The FReeper Foxhole Reviews The Sixth U.S. Army Special Forces - Alamo Scouts - April 18th, 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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Alamo Scouts



The Sixth U.S. Army

The Alamo Scouts were organized on Fergusson Island, New Guinea, on 28 November 1943 to conduct reconnaissance and raider work in the Southwest Pacific Theater under the personal command of then Lt. General Walter Krueger, Commanding General, Sixth U.S. Army.

Named for his beloved association with San Antonio, Texas, and the Alamo, Krueger envisioned that the Alamo Scouts, consisting of small teams of highly trained volunteers, would operate deep behind enemy lines to provide intelligence-gathering and tactical reconnaissance in advance of Sixth U.S. Army landing operations.



From their first operational mission in the Admiralty Islands in February, 1944, to the end of World War II, the Alamo Scouts performed 106 known missions behind enemy lines in New Guinea and in the Philippines without losing a single man killed or captured.

During these two years the Alamo Scouts liberated 197 Allied prisoners in New Guinea, and provided forward reconnaissance and tactical support of the Sixth Ranger Battalion in the liberation of the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp on Luzon, in February 1945, freeing 511 Allied prisoners. In addition, the Alamo Scouts captured 84 Japanese prisoners of war.



The Alamo Scouts evolved from a simple reconnaissance unit in New Guinea to a sophisticated intelligence collection group which supplied and coordinated large-scale guerrilla operations on Leyte and Luzon.



In July 1945, the Alamo Scouts were training to conduct pre-invasion reconnaissance of Kyushu in preparation for OPERATION OLYMPIC, the first step in the proposed Allied invasion of the Japanese homeland. Following the Japanese surrender, the Alamo Scouts landed in Wakayama and became part of the occupation army

They were unceremoniously disbanded at Kyoto, Japan, in November 1945, never to be reconstituted.

The Alamo Scouts have the finest record of any elite unit of World War II and, arguably, one of the finest in the history of the United States military.



In 1988, the Alamo Scouts were individually awarded the SPECIAL FORCES SHOULDER TAB for their services in World War II and included in the lineage of today's U.S. Army Special Forces.

Missions:



The Alamo Scouts conducted 106 known missions during World War II totaling 1482 combined man-days behind enemy lines. Due to the top secret nature of their operations and limited contact with other teams, the extent of their operations may never be known.



The Alamo Scouts battle credits include the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon Campaigns. Throughout the Bismarck Archipelago and New Guinea Campaigns, the Alamo Scouts conducted 37 known missions."

Beginning in October 1944, the Alamo Scouts conducted 13 missions in support of the Allied landings on Leyte, Philippine Islands.



From 9 January to 30 June 1945, the Alamo Scouts performed 43 missions behind enemy lines on Luzon, Philippine Islands.



From 1 July to 15 August 1945, the Alamo Scouts conducted 11 missions on Luzon in support of the Eighth U.S. Army.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

Alamo Scouts Training, Missions and Decorations



On 21 November 1943, LTG Walter Krueger selected LTC Frederick W. Bradshaw, a brilliant attorney from Jackson, Mississippi, to establish an Alamo Scouts Training Center (ASTC) that would combine the best training elements from other elite services with specific skills needed in the jungles and on the beaches of the Southwest Pacific. Under Bradshaw's command, the ASTC would produce well-trained, highly-motivated, six-to-seven-man teams that could infiltrate behind enemy lines, gather information, and get out undetected. In addition to producing trained Alamo Scouts, the ASTC was used as a base of operations for operational teams.



Volunteers for Alamo Scout training were drawn from Sixth Army combat units. Following a multiphase selection process at the division, regimental, company levels, and interviews by the Director of the ASTC, finalists were selected to attend a rigorous six-week training program at the Alamo Scouts Training Center. Candidates received extensive and rigorous training in eight major skill areas: Rubber Boat Handling, Intelligence Gathering, Scouting & Patrolling, Navigation, Communications, Weapons, and Physical Conditioning. Class sizes ranged from 45 to 100 men.



Following graduation, approximately thirty percent of the graduates were retained as Alamo Scouts. The Alamo Scouts Training Centers graduated eight classes consisting of approximately 250 enlisted men and 75 officers, from 27 December 1943 to 2 September 1945. Only 117 enlisted men and 21 officers were retained. The remaining graduates returned to their units.



