The FReeper Foxhole Revisits The Battle for Saipan (Jun - July, 1944) - June 16th, 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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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

Operation Forager:
The Battle for Saipan

Plans to launch an offensive against the Japanese in the islands of the Pacific were initiated in 1943 at the Quadrant Conference held in Quebec. President Franklin Roosevelt received the proposal that the Allied effort in the Pacific should be directed first toward the Gilbert Islands, then the Marshalls, followed by Wake, the Eastern Carolines, and finally the Marianas. It was at Saipan that American military planners were presented with the problem of how to cope with a dense civilian population, the first to be encountered in the Pacific war. American forces were to be under the overall command of Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Aerial view of Saipan, July 1944. (National Archives)

The American drive across the Pacific would be two-pronged. While Nimitz fought his way across the central Pacific, General MacArthur would advance across the southwest Pacific to the Philippines. The islands of the central Pacific either succumbed one by one under the sheer weight of American forces or were bombed, neutralized and bypassed. With their supply lines cut, the defenders of by-passed islands were left to starve. After the fall of the Marshall islands, no other island in the central Pacific would be invaded by American ground forces until the American armada reached the waters off the Marianas and the island of Saipan.



American war strategy in the western Pacific was developed around the premise that Japan would never surrender and that the nation would fight to the last man, woman, and child, particularly if the home islands were invaded. It was anticipated that such an invasion, if it were to occur, would result in the loss of one million American lives. In planning for this eventuality, air bases in the Marianas were essential in order to accommodate the new B-29 Superfortress, a U.S. bomber that was just beginning to be mass-produced in early 1944 and which had a flying range equal to the distance from Saipan, Tinian and Guam to Japan and back. The B-29's normal range was 2,850 miles at 358 m.p.h. with a 20,000 ton carrying capacity at 32,000 feet. The capture of the island of Saipan thus became crucial in the preparations for this massive invasion.

The assault on Saipan began on June 15,1944, almost a week after the invasion of Europe. An armada of 535 ships carrying 127,570 U. S. military personnel (two-thirds of whom were Marines of the 2nd and 4th Divisions) converged on the island. The ships of the invasion force carried 40,000 different items to support the assault - everything from toilet paper to government-issue coffins. A single supply ship carried enough food to feed 90,000 troops for one month. Navy tankers transported the gigantic quantity of petroleum products required to support the invasion. Aircraft alone consumed over 8 million gallons of aviation fuel during the battle, while the aircraft carriers burned more than 4 million barrels of fuel.



Seven American battleships and 11 destroyers shelled Saipan and Tinian for 2 days before the landings, firing 15,000 16-inch and 5-inch shells at the islands along with 165,000 other shells of other caliber. To even begin to comprehend the magnitude of this onslaught, one needs to realize that a single 16-inch round weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen Beetle, besides being packed with high explosives. On the second day of the bombardment, this force was joined by 8 more battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and 5 light cruisers. The islands were ringed by American warships with their guns blazing. Shells rained down on the island, its villages, inhabitants, and defenders, gouging huge craters in the sand and coral. The earth trembled under the tremendous explosions of naval bombardment and simultaneous air attacks.

The Battle

The main attack of the Marine Divisions was centered near Chalan Kanoa, just as planned. The 2nd Marine Division was to land at Red and Green Beaches north of the town while the 4th marine Division would land on Blue (opposite the town) and Yellow Beaches. As with most amphibious operations, not everything went as planned. The tractors moved faster than the tanks and in several cases blocked the ability of tank to fire. 2nd Marine Division's landings in the south were made slightly to the north of their planned objectives, this caused a gap to occur between the flanks of the two divisions. Although the original plan had allowed for a small gap between the two divisions, the northward landing of the 2nd Battatlion, 8th Marines more than doubled the size of this gap. By 0907, the first wave had reached the beach with only minimal losses and 8,000 marines were ashore.



Besides the large gap between the two divisions, another problem that occurred during the landing was in the use of the amphibious tanks and tractors. In the 2nd Marine Division's area, the tanks were to move ahead of the tractors and advance inland about 1,500 yards and then set up defensive positions and lay down defensive fire while the initial wave of tractors moved up to this defensive line and the troops off loaded. The second - fourth waves were to unload their troops on the beach. In the 4th Marine Division area, the tanks were to lead the first two waves of tractors all the way to the objective, about a mile inland on some high ground. These tanks would then support the troops as they moved inland. The follow-on would be unloaded at the beaches.

