The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Remembering Con Thien/Operation Buffalo - Jan. 3, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

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.


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Con Thien

A PLACE OF ANGELS



A mud-covered hill, 158 meters in height, anchoring the northeast corner of Leatherneck Square, the quadrilateral of Marine combat bases – Gio Linh, Dong Ha, Cam Lo and Con Thien – South of the DMZ (demilitarized zone), Con Thien loosely translated means “place of angels” of “hill of angels.” But no angels were in evidence there during the terrible summer and fall of 1967 when the base came under heavy ground and artillery attack by the invading North Vietnamese Army (NVA).


Con Thien is North up 1A from Hue

Situated less than two miles from the DMZ, elements of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, nervously eyed the hostile terrain in front of their perimeter at Con Thien. The date was May 8, 1967.



At approximately 0300, the all-too-familiar sound of a flare popping broke the eerie silence. Soon, the surrounding landscape was bathed in an artificial light, giving the battlefield a surrealistic touch. Suddenly, the deafening roar of rockets stabbed the night air, and the Marines dove for any available cover to escape injury. As the artillery fell, NVA units jockeyed to prepare a ground assault on the compound. Armed with flamethrowers and using Bangalore torpedoes, two NVA battalions managed to breach the wire. It was the first reported use of flamethrowers by the enemy since American troops had engaged NVA regulars. Company D was hit extremely hard and the leathernecks were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting as a platoon from the 11th Engineers raced into the line to plug the gap. After desperate fighting that lasted until dawn, the defenders were able to repel the attackers.


M-48 carrying dead and wounded

During the firefight, Lance Cpl. Michael P. Finley, a grenadier with Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, vaulted from his position and accurately lobbed two rounds from his M-79 “blooper,” destroying an enemy machine-gun emplacement. Despite being wounded, he dashed to another Marine’s aid. After finishing with him, he raced to administer medical treatment to his mortally wounded squad leader. Killed in the attempt, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the nation’s second-highest medal for bravery. When the attack ended, 44 Marines had been killed and 110 wounded. The NVA lost 197 killed and 8 captured. Why had the enemy pressed so hard at Con Thien – an undersized knoll a “stone’s throw” from the DMZ? What was so important here?

Burdened with construction of the strongpoint obstacle system, pejoratively called “McNamara’s Line” by the Marines, Con Thien overlooked enemy supply routes from the north and its capture would constitute an enemy foothold in Quang Tri province. As Colonel Richard B. Smith, commanding officer of the 9th Marines, put it: “Con Thien was clearly visible from the 9th Marines Headquarter on the high ground at Dong Ha 10 miles away, so good line-of-sight communications were enjoyed. Although Con Thien was only 160 meters high, it tenants had dominant observation over the entire area. If the enemy occupied it he would be looking down our throats.”



And the NVA wanted to be the new tenants. Consequently, several attempts would be made to seize Con Thien. Until mid-1967, the northern section of the DMZ had been a safe haven for the Communists. Here, they reorganized and prepared their plans for future assaults in Northern I Corps, including the strongpoint of Con Thien. The first of these thrusts was in the spring of 1967, as recorded above, and coincided with the anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The second would be made in the summer, when the NVA utilized heavy artillery, for the first time, in support of ground units. The third would be made, during the months of September and October; the enemy fired punishing artillery barrages on the occupants of Con Thien.

After the May 8 offensive on Con Thien, Washington directed the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) to enter the southern portion of the DMZ. Previous to this, the NVA was using this area as a sanctuary and U.S. Forces were expressly prohibited from penetrating this region. Code-named Operation Hickory for the 3rd Marine Division, Lam Son 54 for the 1st ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) Division, Beau Charger for Special Landing Force (SLF) Alpha, and Belt Tight for SLF Bravo, the Allies wasted no time in making contact with the enemy.



