The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Major General Terry Allen - Jul. 12th, 2004

www.104infdiv.org ^ | Thomas Dixon

[SAMWolf]

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Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen
(1888-1969)

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Terry de la Mesa Allen - even his name swaggered, an admirer once wrote. The name still conjures overtones of magic. Those who knew him are to this day moved by their recollections of the man. Their personal affection for him matches their admiration of his military professionalism and style. Both remain boundless. There was something ineffable about him, indescribable. He had an unquestioned ability to inspire and to lead. His charisma and flair were beyond compare. Stirring in appearance and manner, he captured everyone's fancy. A supreme individualist, he rivaled, for a while at least, George S. Patton, Jr. in his hold on the American imagination. He was flamboyant and good copy for war correspondents, successful and hard-driving in his operations, the right man at the right time to command troops in battle.

One of the great and distinguished division commanders in World War II, Terry Allen was a living legend.

TIME Magazine - August, 9 1943

Allen and His Men

Last June 23, when the invasion of Sicily was 17 days away, Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen wrote a letter from North Africa to an Army friend at home. Of himself, General Allen wrote nothing. Of his men in the 1st Infantry Division, which he commands, Terry Allen wrote:

"The Division has been fighting hard and has done well, I am happy to say. They fought through the gloomy, defensive days in the Ousseltia Valley, led the American counterattack in the Kasserine Pass,started the American offensive with the seizure of Gafsa, fought through 21 days at the grueling battle of El Guettar, and closed in for the'kill'at the final drive on Tunis.Particularly in their last drive, they managed to knock the hell out of the best units the Germans put against them.But enough of bragging about our fine division.

My best regards to you, Old Top.

P.S. We are busy as hell again."



Last week, somewhere along the Germans' last line in Sicily, General Allen and his division was very busy. Also on this line were at least four other U.S. divisions, at least as many British and, Canadian divisions.

All of them fought well. Over General Allen was a whole hierarchy of corps, army, group and theater commanders.Yet upon Terry Allen and his 1st Infantry Division, as upon no other commander or unit in Sicily, there had fallen a special mark of war and history. This mark was not the blazing glory won by the British Eighth Army's General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery in Africa.It was not the distinction won by the U.S.Seventh Army's Lieut.General George Smith Patton Jr.(TIME, July 26). Nor was it the high glow of fame now accruing to General Dwight Eisenhower and to his Army Group commander, British General Sir Harold R.L.G. Alexander. It was, instead, a mark reserved for front-line fighting men, and esteemed by them. It was the mark of a great division in being, and of a great division commander in the making.


Gen. Terry Allen's "Big Red One" lands at Gela July 10, 1943

These inseparable reputations-the reputation of the division and that of its commander are the first of their kind to he made and publicly recognized in the U.S. Army of World War II. To all soldiers there is food for thought,and to many there is satisfaction, in the fact that the joint reputation was won by a division of infantrymen, the men who fight on foot and who, up to now, have finally had to win the battles and the wars.

The division was great before World War II began. Strictly speaking,it was founded in World War I, when it was the first U.S.division to land in France, by its own claim the first in combat,the first to suffer casualties,the first to win a major American offensive (at Cantigny), the last to come home from Occupied Germany.One of its regiments,the distinguished 16th Infantry, is the successor of a unit founded in 1798.

Terry Allen's reputation was founded on April Fool's Day, 1888, when he was born.

The Brat

General Allen began life as "an army brat"; he was born into the Army at Fort Douglas,Utah.His mother,and the donor of his spectacular middle name,was Conchita Alvarez de la Mesa Allen, of Brooklyn.She also was an Army child,the daughter of a Spanish colonel who fought for he Union in the Civil War. Her husband was Samuel Edward Allen, a professional artillery man and quietly competent officer who served 43 years in the Regular Army, raised his boy to be a soldier, retired as a colonel in 1919, died in 1926.His most spectacular achievement was his son.Mother Allen now lives in Washington, with fading memories and many pictures of Terry, mostly on horseback. One of her memories is of Terry Allen as a little boy,legs akimbo on a horse, riding off to maneuvers with his father and his father's men. One of Terry Allen's memories is of himself learning to ride, smoke, chew, cuss and fight at the earliest possible age. According to his biographer, The New Yorker's A. J. Liebling, Terry once found a playmate crying. The playmate explained that his mother had just spanked him. "Why?" asked Terry. "Because I was playing with you," said the other boy. "My opinion of myself went up like a rocket," observed Allen.



