Replies

Reverend
George L. Fox

George L. Fox was born March 15, 1900 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. In addition to George, he had a sister Gertrude and brothers Bert, Leo and John. When George was just 17, he left school, and with strong determination, convinced the military authorities he was 18 and joined the ambulance corps in 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. George was placed in the ambulance corps and shipped to Camp Newton D. Baker in Texas. On December 3, 1917 George embarked from Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and boarded the US Huron enroute to France. As a medical corps assistant, he was highly decorated for bravery and was awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.

Upon his discharge, he returned home to Altoona, completed his last year in high school, and went to work for the Guarantee Trust Company. In 1923 he entered Moody Institute in Illinois, where he married at Winona Lake, Indiana. After he withdrew from Moody, he became an itinerant preacher in the Methodist faith. A son, Wyatt Ray, was born on November 11, 1924. After several successful years, George held a student pastorate in Downs, Illinois. He entered Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington in 1929 and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1931. Again as a student pastorate in Rye, New Hampshire, he entered the Boston University School of Theology. George was ordained a Methodist minister on June 10, 1934 and graduated with a S.T.B. degree. He was appointed pastor in Waits River, Vermont. Their second child, Mary Elizabeth, was born shortly thereafter. In 1936, he accepted a pastorate in Union Village, Vermont. His next calling was in Gilman, Vermont where he joined the Walter G. Moore American Legion Post. He was later appointed state chaplain and historian for the Legion.

In mid 1942, George decided to join the Army Chaplain Service and was appointed July 24, 1942. He went on active duty August 8, 1942, the same day his son Wyatt enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was assigned to the Chaplains school at Harvard and then reported to the 411th Coast Artillery Battalion at Camp Davis. He was then reunited with Chaplains Goode, Poling and Washington at Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts and their fateful trip on the USAT DORCHESTER. Chaplain Fox was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.

Rabbi
Alexander D. Goode

Alexander D. Goode was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 10, 1911. His father was a Rabbi and his mother, Fay had two other sons, Joseph and Moses, and a daughter, Agatha. Alex received medals at Eastern High School, Washington, DC for tennis, swimming and track. He led his class in scholarship too! He planned to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Rabbi, but that did not keep him from having a laughing, shouting, hail-fellow-well-met boyhood with all the Protestant and Catholic boys in his neighborhood. He graduated from Eastern in 1929.

He entered the University of Cincinnati and graduated in 1934 with an A.B. degree...and then on to Hebrew Union College with a B.H. degree in 1937. He later received his Ph.D. from John Hopkins University in 1940.

Alex married his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Flax, daughter of Nathan and Rose Flax. Theresa was a niece of singer and motion picture star, Al Jolson. They were married on October 7, 1935. As an ordained Rabbi, his first assignment was a synagogue in Marion, Indiana in 1936. On July 16, 1937 he was transferred to the Beth Israel synagogue in York, Pennsylvania until mid 1942. Alex and Theresa had a daughter, Rosalie, who was born in 1939.

In January 1941 he applied as a chaplain with the U.S. Navy but was not accepted at that time. Right after Pearl Harbor, he tried again, this time with the Army, and received an appointment on July 21, 1942. Chaplain Goode went on active duty on August 9, 1942 and was selected for the Chaplains School at Harvard. He had courses in map reading, first aid, law, and chemical warfare. Chaplain Goode was then assigned to the 333rd Airbase Squadron in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In October 1942, he was transferred to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts and Alex was reunited with Chaplains Fox, Poling and Washington, who were classmates at Harvard.

It was January 1943 when he boarded the USAT DORCHESTER in Boston and embarkation to Greenland. Chaplain Goode was killed in action on February 3, 1943 in the icy waters of the North Atlantic when the DORCHESTER was sunk by a German U-boat. Chaplain Goode was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.

Reverend
Clark V. Poling

Clark V. Poling was born August 7, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio. He was the son of Susie Jane Vandersall of East Liberty, Ohio and Daniel A. Poling of Portland, Oregon. In addition to Clark, the other children were Daniel, Mary and Elizabeth. Clark attended Whitney Public School in Auburndale, Massachusetts where his teachers remembered his maturity and delicate side of his nature. The Auburndale days came to an end when his mother died in 1918. She is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery, Uniontown, Ohio. Clark's father was an Evangelical Minister and in 1936 was rebaptized as a Baptist minister. Reverend Daniel Poling was remarried on August 11, 1919 to Lillian Diebold Heingartner of Canton, Ohio.