The Operation Hickory phase of the three-pronged advance into the DMZ began on May 18. By late morning, Lt. Col. Charles R. Figard’s 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines, ran head-on into two NVA battalions. Fighting from well-camouflaged bunker complexes, the enemy delivered a hail of automatic weapons fire upon the leathernecks’ right flank.

Realizing his squad was unable to maneuver, Corporal Richard E. Moffit of Company G lunged forward at the hedge-row where the shooting was coming from and let loose a steady stream of rifle fire. Once there, he killed two NVA soldiers manning the trench. The following day, the intrepid Moffit braved another enemy machine-gun nest.



Again, he rushed the fortification, this time hurling fragmentation grenades. He would miraculously survive to be awarded the Navy Cross for his actions. During the intense combat, Lt. Col. Figard and his operations officer were hit by mortar fire. Soon, Lt. Col. John J. Peeler’s 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, was also heavily committed.

Meanwhile, Operation Lam Son 54 was initiated by two ARVN battalions from the 1st ARVN Division. Making no contact, the South Vietnamese units proceeded to the Ben Hai River, located in the center of the DMZ itself, and started sweeping southward.



While these two battalions were advancing on the east side of Highway 1, three ARVN airborne battalions did so on the west. On May 19, the 31st and 812th NVA regiments met the ARVN multibattalion sweep and fighting ensued that would continue for more than a week. The ARVN, while losing 22 killed and 122 wounded, dealt the Communists a greater blow: 342 dead, 30 enemy soldiers captured and 51 assorted weapons seized.

Beau Charger was another story. Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, the assault element for SLF Alpha, was greeted with a hot reception at its destination, Landing Zone (LZ) Goose. As the fifteen UH-34s (“Sea Horses” from Squadron HMM-263) prepared to land, enemy machine-gun fire blasted the vulnerable choppers.



The lead helicopter, flown by squadron commander Lt. Col. Edward K. Kirby, was struck by a broadside as it hovered less than 50 feet off the ground. The initial burst rendered the chopper’s radio inoperable and injured the copilot, crew chief, door gunner and three Marines from 1/3. Another leatherneck was killed outright and tumbled from the “bird.” Upon hearing of the “hot LZ,” SLF commander Colonel James A Gallo, Jr., scrubbed all further heliborne assaults into Goose and opted instead to disembark his Marines at LZ owl, 800 meters to the south.

However, A 1/3, already on the ground, was isolated. With the enemy so intertwined with the Marines, urgent requests for naval gunfire from warships just offshore had to be aborted. By 100, other units, plus a force of M-48 tanks, reached the trapped men a LZ Goose. The infantrymen met the enemy in hand-to-hand combat as fixed-wing aircraft hammered NVA trenches. After 11 jets pounded the positions, Companies A and B of 1/3 jumped off to continue the planned attack.



While attacking the enemy’s bulwarks, Corporal Russell F. Keck, a machine-gun squad leader with Alpha Company, dispersed his guns to deliver accurate fire upon the trench line. Coming under a heavy barrage, Keck ordered the automatic weapons moved to another location to prevent their being destroyed. Although wounded, Keck remained in his position to administer covering fire for another Marine, knowing this action would surely result in his death. Corporal Keck received the Navy Cross posthumously.



All told, the various operations carried out in the southern portion of the DMZ by the Marine and ARVN units snagged 789 enemy killed, 37 captured, and 187 weapons confiscated. Allied casualties would attest to the intensity of fighting as 142 Marines and 22 ARVN soldiers were killed, and 896 and 122 respectively, were wounded.

But the Marines were not idle either, In July the leathernecks counterattacked with another multibattalion operation code-named Buffalo.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

Operation Buffalo



On July 2, Lt. Col. Richard J. “Spike” Schening’s 1st Battalion, 9th Marines,sardonically referred to as “The Walking Dead,” lived up to their reputation when Company B walked into a large NVA ambush about a mile or so east of Con Thien.

