The FReeper Foxhole Revisits - Remembering Task Force Smith - Korea 1950 - Jan. 10th, 2003

http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/oqmg/Professional_Bulletin/1996/Spring/tfsmith.html ^

[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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Task Force Smith



Korea

Task Force Smith
‘What we carried was all we had.’

On July 5, 1950, the morning dawned rainy and windswept in the bleak hills of Korea between Suwan and Osan. Atop three of those hills that straddled the road between the two towns, 406 soldiers of Companies B and C of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, 24th Infantry Division were arrayed in a mile-long position astride the main road and railway connecting Seoul and Pusan. They had spent a miserable, rain-soaked night in the hills, after previously arriving on a hasty night flight from Japan followed by four days of truck and train travel from Pusan.

As the soldiers roused, some opened their C-Rations while others attempted to dry out themselves and their equipment. They soon found their radios inoperative because of the rain. Some of their equipment, most notably their ammunition, was still stacked by the side of the road at the bottom of the hills. About a mile to their rear, similarly wet and miserable soldiers in Battery A of the 52d Artillery Battalion were supporting with six 105-millimeter (mm) howitzers.



Under the command of LTC Charles "Brad" Smith, these US Army units, dubbed "Task Force Smith," represented the farthest forward US ground combat force on the Korean Peninsula. To their rear, the rest of the 24th Infantry Division was hurriedly organizing a defensive line to stop the North Korean attack.



Aside from the 105-mm artillery, the commander had two of his four 75-mm recoilless rifles that few of his soldiers knew how to use, six obsolete 2.36-inch "bazooka" rocket launchers (none of the newer, more effective 3.5-inch launchers in the Army inventory had been issued to Far East units), and two mortar platoons armed with four 60-mm and two 4.2-inch mortars. Because of weight constraints on the C-54 aircraft, the rest of the 4.2-inch mortar platoon was left behind for later shipment. Somewhere to the northwest, in the direction of Seoul was the North Korean People’s Army.

The North Korean People’s Army was on a roll. The North Korean People’s Army had invaded the Republic of Korea in South Korea only 11 days earlier and overwhelmed the ill-equipped Republic of Korea armed forces. The North Korean People’s Army steamrolled into Seoul, driving refugees and regrouping Republic of Korea Army units before it, clogging roads and throwing the countryside into a panic.

Their invasion caught General Douglas MacArthur and his Far East Command and Eighth Army by surprise, despite recent intelligence reports that North Korea was planning for an attack on the Republic of Korea. General MacArthur had disregarded the reports, saying he did not believe war with North Korea was imminent. In fact, both the Far East Command analysis and the US National Security Council analysis did not include Korea as one of the US Far East interests. Earlier, in 1947, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had declared Korea "a military liability" and directed withdrawal of all US troops by June 1950. By June 1949, the only US military presence in Korea was the 472-man US Korean Military Advisory Group. The Far East Command was responsible only for support to the US Korean Military Advisory Group.



The Republic of Korea Army of 1950 was a 64,600-man force advised by the US Korean Military Advisory Group and equipped with US surplus equipment, mostly small arms and light artillery. No tanks, heavy artillery, aircraft or ships were allocated the Republic of Korea by the US because of the Republic of Korea military’s "peaceful purpose." A US Korean Military Advisory Group advisor observed: "It (Republic of Korea Army) could have been the American Army of 1775." Also, the Far East Command assessed Korea as "not tank country."

In contrast, the North Korean People’s Army had over 130,000 soldiers and 3,000 Soviet advisors with the Soviets providing a full array of heavy weapons, aircraft and, notably, the formidable T-34/85, arguably the best tank to come out of World War II. On the morning of July 5, 1950, the North Korean People’s Army was a proven, battle-tried combat force.