In less than seventeen months in the field, the Alamo Scouts earned 118 combat decorations, including 44 Silver Stars, 33 Bronze Stars, 4 Soldier's Medals, and numerous Purple Hearts and other awards.



The Alamo Scouts campaign ribbons include: The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, The World War II Victory Medal, The Philippine Liberation Medal, and The Philippine Independence Medal.



Other awards include the Combat Infantry Badge and Special Forces Tab. Two teams of Alamo Scouts were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their role in the liberation of POWs at Cabanatuan. Some members of the Alamo Scouts were also awarded foreign decorations for their part in the release of civilian internees at Cape Oransbari, D.N.G.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.cs.amedd.army.mil/rlbc/alamo_scouts.htm
www.alamoscouts.org/special_forces/history.htm

[snippy_about_it]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization.

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

Thanks to CholeraJoe for providing this link.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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[snippy_about_it]

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Good Sunday Morning Everyone.


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

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam. Thanks for the movies. :-)

[SAMWolf]

The Alamo Scouts have the finest record of any elite unit of World War II and, arguably, one of the finest in the history of the United States military.

And how many people know about this unit and their record outside of the military? Sometimes I feel like just crying.

[snippy_about_it]

Heck, after watching Band of Brothers I would have thought Easy Company was the best. Maybe they all are. :-)

[radu]

Good morning to all at the Foxhole!

To all our military men and women, past and present, and to our allies who stand with us,
THANK YOU!

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[tomball]

Good Morning, Foxhole - Another great post - have a great Sunday!

[GailA]

Good Morning, it's bright and sunny here in Memphis this morning. Temps going to be great. I'm a little under the weather with my back this morning.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.
Have a wonderful Sunday.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on April 18:
1480 Lucretia Borgia murderess (poison)/daughter (Pope Alexander VI)
1580 Thomas Middleton English playwright (Game of Chess)
1590 Ahmed I 14th sultan of Turkey (1603-17)
1764 Bernhard Anselm Weber pianist/conductor/composer
1817 George Henry Lewes English philosophical writer (Life of Goethe)
1857 Clarence S Darrow defense attorney at the Scopes monkey trial
1871 Henry Stephenson British West Indies, actor (Conquest, Little Old New York, Mr Lucky)
1881 Max Weber Polish/Russian/US painter
1889 John Kilbane US, featherweight boxing champion (1912-23)
1903 Leonid Kinskey St Petersburg Russia, actor (Casablanca)
1908 Henry Guinness missionary
1913 Al Hodge actor (Captain Video)
1921 Barbara Hale Dekalb IL, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason)
1924 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Vinton La, blues singer (Mary is Fine)

1924 Henry J Hyde (Representative-Republican-IL)

1925 Bob Hastings Brooklyn NY, actor (McHale's Navy, All in the Family)
1925 Lionel Edmund "Sonny" Taylor musician
1934 James Drury New York NY, actor (Virginian)
1938 Andreas J "Cat" Liebenberg supreme commander (South Africa army)
1941 Mike Vickers guitarist (Manfred Mann-Mighty Quinn)
1946 Hayley Mills London England, actress (Parent Trap, Pollyanna)
1946 Skip Spence Windsor Ontario Canada, guitarist/vocalist (Moby Grape-Omaha)
1947 James Woods Warwick RI, actor (Salvador, Against All Odds)
1953 Rick Moranis Toronto Ontario Canada, (SCTV, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Spaceballs)
1963 Conan [Christopher] O'Brien Brookline MA, TV host (Late Night)
1971 Kerry Lynn Kemper Miss Nebraska-USA (1996)
1976 Melissa Joan Hart Sayville NY, actress (Clarissa, Sabrina)

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Deaths which occurred on April 18:
0680 Mu'awijja kalief of Al-Schaam, dies
1552 John Leland antiquary, dies
1587 John Foxe author (Book of Martyrs), dies
1610 Robert Parsons English jesuit leader/plotter, dies at 63
1845 Nicholas T the Saussure Swiss chemist/botany, dies at 77
1853 William King US Vice President, dies a month after his inauguration
1871 Omar Pasha [Michael Lats] Croatian Governor, dies at 64
1925 Charles Ebbets president (Dodgers), dies
1938 Richard Runciman Terry musicologist, dies
1943 I Yamamoto Admiral of Japanese fleet, dies
1944 Cécile Chamindale composer, dies
1945 Ernest T Pyle British/US newscaster, killed in WWII at 44