When Terry Allen was growing up, the cavalry and the horse artillery were the elite services of the Regular Army. Saddle-hardened before he was ten, never doubting for a moment that he was in and of the Army,Terry proceeded naturally from horseback and post life to West Point and (as he assumed) a commission in the cavalry. Most of the boys who entered with him (in 1907) were frightened strangers to the Point and to the Army, prepared to slave and die to stay in both. Allen knew West Point as well as he knew the Army. For four years (1892-96) his father had taught philosophy there. This background, a certain contempt for labor in its common forms, and an honest genius for trouble nearly deprived the Army of Terry Allen. At the Point, everything but graduation happened to him. For one month,he was at the top of his class. Events then overtook the alphabet. His contemporaries remember him as a slender, dark, fiery-eyed youngster who rode beautifully, could do anything with his hands and did nothing with his mind. Also he stuttered. Some of his classmates admired his dash. Others, of the sober sort, considered him thoroughly worthless. They made a play on his name: Tear-around-the-mess-hall Allen.'Within the limits of honor, West Point cadets are adept at concealing their own and their fellows' misdemeanors. Allen invariably made concealment impossible, he committed his crimes in a public glare.Once, during a drill, a puppy appeared. Under the eye of his sergeant, Allen whistled, broke ranks to kneel and pet the puppy. When the cadet adjutant responsible for posting demerits made up his lists, he automatically included the name of Allen, T.



In his yearling (second) year, Allen failed in mathematics, was turned back a year, to the class of 1912. In 191I he failed again. The Point tries to save its cadets, especially the sons of Army men. But a faculty board decided that he was beyond assistance. He had to leave West Point and the Arms.Terry Allen then buckled down to a year of mental labor. He entered Catholic University of America in Washington, took a B.A., won a competitive Army examination and was commissioned a second lieutenant Nov. 30, 1912.

Less than a year afterward, on border duty with the 14th Cavalry in Texas, he saw his first action. In official words, he "pursued and captured a party of ammunition smugglers Sept. 13, 1913, near San Ambrosia Creek."

First Blood

In June of 1918, 14 months after the U.S. entered World War I, Terry Allen was a captain, a passionate and accomplished poloist,a drinker and bachelor of considerable renown, a cavalryman without a war where horses were required. In that month he went to France,where he soon got his first infantry command.



At a school for infantry officers in France, Allen arrived the day before a class was to graduate.He lined up with that class. Said the commandant, passing out certificates: "I don't remember you in this class.""I'm Allen-why don't you?" Allen brazenly replied. He got his certificate, and as a temporary major he led a battalion of the 90th Division into battle at St. Mihiel and Aincreville, won a citation and a Silver Star "for distinguished and exceptional gallantry," got a bullet through the jaw and mouth.(His friends noticed soon afterward that be had lost his stutter, and surmised that the facial wound had cured him.)

The enlisted men did it

His acquaintances of that period still yarn about his Paris operations, remember more about his escapades than about his combat achievements. After the Armistice, Allen served with the Army of Occupation.One night,at a party in Occupied Germany, Allen arrived late and paired off, without introductions, with a charming British officer. They slapped each other's backs,swapped drinks and stories until the shank of morning. Next day someone asked Allen whether he knew who the Briton was. "No, who?" said Allen.

"The Prince of Wales," was the reply.
"Oh, my God," said Allen.



Later, the Prince invited Allen to another party. Allen announced that he had disgraced himself sufficiently and he was not going. The Prince insisted. Allen went to the party, again had a satisfactory evening.But Allen's brother officers remember other qualities.In the same period,Allen once said:"I wish the war hadn't stopped when it did. It's a damn shame-I was just beginning to get good ideas about commanding infantry battalions.I wish I could go back to the front and try them out." Instead,in 1920,he returned to the U.S.,21 years of more or less peaceful Army life and the kind of luck which favors the bold.

