The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Lieutenant Christian F. Schilt, USMC - October 10th, 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 Natural



Lieutenant Christian F. Schilt, USMC

Story by Maj Allan C. Bevilacqua, USMC (Ret)

Natural: "Any person or thing that is or is likely or is certain to be very suitable to and successful in an endeavor without much training or difficulty"

--Webster's Unabridged Dictionary

All of us have heard of someone who was described as a "natural," a person seemingly born with skills and talents the rest of us are able to attain only after long and ceaseless practice and application. Blessed from birth with abilities that make the most difficult tasks appear effortless, the natural excels with a deft grace most others can only envy. Whether it be hitting a baseball or playing the violin, weaving a race car through traffic or plying the surgeon's healing knife, the natural stands alone as one born to the task.

On April 5, 1928, one such natural, Lieutenant Christian F. Schilt, USMC, stood at attention before the President of the United States on the White House lawn. As Major General Commandant John A. Lejeune and an honor guard of his fellow Marines looked on, President Calvin Coolidge placed the Medal of Honor about the neck of the one-time farm boy from Richland County, Ill. It was the first time a winner of America's highest award for heroism received the decoration personally from a president, and it would establish a tradition that generally endures to this day. The citation that was read commended Schilt for "almost superhuman skill" in carrying out one of the most incredible acts of bravery in the history of Marine Corps aviation. Perhaps that was only normal, for even before there were airplanes, Christian F. Schilt was born to fly them.

In the beginning there was no hint of the extraordinary things that were to come. In 1917, 22-year-old Schilt, known as "Frank," was just one of many young men eager to answer his country's call in the war against Germany. Fresh out of Rose Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute, Ind., Schilt enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on June 23, 1917. In due course he joined the flood of Marines bound for the Marine Corps' new recruit training depot at Paris Island, S.C. He would continue to wear the eagle, globe and anchor for nearly 40 years, and his shoulders would one day bear a general's stars.



Did the new boot Marine have visions of the battlefields of France? Perhaps, but if he did they were destined to go unrealized. Instead, Schilt joined the first American air unit of any service to be sent overseas in World War I, Captain Francis T. "Cocky" Evans' 1st Marine Aeronautical Company ordered to Punta Delgada in the Azores. Expecting to see action in the trenches, the new Marine found himself instead a machine-gunner flying antisubmarine patrols in the unit's Curtiss HS-2L flying boats. It wasn't quite what he had envisioned when he enlisted, but he did the job and did it well. If he was disappointed, it didn't interfere with his performance of duty.



Besides, there was something fascinating about airplanes, something exhilarating about actually being among the clouds. The hours spent cruising above the Atlantic gave Schilt, an observant youngster with much better than average mechanical skills, time to develop an appreciation of what was necessary to get an airplane into the air and keep it there. It began to seem that actually flying an airplane wasn't all that complicated. If he got the chance, he more than likely could do a fair country job of it. If being along for the ride was fun, think of how much fun it would be to sit in the pilot's seat.

Intrigued by that possibility, Schilt, by then wearing a corporal's chevrons, decided to stick around at war's end and explore the chances of becoming a pilot. As it turned out, his chances were pretty good. Early in 1919, orders and seabag in hand, the aspiring aviator reported to the Marine Flying Field, Miami, the site of present-day Opa-Locka Airport, for flight training.

Schilt took to flying an airplane quicker than an otter skimming down a mud slide. He did far better than a fair country job of it. And it really was fun.



On June 5, 1919, Cpl Christian F. Schilt, USMC, was designated a naval aviator detailed for "duty involving actual flying in aircraft, including dirigibles, balloons and airplanes." Five days later he was commissioned a second lieutenant and ordered to duty as a pilot with Squadron D, Marine Air Forces, 2d Provisional Brigade in Santo Domingo.

The show was about to begin.

Expeditionary duty was a fact of Marine Corps life in the 1920s, just as deployments are today. For an aviator it was also an opportunity to log a lot of flight time. Schilt honed his flying skills to a fine edge. Except for a brief stint at Quantico, Va., to attend the Marine Officers' Training School, the forerunner of today's Basic School, the new pilot spent an impressive number of hours in the air over Santo Domingo and Haiti. It was time well invested, for it was becoming increasingly apparent that Schilt had a touch with airplanes few men attain. When the former mechanic took a plane into the air, it was almost as though he was a part of it.

