The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Lt. Richard Hawes & USS PIGEON (12/1941 - 4/1942)-June 23rd, 2004

www.military.com ^ | A.B. Feuer

[SAMWolf]

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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Heroic Pigeon In The Philippines

Long before the beginning of World War II, Richard E. Hawes, the U.S. Navy's foremost tobacco chewer, was already a legend among submariners. Hawes was born on February 21, 1894, and joined the Navy as an ordinary seaman in 1917. Within eight years he had achieved the rank of chief boatswain's mate and master diver.

In 1925 Hawes was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic efforts in attempting to rescue 33 men trapped in the submarine S-51 after the boat had collided with the steamer City of Rome.

Two years later, Boatswain's Mate Hawes was on hand when the submarine S-4 was struck by a Coast Guard cutter. Stormy weather and rough seas hampered operations to save the trapped crew. After 48 hours, the sub's oxygen supply ran out, and 40 members of the "silent service" perished.

Richard Ellington Hawes, commander of the submarine salvage vessel Pigeon, as a lieutenant commander in 1953.

In recognition of his exploits during the two submarine disasters, Dick Hawes was elevated to the rank of ensign and placed in command of the rescue ship Falcon. On February 12, 1940, he became commanding officer of the submarine salvage vessel Pigeon -- a converted minesweeper.

Rendezvous In The Philippines

During November 1941, Japanese warships were continually sighted at various locations in the Pacific. Admiral Harold R. Stark, chief of Naval Operations, sent an urgent dispatch to Admiral Thomas Hart, commander of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet. The message was to the effect that the organization of Japanese naval forces -- and large numbers of troops -- indicated that an amphibious operation might be attempted against either the Philippine Islands or Borneo.

On November 29, the U.S. Navy's Yangtze River Patrol gunboats Luzon and Oahu received orders to leave Shanghai, China, and proceed at top speed to the Philippines. The following night, the gunboats rendezvoused with Pigeon and the minesweeper Finch. Because the Yangtze Patrol vessels had been built exclusively for river duty, Pigeon and Finch were assigned to accompany them as escorts. The flotilla immediately set a course for Manila.

Early the next morning, the gunboat convoy was circled by a Japanese seaplane. A short time later, the American ships were surrounded by seven menacing destroyers. The Imperial Japanese Navy's warships harassed the U.S. vessels for eight hours, constantly requesting identification and asking what business they had steaming in "Japanese waters."



It was evident to Dick Hawes that the destroyers were chomping at the bit to blast the undergunned flotilla out of the water. It was also just as evident that something was holding them back. That "something" was the positioning of their aircraft carriers off Pearl Harbor. A Japanese task force had sailed two days earlier for the Hawaiian Islands. The destroyers finally tired of playing cat-and-mouse with the gunboat convoy and turned away from their mock attack exercises. The Yangtze Patrol craft and their escorts were still many miles from any safe harbor.

Damage Control And Battle Prep

The following day, gale-force winds battered the American flotilla. The vessels were tossed and pounded by heavy waves and torrential rains for hours on end.

At dawn on December 3, the weather cleared and the seas calmed. The water-logged flotilla, nursing its bruises, steamed cautiously down the west coast of Luzon. The next morning, the Corregidor Light was sighted and the convoy entered Manila Bay.

Pigeon had suffered extensive damage from the storm. Her steering cable had snapped, two salvage anchors were lost, and the anchor engine had been dislodged. Oxygen tanks were ripped from their mountings, and the diving rescue equipment was ruined. All compartments, including engine rooms and fire rooms, were in shambles.

Hawes anchored Pigeon in the Cavite Navy Yard, and repair work was started immediately. Boiler plates were welded as armor protection for vital parts of the ship, and additional machine guns were mounted on the superstructure. Pigeon's crew worked around the clock preparing the decks for action. Ammunition was stacked in ready boxes next to the guns, tackle was rigged for hand steering the ship, damage to the main engine was repaired, and fires were lit under the boilers.


USS PIGEON ARS-6

In anticipation of a Japanese attack, Hawes and his men crammed their ship with provisions, fresh water, and salvage and repair supplies. Two more river gunboats, Asheville and Tulsa, arrived at Cavite, and word was received that another river craft, Mindanao, had sailed from Hong Kong.

"This Is No Drill!"