Clark attended Oakwood, a Quaker high school in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was a good student and an excellent football halfback. Clark was a council member and president of the student body. In 1929 he enrolled at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and spent his last two years at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1933 with an A.B. degree. Clark entered Yale University's Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut and graduated with his B.D. degree in 1936. He was ordained in the Reformed Church in America and his first assignment was the First Church of Christ, New London, Connecticut. Shortly thereafter, he accepted the assignment of Pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York.

Clark was married to Betty Jung of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the next year, Clark, Jr. (Corky) was born. With our country now at war with Japan, Germany and Italy, he decided to be a chaplain. Talking with his father, Dr. Daniel A. Poling, who was a chaplain in World War I, he was told that chaplains in that conflict sustained the highest mortality rate of all military personnel. Without hesitation, he was appointed on June 10, 1942 as a chaplain with the 131st Quartermaster Truck Regiment and reported to Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, effective June 25, 1942. Later he attended Chaplains School at Harvard with Chaplains Fox, Goode and Washington after his transfer to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts. Shortly after the USAT DORCHESTER was sunk February 3, 1943, his wife, Betty, gave birth to a daughter, Susan Elizabeth, on April 20. Chaplain Poling was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.

Father
John P. Washington

John P. Washington was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 18, 1908. His parents were Frank and Mary; in addition they had daughters Mary and Anna, and sons Thomas, Francis, Leo and Edmund. In 1914, John was enrolled at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Elementary School. In those days, times were rough for a poor immigrant family, but John had his father's Irish grin and his mother's Irish stick-to-itiveness. He liked to play ball, but he had a newspaper route to help his mother with extra money, since there were nine mouths in the Washington household to feed. John started to take piano lessons, loved music and sang in the church choir. When he entered seventh grade, he felt strongly about becoming a priest...during the previous year, he became an altar boy and his priestly destiny was in process.

John entered Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey to complete his high school and college courses in preparation for the priesthood. He graduated in 1931 with an A.B. degree. He entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey and received his minor orders on May 26, 1933. John excelled in the seminary, was a sub deacon at all the solemn masses, and later became a deacon on December 25, 1934. John was elected prefect of his class and was ordained a priest on June 15, 1935.

Father Washington's first parish was at St. Genevieve's in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and then he served at St. Venantius for a year. In 1938 he was assigned to St. Stephen's in Arlington, New Jersey. Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941, he received his appointment as a chaplain in the United States Army. He went on active duty May 9, 1942 and was named Chief of the Chaplains Reserve Pool, Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. In June 1942, he was assigned to the 76th Infantry Division in Ft. George Meade, Maryland. In November 1942, he reported to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts and met Chaplains Fox, Goode and Poling at Chaplains School at Harvard.

Father Washington boarded the USAT DORCHESTER at the Embarkation Camp at Boston Harbor in January 1943 enroute to Greenland. Chaplain Washington was killed in action on February 3, 1943, when the DORCHESTER was sunk by a German U-boat. Chaplain Washington was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.

Four Chaplains Commemorative U.S. Postage Stamp
The Original First Stamp Design

This is the history of the design of the U.S. postage stamp, the Four Chaplains stamp as told to me by my father, Louis Schwimmer, the original designer. More recently, this history has been supplemented with information and references generously provided by James Patterson, Chairman of the Essay-Proof Committee, United States Stamp Society. The Four Chaplains stamp commemorates an act of bravery during World War II which stands today as a foremost example of interfaith courage and bravery in action in the United States.

Note: The stamp design below was the original stamp design by Louis Schwimmer. The stamp as issued by the United States Post Office Department modifies Schwimmer's first design.

The four chaplains story in brief is this:, four American chaplains of different faiths, Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic, each gave away their life preservers and their chances for survival when their ship, the USS Dorchester was mortally struck. The four chaplains went down together with the ship.