In the decade of the '20s, that was a handy skill to have. Schilt's return to Quantico in 1923 coincided with the dawn of the golden age of one of aviation's landmark events, air racing. Stronger airframes, better designs and more powerful engines had opened the door to increasingly faster airplanes. Air racing blossomed into a major spectator attraction, with prestigious sponsors lining up to post prizes and trophies to feed the popular appetite for speed, speed and more speed. In no time at all, events like the Bendix Cup, the International Air Races, the Schneider Cup Seaplane Races and the Cleveland Air Show were drawing thousands of spectators.



This was something right down Schilt's alley. There was no prohibition on military pilots participating; in fact, entry was encouraged.

For the next four years, he flew in every major air race, always bringing his plane home among the top finishers, always displaying flying skill that drew the admiration of his fellow competitors. Accounts credit him with being one of America's premier military aviators. When Schilt wasn't racing, he was collecting trophies in the Army Air Service's Machinegun and Bombing Competition, pioneering techniques in aerial photographic surveys and putting airplanes through their paces as a test pilot.

Even as Schilt gained a reputation as an exceptionally gifted aviator, a far greater renown was awaiting him at a flyspeck village called Quilali in the mountainous, jungle-covered interior of Nicaragua's Nueva Segovia Province. It was 1927, and the strategically important Latin American country, only recently wracked by civil war, was experiencing an uneasy peace brokered by American negotiator Henry L. Stimson. Under the terms of the agreement, the leaders of both factions consented to the disarmament of their troops and an American-supervised national election, with Marines serving as guarantors of the peace. From the start it was less a peace than an armed truce as both sides hedged their bets and held on to their guns.



On July 16, 1927, the lid blew off. Nicaragua erupted into civil war as insurrectos loyal to the rebel leader Augusto Sandino attacked Marines and government forces of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua from one end of the country to the other. The situation rapidly deteriorated, and the call went out for reinforcements.



Among the first to arrive was Lt Schilt. Another new arrival was a fine new airplane, the Vought O2U-1, the first of the Vought Company's aircraft to carry the name Corsair. The two lost no time in getting acquainted. The Corsair was the newest and best airplane in the Navy-Marine inventory. A sturdy, two-seater biplane, it was the first Marine Corps plane to have a truly powerful engine, and it flew like a dream.

Schilt soon was handling the Corsair like a virtuoso handles a violin, along the way becoming proficient in the new technique of dive bombing that had been perfected by Major Ross Rowell's Marine flyers of Observation Squadron 7 (VO-7M). In the months that followed, Schilt put his new skills to good use, as Marine aviation often was called upon to support ground troops. Soon, he would get an opportunity to show just what this fine airplane could do when flown by a skilled, courageous pilot.



On Jan. 3, 1928, a combined Marine-Guardia patrol was ambushed by a large force of insurrectos near the remote village of Quilali. A relief column was ambushed as well. Both units found themselves pinned down among the thatch huts that lined the village's single street, under siege by an enemy force that outnumbered them by more than 5-to-1. Casualties were heavy, with food, water and ammunition running low. With nearly two dozen wounded, there was no possibility of breaking out. To stay put was eventually to be whittled down and overrun unless supplies could be brought in and the wounded taken out. An urgent message was signaled to a passing patrol plane by the senior Marine officer, a badly wounded Captain Richard Livingston. He needed air attacks to break up the surrounding rebels and, "if humanly possible," a pilot to land in the town and fly out his wounded men.



It was a mission for a volunteer, and Schilt stepped forward. There was an immediate problem: where to land. Unless something resembling a landing strip could somehow be roughed out of the town's rutted, bumpy street, the mission would be nothing more than wishful thinking. For three days, Livingston's men, under constant fire from the encircling insurrectos, tore down all the buildings along one side of the dirt street, until they had a landing strip of sorts. It was barely 400 feet long and 70 feet wide, and it ended abruptly at a sheer drop into the valley below. The prospects for the pilot who overshot were not cheering.

Schilt's Corsair was lightened as much as possible to make room for the weight of the medical supplies going in and the wounded coming out. Out went the forward firing machine guns and the machine gun mounted at the observer's station in the rear cockpit. There would be no observer. The cockpit would carry supplies and wounded Marines. A half tank of fuel would get the Corsair to Quilali and back. The rest was drained. Finally, seeking to cut down on every ounce of weight, Schilt doffed his parachute. If the Corsair were brought down by ground fire, Schilt would be going down with it.

