA, Mrs John MacEnroe (Paper Moon, Little Darlings)
1969 Jennifer Guthrie Willimantic CT, actress (Dawn-General Hospital)
1971 Corin "Corky" Nemec Little Rock AR, actor (Tucker, Parker Lewis)

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Deaths which occurred on November 05:
1370 Kazimierz III ("The Great"), king of Poland (1333-70), dies at 61
1879 James Clerk Maxwell, Scotish physicist (speed of light), dies at 48
1942 George M Cohan, composer/actor/dancer, dies at 64 (I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, Oh how I hate to get up in the morning)
1956 Art Tatum Jazz pianist, dies at 46 in Los Angeles
1960 Ward Bond actor(Wagon Train), dies at 55
1969 Lloyd Corrigan actor (Prof McKillup-Hank), dies at 69
1974 Stafford Repp actor (Chief O'Hara-Batman), dies at 56
1977 Guy Lombardo orchestra leader (Auld Lang Syne), dies in Houston at 75
1979 Al Capp cartoonist (Lil' Abner), dies at 70
1982 Jacques Tati actor/director, dies of pulmonary embolism
1989 Barry Sadler singer (Green Berets), dies at 49 in Murfreesboro Tn
1989 Vladamir Horowitz pianist, dies at 85
1990 Meir Kahane, the US rabbi who founded the militant Jewish Defense League and was thrown out of Israel's parliament for his racist anti-Arab views -- gunned down by a terrorist (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of the slaying in federal court.)
1991 Fred MacMurray actor (My Three Sons), dies at 84
1991 Robert Maxwell Billionaire publisher (NY Daily News), dies at 68
2000 Jimmie Davis, Louisiana's "singing governor," died in Baton Rouge; he was believed to be 101.

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 CHAPMAN HARLAN P.---ELYRIA OH.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 MC CLEARY GEORGE C.---BATON ROUGE LA.
[REMAINS RETURNED ID'D 05/91]
1967 COBEIL EARL GLENN---PONTIAC MI.
[03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED]
1967 DUTTON RICHARD A.---CHICAGO IL.
["03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, RIP 12/12/99]
1968 CORNTHWAITE THOMAS G.---GREAT BRITIAN
1968 SIMPSON JAMES E.
["ESCAPED, KILLED IN BINH THUAN"]
1969 ECHANIS JOSEPH---PORTLAND OR.
1969 LE FEVER DOUGLAS P.---ARCANUM OH.