1955 Albert Einstein German/US physicist (E=MC²), dies

1958 Richard B Goldschmidt German zoologist (butterflies), dies
1960 Emory Johnson director (Phantom Express, Shield of Honor), dies at 66
1963 Henrietta Kreis 3rd of famous Wallenda aerialist to fall to death
1974 Marcel Pagnol French writer/movie (Topaz), dies at 79
1975 Rob Touber [Robert J Noordervliet) chansonnier/director, dies at 38
1976 Percy Julian holder of more than 138 chemical patents, dies at 78
1986 Marcel Dassault [Bloch] French airplane builder, dies at 94
1996 Kalim Siddiqui islamic campaigner, dies at 62
1997 Edward Barker cartoonist, dies at 46

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 WHEELER JAMES A.---TUCSON AZ.
[CRASH TARGET AREA]
1969 ELLIS RANDALL S.---CHARLESTON SC.
1973 JAMES SAMUEL L.---CHATTANOOGA TN.
["DEAD, CHARRED BODIES FOUND", REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/16/99 ID DISPUTED]
1973 MARTIN DOUGLAS K.---TYLER TX.
["DEAD, CHARRED BODIES FOUND", REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/16/99]

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

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On this day...
0310 St Eusebius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0387 Bishop Ambrosius of Milan baptizes Augustinus
1521 Parliament of Worms Cardinal Alexander questions Martin Luther
1599 Valencia arch duke Albrecht of Austrian marries Isabella of Spain
1663 Osman declares war on Austria
1676 Sudbury MA attacked by Indians

1775 Paul Revere & William Dawes warn "the British are coming!"

1838 Wilkes' expedition to South Pole sails
1861 Colonel Robert E Lee turns down offer to command Union armies
1861 Battle of Harpers Ferry WV
1862 Battles of Fort Jackson, Fort St Philip & New Orleans LA
1864 Battle of Poison Springs AR (Camden Expedition)
1865 Confederate General Johnson surrendered to General Sherman in North Carolina
1876 Daniel O'Leary completes a 500 mile walk in 139 hours 32 minutes
1879 Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on Indians citizen rights begins
1890 New York Commission of Emigration ends, closing Castle Clinton
1899 John McGraw, at 36, managerial debut as Oriole manager
1902 Denmark is 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals
1904 L'Humanité, under Jean Jaurès begins publishing
1906 San Francisco earthquake & fire kills nearly 4,000 & destroys 75% of the city
1906 Calvinist Reformed Union in Netherlands Church forms in Utrecht
1908 Tommy Burns KOs Jewy Smith in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1909 Joan of Arc declared a saint
1921 Junior Achievement incorporated in Colorado Springs CO
1923 74,000 (62,281 paid) on hand for opening of Yankee Stadium
1923 Poland annexes Central Lithuania
1924 1st crossword puzzle book published (Simon & Schuster)
1925 World's fair opens in Chicago
1934 1st "Washateria" (laundromat) opens (Fort Worth TX)
1934 Hitler names Joachim von Ribbentrop, ambassador for disarmament
1936 Pan-Am Clipper begins regular passenger flights from San Francisco CA to Honolulu HI
1938 Headless Mad Butcher victim found in Cleveland
1942 "Stars & Stripes" paper for US armed forces starts