Over a three-day period, Jan. 6-8, Schilt made 10 flights into the beleaguered town. On each final approach shifting cross winds and air currents bounced the Corsair about like a rubber ball atop a fountain, leaving no room for error and requiring every ounce of concentration. A fusillade of ground fire greeted every attempt. Since the Corsair had no brakes, a half-dozen Marines would manhandle the rolling plane to a stop before it sailed off the makeshift runway and into the valley.

On takeoffs, more Marines would hold the wings down while Schilt revved the engine to full power. Then, on a signal from Schilt, the ground party would let go, and the Corsair, bucketing and bouncing through the ruts, holes and rocks, would lumber into the air.

Ten trips in, 10 trips out. It was something that had never been done before, and few people gave it any chance of succeeding. But Schilt never doubted that he could do it. Do it he did, bringing out 18 wounded Marines, three of whom would have died without immediate medical treatment. Later generations of Marines would come to think in casual terms of medevac. In 1928 it was more of a miracle, and it would lead to Schilt's being awarded the Medal of Honor.



In a roundabout way it would also lead to his passing up the chance to be a millionaire. When his tour of duty in Nicaragua ended, Schilt was offered a flight home by another aviator who had achieved a certain degree of fame himself, Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh was employed by a new airline called Pan American Airways. Laying out planned trans-Atlantic commercial air routes himself, Lindbergh was looking for a skilled pilot to do the same in the Caribbean and eventually the Pacific. Would Schilt like the job? It paid $1,000 a month-phenomenal wages in 1928-with stock options.

Schilt thought it over and elected to remain a Marine lieutenant. As much as he loved flying, he loved the Marine Corps, too. So instead of getting in on the ground floor of something that would have made him a rich man, Schilt commanded a squadron at Quantico and then served as chief test pilot at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia.

In the summer of 1935, Schilt, by then a captain, was one of a group of Marine aviators ordered to temporary duty at the Cleveland Air Show. There, the Marines wowed the onlookers with an exhibition of the dive-bombing techniques developed and used in Nicaragua, placing dummy bombs on simulated targets with unerring accuracy.

Among those most impressed was a noteworthy German officer, General der Flieger Erhard Milch. The same Erhard Milch who had masterminded the secret development of Germany's Luftwaffe in the years when Germany was forbidden military aviation by the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I, he was now in charge of all German military aircraft production and procurement. One of Milch's first priorities upon returning home was to huddle with design engineers of the Junkers Corporation. The result was the world's first airplane to be planned from the drawing board stage as a dive bomber, the Junkers JU-87 Stuka. In an ironic way it could be thought of as another first for Marine aviation.



The same war that saw German dive bombers helping to clear the way for panzer columns slicing into Poland and France saw Schilt serving in the Pacific. He would serve on Guadalcanal with the First Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) and later be designated commanding officer of the Strike and Patrol Commands, Solomon Islands. Following a tour organizing and then commanding the new 9th MAW, it would be back to the Pacific commanding the 2d MAW's Air Defense Command. At war's end, as a general officer, Schilt plunged into the task of reorganizing all Marine Corps Reserve aviation units, laying the groundwork for what would one day become the 4th MAW.



In 1951, Schilt took command of the 1st MAW in Korea and promptly became the Marine Corps' first general officer to qualify in jet aircraft. He handled a Grumman F9F as easily as he had handled a Vought O2U-1 and set about flying combat missions over North Korea. In 1955, at the age of 60, Schilt became qualified in helicopters. No one was surprised.

In later years Schilt was asked if he thought earning the Medal of Honor had helped his career. He replied that he had never given much thought to the possibility, but after reflecting upon it he didn't think so. Wearing the pale blue ribbon with the five white stars hadn't kept him from spending 15 years as a lieutenant, he said, chuckling. Still, medal or no medal he must have been doing something right.