Admiral Hart had assembled the major part of his defensive force in Manila Bay. The fleet also included a squadron of PT-boats, a few destroyers and two submarines, Sealion and Seadragon. Neither Hart nor anyone else expected this ragtag group of ships to withstand the force of a Japanese assault. They were to be "sacrificial lambs," and they knew it.

For many years, despite continued warnings, U.S. plans for defense of the Philippines had changed very little. In the event of a Japanese attack, the so-called Orange Plan called for a delaying action and retirement to the Bataan Peninsula. A last-ditch stand would be made on the island fortress of Corregidor.

The larger ships of the Asiatic Fleet were to be ordered south to defend the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. This move was intended to deny the Japanese the use of Manila Bay for as long as possible, hopefully until warships of the Pacific Fleet arrived from the Hawaiian Islands.



As the first week of December 1941 slipped into history, Admiral Hart stationed his small flotilla of ships at strategic locations. Tulsa and Asheville were assigned to patrol off the entrance to Manila Bay and told to keep a sharp lookout for submarines. At 3 o'clock on the morning of December 8 (Philippine time), Admiral Hart was awakened and handed an urgent message: "Air raid on Pearl Harbor -- this is no drill!"

Ingenuity And Desperation

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and the destruction of a large part of the American Pacific Fleet, gave Japan the confidence she needed. Hart was now without any hope of reinforcement. The cruisers of the Asiatic Fleet, Houston and Marblehead, along with four destroyers, were ordered to join the American-British-Dutch-Australian naval force under the command of Rear Adm. Karl Doorman of the Royal Dutch Navy. The defense of the Philippines was now left to a conglomeration of ships that were 20 to 30 years old. In fact, the most modern vessels at Hart's disposal were the river gunboats Luzon and Oahu. They had been built to combat rifles and machine guns, however, not armored warships and aircraft.

As the Japanese were launching their attack on Pearl Harbor, Mindanao was 300 miles off the northwest tip of Luzon. Lieutenant Commander Alan McCracken heard the news by radio and immediately began taking steps to disguise his ship. Oil, grease, black shoe polish and buckets of paint were slopped over the hull and superstructure. During the day several enemy planes flew over the gunboat, but from the air she looked like a burned out hulk so they did not attack.


Japanese aircraft attack Cavite Navy Yard, near Manila, on December 10, 1941, in a painting by Japanese artist Chosei Miwa.

At noon on December 10, the Cavite air raid alarm screamed. Pigeon was moored in a five-ship nest at the Machina wharf. The submarines Seadragon and Sealion were dockside, followed by the minesweeper Bittern, the converted Pigeon, and another minesweeper, Quail.

Hawes quickly warmed up his engines. He soon had a full head of steam, but the ship's steering still had to be worked by hand. Quail also had problems. She had steering but no steam. A strange arrangement, brought on by necessity, was struck between the two vessels. Both ships were lashed together, and by using Pigeon's engines and Quail's steering, both craft cleared the dock area.

Return To Cavite Bay

They got away not a moment too soon. A swarm of 54 Japanese planes -- part of a larger contingent that divided into two strike forces north of Manila -- bombed and strafed the navy yard. Several bombs splashed and exploded 200 yards astern of Pigeon, and a series of near-misses raised huge geysers of water off her port beam. As soon as the two ships reached open water, the ropes were cut and Pigeon and Quail parted company.

Meanwhile, the Cavite Navy Yard was taking a terrible pounding from Japanese bombers. The entire base seemed to burst into a solid mass of flame. Dick Hawes was able to maneuver his ship by hand steering, and he could have steamed out of harm's way. But Pigeon was a submarine salvage vessel, and Hawes knew that there were two submarines that needed salvaging. He turned Pigeon and headed back to the flaming naval yard.


Direct hit! Two bombs strike Sea Lion (SS-195) almost simultaneously. First U.S. submarine casualty of the war, she went down in the shambles of Cavite - was later raised from the shallows off Machina wharf and sunk in Manila Bay to prevent capture. Sea Dragon (SS-194) (shown at right) narrowly escaped the blast.

Cavite was a hellish inferno as Pigeon cautiously worked her way over to the burning Machina wharf. Intense fires raged everywhere, and thick, black smoke turned day into night. Torpedo warheads, along with acetylene and oxygen tanks, shot skyward and exploded in a violent fireworks display. Snowflakes of deadly red-hot metal drifted down into the firestorm below.