Pressing forward along route 561, nothing more than a 10-foot-wide cart path, the leathernecks met a determined enemy force deeply entrenched along the road’s waisthigh hedgerows. Hit on both flanks, and blasted with mortars and artillery, the company was cut to pieces. The NVA set the dense hedgerows ablaze with flamethrowers on each sided of the road, trapping the Marines between them. In fleeing the inferno, numerous men were cut down by the enfilading fire.

Among the casualties was the company commander, Captain Sterling K. Coates, his radio operator, several platoon leaders and the artillery forward observer. The forward air observer, the next-senior officer present, assumed command of the beleaguered unit. Soon, air strikes hammered Communist positions, which enabled the scattered platoons to regroup and form a perimeter defense. Napalm fell within 20 yards of the company’s lines. Meanwhile, the 1/9 command post (CP) at Con Thien was monitoring the action.



As reports trickled in, and the enemy strength was determined to be greater than a battalion, Schening quickly ordered Company C at Dong Ha “Choppered” in to assist Company B. To augment this, he also dispatched a platoon from Company D, with four tanks, to relieve the battered Marines of Bravo 1/9.



Upon reaching the ambush site, Captain Henry J.M. Radcliffe, 1/9’s operation officer, asked Staff Sgt. Leon R. Burns where the remainder of the company was. Burns answered, “Sir, this is the company, or what’s left of it.”

While extracting the besieged infantrymen, enemy shells rained down upon the LZ. Corpsmen and stretcher-bearers became casualties as the battle-weary troops made their way back to Con Thien. As the shocked and dazed wounded were placed aboard medevac helicopters, NVA artillery continued to blast the area.



The Communists used their artillery fire extensively throughout the battle, unleashing 1,065 rounds at Gio Linh and Con Thien. However, the bulk of the barrage, 700 rounds, was dropped upon 1/9.

By late afternoon, Schening’s Marines were exhausted. Meanwhile, Company A was also heavily engaged as the Marines beat back a large contingent of enemy soldiers that had come to within 50 meters of its lines. Only 27 leathernecks walked out of the action from Bravo Company. Staff Sergeant Burns was presented with the Navy Cross for moving “through the intense fire, with complete disregard for his own safety, to call in and adjust air strikes against the numerically superior enemy force. After the fulfillment of this mission, he led his men in a withdrawal along the highway. As the column moved along the highway, they were taken under devastating enemy mortar and artillery fire. Again exhibiting fearless leadership, he moved up and down the column encouraging his men and directing them into fighting holes to organize a defense position and personally carried two Marines to the landing zone.”



It had been a terrible experience for The Walking Dead battalion. By the end of Buffalo, 84 Marines were killed, 190 wounded and 9 were listed as missing from 1/9.

Colonel George E. Jerue, CO of the regiment, immediately sent Major Willard J. Woodring’s 3/9 into Con Thien, just north of “the trace,” a 200-meter area cleared by the 11th Engineers that would subsequently be enlarged to 600 meters.

On the morning of July 3 Air Force observer fortuitously spotted 100 NVA soldiers north of Con Thien combat base. Echo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, the artillery arm of the 3rd Marine Division, opened fire, killing 75 of the enemy.



While this was going on, fixed-wing fighter and fighter-bomber sorties continually saturated the Lang Son area, approximately 4,000 meters northeast of Con Thien, to prepare for an attack the following day. To bolster the assault elements, 1.3, from SLF Alpha, landed and tied in with 3/9’s right flank.

On Independence Day, July 4, the Marines moved back into the terrain that had been so difficult for 1/9 on July 2. The NVA fought back viciously. By day’s end, 2/3 from SLF Bravo was helilifted into LZ Canary, just north of Cam Lo. The battalion hastily advanced in a northwesterly direction to link up with the other units before nightfall.

The next several days witnessed the combat heighten in fury as additional enemy units began crossing the Ben Hai River into Northern I Corps near Con Thien.One air observer transmitted an urgent message to Captain Burrell H. Landes, Jr., CO of Bravo 1/3, saying he had seen a “large enemy force approaching [his] position.” When Landes asked the size of the NVA formation, the AO replied, “I’d hate to tell you, I’d hate to tell you.” The enemy force, numbering about 400, was marching directly for the Marine lines. As they neared, 500-600 artillery shells slammed into 3/9’s area, while 1,000 impacted in 1/3’s position.