In general, although most of the tanks and tractors made it to the beaches unharmed, the combination of their thin armor and slow movement made them easy targets for the Japanese artillery once ashore. The amphibious vehicles were under-powered and were easily stopped by obstacles (loose sand, trenches, holes, and trees) that normal tanks would not have had a problem with. This significantly slowed the movement of the amphibious vehicles. The lack of suitable paths inland from the beaches also inhibited the inward movement of the marines. By nightfall, despite the various delays, both divisions were fully ashore and had established a defensive belt over 1,000 yards deep and over 10,000 yards long. Seven battalions of artillery had also landed and so had two heavy tank battalions. Division command posts were also established ashore. One of the benefits of using the troop carrying amphibious tractors was that it allowed the men to be carried ashore in armored vehicles, rather than having to wade ashore as at Tarawa.



The Japanese had killed or wounded many Americans during the invasion, but the exact numbers for D-Day are unknown. The Marines had landed against the strength of the Japanese defensive area and at a time when four battalions of men who had not had time to move to their assigned positions elsewhere on the islands were located in vicinity of the beaches! The landing area was well registered for artillery and the Japanese had sixteen 105-mm, thirty 75-mm, and eight 150-mm guns on the high ground overlooking the beaches and were extremely accurate due to the pre-registration of the guns and the use of the bamboo sticks to help in adjusting fire. Yet, the Japanese artillery could have been more effective if they would have practiced concentrating their fire and not simply firing each weapon individually wherever the commander of the gun wanted to fire. On the first day, the Japanese relied almost solely on artillery, heavy weapons, and a few tanks to defeat the marines on the beaches. The infantryman rarely saw battle on D-Day.

To H. Smith's G-3, the most critical phase of the Battle for Saipan was the fight on the beaches. To succeed the marines had to establish a beachhead into which sufficient troops, heavy equipment, and supplies could be brought ashore. On the first day, the marines gained control of the beaches, but they were not secure since artillery and heavy weapons were still able to attack men and equipment on the beach. It would take six days before the beachhead was actually secure. One of the major problems was the gap between the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions at Afetua Point and on the outward flanks of each division. This gap, which should have been closed the first day, took three days to close due to it being larger that originally planned thereby allowing the Japanese to defend this area in greater strength than expected.



By the night of the 15th, the Japanese knew that they had to drive the Marines back to the sea. Yet, Saito believed that the landings might be a feint and only ordered minor counterattacks against the marines. He wanted to save his major forces in case the Americans did launch an invasion near Magicienne Bay. At 2000, a large force of Japanese infantry, supported by tanks, attacked the left flank of the 6th Marines of the 2nd Marine Division. Fortunately for the marines, naval gunfire firing illumination rounds were able to light up the sky enough to allow the defending marines to see the outlines of the Japanese soldiers as they attacked. The marine's machineguns and heavy rifle fire, along with the assistance of a battalion of 75-mm howitzers, were able to stop the Japanese counterattack. At 0300, another attack was launched against the same area, but it also failed. Before daylight, tanks and infantry again attacked the defending marines. By this time, a few of the medium tanks were ashore and able to help the marines stop the Japanese third counterattack against the 2nd Marine Division.

The attack on Saipan, originally designed to overwhelm the Japanese with naval gunfire and rapid landings, failed on the first day. On this one day, the Marines failed to advance inland to their initial objective and were generally only 2/3 of the way to their objectives. An estimated 2,000 men were either killed or wounded and over 25% of the tractors and tanks were damaged or destroyed.



H. Smith, knew that a naval battle between the Japanese Mobile Fleet and the American 5th Fleet was most likely going to occur in the near future. Realizing this, he was determined to get as many supplies and men ashore as possible before the protective battleships, cruisers, and destroyers departed with the carriers to met the Japanese fleet. On the evening of the 16th, the 27th Infantry Division landed on Saipan. Their mission was to capture Aslito airfield and to cut off the Japanese in the southeast corner of the island. Meanwhile, the 2nd and 4th marine Divisions would continue their attack inland. By the fourth day the Japanese had given up on trying to defend the beaches and had moved inland to set up defenses in the hilly and mountainous terrain.