[SAMWolf]

Saving The Sealion

Sealion's pressure hull had been ruptured by bombs, and she was sinking by the stern. Seadragon, however, was salvageable. Only her conning tower had been punctured by shrapnel, but she was without engine power to get underway.

Lieutenant Hawes maneuvered Pigeon to within 20 feet of Seadragon, and a towline was tossed to her crew. Men from Sealion and Bittern clambered to the deck of Seadragon to help with the rescue attempt. As soon as the lines were secured, Pigeon slowly began to drag the submarine away from the blazing dock. It was a difficult job due to the hot winds, incoming tide, and the backbreaking work of hand steering.

Death and destruction left in the wake of the Japanese bombing of the Cavite Navy Yard on December 10, 1941.

Just as Seadragon began to pull away from Cavite, she rammed hard into a mudbank. While the sweating crewmen struggled to free the submarine, a large oil tank exploded on the shore. A sheet of bright orange flame shot across the water. The blast of heat was so intense that it singed the hair of the working party and blistered Pigeon's paint.

The flash fire quickly died down, and efforts to rescue the sub resumed. Seadragon was finally freed from the mud and hauled into deep water. Her engines soon started, and the towline was cut.

There was still plenty of work for Pigeon. Bittern was on fire but still afloat. Her engines and boilers had been undergoing repairs, and the minesweeper was unable to pull away from the dock.

A barge was also burning astern of Bittern. Another barge, filled with aviation gasoline, was moored off the port bow of the sunken Sealion. Machinist Rollin Reed and Water Tender Wayne Taylor jumped into Pigeon's motor whaleboat and headed toward the wharf. They tied a line to the flaming barge and dragged it clear of the minesweeper. They then motored over to the gasoline barge and moved it away from the dock. Reed and Taylor returned to the blazing pier a third time and pulled Bittern to safety.

Sea Lion (SS-195), salvage at Cavite Navy Yard, Phillipines, 1959.

But the two men were still not finished with their heroics. They beached their boat at the navy yard and went ashore to try to locate tools and equipment to repair Pigeon's steering gear. They discovered the shipfitter's shop still standing -- one of the few buildings not burned to the ground. However, their search for parts was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Pigeon anchored next to Bittern. Soon the fires raging aboard the minesweeper were extinguished.

Workhorse Of The Fleet

That night, Dick Hawes decided that if the Japanese wanted a fight he would give them one to remember. The following morning, work began in earnest to turn Pigeon into a first-class combat vessel. Two 3-inch guns were confiscated, one from Bittern and another from the deck of Sealion. Large sheets of boiler plate were fashioned into splinter shields for six .50-caliber machine guns that circled the bridge. After the work was completed, Hawes declared, "The Pigeon is well armed, and believed to be the best-equipped vessel of her type and tonnage in existence."

Pigeon quickly became the workhorse of the Asiatic Fleet. Her crew salvaged valuable material from Sealion and transported deckloads of undamaged torpedoes from the destroyed navy yard to the submarine tender Canopus.

The feisty "littlest battleship" also moved oil barges to safer locations and managed to feed 125 men each day from the various ships. A work detail was assigned to help repair Seadragon.

The exploits of "Spittin' Dick" Hawes and his crew became legendary. Pigeon towed Bittern to Mariveles, at the tip of the Bataan Peninsula, and her crew made underwater repairs to the submarine Porpoise. She was kept continually busy hauling all types of supply-laden barges between Manila, Bataan and Corregidor.

War Continues Unabated

Japanese airstrikes continued unabated. On one of the daily raids on Corregidor, Pigeon's gunners splashed two enemy aircraft. A Japanese observation plane was shot down the next day.

On December 19, Sangley Point on Cavite was blasted by enemy bombers. Oil dumps were turned into flaming pyres, and the navy yard's freshwater supply was destroyed as well.

USS Pigeon
Having a not so great day. Typhoon driven wind and surf put her on the beach (thought to have happened sometime during the 1930s). She was re-floated and went on to serve her country proudly in some of this countries darkest moments...