Captain Albert Slater’s Alpha Company, 1/9, under operational control of 3/9, waited until the Communists were 150 meters from his perimeter before giving the order to commence firing. Slater remembered: “…the NVA alerted their unit with a bugle call…. Their initial reaction was [one] of confusion and they scattered. They quickly organized and probed at every flank of the 360-degree perimeter. Concealed prepared positions and fire discipline never allowed the NVA to determine what size of unit they were dealing with…heavy accurate artillery was walked to within 75 meters of the perimeter. The few NVA that penetrated the perimeter were killed and all lines held.”

All through the hellish night, the battle raged. Intelligence confirmed that the leathernecks were facing the elite 90th NVA Regiment. Sappers crept close enough to Marine lines to hurl hand grenades and blocks of TNT. In one instance, three enemy grenades were tossed at Lance Cpl. James Stuckey’s position. The fire team leader picked up each projectile and threw it at the enemy. Unfortunately, the last grenade exploded, leaving only a stump where a hand had once been. Stuckey remained with his fire team and refused medical aid. He received the Navy Cross as a result.



With the assistance of artillery helicopter gunships, naval gunfire and flare ships, the NVA assault was repulsed. By early next morning, the 90th NVA Regiment was withdrawing back across the DMZ. Operation Buffalo ceased on July 14. NVA killed were placed at nearly 1,300, with two soldiers captured. The Marines sustained 159 killed and 345 wounded.

Artillery and air support of the various services had saved the day. More than 1,000 tons of ordnance was dropped by aircraft, more than 40,000 artillery shells were expended by both Army and Marine howitzers, and warships offshore used 1,500 5-inch and 8-inch rounds. These tremendous barrages from land, sea and air caused the destruction of 164 enemy bunkers, 15 rocket and artillery emplacements, and 46 secondary explosions. However, NVA artillery, hidden deep within the safe haven of the DMZ, was also painfully accurate. Half the Marine dead came as a result of the enemy’s guns. Bases such as Con Thien were vulnerable. On July 7, the CP of 1/9 was hit by as 152mm shell. Eleven Marines were killed instantly, with Lt. Col. Schening, the battalion commander, receiving wounds.

Another frightening turn was noted during Operation Buffalo: the use of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). One A-4 aircraft was downed on July 6 while it was providing close air support for 1/3.



The area encompassing the Con Thien combat base was indeed hotly contested ground during the long, grueling summer of 1967. With the completion of Buffalo, the Marines were at least able to keep the enemy at arm’s length.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

www.vwam.com/vets/life/
www.vietvet.org/jhconthn.htm
www.mystae.com/reflections/vietnam/gronski/

[snippy_about_it]

NO FOXHOLE ATHEISTS



Incoming! To men in combat, this warning means just seconds to find any obtainable shelter before enemy shells land. And for the Marines manning the desolate outpost at Con Thien, those seconds meant the difference between life and death.

There is nothing more terrifying than to experience the feeling of sheer helplessness during an artillery barrage. There is something impersonal about the deadly whine of the metal fragments as they search out victims to maim. These thunderous projectiles would hurl white-hot shrapnel everywhere, both large and small, ripping, tearing and slicing human flesh. Prolonged shelling of this nature can also be psychologically detrimental.

“I can’t stand that artillery,” one shaken Marine confessed. “there’s no warning, no rhyme or reason to who gets hit and who doesn’t.”