In the meantime, after the landing of the 27th Infantry Division, the majority of the 5th Fleet departed the Saipan area as H. Smith had figured they would. On 19 June to 21 June the 5th Fleet met the Japanese Mobile Fleet and defeated the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Because of this naval battle, the Japanese on Saipan could expect to receive no further assistance. They were cut off from Japan and would have to fight out the battle for Saipan on their own. From this point onwards, it was believed by both sides that the American forces would defeat the Japanese on Saipan, the only question was how long would it take and how many men would die.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

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By 18 June, the 27th Infantry Division had captured Aslito airfield. On 20 June, the command of the invasion force passed from Turner to H. Smith. From the 15th to the 22nd, the Japanese aggressively fought the American attacks as the marines attempted to push across the island and cut it in half. Casualties on both sides were extremely high and men were being slowly worn down and becoming combat ineffective.



Understandably, H. Smith could not afford the luxury of allowing his men the time to rest and the battle raged on. One of the most critical battles was the capturing of Mount Tapotchau. H. Smith had initially ordered the two marine divisions to capture the mountain. However, by 21 June he realized that he needed more men in order to capture this vital landmass since the Japanese were strongly defending it. On 21 June, H. Smith ordered R. Smith, commander of the 27th Infantry Division, to move his division and insert it between the two marine divisions in order to conduct a three division abreast attack on Mount Tapotchau. H. Smith ordered the 27th Infantry Division to fight generally up the mountain itself while the 2nd Marine Division continue to move northeast and the 4th Marine Division attacked eastward on the Kagman Peninsula, a relatively flat area but with plenty of Japanese defenders.

After two days of fighting, the division attack against the main Japanese defensive belt had stalled. The 2nd Marine Division was on the outskirts of Garapan and near the summit of Mount Tapotchau. The 27th Infantry Division had made very little progress against the stiff Japanese defense amongst the rugged terrain. The 4th Marine Division had overrun the majority of the Peninsula and was nearing the eastern side of the island. However, the main Japanese defense on Mount Tapotchau remained. The American forces were now bent into a U-shape, with the 27th Infantry Division at the center of the U with the two marine divisions at each end. This bend was over 1,500 yards deep and exposed the flanks of the marine divisions to attacks by the Japanese. During these two days of fighting the 2nd Marine Division lost 333 men, the 27th Infantry Division lost 277 men, and the 4th Marine Division lost 812 men. During this battle, the American artillery and tanks were generally useless in a jungle environment filled with broken terrain. The fighting was mainly man-to-man with mortars and machineguns providing the heavy firepower. Close air support was not overly present due to the Battle of the Philippine Sea and was of limited use against the Japanese infantry in any case. Only direct fire and small assaults could defeat the Japanese soldiers who were hiding in caves, ravines, and gullies.

On 25 June, H. Smith decided that the poor performance of the 27th Infantry Division was due to its lack of command and he decided to ask that R. Smith be relived of his command. After he talked this over with Turner the two of them approached Spruance. H. Smith stated that R. Smith had issued orders to units not under his command and contravened H. Smith's orders. H. Smith also stated that the 27th Infantry Division was late in conducting its attack on Mount Tapotchau and therefore it slowed the movement of its flanking marine divisions, causing them to suffer unnecessary losses.

The relief of R. Smith probably did not make any real difference in the aggressiveness of the 27th Infantry Division. However, it did stir up a Marine Corps / Army controversy. On Saipan itself, marines began to look down on the 27th Infantry Division soldiers and the army soldiers resented H. Smith for relieving their commander and the implications made on the fighting capability of the division. Off of the island the controversy grew much greater, with several Army generals going so far as to recommending to Lieutenant General Robert C. Richardson, commander of all Army forces in the Pacific, that H. Smith was extremely prejudiced against army forces and that no Army forces should ever be put under his command again!