On December 31, 1941, Lt. Cmdr. Frank Davis relieved Hawes as commanding officer of Pigeon. Hawes continued his distinguished career throughout the war. He served as skipper of the submarine rescue vessel Chanticleer and later was appointed commanding officer of the submarine tender Anthedon.

Meanwhile, Pigeon continued her war against Japan, fighting off wave after wave of enemy planes.

Japanese troops had landed at Lingayen Gulf on December 24. As the enemy troops sliced their way down the island of Luzon toward Manila, Admiral Hart decided to move his headquarters to Corregidor Island. It was essential that nothing of importance be left behind. The sunken Sealion was destroyed by depth charges, and other explosives were set off at Cavite. The navy yard burned fiercely from one end to the other.

Mine Disposal At Sangley Point

Hart's orders were carried out to the letter, except for the fact that an officer charged with the destruction of 100 mines stored at Sangley Point had not done his job. The mines had secret, built-in detonation devices, and it was imperative that they did not fall into enemy hands.

Cavite Naval Yard

Lieutenant Malcolm Champlin and a detachment of 40 commandos volunteered to dispose of the mines before the Japanese discovered them in the rubble. On January 5, 1942, Champlin and his commando force boarded Pigeon, and late that night the littlest battleship headed for Sangley Point. Champlin divided his men into two units, one to locate vehicles and the other to move the mines. With her engines barely turning over, so as not to show a wake, Pigeon slowly crept across Manila Bay. The night was very dark. The only sound Pigeon's crew could hear, aside from the low rumble of her engines, was the waves lapping against the burned-out wharves. As soon as the converted minesweeper neared Sangley Point, Champlin and his men slipped silently ashore.

The "auto gang" soon tracked down a Buick and a Ford. Both had flat tires but were in running condition. A few trucks were also located, and the mines were loaded onto the vehicles.

Champlin needed a boat of some sort to move the infernal machines. He managed to find a working telephone and called his friend "Chick" Parsons, manager of the Luzon Stevedore Company in Manila. Parsons told Lieutenant Champlin that he would try to have a barge alongside the wharf at Sangley Point on the following night. Parsons also stated that the Japanese were everywhere, and it would be a touch-and-go operation with no guarantees. The commando detachment returned to Pigeon, and the ship sneaked back to Corregidor.

[SAMWolf]

Flipping The Barge

Late the next night, Pigeon returned to Sangley Point. Champlin and his men found a barge and tugboat waiting for them. The commandos worked like men possessed, and by 4 a.m., they had managed to stack all the mines aboard the barge. A towline was made fast, and Pigeon carefully hauled the boatload of mines to the middle of Manila Bay.



Grabbing an ax, Lieutenant Champlin jumped into the barge and proceeded to chop holes in the flat bottom of the wooden vessel. The barge began to slowly settle by the bow, but still remained afloat. Both Champlin and Davis realized that it would soon be daylight. Something had to be done -- and fast.

Frank Davis called for full speed and set a wild zigzag course of 12 knots. The barge whipped like a snake behind Pigeon, but the mine-laden boat refused to sink or capsize. With every tick of the clock, time was becoming more critical.

Finally, as a last resort, Davis maneuvered Pigeon alongside the barge. Two men jumped aboard the boat and hurriedly attached towlines to the port side amidships. Pigeon took its position on the starboard side of the craft. When all lines were secured, Davis shouted, "Full speed ahead!" The barge began to vibrate and shake, then flipped over, dumping the mines into the deep, muddy bottom of the bay. The towlines were cut, and Pigeon raced back to Corregidor, luckily without being spotted by the Japanese.

Salvage And Supplies

Pigeon continued her dedicated job of defending the last American outposts in the Philippines. In February she salvaged 160,000 gallons of fuel oil from a disabled merchant ship, and during one air raid she fought off six enemy dive bombers -- knocking one out of the sky and crippling another.


Bombed Clark Field, south of Manilla, The Philippines">
Japanese destroyed half of the aircrafts of Clark Field Navy Base, south of Manila on the Philippines, 25 B17's-bombers and their fighters were destroyed. A substantial part of the defending American air force on the ground was destroyed.

Throughout the month of March, the plucky salvage vessel towed barges of supplies and equipment between Bataan and Corregidor. Pigeon was also used as a repair ship for PT-boats and other small vessels. In their "spare time," Davis and his crew were kept busy dueling enemy artillery and fighting off Japanese planes.

Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, and the submarine tender Canopus was scuttled in Mariveles Bay by her crew. That same night, Pigeon rendezvoused with the submarine Snapper in the south channel off Corregidor. Snapper was carrying 46 tons of food and supplies for the beleaguered defenders of the island fortress. The cargo was quickly unloaded, and Pigeon dashed back to Corregidor with desperately needed provisions, medical supplies and other necessary items.

After the fall of Bataan, the crew of Pigeon spent the daylight hours ashore on Corregidor and returned to their vessel at sundown. Every night, as soon as it became dark, Davis would get his ship underway. In the pitch-black darkness, Pigeon would scout the waters surrounding the island, keeping a sharp lookout for enemy submarines and landing craft. One night she dumped millions of dollars in Philippine currency into Manila Bay.

The Littlest Battleship

During the morning of May 4, Japanese dive bombers swooped down on Pigeon while her crew was on the beach. A bomb exploded on the vessel's starboard quarter, and the U.S. Navy's littlest battleship sank within eight minutes.



The following day, the Japanese launched an amphibious assault against Corregidor. The defenders took a heavy toll of the landing force, but the enemy finally managed to gain a toehold on the southern end of the island. A fierce battle ensued, but the outcome was never in doubt. On May 6, General Jonathan Wainwright, commander of all American and Filipino forces in the Philippines, surrendered his regiments, including those on Mindanao and the other southern islands.

American losses on Corregidor totaled approximately 2,000 men killed or wounded and 12,000 taken prisoner. Japanese casualties were a portent of things to come -- more than 4,000 troops were killed in the bloody action.

Although the United States had lost its fight to defend the Philippines, the stubborn defense of Bataan and Corregidor upset the Japanese timetable of conquest. Overconfident General Masaharu Homma had allocated no more than 50 days for his crack troops to conquer the islands. But the skill and determination of the American and Filipino forces held the enemy troops in check for five months, compelling a much larger expenditure of arms and manpower than the general had anticipated.



Homma's basic miscalculation was in the degree of resistance that might be expected from the native Filipinos. He was convinced that the Philippine army would collapse after a token resistance, leaving the small American force to carry on the defense of the archipelago. In addition to underestimating the determination of his enemy, Homma failed to aggressively press his attack and entirely overlooked the potential value of an early amphibious landing on the Bataan Peninsula.

Pigeon Crew Captured

After the surrender of Corregidor, Commander Frank Davis and the crew of Pigeon were taken captive. They were brought by ship to Manila and then scattered among the various prisoner-of-war camps established by the Japanese on Luzon.

Davis was interned at the Cabanatuan prison, where he helped organize an underground network to obtain food and medicine for the prisoners. Davis volunteered to command a firewood detail, and despite constant surveillance by enemy guards, his detachment managed to smuggle food and other necessities into the prison.



Davis died at Cabanatuan on December 14, 1944. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his exploits as commanding officer of Pigeon and the Legion of Merit for his courageous and dedicated service to his fellow prisoners.

An Enviable Record

Pigeon's war record was enviable. The submarine salvage vessel was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations and one battle star for her Philippine operations. Her small crew of 70 men earned three Navy Crosses, eight Silver Stars and numerous other decorations.

Richard Hawes was awarded a second Navy Cross for returning to the Cavite Navy Yard and saving Seadragon and Bittern. Hawes stated, "The courage, spirit and efficiency of the Pigeon's crew is believed unsurpassed by past, present, or any future crews of any vessel of any nation." Hawes retired from the U.S. Navy in 1953 with the rank of rear admiral.

Additional Sources:

www.fourthmarinesband.com
www.history.navy.mil
www.mississippi.net
history.acusd.edu
www.navsource.org

[SAMWolf]

The Lapwing class of ships were small wooden-hulled general purpose ships built by the US at the ending of WWI. Because they were small, fast and versatile, the Navy used most as mine-sweepers - but a few were assigned other duties including Submarine Search and Rescue; and Tending Submarines. Most served their assigned tasks with quiet distinction. But world events would set certain ships - certain crews apart - as examples and inspiration to us all. So it is with the Pigeon. While not as well known as the Arizona or other familiar ships that were part of the start of WWII for the United States, the Pigeon and her crew earned a place of honor - an example to all of us - of what duty, tradition and honor are all about. The Pigeon's career as Submarine tender was short -- she had worked with submarines in various capacities from 1928 to 1941 - but she was a true submarine tender for only five months - "Hell in the Pacific"... That was all the time she had - and she - her crew - made the very most of it.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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

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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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PDN members and fans. We hope you will consider this simple act of patriotism worth passing on or taking up as a project in your own back yard. In summary:

Who They Are: Operation: Stitches Of Love was started by the Mothers of two United States Marines stationed in Iraq.