Much has been written and done to commemorate this extraordinary event in US and religious history. A number of Internet web sites have more information about these remarkable men, about the story, and about efforts that have been made to perpetuate their memory, and honor their example.

The issuance of the stamp was unique because it was issued less than than ten years after the men died. Customarily, the Post Office Department (now the U. S. Postal Service) did not issue commemorative stamps until ten years after the person had died.

This is the story, as I know it, of the U.S. postage stamp that my father, Louis Schwimmer, designed to commemorate the event.

My father was the head of the Art Department of the New York City branch of the U.S. Post Office Department. He was assigned to create and man this department beginning during the 1930's when the New York City Postmaster, Albert Goldman, discovered he had a talented artist in his midst.

Postmaster Goldman recognized the value of promotional activities and publicity. My father's ability to create everything from postage stamps, cachet designs, morale-building massive display campaigns, posters, even calligraphic proclamations served the concerns of promoting the work of the New York City Post Office for a period of over twenty years from the mid 1930's until my Dad retired in the mid 1950's

In 1947 or 1948, Goldman was approached about designing a stamp to commemorate the chaplains. My father assumed the organization originating the concept was the National Conference of Christian and Jews.

It was in fact a different interfaith organization. An account by the originator of the concept, Claire A. Wolff, appears in an article by Sol Glass, writing in Bureau Specialist, September 1948, Vol. XIX, No. 9. Following Miss Wolff's letter, Glass' article continues: "According to Postmaster Goldman's office no individual artist can be given credit for the original drawing of this stamp. The drawing of this stamp was submitted by Postmaster Goldman to Mr. Geist's committee and then transmitted to the Post Office Department in Washington" This is inaccurate. In fact, Goldman gave the assignment only to my father and submitted my father's finished work directly to the committee and to Washington.

My father was a practicing Orthodox Jew. Although it was part of his job description to create this stamp, my father took great pleasure in the opportunity to commemorate a fellow Jew. Historically, this may be the first stamp commemorating a Jew. It is undoubtedly, the first US postage stamp designed by a Jew that commemorates a Jew.

The design process was as follows: My father's created the original design as a pen and India ink hand drawing. The original measured approximately 7" high by 12" wide including the stamps serrated edge frame. Still in New York, a different department of the New York City Post Office created a lithograph plate from the pen and ink drawing and lithographed the design. A llithographed copy was given to my father. The plate and the lithograph was sent off to the Washington, DC headquarters of the US Post Office Department which generally issued new stamps.

The original design was subsequently revised. According to The Essay Proof Journal, of January 1950, Vol. 7, No.1, Whole No. 25, Section 1, there were three designs revised from the original. The final design is closest to the original design and maintains Schwimmer's concept but still introduces a number of changes.

Compare the two Versions

First Version

Final Version

The changes:

The ship was changed to look like the historically correct ocean liner and not a battleship
The portraits of the chaplains shows the four men as young men in their twenties, my father's depicted older men who looked like they were in their fifties. The chaplains actually ranged from mid thirties to mid-forties when they died.
Parts of my father's text were omitted:
- the three faiths, "Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish"
- the statement, "Died to save men of all faiths
Font changes and text placement.

About the changes:

Schwimmer generally worked from photographs for historical accuracy. Here, his portraits of the men and ship are not historically correct. I assume he was not provided with photographs.
No photo-reduction was performed in New York which would have shown sans serif fonts clearer than serif fonts.
Was it a socio-political decision to not list the specific faiths of the four chaplains or emphasize the point of "all faiths"?

My father being rather modest, some might say oblivious, never noticed his design had been changed in the final stamp issued. In the mid 1990's, nearly 40 years after the stamp was issued, my cousin, Murray Schwimmer, very proud of his uncle's work, had collected the stamp and an article about the four chaplains. When the three of us looked close, we first noticed the changes.

The signature on the lithograph dates from sometime in the late 1980's or early 1990's. Dad was in his late 80's or early 90's, when we finally persuaded him to sign some of his work. The replica full screeen version of the lithograph includes his signature which postdates the creation of the lithograph by roughly forty years.