Major General Sanderford Jarman, who was on Saipan to take charge of the garrison operation after the Japanese were defeated, assumed temporary command of the 27th Infantry Division from 24 to 28 June. On 28 June, Major General George W. Griner, Jr. assumed command of the 27th Infantry Division. However, when he assumed command of the division, he was surprised to find out that he only had control of four infantry battalions, the rest of the division was under Corps command. Griner was told by H. Smith that he would have to "earn" the rest of the division back. By 5 July, the 27th Infantry Division and the 4th Marine Division had captured Mount Tapotchau and had pushed northward up the narrowing island. Due to this narrowing of the front, the 2nd Marine Division was pulled into reserve. By 6 July, Griner regained the control of all of the 27th Infantry Division's units. On 7 July, three thousand Japanese soldiers conducted a bonzai charge against the 27th Infantry Division. The Japanese soldiers were armed with only grenades and bayonets, yet they broke through the 27th Infantry Division on the western flank near the coast. The Japanese soldiers destroyed two infantry battalions and were only stopped by marines of the 2nd Marine Division after the Japanese had passed through the 27th Infantry Division's sector. By this time, H. smith had had enough of the 27th infantry Division and various reports state that he ordered the entire division withdrawn from Saipan. In reality, only the decimated battalions were withdrawn from Saipan by destroyers. However, H. Smith did order the 27th Infantry Division into reserve and vowed that he would never use the division again.



By 9 July, the 4th Marine Division was at the northern tip of Saipan and H. Smith had declared the island secure from any significant organized resistance. By this time, almost 24,000 Japanese troops were known to have been killed and 1,780 captured. The United States lost 3,426 men killed and 13,099 men wounded; a casualty rate of 25%.

Earlier, on 22 June, the governor of Saipan had received a message from the Imperial Palace informing him that any civilian that died fighting the Americans would be granted the same afterlife privileges of the soldiers who died for the Emperor. Saipan was the first island encountered by the Americans that had a large number of Japanese civilians on it. The Japanese Government used propaganda that often showed the Americans as monsters. The naval and air bombardment, followed by three weeks of tough fighting did not dispel the fears of the Japanese civilians. Of the twenty-two thousand civilians on Saipan, thousands these civilians fought against the Americans during the battle for the island. As the Americans pushed northward, the civilians fled before them. By the time the Americans reached the northern end of Saipan on 9 July, thousands of Japanese men, women, and children were at the top of the cliffs overlooking the shark-infested waters. Once there, many of these civilians realized that they were cornered, and rather than surrender to the Americans, they dove off the cliffs into sure death in the water below. Out of the twenty-two thousand civilians, approximately eight thousand died in this lemming-like act. However, marine interpreters with loudspeakers did convince many of the Japanese civilians to surrender.

On 20 July, after engineers had made extensive repairs to and lengthened the runway of Asltio airfield, now renamed Isley Field, it received its first American plane. By early September B-24s were conducting missions against the Bonin Islands from Saipan. A second airfield was constructed to handle the larger B-29s. In October, the first B-29 raid from Saipan was flown against Truk. Saipan not only served as an airbase for attacks against other Japanese islands, but it also became an important naval base, particularly for submarines that would ultimately operate in the Japanese home waters.

[snippy_about_it]

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When the fighting ended, American losses on Saipan were double those suffered on Guadalcanal. Of the 71,034 U. S. troops landed on Saipan, 3,100 were killed, 13,100 wounded or missing in action. Out of the 31,629 Japanese on Saipan, approximately 29,500 died as a result of the fighting, and only 2,100 prisoners survived. Fighting between the Japanese and the Americans was by no means completely mechanized; while ships, aircraft, artillery, and tanks inflicted the largest amount of damage to the combatants, a great deal of the fighting was hand-to-hand. Besides machine guns, flame throwers, rifles, and pistols, deadly skirmishes were fought with bayonets, swords, bamboo spears, clubs, stones and fists.



The ratio of battle dead was 9.5:1 during the 24 days of fighting. Place names given the rugged Saipan terrain such as Death Valley, Purple Heart Ridge and Harakiri Gulch testified to the bitter fighting. One of the most lamentable events of the battle for Saipan involved the mass suicide of hundreds of families, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the high cliffs at the island's northernmost point. This tragic event could not be stopped, despite efforts by Americans and indigenous Saipanese using loudspeakers to try to convince the Japanese that surrender would be shameless and harmless.