First Star

Allen knew his Army. He returned to the cavalry. That service had many advantages:it was ideal for a practicing poloist,it was socially remunerative and it was a branch from which officers frequently moved to the top in other branches and in the Army at large.During these years, many regular Army officers went softly to seed. A few, a very few, burned themselves out and annoyed their colleagues with pioneering studies in tactics and a rude espousal of modern forms of war.(Two examples: the late Billy Mitchell of the Air Corps; the late Adna Chaffee of the armored force.)



Many cavalrymen, sensing the end of their service, went into the embryo tank service.Terry Allen did neither. He made merry at Fort Bliss, Fort Riley, and Fort McIntosh. He endured two years at Fort Leavenworth's Command & General Staff School, an all but indispensable preliminary to senior rank. In his class of 241 members, he finished 221st.General (then Major)Eisenhower finished first. At the staff school a disgruntled colleague asked Allen:"Why in hell are we training cavalry officers in peacetime when they won't use them in wartime" Retorted Allen:"Because they make the best infantry division commanders in wartime."

In 1928, to the astonishment of the Army, he married. His wife was pretty, dark-haired Mary Frances Robinson of El Paso. They have a son, Terry Jr., 14, with whom Terry Sr. delights in riding and playing tennis when he is at home.

In 1932, Allen made another pitch for the future; he took a course in the Infantry School at Fort Benning. Lieut.Colonel George Catlett Marshall, Chief of Staff, was assistant commandant, and the careless, casual Major Allen was one of the men whom Marshall marked down for later remembrance. Brainy, perceptive George Marshall sensed in Terry Allen a soldier likely to be mighty useful in wartime. Allen in these interim years demonstrated his No. 1 quality as a commander: his men came first.



At home in El Paso, he was forever getting up in the middle of the night to get them out of jail. "My men never keep me waiting," he would say. "I won't make my men wait for me." Said an officer who served with him: "He was absolutely loved by his men. He always believed he could give his men all the hell they needed without help from an body else."

In 1940, a year after General Marshall had become Chief of Staff, Terry Allen received his first star. Over the head of many a colonel who had rated him a rather dumb and charming rake, he was jumped from lieutenant colonel to temporary brigadier general. Soon afterward one of his bartender friends congratulated him. Allen pointed to his star and said: "You know who is responsible for that-the enlisted men, that's who."

After another interval of cavalry duty, and an interim course in infantry command with other divisions, General Allen moved to meet destiny last year.

In early 1942, he was promoted to major general and given command of the 1st Infantry Division.

The Infantry, The Infantry

When Allen took over the 1st, the division had no superior in the Army, and in the opinion of its men it had no equal. Its boast, when Allen was ready to take it to Britain early last year,was that all but six of its 13,000-odd men were volunteers. They were already calling themselves "the first team." They drilled, maneuvered, played under their shoulder patch (the figure 1 in red) with a special swagger, and they roared out the infantry's song with a special gusto:

The infantry, the infantry,
With the dirt behind their ears,
They can whip their weight in wildcats
And drink their weight in beers,
The cavalry, artillery
And the goddamn engineers,
They'll never catch the Infantry
in a hundred thousand years"

(The men of course, improved the song with unprintable addenda.)


1st Infantry Division Patch

Most of the division's men were from the eastern seaboard, particularly from the New York reas,and Allen's first impression was that they were smaller than the soldiers he was used to. But he soon learned that they were tough and good. In Scotland and England he drilled them incessantly for war: a 40-mile march in 24 hours, with full field equipment, was required of every unit. They trained in amphibious war (although they then lacked the landing craft which they would actually use, and missed practice in the precise timing of real invasion).

Allen had a divisional staff to his liking. Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt Jr. was his second in command. Third of a convivial and efficient trio was Colonel Henry B. Cheadle, commander of the famed 10th Infantry Regiment, now a brigadier general and assistant commander of another division. His personal aide was Major Kenneth Downs, a former newsman whom Allen met and adopted at a party shortly before the division sailed for Britain.At Oran, where the 1st landed and met some of the hardest fighting of the early campaign in North Africa, Allen demonstrated the quality which had sometimes been confused with casual impetuosity. The French held a strong position at St. Cloud, a suburb of Oman.