While traveling between companies to hold religious services, Navy Lieutenant Leo Stanis, chaplain for the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, had a rule. He never said Mass for more than 25 individuals at a time. He would state from the outset: “Men, before we start, look around you. In case we receive incoming, we don’t all want to jump into the same hole. Let us pray…”

It is during these terrifying moments in combat that the old adage applies:
“There are no atheists in a foxhole.” And also when the comforting words of men like Leo Stanis are most needed. “Incoming at Con Thien many times makes us feel that the earth is removed and that the mountains are carried into the ocean,” the chaplain said.

Marines there found solace in Stanis’ words. Anywhere he opened his Bible on “the hill of angels,” that spot became his altar. And anytime a Marine feared for his life, he was there to alleviate his dismay. He was truly a man of compassion.

[snippy_about_it]

'For the Marines manning that outpost just south of the DMZ, Con Thien was hell on earth when the NVA attacked.'

-- Al Hemingway

[snippy_about_it]

Images from Con Thien

[snippy_about_it]

A NEW FEATURE ~ The Foxhole Revisits...

The Foxhole will be updating some of our earlier threads with new graphics and some new content for our Saturday threads in this, our second year of the Foxhole. We lost many of our graphic links and this is our way of restoring them along with revising the thread content where needed with new and additional information not available in the original threads.

A Link to the Original Thread;

The Freeper Foxhole Remembers Con Thien/Operation Buffalo - Dec. 27th, 2002

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On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 03:
0106 -BC-Marcus Tullius Cicero Rome, statesman/author (Academica)
1624 William Tucker 1st Black child born in America
1680 Johann Baptist Zimmermann German stucco worker
1777 Louis Poinsot French instrument worker
1786 Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider composer
1803 Douglas William Jerrold London, author/playwright/wit (Punch Magazine)
1819 Thomas Hill Watts Attorney General (Confederacy), died in 1892
1829 Konrad Duden German linguist (Der grosse Duden)
1840 Father Joseph Damien de Veuster Belgium, helped lepers in Hawaii
1876 Wilhelm Pieck co-founder German Communist Party/President (1949-60)
1879 Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge 1st lady (1923-29)
1886 John G Fletcher US, poet (Epic of Arkansas)
1886 Josephine Hull Newtonville MA, Academy award character actress (Harvey)
1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien South Africa, philologist/writer (Lord of Rings)
1898 ZaSu Pitts Parsons Kansas, actress (Life With Father, Dames)
1901 Ngo Dinh Diem President/Dictator of South Vietnam (1955-63)
1909 Victor Borge [Borge Rosenbaum], Copenhagen Denmark, pianist/comedian
1917 Vernon Walters New York City NY, US permanent representative to the UN
1918 Maxene Andrews Minnesota, singer (Andrew Sisters-Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy)
1926 George Martin record producer (The Beatles)
1934 Carla Hills politician (US Presidential Commission on Housing-1982)
1939 Bobby Hull NHL forward (Chicago Blackhawk 1957-72)
1945 Victoria Principal Fukuoka Japan, actress (Earthquake, Pamela-Dallas)
1945 Stephen Stills Dallas TX, singer/songwriter/guitarist (Crosby Stills & Nash)
1956 Mel Gibson Peekskill NY, actor (Mad Max, Mrs Soffel, Lethal Weapon)
1973 Paula Knoll Moorhead MN, Miss Minnesota-America (1995)

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Deaths which occurred on January 03:
1322 Philip V the Tall, King of France (1316-22), dies
1543 Juan Cabrillo conqueror of Central America, discoverer of California, dies
1560 Peder Palladus Danish church reformer (Visitasbog), dies at about 56
1661 Maria Henriëtte Stuart(of Orange) English Princess Royal/eldest daughter of the English king Charles I/mother of English king William III, dies of smallpox at 29
1670 George Monck English General(-to the-sea), dies at 61
1759 Marquis & Marquess of Tavora Portuguese nobles, executed
1875 George Bizet, composer (Carmen), dies
1795 Josiah Wedgwood British, ceramic craftsman/woodworker, dies at 64
1931 Joseph J C Joffre French marshal, dies at 78
1946 William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw), hanged in Britain for treason
1967 Jack Ruby assassin who killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies at 55
1975 Milton J Cross TV announcer (Met Opera Auditions), dies at 87
1976 Michael V Love US test pilot (X-24), dies in F-4 crash at 37
1979 Conrad Hilton US founder (Hilton Hotels), dies at 91
1992 Dame Judith Anderson actress (Star Trek 3, Laura, Rebecca), dies of pneumonia at 93
1992 Radomiro Tomic Chilean President (1970), dies