Mountain Gun, Garapan, Saipan, 1944

Saipan provided the United States military with its first opportunity to learn about military occupation of enemy territory with a Japanese civilian population. Civilians encountered during the period of the battle and afterward, while emergency conditions still prevailed, were placed in secure camps to keep them out of the way of the fighting. Thus assembled, the U.S. military could better meet their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Schools were established as soon as conditions permitted. In September, 1945, the camps housed 13,954 Japanese, 1,411 Koreans, 2,966 Chamorros and 1,025 Carolinians. Contained within a two square mile area near Lake Susupe, the compounds were primitive and only the bare necessities were available. Weathered boards, tattered tents and battered tin sheets from the island's bombed-out sugar refinery provided the only shelter from the weather. Each hut (han) accommodated from 20 to 55 people. After the fighting, families were released from Camp Susupe during the day to cultivate vegetables, as food was scarce. Food production was increased from 79,469 pounds of produce in September, 1944 to 286,029 pounds in September, 1945. The camp also had a makeshift Buddhist temple, where Shinto religious ceremonies were held. Release from these camps is celebrated as "Liberation Day" by inhabitants of Saipan to this day on the 4th of July. The Japanese on Saipan had a high birth rate - about 300 babies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 45 - and there were many orphans in the camps who were attended and raised by Japanese nurses. Most of these were the children of Japanese parents who had killed themselves during the mass suicide.



After the capture of Saipan, the fighting continued elsewhere in the Pacific for another 13 months. Camps on Tinian were constructed to house 50,000 U.S. troops and 1.2 million pounds of crops were produced, all of which were consumed on the island. On August 6, 1945, an American Superfortress flying from Tinian dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, hastening Japan's capitulation. The war formally ended with Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945. The final surrender on the island of Saipan did not take place, however, until December 1, 1945, when Japanese Army Captain Sakeo Oba, who had continued to hold out in the mountains with 46 men as a guerrilla force, surrendered his Samurai sword to Major Herman Lewis and Colonel Scott, USMC.

About 90 percent of the civilian population on Saipan survived the war. These included Koreans, Okinawans, and Japanese who were subsequently repatriated to their respective homelands. As recorded on December 31, 1949, the indigenous population of Saipan was 6,225. In 1937 23,658 persons had inhabited Saipan (4,145 were indigenous).



Today, what little World War Two equipment remains after being collected and sold for scrap after the war is protected by law because of its historical value. Lying below the surface of a lagoon once congested with landing craft and ships of all type are the coral encrusted tools of war. Rifles, helmets, bullets, tanks, ships and landing craft litter the sandy lagoon floor as if in an underwater time capsule in silent testimony to one of the last battles fought in a pre-nuclear age. More than fifty years after the invasion, unexploded live ordnance still poses a very real danger to the unwary diver or souvenir hunter.


27th Division troops advance behind tanks on Saipan. (National Archives)

Four Marines received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Battle of Saipan. Each lost his life in the action for which he was honored. The four were: Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard, 4th Tank Battalion; Sergeant Grant F. Timmerman, 2nd Tank Battalion; Private First Class Harold G. Agerholm, 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division; Private First Class Harold G. Epperson, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. Gunnery Sergeant McCard, a native of Syracuse, NY, single-handedly covered the escape of his crew from a disabled tank. He faced the fire of a battery of anti-tank guns with hand grenades and a machine gun. Sergeant Timmerman, who came to the Marine Corps from Americus, KS, threw himself across an open tank hatch to protect his crew from an enemy grenade. PFC Agerholm disregarded heavy enemy fire and personally evacuated 45 wounded Marines during an enemy attack on an artillery position. Agerholm, a native of Racine, WI, was killed by a sniper as he tried to help two other wounded men. PFC Epperson of Akron, OH, threw himself on a hand grenade, which landed in his machine gun position during an enemy attack. His action saved the rest of his gun crew.