1942 James H Doolittle bombs Tokyo & other Japanese cities

1945 1 armed outfielder, St Louis Brown Pete Gray, 1st game he goes 1 for 4
1946 League of Nations dissolves (3 months after the UN starts)
1946 US recognizes Tito's Yugoslavia government
1948 International Court of Justice opens at Hague Netherlands
1949 Republic of Ireland withdraws from British Commonwealth
1950 1st transatlantic jet passenger trip
1950 Polish Catholic church & government sign accord over relations
1951 France, West Germany & Benelux form European Steel & Coal Community
1951 New York Yankee Mickey Mantle goes 1-for-4 in his 1st game
1955 1st Bandoeng Conference - Afro-Asian conference opens
1956 Egypt & Israel agree to a cease fire
1963 Dr James Campbell performed the 1st human nerve transplant
1964 Geraldine Mock of US becomes 1st woman to fly solo round the world
1964 Sandy Koufax is 1st to strike out the side on 9 pitches
1966 Bill Russell became 1st black coach in NBA history (Boston Celtics)
1968 178,000 employees of US Bell Telephone System go on strike
1968 London Bridge is sold to US oil company (to be erected in Arizona)
1974 Red Brigade kidnaps Italian Attorney General Mario Sossi
1975 John Lennon releases "Stand by Me"
1977 Alex Haley, author of "Roots", awarded Pulitzer Prize
1977 Baltimore Orioles' Eddie Murray hits his 1st homerun
1978 Senate votes to turn Panamá Canal over to Panamá on Dec 31, 1999
1979 Major Haddad declares South-Lebanon independent
1980 Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) declares independence from UK
1982 Zimbabwe capital Salisbury renamed Harare
1983 A lone suicide bomber kills 63, at the US Embassy in Lebanon
1986 Robert M Gates, becomes deputy director of CIA
1986 Titan rocket explodes seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg AFB
1987 An unconscious skydiver is rescued by another diver in mid-air
1990 Bankruptcy court forces Frank Lorenzo to give up Eastern Airlines
1990 Supreme Court rules that states could make it a crime to possess or look at child pornography, even in one's home
1991 Congress ends railroad workers' 1 day strike
1991 Census Bureau says it failed to count up to 63 million in 1990 census
1994 Arsenio Hall announces he will end his show in May 1994
1994 Former President Richard Nixon suffers a stroke & dies 4 days later
1994 Lebanon drops relations with Iran
1995 Houston Post folds after 116 years
1995 Quarterback Joe Montana announces his retirement from football
1996 Islamic terrorists killed 18 Greek tourists and wounded 15 others in an attack on tourists at the Egyptian pyramids.
1997 President Clinton held a news conference in which he warned Republicans that a balanced-budget deal might not come quickly, while reassuring nervous Democrats that he would not abandon the party's prized social programs.
2000 Robert L. Yates Jr. was arrested in Spokane, Wash., and charged with murdering a teen-age prostitute. (Yates later confessed to killing 13 people, and was sentenced to 408 years in prison.)

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

Oklahoma : 89'ers Day rodeos commemorate opening of Oklahoma in 1889
Zimbabwe : Independence Day (1989)
US : American Home Week Begins
US : Astronomy Week Begins
US : Boys and Girls Club Week Begins
US : National Coin Week Begins
US : National Lingerie Week Begins
US : Time Out Day
Minnesota Authors Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Low (Quasimodo) Sunday, the Octave Day of Easter
Jewish : Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) (Nisan 27, 5753 AM)
Orthodox : Orthodox Easter (3/5 OS)

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Religious History
1521 German reformer Martin Luther, at the Diet of Worms, proclaimed that a biblical foundation supported the theological position of his "Ninety-Five Theses." Luther ended his defense with the famous words: 'Here I stand! I can do nothing else! God help me! Amen.'
1606 In Rome, Julius II laid the foundation stone of the second building of St. Peter's Basilica. Completed 20 years later by Urban VIII, St. Peter's today is the largest church in Christendom, with an overall length of 619 feet.
1874 In England, the remains of Scottish missionary David Livingstone (who had died the previous year in Africa at age 60) were interred in London's Westminster Abbey.
1882 Birth of George S. Schuler, American music educator. Affiliated with Moody Bible Institute for 40 years, Schuler is remembered today for composing the melody to the hymn, "Make Me a Blessing."
1930 American pioneer linguist Frank C. Laubach, while serving as a missionary in the Philippines, wrote in a letter: 'After an hour of close friendship with God, my soul feels clean as new fallen snow.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"If we were intended to talk more than we hear, we'd have two mouths and only one ear."

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What a Difference 30 Years Makes...
1970: Being called into the principal's office.
2000: Calling the principal's office.

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New State Slogans...
California: Home to the Streisand & Reiner Democrat Brain Trust

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Female Language Patterns...
"Are you hungry?" REALLY MEANS,
"There's a frozen pizza in the refrigerator. Do you want me to nuke it in the microwave honey, or are you taking me out to dinner you bum?"

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Male Language Patterns...
"Uh huh," "Sure, honey," or "Yes, dear." REALLY MEANS,"
Absolutely nothing. It's a conditioned response like Pavlov's dog drooling."

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Radu.

[SAMWolf]

Morning aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C. Weather looks like it may be a good day today. Counting on the morning clouds to burn off.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks tomball.

[SAMWolf]

Morning GailA. Beautiful graphic, looks like its ceramic.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather. It's nice to get up every morning and see our flag waving at the Foxhole.