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1968 ANDERSON ROGER D.---DAYTON TX.
[01/12/68 ESCAPED]
1968 BEAN JAMES E.---COX'S CREEK KY.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 ELLIS BILLY J.---ELIZABETHTON TN.
1968 ESTES EDWARD D.---MARIONVILLE MO.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 LANCASTER KENNETH R.---SILVER SPRINGS MD.
1971 AYRES JAMES H.---PAMPA TX.
1971 HOLGUIN LUIS G.---OXNARD CA.
1971 MAGEE PATRICK J.---ALDER MT.
1971 OMELIA DENNIS W.---SMITHFIELD NC.
1971 OKERLUND THOMAS R.---SEATTLE WA.
1971 PALEN CARL A.---DUBUQUE IA.
1971 PARSONS MICHAEL D.---RENO NV.
1971 RHODES FERRIS A JR.---GREENWOOD SC.
1971 STRATTON CHARLES W.---DALLAS TX
1973 SCAIFE KENNETH DOYLE---JOHNSTOWN PA.
1975 RAWLINGS JAMES
[REMAINS ID 07 FEB 94]

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

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On this day...
0236 St Anterus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0269 St Felix I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0936 Duke Alberik II of Spoleto appoints his son Pope Leo VII
1431 Joan of Arc handed over to the bishop
1521 Martin Luther excommunicated by Roman Catholic Church
1667 Russia & Poland sign Truce of Androsovo
1746 Bonnie Prince Charlies army leaves Glasgow
1750 Tax revolt in Haarlem Netherlands
1777 Washington defeats British at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey
1780 Danish national anthem "Kong Kristian", 1st sung
1825 Scottish factory owner Robert Owen buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community
1831 1st US building & loan association organized, Frankford PA
1833 Britain seizes control of Falkland Islands in South Atlantic
1840 1st deep sea sounding
1847 California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
1852 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii
1861 Delaware legislature rejects proposal to join Confederacy
1861 US Fort Pulaski & Fort Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia
1862 Romney Campaign - Stonewall Jackson moves north from Winchester
1868 Meiji Restoration returns authority to Japan's emperors
1870 Brooklyn Bridge construction begins; completed May 24, 1883
1871 Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton NY
1876 1st free kindergarten in US opens in Florence MA
1888 1st wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC
1889 Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg WA, asks for statehood
1890 1st US college-level dairy school opens at University of Wisconsin
1911 US postal savings bank inaugurated
1912 Southern Pacific RR offers to bring Liberty Bell to Exposition, free
1918 US employment service opens as a unit of Department of Labor
1920 New York Yankees purchase Babe Ruth from Red Sox for $125,000
1921 Turkey makes peace with Armenia
1922 1st living person identified on a US coin (Thomas E Kirby) on the Alabama Centennial half-dollar
1924 British Egyptologist Howard Carter finds sarcophagus of Tutankhamun
1925 Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator
1929 27 year old William S Paley becomes CBS president
1938 March of Dimes established to fight polio
1939 Gene Cox becomes 1st girl page in US House of Representatives
1941 Italian counter offensive in Albania
1943 1st missing persons telecast (New York City NY)
1943 Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa
1945 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visits France
1945 Greek General Plastiras forms government
1945 US aircraft carriers attack Okinawa
1947 William Dawson becomes 1st black to head congressional committee
1947 1st opening session of Congress to be televised
1949 "Colgate Theatre" dramatic anthology series premieres on NBC TV
1952 "Dragnet" with Jack Webb premieres on NBC TV
1957 1st electric watch introduced, Lancaster PA
1959 Alaska admitted as 49th US state
1961 Adam Clayton Powell elected Chairman of House Education & Labor
1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
1964 Jack Paar Show, shows a clip of the Beatles singing "She Loves You"
1967 "Tonight Show" is shortened from 105 to 90 minutes
1970 Marxist government takes over in Congo
1970 "Mame" closes at Winter Garden Theater New York City NY after 1508 performances
1973 George Steinbrenner III buys Yankees from CBS for $12 million
1974 Gold hits record $121.25 an ounce in London
1977 Apple Computer incorporated
1980 Gold hits record $634 an ounce
1984 Syria frees captured US pilot after appeal from Jesse Jackson
1985 Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
1987 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts 1st female artist Aretha Franklin
1988 Israel orders 9 Palestinian "instigators" deported from W Beirut
1988 Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century
1989 Jim & Tammy Bakker return to TV
1989 Russian newspaper Izvestia gets its 1st commercial advertisement
1990 Panamá's leader General Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities
1991 Israel reopens consulate in USSR after 23 years
1992 32 Cubans defect to the US via helicopter
1993 Junk bond king Michael Milkin is released from jail after 22 months
1994 35-foot-tall Chief Wahoo, trademark of Indians on top of Stadium since 1962, is taken down, to be moved to Jacob's Field
1997 Bryant "Gumby" Gumbel co-hosted his final "Today" show on NBC-TV
1998 Grandpa Jones suffers a stroke
2001 The 107th Congress opened with the Senate split evenly down the middle. (Because of the 50-50 divide, the Democrats were initially in control, since Vice President Al Gore could break ties, but the Republicans took over on Inauguration Day when Dick Cheney became vice president. However, the Senate reverted to Democratic control when Vermont Sen. James Jeffords switched his affiliation from Republican to Independent in May.)