Rather than lose men in frontal assault, Allen, on a spur-of-the-moment decision, sent two units around the town, into Oran.As his men told it later, it sounded obvious and easy, but they knew it was the act of a resourceful and flexible commander.


Company D, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, dug-in in the hills south of El Guettar, Tunisia, North Africa, during the Allied advance towards Gabes, North Africa. 3/21/43.

For the men on the spot, these early operations were not the easy matters which the censored accounts then made them seem to be. Men were killed. Men were wounded. Most of the officers in the 1st and other divisions got their first combat test. At that time, not one division in the new U.S. Army (excepting the lost men of Bataan) had,been thoroughly schooled in battle for more battle.

But, everything considered, the divisions engaged in Sicily did well and the 1st division did very well. Once the landings were over and consolidated, Allen entered the blackest period of his Army life. The 1st Infantry Division found itself in a situation remarkably similar to that which the 1st Division of World War I faced in early 1918. It was broken up.Its battalions, with those of other divisions, were scattered over a 100 mile defensive front, under British and French command.These arrangements may have been unavoidable at the time, but they graveled Terry Allen. "I blooded them, didn't I?" he would say in aggrievement when he thought of his lost battalions. Finally, fuming at his divisionless division headquarters in the rear, he went to see General Eisenhower: "Is this a private war, or can anybody get in it?"


Theodore Roosevelt was the assistant division commander of the First Infantry in North Africa and Sicily.

In March he did get in with his division, intact once more. At Gafsa and El Guettar, on hills held and bloodied by the men of the 1st, Terry Allen and his division did superlatively well (TIME, May 24). After he had taken Gafsa, he was ordered to "hold" the town as a supply base for the British Eighth Army. "But the orders don't say anything about what steps to take to hold it," said Allen with a grin. So be attacked.

In A Hundred Thousand Years

Correspondents with Allen at this period discovered a commander whom his prewar acquaintances at home would have hardly recognized. At times he was shy, quiet. He never bragged,in public,of his own division; he never slighted the others. Once, when the 1st Armored Division was late on one of his flanks, Allen said: "I guess they had motor trouble."

On an interim afternoon, during El Guettar, Allen sat at tea with another officer and a TIME correspondent in the oasis that was his headquarters. He talked of home,of his wife, of Terry Jr. and of how he wanted the boy to be a polo player, of his men and of how "all this talk about Division spirit just means that the men won't let the other men down." His philosophy of the war he gave in four words: "It's crazy, this war."


MAJ. GEN. TERRY ALLEN
Commanding General, 1st Division

The correspondent jotted down these notes:

"The distance from the flat of Terry Allen's feet to the top of his skull is about five feet, ten inches, but his stiff, straight hair stands up far enough above that to bring his total height up to six feet. His hair also sticks out on the sides. It is blue-black, flecked with gray, and his bushy brows are the same color. His eyes are deep brown and gentle. He is a gentle man. He does not like the fact that men will be killed carrying out his orders, but he has accepted the inevitability of it. He will spare or spend his men as military necessity demands; while they live, he will see that they get every comfort and consideration.That is one reason why the spirit of the 1st Division is second to none in the U.S. Army."

Terry Allen and his division were ready for the final days in Tunisia when (with other units of the U.S. II Corps and the British First Army) they smashed through to Tunis and final victory in Tunisia. They were ready for Sicily, for Gela, where the Germans counterattacked to the beaches and Terry Allen said: "Hell, we haven't begun to fight. Our artillery hasn't been overrun yet." They were ready for the inland march, for battle at Ponte Olivoand Barrafranca,for fierce and clever battle with the Germans at Nicosia last week.


General Terry Allen and General Bradley in North Africa

With his division, sobered and hardened Terry Allen was gaining a personal luster. But now, as he did when be was with his bartender in El Paso,he would certainly point to his stars and his fame and say: "You know who is responsible for that - the enlisted men, that's who.".

[SAMWolf]

Terry de la Mesa Allen - one of the greatest combat commanders in the history of the United States Army - took command of the 104th Infantry Division October 11, 1943. The Timberwolves quickly benefited from his vast experience, both as a battalion commander in World War I and, in 1942, as the commanding general of the First Infantry Division in North Africa and Sicily.