What They Are Doing: We are gathering 12.5"x12.5" quilt squares from across the country and assembling the largest quilt ever produced. When completed we will take the quilt from state to state and gather even more squares.

Why They Are Doing This: We are building this quilt to rally support for the Coalition Forces in Iraq and to show the service members that they are not forgotten. We want the world to know Nothing will ever break the stitches that bind us together as a country.

Ideas to start a local project:

Obtain enough Red, White and Blue material (cloth) for a 12.5 x 12.5 quilt square.
If you have someone in your family that sews, make it a weekend project and invite neighbors to join you.

Consider this tribute as a project for your civic group, scouts, church or townhall group.

Locate an elementary school with an after school program in your neighborhood or locate an after school program in your neighborhood not attached to a school and ask if you could volunteer one or two afternoons and create some squares with the kids.

Invite some VFW posts to share your project in honor of their post.

Send us webmaster@patriotwatch.com for digital photos of in progress and finished project for various websites, OIFII.com and the media.

PDN is making this appeal in support of Operation: Stitches Of Love
Media Contact: Deborah Johns (916) 716-2749
Volunteers & Alternate Media: PDN (916) 448-1636

Your friends at PDN

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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[alfa6]

GOOD MORNING ALL

Night shift Foxhole Bump is back for an extended two week run.

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[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Be sure to upate your anti-virus software. Today's the day Norton updates their list of viruses

[The Mayor]

The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things . . . choke the Word. —Mark 4:19

To uproot the weeds of anxious care, get down on your knees.

[Samwise]

Richard E. Hawes, the U.S. Navy's foremost tobacco chewer

You don't know what gross is until you stumble in the night and kick your grandparents' spittoon ('backy can) and spilled the contents all over your foot.

[GailA]

Good morning, it's raining here in Memphis. Looks like it will do so most of the morning...traffic will be a total mess.

[apackof2]

Good Morning bump

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning!!
~John Wayne~The Pledge of Allegiance~
Like Sam says, "Mash this."

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on June 23:
1160 Johannes de Matha, French saint/founder (Trinitarians)
1763 Josephine Martinique, empress of France
1875 Carl Milles Uppsala Sweden, fountain sculptor (Wedding of Rivers)
1876 Irvin S Cobb Ky, writer/humorist (Old Judge Priest)
1884 Werner Krauss, Germany, actor (Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Joyless Street)
1887 John Finley Williamson Canton Ohio, conductor (Westminster Choir)
1894 Alfred Kinsey entomologist/sexologist (Kinsey Report)
1894 Duke of Windsor [King Edward VIII of England] (briefly in 1936)
1902 Dr Howard T Engstrom Boston, a designer of Univac computer
1904 Willie Mae "Mother" Smith, gospel singer/evangelist folk artist
1911 David Ogilvy advertising whiz (Ogilvy & Mathers)
1912 Alan Turing mathematician pioneer in computer theory (Turing Machine)
1913 William P Rogers US secretary of state (1969-73)
1925 Art Modell, owner (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Modells Stores)
1927 Bob Fosse Chicago Ill, choreographer/director (Cabaret, Damn Yankees)
1929 June Carter Cash Maces Spring Va, country singer (Johnny Cash Show)
1930 Donn F Eisele Columbus Ohio, Col USAF/astronaut (Apollo 7)
1933 Bert Convy game show host (Win, Lose or Draw)
1940 Wilma Rudolph US, 100m/200m sprinter (Olympic-gold-1960)