Additional Sources:

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5850/saipan3.html
members.tripod.com/~Brian_Blodgett/Saipan.html#Invasion
www.skylighters.org
bingaman.senate.gov
www.libraries.psu.edu
www.photoman.co.kr
www.hopetribute.org
www.bluejacket.com
rjs.org
images.webshots.com
www.pbs.org
www.army.mil
www.grunts.net
The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Battle for Saipan (Jun - July, 1944) - July 29th, 2003

[snippy_about_it]

Our medical officer aboard ship described the following hazards on Saipan:

"In the surf, beware of sharks, barracuda, sea snakes, anemones, razor-sharp coral, polluted water, poison fish, and great clams. Ashore, there is leprosy, typhus, filariasis, yaws, typhoid, dengue fever, dysentery, saber grass, insects, snakes, and giant lizards. Eat nothing growing on the island; don't drink the water, and don't approach the inhabitants!"

At the conclusion of his lecture, the medical officer asked for questions. A PFC raised his hand. "Sir," he asked, "why don't we just let the Japs keep the island?"


Bob Hope visiting with wounded soldiers being evacuated from Saipan


TOTAL CASUALTIES SUFFERED BY ALL ASSAULT FORCES ON SAIPAN

2,385 Marines killed or missing
1,041 Army soldiers killed or missing
10,549 Marines wounded
2,550 soldiers wounded
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16,525 total casualties

[snippy_about_it]

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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[SAMWolf]

The amphibious assault ship USS Saipan (LHA 2) prepares to launch a CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-53 Super Stallion from it's flight deck during Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) integration training.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the USS Saipan. Good night Sam.

[SAMWolf]

Good night Snippy.

[GATOR NAVY]

Saipan anniversary barely noted- Marine invasion of island turned tide in Pacific 'It's the old story: out of sight, out of mind.'

I don't know what happened this time. It wasn't like this for the 50th anniversary.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

Folks, be sure to update your anti-virus software.

[GailA]

Good morning

[The Mayor]

They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing. —Psalm 92:14.

Better than counting your years is making all your years count.

[The Mayor]

Sam, my son got a 98 on his WW1 report!

Thanks to you and your links!

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

Biking across Iowa
FORT MADISON, Iowa -- Staff Sgt. Brad Whitmill and Dr. Carol Belt lead the Team Air Force cyclists here July 26. The destination marked the end of the seven-day, 450-mile Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. The American flag on Belt's bike had been recently flown over Baghdad, Iraq, and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. It was carried to honor American forces serving in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Whitmill is stationed at Offut Air Force Base, Neb., and Belt is from Scott AFB, Ill. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Shawn Murphy)

Aim High size image here

[Soaring Feather]

The American flag on Belt's bike had been recently flown over Baghdad, Iraq, and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan

Morning PE, Great Flag-o-gram today, thank you.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on June 16:
1637 Giovanni Paulo Colonna, composer
1834 Wesley Merritt, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1910
1837 Eli Long, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1903
1858 Gustav V, king of Sweden (1907-50)
1879 Fritz Schulz, German law historian (Classical Novel Law)
1888 Bobby Clark, vaudevillan (World's funniest circus clown)
1894 Norman Kerry, Rochester NY, actor (Phantom of the Opera)
1895 Stan Laurel, [Arthur S Jefferson], comedian (Laurel and Hardy)
1896 Jean Peugeot, Frans auto manufacturer (Peugeot)
1896 William Fitzgerald Jenkins, author (Time Tunnel, Land of Giants)
1899 Nelson Doubleday, US, publisher (Doubleday)
1907 Jack Albertson, Malden Mass, actor (Thin Man, Chico and the Man)
1910 E G Marshall, Owatonna Minn, actor (Lawrence-Defenders, Caine Mutiny)
1912 John Peel, MP
1916 Hank Luisetti, NBA forward (1st to use a one-handed shot)
1917 Katharine Graham, NYC, newspaper publisher (Wash Post)
1920 John Howard Griffin, US, photographer/author (Black Like Me)
1925 Richard Jacobs, philanthropist/sports owner (Cleveland Indians)
1929 James Kirtland Randall, composer
1934 Eileen Atkins, London England, actress (Equus, Devil Within Her)
1937 August Busch III, CEO (Anheuser-Busch, St Louis Cards)
1937 Erich Segal, Brooklyn NY, author (Love Story, Oliver's Story)
1938 Joyce Carol Oates, NY, novelist (Garden of Earthly Delights)
1938 Mickie Finn, Hugo Okla, TV hostess/banjo player (Mickie Finn's)
1940 Billy "Crash" Craddock, Greensboro NC, singer
1941 Lamont Dozier, Detroit, songwriter (Dozier-Holland-Dozier)
1943 Joan Van Ark, NYC, actress (Valene-Dallas, Knots Landing)
1944 Takamiyama, [Jesse Kuhaulua], Hawaii, 1st non-Japanese sumo champion
1946 Simon Williams, US, actor (Fiendish plot of dr Fu Manchu)
1951 Roberto Duran, boxer (fists of stone, no m…s)
1954 Jeffrey S Ashby, Dallas Tx, astronaut (sk: STS 85)
1955 Laurie Metcalf, Carbonville Illinois, actress (Jackie-Roseanne)
1970 Phil A Mickelson, San Diego CA, PGA golfer (1991 Northern Telecom)
1971 Tupac Shakur, Bkln NY, rap star/actor (Juice, Bullet) (killed in 1996)
1975 Maria Sinigerova, Miss Universe-Bulgaria (1996)