104th Infantry Division Patch

Confident, cocky, tough, stubborn, friendly, honest, determined, tireless, quick, aggressive, skillful, religious...all these and more described our Chief Timberwolf. His chest was bedecked with ribbons, among which was a Purple Heart with cluster, and a Silver Star - he knew what it took to be an infantryman.

General Allen was a third-generation soldier; he believed his non-coms and men must always come first..."I want no Timberwolf to spend the night in any damn jail house in town"..."by God, get extra blankets for the men making tonight's river crossing"..."this lousy weather calls for dry socks - the troops need 'em and I mean now!" He was genuinely fond of "his" men, and he'd grin broadly as he'd pop your head back with a sharp, playful left to the chin, and remind you, "hell, those are the guys who make the brass look good - don't ever forget it!" In Arizona and Colorado, he hammered home his principles: "find 'em, fix 'em, fight 'em"..."take the high ground"..."inflict maximum damage to the enemy with minimum casualties to ourselves, night attack, night attack, night attack."

MAJ. GEN. TERRY ALLEN
Commanding General, 104th Division

After the Division's brilliant campaign to the Rhine, General Allen was overheard in Cologne talking with General Omar Bradley:

"Terry, I'm pleasantly surprised to see these young Timberwolves of yours already ranked along with the First and the Ninth as the finest assault divisions in the ETO." Without hesitation, General Allen responded:

"Brad, the First and the Ninth are in damned fast company!" General Allen understood casualties of war...they hurt him keenly - more than he'd acknowledge. But in the fall of '67, when Lt. Col. Terry Allen, Jr. died in battle in Vietnam, the General suffered a severe blow.

General T. Allen with an Aid - 104th Division

The sparkle in his eyes was gone and his erect carriage sagged; but, never a quitter, he took the flag at his son's funeral, standing tall and proud. Minutes later at his home, where many friends had gathered, he admonished all, "let there be no tears in this house - this is the home of an infantry man."



On September 16, 1969, Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen was buried in the National Cemetery at Ft. Bliss with full military honors.

[SAMWolf]

Decorations

Silver Star, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf cluster, Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf cluster, Legion of Merit

Foreign Decorations

Honorary Companion of the most Honorable Order of the Bath (British); French Croix de Guerre with Palm, The French Order of the Legion of Honor; and the Soviet Order of Suvorov, Class II (Gold)

Career Chronicle

30 Nov., 1912, commissioned Second Lieutenant, Cavalry

1912-13, 14th Cavalry, Fort Meyer, VA & Eagle Pass, TX

1916, Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, KS (graduated May 1916)

1 July, 1916, promoted to First Lieutenant, served at Del Rio & Eagle Pass, TX on border duty

15 May, 1917, promoted to Captain

April, 1918, Fort Sam Houston, TX

7 June, 1918, promoted to Major (temporary) & sent to France with the 315th Ammunition Train. Transferred to the Infantry & commanded the 3rd Battalion, 358th Infantry Regiment, 90th Division.

Sept. 1918, received first of three battle wounds. Remained with American Expeditionary Forces in France & with the Army of Occupation in Germany through Sept. 1920.

15 March, 1920, reverted to Captain.

1 July, 1920, promoted to Major.

Sept., 1920, Camp Travis, TX

March, 1922, Fort McIntosh, TX

Sept., 1922, 61st Cavalry Division, New York, City

Jan., 1924, Cavalry School, Fort Riley, KS (graduated from the advance course in June 1924).

1926, graduated from a two year course of the Command & General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, KS (Dwight David Eisenhower was #1 in the class).

1926-1929, 7th Cavalry, Fort Bliss, TX

16 June 1926, married Miss Mary Francis Robinson, daughter of Mayor & Mrs. Wm. F. Robinson

Later served at Camp Jackson, SC, Fort Oglethorpe, GA & Fort Benning, GA with 6th Cavalry.

June, 1932, completed the advance course, Infantry School, Fort Benning, GA.

Aug., 1934, entered Army War College, Washington, D.C., graduating June, 1935.

1 Aug., 1935, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel & became an instructor at the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, KS.