On the US side, the nation’s military was still in the throes of the post-World War II drawdown, going from a force of 12 million to a congressionally mandated force strength of 1,070,000 from 1945 to 1947. The Far East Command’s US Army Command, Eighth Army, had four divisions - 1st Cavalry, 7th Infantry, 24th Infantry and 25th Infantry - totaling 50,000 soldiers. These divisions were all based in Japan on constabulary duty as occupation forces. Though this looked good on paper, these units were manned with poorly trained draftees and a cadre that put little emphasis on training or readiness during what one observer called the "unabashed sloth" of occupation duty. Of these soldiers, only one in six had seen combat duty in World War II. In fact, by June 1950, unit strengths for combat units had fallen to 48.8 percent, and combat service support units had sunk to 25.9 percent. For combat service support units, this meant an increasing dependence on local civilian labor and facilities for routine combat service support activities and total unpreparedness for wartime mobilization.



Postwar budget cuts had severely shrunk the key logistics capabilities of the other services too. The US Air Force maintained only two dozen C-54 aircraft in Japan. At the time of Task Force Smith’s deployment, several were undergoing maintenance and only six were available. The US Navy’s sealift was also a victim of budget cuts that left the 24th Division "scrounging" for ships in which to deploy. The rest of the 1/21 Infantry, for example, had to commandeer civilian freighters and some US Navy LSTs (landing ships, tank) that were on loan to the Japanese Self Defense Force in order to sail to Korea to link up with Task Force Smith. As one commander put it: "It was a hell of a way to go to war."



In The Korean War, author Max Hastings writes that General MacArthur’s "absolute lack of attention to the combat training of the divisions in Japan can be explained by his conviction that they would not be called upon to fight." The general’s staff also had a condescending attitude toward what General MacArthur called "a barefoot Asian army." Ordered to counter the North Korean invasion, General MacArthur thought sending the 24th Infantry Division - as, in his words, an "arrogant display of strength" - would suffice to intimidate and ultimately stop their advance.

General MacArthur ordered the 24th Infantry Division to mobilize and prepare to move to Korea. Its mission was to secure the port of Pusan and insert a delaying force by air north of the port. The 1/21 Infantry was the designated delaying force and was hastily loaded on six C-54 transport aircraft. Only enough aircraft were available to load out two Infantry companies and some selected equipment. The rest of the battalion, Companies A and D, along with other heavy equipment and weapons, were left behind in Japan to follow-on by sealift. The rest of the division with its organic tank battalion would also deploy by sea.



Task Force Smith landed at Pusan on July 1-2 and began a three-day journey by truck and train to its battle position. The roads were clogged with refugees and retreating Republic of Korea units, and the road surfaces were churned to a quagmire by the rain and traffic. Troops slept in sidings and school houses along the way. Some became sick from drinking from local water supplies. As they neared the front, the civilian drivers refused to proceed, and the soldiers drove the trucks the rest of the way. When they arrived at the position on July 4 in the darkness and rain, the Republic of Korea Army unit that was supposed to link up with Task Force Smith was not there. Supplies were offloaded but not all moved uphill into the battle positions.

While Task Force Smith was moving into position, Pusan was struggling to transform itself into a major supply base. At the southeastern corner of the Korean Peninsula, Pusan was 185 miles southeast of Task Force Smith and 275 road miles away, separated by two mountain ranges. The Pusan Logistics Command was still organizing, finding the port facilities underdeveloped and the rail and motor transport systems in a state of confusion. Many of the networks had been damaged by air strikes from both sides. There was no centralized system of asset management, and no one was quite sure of supplies on hand. By July 5, 7,600 tons of Class V (ammunition), and 3,200 tons of general supplies had been offloaded, but there was still no coherent system to move the supplies forward.

Back at the Far East Command, the staff was acting as the combat service support staff, trying to mobilize the available forces without a theater logistics plan. The staff had neither identified a communications zone (COMMZ) nor organized support architecture. There was no plan to synchronize the deployment of combat service support units with the combat units. Because of the perceived superiority of the US forces, no preparations had been made for the retrograde, resupply or reinforcement of Task Force Smith.