1948 Clarence Thomas, Savannah Ga, 108th US Supreme Court Justice (1991- )

1967 Laurie Wood Orange Calif, playmate (March, 1989)

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Deaths which occurred on June 23:
1137 Adalbert I, archbishop of Mainz (1111-1137), dies
1817 Otto Carl Erdmann Kospoth, composer, dies at 63
1916 Victor Chapman, US legionaire/WW I pilot, killed
1945 Lt Gen Ushijima, Japanese commander, commits suicide at Okinawa
1972 Elton Britt country singer (Sat Night Jamboree), dies at 54
1973 Fay Holden actress (Mother-Andy Hardy films), dies at 77
1980 Sanjay Gandhi, Indian politician, dies
1995 Jonas Salk, biologist (Polio vaccine), dies of heart failure
1996 Andreas George Papandreou, PM of Greece (1981-89, 93-96), dies at 76
1997 "Wino" Willie Forkner, biker (Wild One), dies of heart attack at 77
1997 Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, suffering from burns, dies at 63

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1966 BELKNAP HARRY JOHN---JONAS RIDGE NC.
1966 NYMAN LAWRENCE F.---ABERDEEN WA.
1968 BOOTH JAMES E.---ROSEVILLE CA.
["DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"]
1968 CASEY DONALD F.---CHATTANOOGA TN.
["DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"]
1969 CONDIT WILLIAM H. JR.---WORTHINGTON OH.
[REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98]
1969 REED TERRY MICHAEL---RANDOLPH AFB TX.
[REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98]
1969 SAGE LELAND C.---WAUKEGAN IL.
1970 PHILLIPS ROBERT P.---SYLVANIA OH.
1970 PEDERSON JOE P.---SEASIDE CA.
1970 ROZO JAMES M.---BUFFALO NY.

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

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On this day...
0930 World's oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, established (Althingi)
1295 Pope Boniface VIII enters Rome
1298 Duke Albrecht von Habsburg chosen Roman Catholic German king
1611 Henry Hudson set adrift in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery and never seen again
1683 William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape indians in Pennsylvania; only treaty "not sworn to, nor broken"
1757 Robert Clive defeats Indians at Plassey, wins control of Bengal
1760 Battle of Landshut, Silesia
1775 1st regatta held on Thames, England

1776 Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to US Congress

1784 1st US balloon flight (13 year old Edward Warren)
1810 John Jacob Astor organizes Pacific Fur Co (Astoria, Oregon)
1848 Bloody insurrection of workers in Paris
1860 Congress establishes the Government Printing Office
1860 US Secret Service created
1863 Tullahoma campaign, TN
1865 At Fort Towson, Gen Stand Watie surrenders last sizeable army
1868 Christopher Latham Sholes patents "Type-writer"
1903 M Wolf discovers asteroid #512 Taurinensis
1915 Yanks get record 16 walks & 3 wild pitches beat A's Bruno Hass, 15-0
1924 V Albitzkij discovers asteroid #1022 Olympiada
1925 Landslides create 3-mile long "Slide Lake" (Gros Ventre Wyoming)
1927 Lou Gehrig hits 3 HRs in 11-4 victory over Red Sox
1930 Chicago Cubs beat Philadelphia Phillies 21-8
1938 Civil Aeronautics Authority (US) established
1938 Marineland opens in Florida-1st aquarium
1939 Bronko Nagurski beats Lou Thesz in Houston, to become wrestling champ
1943 RAF discovers Werner von Brauns V1/V2-base in Peenemunde
1945 Last organized Japanese defiance broken (Tarakan)
1944 4 tornadoes strike Appalachia, killing 153
1944 Thomas Mann becomes a US citizen
1947 Truman's veto of Taft-Hartley Act overridden by congress
1949 1st 12 women graduate from Harvard Medical School
1950 Yanks & Tigers hit record 11 HRs, Tigers win 10-9
1951 British diplomats Guy Burgess & Donald Maclean flee to USSR (SHOCK)
1951 Most expensive US hailstorm ($1.5M crop damage & $14M property-Kansas)
1954 122ø F (50ø C), Overton, Nevada (state record)
1955 Walt Disney's "Lady & the Tramp" released
1956 Gamal Abdel Nasser "elected" president of Egypt
1961 Cubs Ernie Banks ends his 717 consecutive-games-played streak
1961 USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 32,830 m
1963 Julius Boros wins golf's US Open
1963 NY Mets Jimmy Piersall, hits his 100th HR, he circles bases backwards
1964 Gen Maxwell Taylor appointed US ambassador in South Vietnam
1967 Jim Ryun sets mile record of 3 min, 51.1 sec (Bakersfield, CA)
1967 US Senate censures Thomas J Dodd (D-Ct) for misusing campaign funds (SHOCK)
1969 Joe Frazier beats Jerry Quarry for the heavyweight boxing title
1969 Warren E Burger sworn in as Supreme Court Chief Justice
1970 Charles Rangel defeats Adam Clayton Powell in Democratic primary
1970 Rocker Chubby Checker arrest for marijuana pocession
1972 Nixon & Haldeman agree to use CIA to cover up Watergate
1972 Pres Nixon signs act barring sex discrimination in college sports
1976 CCN Tower in Toronto, tallest free-standing structure (555 m) opens
1979 The Charlie Daniels Band releases "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
1981 33-inning game ends, Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2
1981 Amanda Maccaro becomes 1st American to win Russian Ballet Competition
1981 NYC mayor Koch turns down a $7,500 offer to perform comedy
1982 -117ø F; All time low at the South Pole
1982 Himmy, of Australia, weighs in at domestic cat record 20.7 kg (45 lb)
1983 US Supreme Court ruled Congress could not veto presidential decisions
1985 Bomb destroys Air India Boeing 747 in air near Ireland, 329 die
1986 Tip O'Neill refuses to let Reagan address House
1987 W Landgraf discovers asteroid #3683 Baumann
1988 Yank manager Billy Martin's 5th term ends, Lou Pinella named manager
1990 A rally to save Alien Nation from cancellation held at Stat of Liberty
1990 TV Guide selects Arsenio Hall as TV personality of the year
1992 Mafia boss John Gotti, who was nicknamed the "Teflon Don" after escaping unscathed from several trials during the 1980s, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on fourteen accounts of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.
1993 Lorena Gallo Bobbitt amputates husband's John Wayne Bobbitt's penis
1994 A U.N.-approved French intervention force crossed into civil war-torn Rwanda.
2002 Two major Arizona wildfires merged and by the next day had consumed 330,000 acres and moved close to the town of Show Low (population 8,000) that had been evacuated.