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Upper Voltan Revolution Day.
Alaska : Admission Day (1959)
US : Diet Resolution Week (Day 3)
National Hot Tea Month

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Religious Observances
Orthodox : Commemoration of Discovery of Sacred Remains of St Efrem
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Anteros, 19th Roman Catholic pope (235-36)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Genevieve, virgin/patroness of Paris

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Religious History
1521 German Reformer Martin Luther, 38, was excommunicated by Pope Leo X for challenging Catholic Church doctrine. Luther soon after began translating of the Bible into the German language.
1785 The famed Methodist "Christmas Conference" concluded in Baltimore, MD. Having opened on Christmas Eve, 1784, this body brought into being the Methodist Episcopal Church (in America), and elected Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke the first two American "general superintendents."
1930 American Congregational missionary Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter: 'I have done nothing but open windows Ä God has done the rest.'
1934 At Barmen-Gemarke, in Germany, 320 pastors of the German Confessing Church met to draw up a theological statement opposing the Nazi German Nationalist Church. Led by Karl Barth and Martin Niem”ller, the gathering led to the formula afterward known as the Barmen Declaration.
1956 The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1870, officially changed its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination is headquartered today in Memphis, TN, and comprises a membership of nearly 500,000.

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

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Thought for the day :
" The best prophet of the future is the past. "

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Ponder, Ponder, Ponder...
Are part-time band leaders semi-conductors?

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Murphys Law of the day...
No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.

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Amazing Fact #39,671...
There were no squirrels on Nantucket until 1989.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone in The FOXHOLE!

[snippy_about_it]

There were no squirrels on Nantucket until 1989.

Why?

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning feather.

[The Mayor]

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new

A song in the heart puts a smile on the face

[thatdewd]

Good morning! Great article and pics. I missed the original posting so this is a first-time read for me.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor. Coffee looks especially appealing this morning. Thanks.

[snippy_about_it]

Hey there dewd. Good to see you.

I missed the first one too and even if I hadn't I think re-reading them is a good idea once and awhile.

[Professional Engineer]

OMG