The soldiers of Task Force Smith were minimally supplied, also based on the anticipation of their mission as a short "police action." They had been issued two days’ C-Rations and about the same amount of ammunition (120 rounds per man). According to LTC Smith, "What we carried was all we had." There were no barrier materials or mines available. Many of their 2.36-inch rockets were deteriorated and old, as were the mortar rounds.

At 0700 on July 5, 1950, the North Korean People’s Army attacked Task Force Smith with a lead element of eight T-34/85 tanks. The tanks moved through an initial barrage of A/52 Artillery unfazed. The 75-mm recoilless rifle gunners engaged the tanks, but did not score a single kill despite many hits. Task Force Smith bazooka gunners also fired many rounds at the tanks, likewise with little effect. One gunner fired over 20 rockets at the tanks at close range without managing to inflict any serious damage. A 105-mm howitzer, firing in direct fire mode, managed to knock out one tank. By 0900, more than 30 tanks had driven through Task Force Smith’s position, cutting the single communications line between the task force and A/52 Artillery. At 1100, two regiments of North Korean People’s Army infantry assaulted Task Force Smith. With LTC Smith’s radios inoperative as a result of the rain, he had to use runners between his elements.



Faced with being overrun and caught between the North Korean troops and tanks in the rear, LTC Smith ordered a phased withdrawal beginning with Company C on the right flank. Company B, holding the left flank position and straddling the main road through which the tank attack came, saw the withdrawal of Company C and began to fall back on its own. The withdrawal turned into a rout with soldiers stumbling through the rice paddies and abandoning weapons and equipment. Of the 406 Task Force Smith soldiers who started the battle, only 185 could be mustered a week later after reaching friendly lines.

Task Force Smith’s mission was doomed to failure for many reasons, but foremost was the failure by General MacArthur’s Far East Command and Eighth Army to anticipate the threat. Given the proximity of communist and Soviet influences in the theater of operations, leaders should have had contingency plans in case hostilities erupted. These plans should have also contained logistics support to include prepositioned reserve equipment. Anticipating the threat also would have prompted the staff to develop training that supported contingency plans instead of allowing the deterioration of both combat and combat service support forces.



On the plus side, the decision to secure Pusan was crucial to establishing a support base for reinforcing the Republic of Korea Army and ultimately deploying heavy ground forces and attendant combat service support. Having "friendly" port of entry into the theater was better than forcing a lodgment on hostile shores.

After Task Force Smith was committed, no plan for its continuous support was evident. Given the state of training and readiness in Eighth Army, effective execution of a combat service support plan was questionable, even if such a plan had existed. This must have been obvious to the soldiers of Task Force Smith, after their experiences just before the battle. Their lack of training, frantic deployment and poor outfitting, followed by their sporadic and haphazard movement into position could only have been viewed as harbingers of the future, hammered home by North Korean People’s Army on the morning of July 5, 1950.



The events that unfolded on the Korean peninsula some 45 years ago offer a telling reminder of what happens when a force goes to war unprepared. Disaster lurks around every bend. There are lessons here especially pertinent to the logistics community.

The Army either learns from its history or runs the risk of repeating past mistakes on some future battlefield. This is what General (Retired) Gordon R. Sullivan meant when he said repeatedly throughout his tour as Army Chief of Staff: "No more Task Force Smiths."

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[Aeronaut]

Hiya Sam.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Gail, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and coffee is always welcome here. We can't drink enough of it.

[SAMWolf]

Have to pass on that warning to my son and daughter.

[SAMWolf]

Tim went into work early this morning and teenage sons are notorious for kithcen noises.

[snippy_about_it]

They just don't make quiet pots and pans! I'm heading out to run errands this moring. See you later. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Drive careful.

[bulldogs]

Good morning snippy, thanks for the post.

[weldgophardline]

Good Morning SAMWolf & Snippy & all Foxhole friends.
It looks to be a great day to go and FReep some leftists in Ft. Collins today. I'll give them hell from all of you. GOD BLESS THE TROOPS!!