June, 1939, 7th Cavalry, Fort Bliss, TX.

1 Oct., 1940, promoted to Brigadier General (temporary), without ever holding the rank of Colonel, & assigned to 3rd Cavalry Brigade, Fort Riley, KS

April, 1941, became Commanding General, 2nd Cavalry Division, Fort Riley, KS

Dec., 1941, became Assistant Division Commander, 36th Infantry Division, Camp Bowie, TX

19 June, 1942, promoted to Major General (temporary) & given command 1st Infantry Division, Fort Benning, GA & commanded this division in England, North Africa & Sicily until relieved of command in Sept., 1943.

Oct., 1943, given command of the 104th Infantry Division.

31 Aug.1946, retired from active duty to his home at 21 Cumberland Circle, El Paso, Texas.

Additional Sources:

members.tripod.com/RegimentalRogue
math.scu.edu
www.army.mil
www.webbuild.net
libraryweb.utep.edu
home.planet.nl
history.acusd.edu
timberwolf104.tripod.com

[SAMWolf]

"Find ‘Em, Fix ‘Em, and Fight ‘Em"

-- Major General Terry Allen.
In a directive to his division, General Allen wrote, "The successive steps of infantry combat are summarized by the expression ‘Find ‘em, fix ‘em, and fight ‘em.’"—New Yorker. April 24, 1943

"One of the finest American combat leaders of World War II, flamboyant Gen. Terry Allen was relieved of the command of a veteran division in the midst of a campaign, producing a controversy that lingers to this day; he had come, some suggested,to love his men too much."

-- Thomas Dixon

"There was no one quite like the 104th's Chief Timberwolf... Terry Allen was a helluva leader, an outstanding soldier, and a great guy!"

-- Albert Schwartz,
Capt. Former Aide de Camp to MG Terry Allen

[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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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
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Your friends at PDN

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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

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[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Monday Morning Everyone



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

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the thread on General Allen. I didn't know him before this. Seems he was a man's man and a good leader to his men.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[GailA]

Good morning

[alfa6]

Infantry Bump for the Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[The Mayor]

July 12, 2004

Overcoming Greed

Read: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. —1 Timothy 6:18

Bible In One Year: Psalms 4-6; Acts 17:16-34

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Greed — it has toppled highly paid executives, brought down giant corporations, and cost thousands of workers their jobs and retirement funds. One columnist has written that unrestrained corporate greed is a greater threat than terrorism.

Greed whispers in our ear that we would be happier if we had more money, more things, and more power. It creates discontent and a growing desire to do whatever it takes to gain position and possessions. But the Bible commands us to trust in God, not in“uncertain riches”(1 Timothy 6:17).

Paul told Timothy that the way to overcome greed is to flee from it and to“pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness”(1 Timothy 6:11). And those“who are rich in this present age,” who have more than is needed, should“be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share”(vv.17-18).

Contentment and generosity are the opposite of greed (vv.6-8). As we learn to thank God for what we have and freely share it with others, we stop trying to fill the spiritual vacuum in our heart with things. And when we love Jesus more than money and possessions, we find that He is the greatest treasure of our lives. We discover that knowing Him is the source of genuine satisfaction. —David McCasland

God’s riches fill up our supply,
Whatever we may need,
So we can then be generous
And not controlled by greed. —Sper

The best remedy for greed is generosity.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

In 1914, on the 100th anniversary of the battle, Baltimore held the largest Defenders' Day celebration ever. On that day the city of Baltimore dedicated Fort McHenry as a municipal park. Baltimore schoolchildren gathered at the fort to form a human flag.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Aeronaut.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Gail. I saw this while surfing the web and thought about you. Saved it to the Foxhole server so I could post it when you got back from vacation. Of course now I don't remember where I originally found it.