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

Denmark : Midsummer Eve
Finland, Latvia, Scandinavia : Midsummer Eve/St John's Eve
Luxembourg : Official birthday of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Ireland : Day of Cuchulaine
National Sheriff's Week (Day 3)
Males only : Protect Your Manhood Day
Triumph Over Adversity Day
Ragweed Control Month

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Religious Observances
RC, Ang : Vigil (eve) of St John the Baptist
RC : Feast of St Audrey (St Ethelreda), virgin
RC : Commemoration of St Joseph Cafassio, Italian priest

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Religious History
1415 Bohemian reformer and martyr Jan Hus wrote in a letter: 'It is difficult to...esteem it all joy in various temptations. It is easy to talk about...but difficult to fulfill it.'
1683 English Quaker William Penn signed his famous treaty with the Indians of Pennsylvania. Voltaire once remarked that it was the only treaty never sworn to, and never broken.
1738 Birth of Samuel Medley, English Baptist clergyman and author of the hymn, 'O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth.'
1775 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'True religion is not a science of the head so much as an inward and heartfelt perception.... Here the learned have no real advantage over the ignorant.'
1967 Paul VI issued the encyclical 'Sacerdotalis Caelibatus,' reaffirming the Catholic Church's requirement of celibacy with the priesthood.

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

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Thought for the day :
"There is always someone worse off than yourself."

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Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
NEVER employ any device with a digital countdown. If you find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.

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The World's Shortest Books...
George Foreman's Big Book of Baby Names

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Dumb Laws...
New Jersey:
It is illegal to delay or detain a homing pigeon.

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Top 10 signs your family is stressed...
1. Maxwell House gives you industrial rates.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

[Soaring Feather]

WOW wonderful Flag-0-gram this morning. Thank You.

[Darksheare]

Dumb Laws...
New Jersey:
It is illegal to delay or detain a homing pigeon.



And all those years I stopped those pigeons for speeding and reckless flying..

[Professional Engineer]

Thanks. My crack research staff found that one. 'Tis very pretty.

[Soaring Feather]

PE, Did you mouse over the Flag I posted this morning?

[Valin]

Well you'd better STOP IT right now! Otherwise I may be forced to turn you in. I don't want to but pigeons have rights too.