[The Mayor]

He who says he abides in [Jesus] ought himself also to walk just as He walked. —1 John 2:6

Nothing is so attractive as being like Christ.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone in the FOXHOLE!

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 10:
1502 Hendrik Niclaes German/Dutch merchant/cult leader ('Family of Love')
1628 Jan Theunisz Blanckerhoff [Jan Maet], seascape painter)
1635 Willem à Brakel Frisian theologist (Reasonable religion)
1638 Niels Stensen Danish astronomer
1738 Ethan Allen Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)
1747 Abraham L Breguet French clock maker
1768 James Varicick 1st AME Zion Bishop
1769 Michel Ney French marshal (Waterloo)
1780 M Heinrich C Lichtenstein German zoologist
1815 Alexander Brydie Dyer Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1874
1815 Thomas Williams Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1825 Alexander Travis Hawthorn Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1834 John Acton English historian/MP
1864 George Washington Carver agricultural scientist (estimate date - actual birthdate unknown)
1876 Johannes W "Jan" Eisenloeffel Dutch goldsmith
1877 Frederick Gardner Cottrell inventor (electrostatic precipitator)
1880 Grock [Adrien Wettach], Swiss clown/circus director
1880 Manuel Azaña y Díaz PM/President of 2nd Spanish republic (1936-39)
1883 Francis X Bushman Norfolk VA, silent film actor (Ben Hur, Spy's Defeat)
1892 Dumas Malone Mississippi, historian (Jefferson & His Time)
1898 Sergei M Eisenstein Russian director (Alexandr Nevski)
1904 Ray Bolger Dorchester MA, actor/dancer (Wizard of Oz)
1908 Bernard Lee London England, actor (M in James Bond movies)
1917 Jerry Wexler music producer (Aretha Franklin/Bob Dylan)
1927 Gisele MacKenzie Winnipeg Manitoba, singer/actress (Your Hit Parade)
1930 Roy E Disney CEO (Disney)
1935 Ronnie (the Hawk) Hawkins Ark, rocker (Who Do You Love?)
1938 Willie "Stretch" McCovey 1st baseman (San Francisco Giant #44)
1939 Sal Mineo New York City NY, actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause)
1942 Walter Hill director (48 Hours, Extreme Prejudice)
1943 Jim Croce Philadelphia PA, singer/songwriter (Time in a Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown)
1945 Rod Stewart London England, singer (Maggie Mae, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy)
1948 Donald Fagen Passaic NJ, rock vocalist/keyboardist (Steely Dan-Peg)
1948 William Sanderson Memphis TN, actor (Larry-Newhart, Deuce-Babylon 5, Blade Runner)
1949 Teresa Graves Houston TX, actress (Laugh-in, Get Christie Love)
1949 George Foreman Marshall TX, world heavyweight boxing champ (1973-74, 95)
1953 Bobby Rahal Indy-car racer (over 15 wins)
1968 Lyle Menendez NY, accused of killing his parents (Menendez Brothers)

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Deaths which occurred on January 10:
0681 Agatho Sicilian pope (678-81), dies
0866 Lin-chi I-hsuan [J Rinzai Gigen], Zen teacher, dies
0976 John I Tzimisces co-emperor of Byzantium (969-76), dies at 51
1276 Gregorius X [Tedaldo Visconti], pope, dies
1542 Gerardus Noviomagus [Gerrit Geldenhauer], Dutch theologist, die at 59
1645 William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded for treason at 71
1778 Carolus Linnæus "Carl von Linné" Swedish botanist/explorer/"Father of Taxonomy", dies at 70
1824 Victor Emanuel I king of Sardinia (1802-21), dies at 64
1862 Samuel Colt inventor (6 shot revolver), dies at 47
1917 Buffalo Bill Cody army scout & Indian fighter, dies
1934 Marinus van der Lubbe Dutch communist, beheaded in Berlin at 24
1941 Joseph Schmidlin German church historian, murdered at 67
1961 Dashiell Hammett author (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man), dies from throat cancer at 66
1971 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel French fashion designer, dies at 87
1976 Chester Arthur Burnett(Howlin' Wolf) US blues pianist/harmonica player, dies at 65
1978 John D Rockefeller III US billionaire/philanthropist, dies at 71
1978 Zeb Turner country-rock performer (Chew Tobacco Rag), dies at 62
1980 George Meany labor leader, dies at 85
1981 Richard Boone actor (Paladin-Have Gun Will Travel), dies at 63
1982 Paul Lynde comedian/actor (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched, Bye Bye Birdie, Bewitched), dies at 55
1996 Alexander Robertus organic chemist, dies at 88
1996 Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, dies at 81