[snippy_about_it]

Mornin' alfa6.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on July 12:
100 -BC- Julius Caesar Roman Emperor
1730 Josiah Wedgewood England, pottery designer/manufacturer
1807 Silas Casey, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1882
1817 Henry David Thoreau Concord Mass, naturalist/author/pacifist
1821 Daniel Harvey Hill, Lt Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1889
1849 Sir William Osler Canada, physician/author (circulatory system)
1854 George Eastman Waterville NY, invented Kodak camera
1864 George Washington Carver studied the peanut
1868 Stefan George Germany, lyric poet (Algabal)
1895 Oscar Hammerstein II NYC, lyricist who worked with Richard Rodgers
1895 R Buckminster Fuller architect (invented geodesic dome)
1904 Pablo Neruda Chile, poet (Residence on Earth-Nobel 1971)
1908 Milton Berle Harlem NYC, comedian (Uncle Miltie, Mr Television)
1917 Andrew Wyeth US, painter (Christina's World)
1920 Keith Andes Ocean City NJ, actor (Farmer's Daughter, Away All Boats)
1922 Clark MacGregor politician (involved in Watergate)
1922 Mark O Hatfield (Sen-R-Ore)
1934 Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr La, pianist (Tchaikovsky 1958)
1937 Bill Cosby Phila, actor/comedian (I Spy, Cosby)
1943 Christie McVie rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Got A Hold on Me)
1948 Richard Simmons exercise guru (Deal-a-Meal)
1951 Cheryl Ladd Huron SD, actress (Charlie's Angels, Purple Hearts)
1957 Rick Douglas Husband, Amarillo Texas, USAF mjr/astronaut
1971 Kristi Yamaguchi (Olympic gold medalist: figure skater [1992]; U.S. and world champion [1992])

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Deaths which occurred on July 12:
1450 Jack Cade slain in a revolt against British King Henry VI
1712 Richard Cromwell, English Lord Protector (1658-59), dies at 85
1861 Dave McCanles, first to fall from Wild Bill Hickok's gun fire
1898 Paul Voulet, French captain/mass murderer in Senegal, dies
1935 Alfred Dreyfus, French officier (Dreyfus Affair), dies
1973 Lon Chaney Jr, actor (Wolfman), dies after long illness at 66
1976 Ted Mack TV host (Original Amateur Hour), dies at 72
1979 Minnie Ripperton singer (Lovin' You), dies of cancer at 30
1992 Albert Pierrepont, last British hangman (433 men/17 women)
1996 John William Chancellor, news anchor (VOA, NBC), dies at 68

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 ALMENDARIZ SAMUEL MC ALLEN TX.
1967 DOVE JACK PARIS SR. BLUEFIELD VA.
[REMAINS RETURNED/IDENTIFIED 07/25/95]
1967 FRANK MARTIN S.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 HENRY NATHAN B. FRANKLIN NC.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED,ALIVE IN 98]
1967 MC MURRAY CORDINE DETROIT MI.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 00]
1967 NEWELL STANLEY A. PEKIN IL.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE & WELL 12/95-98]
1967 PERRICONE RICHARD R. UNIONDALE NY.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 SCHIELE JAMES F. GRANGER UT.
1967 SQUIRE BOYD EDWIN SACRAMENTO CA.
[REMAINS RETURNED/IDENTIFIED 07/25/95]
1967 SULLIVAN ROBERT J. EAST ALSTEAD NH.
1967 VAN BENDEGOM JAMES L. KENOSHA WI.
[WOUNDED DIED SEVERAL DAYS AFTER CAPTURE]
1969 BANNON PAUL W. HUEYTOWN AL.
1969 PIKE PETER X. NEW YORK NY.
1972 SHIMKIN ALEX
1972 HUARD JAMES L. DEARBORN MI.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED THROUGH DNA 01/27/97]
1972 O'DONNELL SAMUEL JR. DEARBORN MI.


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

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On this day...
0526 St Felix IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1109 Crusaders capture Syria's harbor city of Tripoli
1191 Richard Coeur de Lion and Crusaders defeat Saracens in Palestine
1290 Jews are expelled from England by order of King Edward I
1543 England's King Henry VIII weds Catherine Parr (6th & last wife)
1679 Britain's King Charles II ratified Habeas Corpus Act
1690 Orangeman's yearly celebration (The battle of the Orange) - Actually "Battle of the Boyne" ( 1 July 1690), when Protestant had victory in Ireland
1691 Battle of Aughrim (Aghrim) England, William III beats James II
1704 Stanislaw Leszcynski becomes king of part of Poland
1774 Cossack leader Emilian Pugachevs army occupies Kazan
1774 Citizens of Carlisle, Penn. pass a declaration of independence
1812 US forces led by Gen Hull invade Canada (War of 1812)
1817 1st flower show held (Dannybrook, County Cork, Ireland)
1859 Paper bag manufacturing machine patented by William Goodale, Mass