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

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On this day...
1219 The port of Damietta falls to the Crusaders after a siege.
1414 Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens
1492 Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from the Indians of Cuba
1556 The Emperor Akbar defeats the Hindus at Panipat and secures control of the Mogul Empire
1605 Gunpowder Plot; Catholics try to blow up English Parliament. Plot uncovered & leader Guy Fawkes hanged
1781 John Hanson elected 1st "President of the US in Congress assembled"
1811 El Salvador's 1st battle against Spain for independence
1838 Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation
1862 300 Santee Sioux sentenced to hang in Minnesota
1862 Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellen as head of Army of Potomac
1872 Susan B Anthony fined $100 for trying to vote for Ulysses S Grant
1875 Susan B Anthony arrested for attempting to vote
1895 1st US patent granted for auto (George B Selden)
1895 King Edward VII says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
1895 US state Utah accepts female suffrage
1911 Italy attacks Turkey, takes Tipoli & Cyrenaica
1911 Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena completing 1st transcontinental airplane flight (49 days) (left Sheepshead Bay, NY, Sept 17)
1912 Woodrow Wilson (D) beats Theodore Roosevelt (Prog) & President Taft (R)
1913 Ludwig III crowned king of Bavaria
1914 Britain annexes Cyprus
1917 Gen Pershing & US troops see action on Western Front for 1st time
1917 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Lousiville KY ordinance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas
1927 Walter Hagen wins his 4th straight PGA championship
1933 Chicago Bears 30 game unbeaten streak ends to Patriots (10-0)
1935 Maryland Court of Appeals orders U of M to admit (black) Donald Murray
1935 Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly
1938 Ottawa Roughriders score on 5-man, 4-lateral, 65-yard punt return
1938 Rutgers beats Princeton 1st time in 60 years as Rutgers Stad dedicated
1940 President FDR (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)
1942 Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
1946 John F Kennedy (D-MA) elected to House of Representatives
1953 Paul Searls saws a 32" log in 86.4 seconds
1955 New Vienna Opera house opens (Austria)
1956 Britain & France land forces in Egypt
1959 AFL announced with 8 teams
1964 US launches Mariner 3 toward Mars; no data returned
1967 ATS-3 launched by US to take 1st pictures of full Earth disk
1967 New Orleans Saints 1st NFL victory, beat Philadelphia Eagles 31-24
1968 1st AL pitcher to win MVP, Denny McLain
1968 Nixon (R) beats VP Humphrey (D) & George C Wallace for Presidency
1969 Bobby Seale, the founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, is sentenced to four years in prison on sixteen counts of contempt of court (Chicago Eight)
1971 NBA's Los Angeles Lakers starts a 33 game consecutive victory streak
1973 BART starts San Francisco-Daly City train shuttle service
1974 Ella Grasso (Ct) elected 1st woman US gov not related to previous gov
1974 Walter E Washington, becomes 1st elected mayor of Wash DC
1977 NCAA passing record set at 571 yards (Marc Wilson, Brigham Young)
1978 Iranian PM Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
1978 Oakland Raider's John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declares US "The Great Satan"(right back at ya guy!)
1981 Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficking, conspiracy, & possession of cocaine
1982 Cleveland Cavaliers lose 24th consecutive game (NBA record)
1982 George Harrison releases "Gone Troppo" album
1983 Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
1987 Iceberg twice the size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
1987 Supreme Court nominee Douglas H Ginsburg admitted using marijuana
1988 Cornell confirms grad student source of worst computer sabotage
1988 Japan beats MLB all stars 2-1 in Tokyo (Game 1 of 7)
1989 20th NYC Marathon (J Kanganaa 2h08m01s & Ingrid Kristiansen 2h25m28s)
1989 US plays El Salvador, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1994 Former President Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer's disease.
1996 Voters returned President Clinton to the White House for a second term

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

El Salvador : 1st Cry for Independence (1811)
England : Guy Fawkes Day
Sweden : All Saints Day
Virgin Islands : Liberty Day (Monday)
Liberia : Thanksgiving Day (Thursday)
World : World Community Day (1945) (pray for peace) (Friday)
Denmark : Esbjerg Cup-World's largest ice skating championship (Saturday)
US : Impotency Week (Day 3)
US : Chemistry Week (Day 4)
US : Double Talk Week (Day 4)
National Neurofibromatosis Month

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Religious Observances
Christian-Sweden : All Saints Day
RC : Commemoration of St Bertilla, virgin
Christian : Feast of Martin de Porres & Holy Relics

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Religious History
1917 In Moscow, following abdication of Russian Czar Nicholas II, the historic Orthodox Church Council of 1917_1918 restored the office of patriarch, suppressed by Peter the Great in 1700.
1935 The Cooperative General Association of Free Will Baptists (northern U.S.) and the General Conference of Free Will Baptists (southern U.S.) merged in Nashville, TN, to form the National Association of Free Will Baptists.
1950 Billy Graham's "Hour of Decision" program was first broadcast over television.
1959 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasises our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.'
1970 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'The Bible does not minimize sexual sin, but neither does it make it different from any other sin.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Everyone complains of his memory, no one of his judgment."

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Question of the Day...
Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?

---

Murphys Law of the day...(Osborn's Law)
Variables won't; constants aren't.

---

Amazingly Astounding fact #482...
Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning feather.

[snippy_about_it]

1913 Vivien Leigh (Gone With Wind) Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn

There is much more to this woman than GWTW.

Ladies of the Foxhole, if you want to read a true and tragic tale of love, read a biography of this woman and her undying love for Laurence Olivier.

[Darksheare]

I'm in.

[skeeter]

While those killed at St. Valery have been remembered in France, there has not been any recognition of the incident by the U.S. government to this date.

Seems to be a common practice by our military's leadership where mistakes with tragic consequences are concerned, sadly.