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 GAULEY JAMES P.---RINGWOOD OK.
1967 STOVES MERRITT III---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1968 HOPPER EARL P. JR.---GLENDALE AZ.
[EJECTION PROBLEMS CRASH]
1968 HALL KEITH N.---GRAND FORKS ND
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1969 SPROTT ARTHUR R. JR.---DELRAY BEACH FL.
1970 ALLEN WAYNE C.---TEWKSBURY MA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 09/90 ID'D 04/91]
1970 CROSBY HERBERT C.---GA
1970 HOWES GEORGE A.---KNOX IN.
1973 CLARK ROBERT A.---NORTH HOLLYWOOD CA.*
1973 MC CORMICK MICHAEL T.---HONOLULU HI.
*Remains ID'd
Servicemen Missing from Vietnam War Identified
United States Department of Defense January 9, 2004 DoD
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1054904/posts?page=2#2

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

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On this day...
0049 -BC- Julius Cesar crosses the Rubicon, invades Italy
0236 St Fabian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0681 St Agatho ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1072 Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo
1356 German emperor Charles I delegates Golden Degree
1429 Order of the Golden Fleece established in Austria-Hungary & Spain
1430 Duke Philip the Good marries Isabella of Portugal
1514 Complutensian New Testament in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek & Latin finished
1550 1st sitting of "Vurige Chamber" in Paris
1642 King Charles I & family flee London for Oxford
1663 King Charles II affirms charter of Royal African Company
1806 Dutch in Cape Town, South African surrender to the British
1810 French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I & Joséphine
1811 Louisiana slaves rebel in 2 parishes
1839 Tea from India 1st arrives in UK
1840 Penny Post mail system started
1845 Poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning begin corresponding
1861 US forts & property seized by Mississippi
1861 Florida becomes 3rd state to secede from US
1861 Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by Los Angeles state troops
1862 Battle of Big Sandy River KY (Middle Creek)
1862 Battle of Romney WV
1863 1st underground railway opens in London
1863 General McClernand's Union troops surround Fort Hindman AR
1863 January-uprising begins in Poland
1870 Georgia legislature reconvenes
1870 John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil
1878 US Senate proposes female suffrage
1889 Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France
1890 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Sapientiae Christianae
1893 Richard Drigo's ballet "The Magic Flute" premieres, St Petersburg
1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas
1911 1st photo in US taken from an airplane, San Diego
1912 World's 1st flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in NY)
1916 Russian offensive in Kaukasus
1920 League of Nations' 1st meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect
1923 Last US troops leave Rhineland (Germany)
1923 Lithuania seizes & annexes country of Memel
1925 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Texas Governor, nation's 2nd woman governor
1927 Fritz Lang's Metropolis premieres
1928 Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1935 Actress Mary Pickford marries actor Douglas Fairbanks
1941 Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic & Old Lace" premieres in New York City NY
1941 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
1942 Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies
1943 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime-FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco
1943 Russian offensive against German 6th/4th Armies near Stalingrad
1944 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Philadelphia
1944 British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma
1945 Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close
1946 UN General Assembly convenes for 1st time (London)
1946 US Army establishes 1st radar contact with Moon, Belmar NJ
1947 British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel
1949 RCA introduces 45 RPM record
1951 1st jet passenger trip made
1951 UN headquarters opens in Manhattan NY
1956 Elvis records "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 Anthony Eden resigns & Harold Macmillan becomes PM Britain
1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the country and r&b charts, #2 on the pop chart
1964 US version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres
1964 Battles between moslems & hindus in Calcutta
1964 Panamá severs diplomatic relations with US
1966 Julian Bond denied seat in Georgia legislature for opposing Vietnam War
1966 India & Pakistan sign peace accord
1967 Edward Brooke, takes (Senator-R-MA) seat as 1st popular elected black
1967 PBS (the National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network
1967 Lester Maddox inaugurated as Governor of Georgia
1968 US Surveyor 7 lands near lunar crater Tycho
1969 USSR's Venera 6 launched for parachute landing on Venus
1969 Sweden (1st Western country) recognizes North Vietnam
1972 Triple album set "Concert for Bangladesh" released in UK
1972 Sheik Mujib ur-Rahman arrives in Dacca, East-Pakistan
1979 1st brother Billy Carter makes allegedly anti-Semitic remarks
1980 Last broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC
1981 John Severin sets 100-mile unicycle speed record, 9 h 21 m
1981 El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive"
1983 New York Supreme Court issues a preliminary injunction barring New York Yankees from playing season-opening series against Tigers in Denver
1984 Argentine ex-president/General Bignone arrested
1984 Clara Peller 1st asks, "Where's the Beef?"
1984 Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew, & D Drysdale elected to Hall of Fame
1984 US establishes full diplomatic relations with Vatican after 117 years
1985 Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as President of Nicaragua
1990 China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre)
1991 US Congress begins debate on Persian Gulf crisis
1991 Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans
1994 Trial of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husband's penis, begins
1994 Ukraine says it will give up world's 3rd largest nuclear arsenal
1994 Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan agrees to abolish trade tariffs
1995 "Late Late Show" with Tom Snyder premieres on CBS at 12 30 AM
1996 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
1996 Jimmy Johnson announced as new coach of Miami Dolphins
1997 Dow Corning provides $2.95 billion to settle breast implant suits
1997 Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map
2000 America Online announced it had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, in what would be the biggest merger in history.