1862 Congress authorizes Medal of Honor

1874 Ontario Agricultural College founded
1900 114ø F (46ø C), Basin, Wyoming (state record)
1906 Alfred Dreyfus found innocent in France
1909 16th Amendment approved (power to tax incomes)
1914 Babe Ruth makes his baseball debut, pitches for the Red Sox
1920 Lithuania & USSR sign peace treaty, Lithuuania becomes independent republic (independent...right...sure)
1923 K Reinmuth discovers asteroids #997 Priska & #3682
1927 Babe Ruth hits 30th of 60 HRs
1933 Congress passes 1st minimum wage law (33cents per hour)
1934 US Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island abandoned
1946 Vance Dinges hits the only Phillie pinch hit inside-the-park HR
1948 1st jets to fly across the Atlantic (6 RAF de Havilland Vampires)
1949 Baseball owners agree to erect warning paths before each fence
1949 LA Rams sign Norm Van Brocklin
1951 Mob tries to keep black family from moving into all-white Cicero Ill
1957 1st President to fly in helicopter-Dwight Eisenhower
1960 Congo, Chad & Central African Republic declare independence
1960 Echo I, 1st passive satellite launched
1960 USSR's Sputnik 5 launched with 2 dogs
1962 1st time 2 manned crafts in space (USSR)
1962 Rolling Stones 1st performance (Marquee Club, London)
1966 Most rain fell in 1 day in Ohio, 10.5" in Sandusky
1967 Blacks in Newark, riot, 26 killed, 1500 injured & over 1000 arrested
1970 Janis Joplin debuts in Kentucky
1971 Juan Corona, indicted for 25 murders
1977 1st free flight test of space shuttle Enterprise
1979 "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park, causes fans to go wild & causes White Sox to forfeit 2nd game of a doubleheader to the Tigers
1982 FEMA promises survivors of a nuclear war will get their mail
1984 Geraldine Ferraro, NY became 1st woman major-party VP candidate
1985 Doctors discover a cancerous growth in Pres Reagan's colon
1989 NY Yankee pitching great Ron Guidry retires (170-91 .651, 3.29 ERA)
1991 The House voted overwhelmingly to define marriage in federal law as a legal union of one man and one woman _ no matter what states might say.
1996 Kirby Puckett, retires from Minn Twins

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

Central African Republic, Chad, Congo : Independence Day (1960)
Northern Ireland : Orangeman's Day (1690) (7/1 OS)
Rhodesia : Thodes Day
South Africa : Family Day (Monday)
Swaziland : Reed Dance Day (Monday)
US : Different Colored Eyes Day.
Eat Your Jello Day
National Peach Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : St John Gualbert, abbot
Orth : Feast of SS Peter & Paul (6/29 OS)
RC : Commemoration of St John Gualbert, abbot
Luth : Commemoration of Nathan Suderblom, archbishop of Uppsala

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Religious History
1191 The armies of the Third Crusade (1189-92), led by England's King Richard ('TheLionhearted'), captured the Syrian seaport of Acre.
1843 Mormon church founder Joseph Smith announced that a divine revelation had beengiven him sanctioning polygamy among his newly-organized religious followers.
1898 Birth of Peter Deyneka, missions pioneer. The Slavic Gospel Association, whichhe founded in 1934, undertakes evangelistic work in Europe and South America.
1944 Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary was chartered in Mill Valley, CA, undersponsorship of the Southern Baptist Church.
1963 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'Do not stop testing andcorrecting your insights by holy scripture. Then, being sound in what really counts, youcan live and represent a comforted life.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion."

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Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.

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PUNishment of the the day...
If we canteloup lettuce marry!

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Dumb Laws...
Idaho:
Riding a merry-go-round on Sundays is considered a crime

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Top Ten Things That sound Dirty In Golf..But Aren't...
1. Hold up...I need to wash my balls first.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor. We're headed for 90 degrees today.