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Deaths which occurred on June 16:
1686 -BC- Hammurabi the Great dies in Babylon
1216 Innocent III pope, dies at 54
1671 Stenka Razin Cossack rebel leader, tortured, executed in Moscow
1722 John Churchill Marlborough, English general strategist, dies at 72
1930 Elmer Ambrose Sperry, US inventor (gyroscope compass), dies
1959 George Reeves actor (Superman, Gone With the Wind), shoots himself
1976 Francis E Meloy Jr US ambassador to Lebanon, kidnapped & killed
1977 Wernher von Braun (rocket scientist) dies at 65
1996 Mel Allen, sportscaster (NY Yankees), dies at 83

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 SCHUMANN JOHN R.---COKATO MN.
1968 BOWMAN FRANK---WALTERBORO SC.
1968 CHANDLER ANTHONY GORDON---WARNER ROBINS GA.
1968 RUPINSKI BERNARD FRANCIS---EDWARDSVILLE PA.
1968 WILBER WALTER EUGENE---MILLERTON PA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED]
1973 CORNELIUS SAMUEL B.---LUBBOCK TX.
[SURVIVAL UNLIKELY PER SAR]
1973 SMALLWOOD JOHN J.---MARIETTA GA.
[SURVIVAL UNLIKELY]

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

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On this day...
632 Origin of Persian [Yezdegird] Era
1567 Mary Queen of Scots thrown into Lochleven Castle prison
1671 Cossack rebel leader Stenka Razin tortured, executed in Moscow
1755 British capture Fort Beaus‚jour, expel the Acadians
1832 Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Ill
1858 Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand"
1864 Siege of Petersburg & Richmond begins
1871 Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine founded, NYC
1879 Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theatre NYC
1882 17" hailstones weighing 1.75 lbs fall in Dubuque Iowa
1883 1st baseball "Ladies' Day" (NY Gothams beat Cleve Spiders 5-2)
1896 Temperture hits 127F at Fort Mojave, Calif
1903 Ford Motors incorporates
1909 1st US airplane sold commercially, by Glenn Curtiss for $5,000
1917 1st Congress of Soviets convene in Russia
1922 Henry Berliner demonstrates his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics
1932 Pres Hoover & VP Charles Curtis renominated by Rep Convention
1933 National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law (later struck down)
1933 US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created
1937 Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in LA
1938 St Louis Browns walk Boston Red Sox Jimmy Foxx 6 times in a row
1940 Commuinist govt installed in Lithuania
1941 1st US federally owned airport opened Wash DC
1943 Race riot in Beaumont Texas (2 die)
1947 1st network news-Dumont's "News from Washington"
1947 Pravda denounces Marshall Plan
1949 Gas turbine-electric locomotive demonstrated, Erie Pa
1951 Ben Hogan wins golf's US open for 2nd year in a row
1953 Despite Johnny Mize 2,000th hit, Yanks lose ending 18 game win streak & also ending St Louis Brown 14 game losing streak
1955 Pope Pius XII ex-communicated Argentine Pres Juan Peron
1961 Dave Garroway is fired as Today Show host
1961 Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West in Paris
1963 Levi Eshkol replaces David Ben-Gurion as Israeli PM
1963 Valentina Tereshkova becomes 1st woman in space, aboard Vostok 6
1967 50,000 attend Monterey International Pop Festival
1968 Lee Trevino is 1st to play all 4 rounds of golf's US open under par
1970 Race riots in Miami Florida
1975 Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabber & Walt Wesley to LA for 4 players
1975 Randy Farland finds a 14-leaf clover near Sioux Falls, SD
1976 Student uprisings begin in Soweto, South Africa (Soweto Day)
1977 Leonid Brezhnev named president of USSR
1977 Ron Guidry's 1st complete game, 7-0 over KC Royals
1979 Carl Yastrzemski hits his 1,000th extra base hit
1979 H-E Schuster discovers asteroid #2275