Additional Sources:

www.schwimmer.com/fourchaplains
www.fourchaplains.org
www.homeofheroes.com
foxfall.com
www.virtualnewarknj.com
www.immortalchaplains.org

I'm Valin and I may or may not approve of
On This Day In history

Birthdates which occurred on March 24:
1188 Ferrand of Portugal earl of Flanders/son of Sancho I
1441 Ernst I elector of Saxon (1464-86)
1607 Michiel A de Ruyter Dutch Rear Admiral (St Vincent, Dune)
1630 José Saenz d'Aguirre Spanish cardinal
1703 José F de Isla [Francisco de Salazar], Spanish Jesuit/writer
1755 Rufus King framer of US constitution/(Senator-F)
1809 Joseph Liouville St Omer Pas-de-Calais France, discover of transcendental numbers
1814 Galen Clark US, naturalist, discovered Mariposa Grove
1821 [George] Hector Tyndale Brevet Major General (Union volunteers)
1834 John Wesley Powell US, geologist/explorer/ethnologist
1834 William Morris England, designer/craftsman/poet/socialist
1835 Josef Stefan Austria, physicist (Stefan-Boltzmann law)
1855 Andrew W Mellon founder (Mellon Bank)/US Secretary of Treasury
1866 Jack McAuliffe US lightweight boxing champion, hall of famer
1871 Sir Ernest Rutherford nuclear scientist
1874 Harry Houdini [Erik Weisz] Budapest Hungary, magician/escape artist
1874 Luigi Einaudi economist/1st President of Italy (1948-55)
1884 Peter Debye Holland, physical chemist (Nobel 1936)
1885 Charlie Daniels US swimmer (Olympics-4 gold-1904, 08)
1887 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Smith Center KS, actor (Keystone comedies)
1893 George Sisler baseball hall of fame 1st baseman (257 hits in 1920)
1895 Arthur Murray dancer (Arthur Murray's Dance Party)
1897 Wilhelm Reich Austrian-US psycho analysist (character analysis)
1898 Dorothy Stratton organizer (SPARS-women's branch of US Coast Guard)

1903 Malcolm Muggeridge English writer (Observer of Life)

1906 John Cameron Swayze news correspondant, Timex spokesman (It takes a licking, an keeps on ticking)
1907 Lauris Norstad US General (NATO commander)/CEO (Owens-Corning Fiberglass)
1907 Lucia Chase US ballerina/co-founder (American Ballet Theater)
1909 Clyde Barrow bank robber (of Bonnie & Clyde fame)
1911 Joseph Barbera animator (Hanna-Barbera)
1914 Lilli Palmer Posen Germany, actress (Boys From Brazil, Sebastian)
1919 Lawrence Ferlinghetti author (Coney Island of the Mind)
1922 Dave Appell singer/musician/songwriter (In the Midnight Hour)
1923 Edna Jo Hunter expert on military families & prisoners of war
1924 Norman Fell Philadelphia PA, actor (Mr Roper-3's Company, The End, Graduate)
1930 Steve McQueen Slater MO, actor (Wanted, Dead or Alive, Blob, Bullitt)
1932 Yuri Anatoyevich Ponomaryov Russia, cosmonaut (Soyuz 18 backup)
1943 Jesus Alou baseball outfielder (San Francisco Giants)
1944 Denny McLain baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers, 31 wins in 1968)
1944 Patti Labelle singer (Phoenix, Tasty, Chameleon)
1947 Mike Kellie rock drummer (Spooky Tooth-It's All About)
1947 Paul McCandless Musician (Torches on the Lake)
1951 Kenneth S Reightler Jr Patuxent MD, Commander USN/astronaut (STS 48, 60)
1954 Robert Carradine Los Angeles CA, actor (Slim-The Cowboys, Wavelength)
1957 Scott J Horowitz Philadelphia PA, PhD/Captain USAF/astronaut (STS 75, 82)
1962 Star Jones attorney/TV hostess (NBC, Inside Edition)
1970 Lara Flynn Boyle Davenport IA, actress (The Practice, The Temp, Twin Peaks)

Deaths which occurred on March 24:
0809 Harun al-Rashid caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), dies at 44
1400 Florens Radewijns Dutch priest/leader Modern Devotion, dies
1455 Nicholas V [Tommaso Parentucelli] Italian Pope (1447-55), dies at 57
1471 Sir Thomas Malory author (Le Morte d'Arthur), dies at 55