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

Switzerland : Meitlisunntig Festival-Woman in Villmergen War (1712) (Sunday)
US : Pun Week Ends
Blood Donor Month

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Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gonzalvo
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Agatho, Roman Catholic pope (678-81)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gregory X, Roman Catholic pope (1271-76)
Anglican : Commemoration of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

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Religious History
1514 The first section of the Complutensian Polyglot (the world's first multi-language Bible) was printed at Alcala, Spain. (The complete translation was published in 6 volumes in 1517.)
1538 Regarding the doctrine of purgatory, German Reformer Martin Luther reported in a "Table Talk": 'God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.'
1772 Pioneer American Methodist bishop and circuit rider Francis Asbury penned this prayer in his journal: 'Let me sooner choose to die than sin against thee, in thought, word, or deed.'
1858 English poet Frances Ridley Havergal, 21, while on a visit in Germany, penned the verses which later became her first popular hymn: "I Gave My Life for Thee."
1947 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'May we resolve, God helping us, to be part of the answer, and not part of the problem.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years"

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Question of the day...
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Thwartz's Theorem of Low Profile)
Negative expectation thwarts realization, and self-congratulation guarantees disaster.

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Astounding fact #612...
Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

[SAMWolf]

Morning weldgophardline!. You give em hell for us.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Bulldogs

[SAMWolf]

Hiya Mayor. Coffee looks good again this morning

[SAMWolf]

Morning Feather. Stil, can't get to my machine. I'll have the music for the Lair a little later.

[Soaring Feather]

Hi Sam, oh that's fine, not a problem. :-)

It's so very cold here, it's 1degree.

[stand watie]

our hero-martyrs of the FROZEN CHOSEN are REMEMBERED!

free the southland,sw

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon bulldogs. You're welcome.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon. I know we can always count on you for your freeps. Thank you for keeping up the good work.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Mayor.
I had to run errands so I'm a little behind in my posts but now I'm back for the rest of the day.