1979 Moslem Brotherhood kills 62 sheiks in Aleppo Syria
1980 "Blues Brothers," premieres in Chicago
1980 Supreme Court rules new forms of life created in labs could be patents
1982 Britain requests Argentina arrange for return of prisoners
1983 Charlos Vieira completes 191 hr "nonstop" cycling in Leiria Portugal
1983 European Space Agency launches European Comm Satellite 1, Oscar 10
1984 Edwin Moses wins his 100th consecutive 400-meter hurdles race
1984 Matt de Waal finishes 14,290-mi round trip from Salt Lake City (106d)
1987 Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz acquitted on all but gun possession charges after shooting 4 black youths who tried to rob him
1988 In Santa Barbara, CA, a team of 32 divers begin cycling underwater on a standard tricycle, to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins (and could I interest you in a life?)
1989 4 golfers shoot a hole-in-one on the same hole at the US Open are made all on the 6th hole (Weaver, Wiebe, Pate & Price) Only 17 hole-in-ones recorded since the US open began, today 4 more
1991 Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russian SSR
1991 Minnesota Twins win a team record 15 games in a row
1992 Longest salami is 68'9 and 25 circumference, weighed 1,492lbs/5oz in Flekkefjord, Norway
1999 Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

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

Paraguay : Chaco Peace Day (1935) (Sunday)
US : Father's Day (Sunday)
US : Flag Week (Day 4)
Hillsborough NC : Hog Day
National Little League Baseball Week (Day 3)
National Pest Control Month (John Kerry take note)

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Quiricus (St Cirycus)
RC : Feast of Madonna of Carmine, Italy
Ang : Commemoration of Joseph Butler, bishop of Durham
Feast of St. John Francis Regis, confessor.

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Religious History
1539 German Reformer Martin Luther declared: 'Faith justifies not as a work, nor as a quality, nor as knowledge, but as assent of the will and firm confidence in the mercy of God.'
1654 Queen Christina, a convert to Roman Catholicism, abdicated her Swedish throne to devote the remainder of her life to religion and art.
1752 Death of Joseph Butler, Anglican theologian. His 1736 'Analogy of Religion' demonstrated the strong probability for the existence of a caring God over against that of a disinterested Creator Deity.
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: 'My soul, alas, needs these uneasinesses in outward things, to be driven to take refuge in God.'
1833 Anglican-turned-Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, while traveling on a ship from Italy to France, penned the words to the hymn, 'Lead, Kindly Light, Amid the Encircling Gloom.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Selfishness is that vice we see in others, never in ourselves."

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Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
After you kidnap the beautiful princess, marry immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of your plan will be carried out.

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The World's Shortest Books...
Jerry Garcia's Guide to Beating Drug Addiction

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Dumb Laws...
Oregon:
One may not bathe without wearing "suitable clothing," i.e., that which covers one's body from neck to knee.

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Top 10 signs your family is stressed...
The school principal has your number on speed-dial.

[Professional Engineer]

Thank you miss Feather.

Your Treadhead Tuesday graphic is pretty neat. Did you create it?

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks. No, I did not create the graphic, it was a gift to me. I have 2 tanks. :-)