1603 Elizabeth I Tudor [Maiden Queen] UK queen (1558-1603), dies at 69

1877 Walter Bagehot English economist/critic/banker, dies at 51
1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow US poet (Song of Hiawatha), dies at 75
1894 Robert Prescott Stewart composer, dies at 68
1905 Jules Verne sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days), dies at 77
1909 John Millington Synge Irish dramatist/playwright/poet, dies at 37
1946 Alexander A Aljechin world chess champion (1927-35, 37-46), dies at 53
1953 Mary [Victoria of Teck] queen of Great Britain/North-Ireland, dies at 86
1969 Joseph Kasavubu President of Congo (1960-65), dies at about 55
1976 Bernard L Montgomery British General, defeated Rommel, dies at 88
1978 Brackett Hamilton Leigh [Douglass], author (Ginger Star), dies at 62
1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated while conducting mass in San Salvador
1982 Ace Goodman Kansas City MO, comedian (Easy Aces), dies at 83
1984 Sam Jaffe actor (Dr Zorba-Ben Casey), dies of cancer at 93
1990 An Wang computer manufacturer (Wang), dies at 70 from cancer
1990 Ray Goulding comedian (Bob & Ray), dies from kidney failure at 68
1990 Rene Enriquez actor (Hill St Blues), dies from pancreatic cancer at 56
1993 John Hersey Pulitzer prize author (Hiroshima), dies at 78
1995 Joey Long blues/cajun guitarist, dies at 62
1995 Trevor Oswald Ling religious Studies Professor, dies at 75

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 BUSH ROBERT E.---HAMDEN CT.
[REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88]
1967 ELLISON JOHN C.---LAYTON UT.
1967 HALLBERG ROGER C.---PALO ALTO CA.
1967 PLOWMAN JAMES E.---PEBBLE BEACH CA.
1967 STEWART JACK T.---WASHINGTON DC.
1969 ARROYO-BAEZ GERASINO---MAUNARO PR.
[REMAINS RET 03/85]
1969 BOWERS RICHARD L.---LAKE MILLS WI.
[DIED IN ESCAPE ON CAPTURE DAY]
1970 BORONSKI JOHN A.---WARE MA.
1970 BECERRA RUDY M.---RICHMOND TX.
1970 GANOE BERMAN JR.---BELLEVIEW FL.
1970 HOSKEN JOHN C.---CHAGRIN FALLS OH.
1970 HARNED GARY A.---SPRINGBORO PA.
1970 O'DONNELL MICHAEL D.---SPRINGFIELD IL.
1970 POOL JERRY L.---FREEPORT IL.
1971 BUTCHER JACK M.---ANN ARBOR MI.
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL, ALIVE IN 98]
1971 BECKWITH HARRY M.---FLINT MI.

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

On this day...
1550 France & England sign Peace of Boulogne
1603 Scottish king James VI becomes King James I of England
1629 1st game law passed in American colonies, by Virginia
1645 Battle at Jankov Bohemia: Sweden beatS Roman Catholic emperor Ferdinand III
1664 Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburgse Concerts
1765 Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers
1792 Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London
1801 Aleksandr P Romanov becomes emperor of Russia
1828 Philadelphia & Columbia Railway (1st state owned) authorized
1832 Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio
1837 Canada gives blacks the right to vote
1855 Manhattan Kansas founded as New Boston KS
1860 Clipper Andrew Jackson arrives in San Francisco, 89 days out of New York
1868 Metropolitan Life Insurance Co forms
1878 British frigate Eurydice sunk; 300 lost
1880 Tobacco Growers' Mutual Insurance Company incorporates in Connecticut
1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers bacillus cause of TB
1883 1st telephone call between New York & Chicago(damn telemarkters)
1887 Oscar Straus appointed 1st Jewish ambassador from US (to Turkey)
1898 1st automobile sold
1906 "Census of the British Empire" shows England rules 1/5 of the world
1910 83ºF highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in March
1920 1st US coast guard air station established (Morehead City NC)
1924 Greece becomes a republic
1925 KSL-AM in Salt Lake City UT begins radio transmissions
1930 1st religious services telecast in US (W2XBS, New York NY)
1930 Planet Pluto named
1934 US declares the Philippines to become independent in 1945
1935 Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour goes national on NBC Radio Network
1937 National Gallery of Art established by Congress
1941 German troops occupy El Agheila Libya
1941 Glenn Miller begins work on his 1st movie for 20th Century Fox
1944 76 Allied officers escape Stalag Luft 3 (Great Escape)
1944 In occupied Rome, Nazis executed more than 300 civilians
1945 Largest one-day airborne drop, 600 transports & 1300 gliders (Operation Varsity)
1947 Congress proposes 2-term limitation on the Presidency
1947 John D Rockefeller Jr donates NYC East River site to the UN
1949 Walter & John Huston become 1st father-and-son team to win Oscars (actor & director of "Treasure of Sierra Madre")
1955 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service
1955 British Army patrols withdraw from Belfast after 20 years
1958 Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)
1959 Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact
1960 US appeals court rules novel, "Lady Chatterly's Lover", not obscene
1961 New York Senate approves $55M for a baseball stadium at Flushing Meadows
1962 Benny Paret, KO'd in a welterweight title, he dies 10 days later
1962 Mick Jagger & Keith Richards perform as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys
1964 Kennedy half-dollar issued
1965 US Ranger 9 strikes Moon, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of crater Alphonsus
1966 Selective Service announces college deferments based on performance
1967 University of Michigan holds 1st "Teach-in" after bombing of North Vietnam
1972 Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland
1973 "Handsome" Harley Race beats Dory Funk Jr in Kansas City, to become NWA champion
1975 Muhammad Ali TKOs Chuck Wepner in 15 to retain the heavyweight boxing title
1976 Argentine President Isabel Perón deposed by country's military
1978 Wings release "With a Little Luck"
1979 10 rebounds & 10 assists, as the Spartans cruise to a 101-67 by University of Pennsylvania; Michigan State's Earvin "Magic" Johnson registers triple-double 29 points
1980 ABC's nightly Iran Hostage crisis program renamed "Nightline with Ted Koppel"
1981 Colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba
1982 US sub Jacksonville collides with a Turkish freighter near Virginia
1986 NASA publishes "Strategy for Safely Returning the Space Shuttle to Flight Status"
1986 Suriname army Captain Etienne Boerenveen arrested for cocaine smuggling
1986 US & Libya clash in Gulf of Sidra Navy-2 Libya-0
1989 Worst US oil spill, Exxon's Valdez spills 11.3 million gallons off Alaska
1991 In liberated Kuwait, banks reopen
1991 Wrestlemania VII in Los Angeles, Hulk Hogan pins Sergeant Slaughter for championship
1994 F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above AFB in North Carolina,120 die
1997 Australian parliament overturns world's 1st & only euthanasia law
1999 NATO commences air strikes against Yugoslavia with the bombing of Serbian military positions in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

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

Laos : Army Day
US : Agriculture Day
US : Chocolate Week (Day 4)
National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gabriel, patron of postmen, telephone workers

Religious History
1774 Anglican clergyman and hymn writer John Newton wrote in a letter: 'What a mercy it is to be separated in spirit, conversation, and interest from the world that knows not God.'
1818 American statesman Henry Clay wrote: 'All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All separated from government are compatible with liberty.'
1940 Dr. Samuel Cavert of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America officiated at a Protestant Easter service in New York City. It was the first religious program to be broadcast over television, and was carried by local NBC affiliate TV station W2XBS, in NYC.
1980 El Salvador's leading human rights activist, Archbishop Oscar Romero, 62, was assassinated by a sniper while saying mass in a hospital chapel.
1982 Five congregations in the eastern San Francisco Bay area became the first to declare themselves publicly as sanctuary churches, in an effort to help refugees from Central America establish themselves in the U.S. during political and military unrest in their native countries.

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

Thought for the day :
"God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."

Hallmark cards that never made it...
Congratulations on your promotion.
Before you go ...
(inside card)
Will you take the knife from my back?
You'll probably need it again.

New State Slogans...
Alabama: At least we're not Mississippi!

Male Language Patterns...
"That's interesting, dear," REALLY MEANS, "Are you still talking?"

Female Language Patterns...
"Do what you want." REALLY MEANS "You'll pay for this later."