Lieutenant General Christian F. Schilt, Director of Aviation, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, having completed nearly 40 years of service, departed the active-duty ranks of the Marine Corps on April 1, 1957. Upon retirement he was advanced to the rank of general. Gen Schilt died in Norfolk, Va., on Jan. 8, 1987, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, 2,000 miles and a lifetime away from Punta Delgada in the Azores, where Private Schilt first dreamed of flying. From start to finish, Frank Schilt, the Natural, made it all look easy.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

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General Christian F. Schilt, a pioneer of Marine aviation and winner of the Nation's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor for bravery, retired from the Marine Corps on 1 April 1957. He saw action with Leatherneck air units in world Wars I and II, the Haitian and Nicaraguan campaigns and the Korean fighting, and served at Marine Corps Headquarters, Washington, D.C., as Director of Aviation and Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for Air.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism from 6 to 8 January 1928, at Quilali, Nicaragua, where two Marine patrols were ambushed and cut off by rebel bandits. Then a lieutenant, he voluntarily risked his life to make ten flights into the besieged town, evacuating 18 casualties and carrying in a replacement commander and badly-needed medical supplies. To make a landing strip on the village's rough, rolling, main street, the Marines on the ground had to burn and level part of the town, and since the plane had no brakes they had to stop it by dragging from its wings as soon as it touched down.

Hostile fire on landings and take-offs, plus low-hanging clouds, mountains and tricky air currents, added to the difficulty of the flights, which the citation describes as feats of "almost superhuman skill combined with personal courage of the highest order."

In Korea, where he commanded the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from July 1951 to April 1952, General Schilt earned the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and his fifth Air Medal. He also holds the Legion of Merit with Combat "V," the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" and four Air Medals for World War II service. During that conflict he participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, the consolidation of the Southern Solomons and the air defense of Peleliu and Okinawa.

The general was born 19 March 1895, in Richland County, Illinois, and after attending Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, he enlisted in the Marine Corps 23 June 1917. As an enlisted man he served at Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, with the 1st Marine Aeronautical Company, a seaplane squadron assigned to anti-submarine patrol. This was the first organized American air unit of any service to go overseas during World War I.

Returning to the United States as a corporal, he entered flight training at the Marine Flying Field, Miami, Florida. He was designated an aviator 5 June 1919, and commissioned a second lieutenant five days later. That October, he began his first tour of expeditionary duty as a member of Squadron "D," Marine Air Forces, 2d Provisional Brigade, in Santo Domingo. He returned to the United States in February 1920, to enter the Marine Officers' Training School, Quantico, Virginia.

Completing the course in August 1920, he went overseas again the following month, joining squadron "E" of Marine Aviation Forces, 1st Provisional Brigade, at Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was transferred to the 2d Brigade the following March to make an aerial survey and mosaic map of the coast line of the Dominican Republic. After completing that assignment he returned to Quantico in October 1922.

Except for service at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, from January to July 1923, and completion of a three-month photographic course at the Air Service Technical School, Chanute Field, Illinois, in 1925, the general remained at Quantico for the next five years. While attached to that post he won second place in the Schneider International Seaplane Race at Norfolk, in November 1926, flying a special Curtiss racer at a speed of 231.3 miles per hour over seven laps of a triangular 50-kilometer course.



In November 1927, General Schilt was ordered to Managua, Nicaragua, where he joined Observation Squadron 7-M. It was during this tour of duty that he won the Medal of Honor. He returned to the United States in August 1929, and after commanding Fighter Squadron 5-N at Quantico, was named Chief Test Pilot and Flight and Aerological Officer at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia. He served in that capacity for two years before returning to Quantico in June 1932, to enter the Company Officers' Course at the Marine Corps Schools. He completed that course in July 1933, and a month later entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Montgomery, Alabama.

Graduating from the tactical school in June 1934, the general began another four years at Quantico, where he was Air Officer on the Staff of the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, and later a squadron commander with Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force. He then served from May 1938 to June 1940, as Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Air Station at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. After that he returned to Quantico to complete the Senior Course in the Marine Corps Schools and serve with Base Air Detachment 1, Fleet Marine Force.

He left Quantico in May 1941, when he was assigned to the American Embassy in London, England, as an Assistant Naval Attache for Air. In that capacity he traveled through England and Scotland and served as a naval observer in North Africa and the Middle East. He returned to the United States in August 1941, and was assigned to Quantico as Engineer and Supply Officer of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

In September 1942, he arrived on Guadalcanal as Assistant Chief of Staff, 1st Marine Air Wing. After that he was commander of Marine Aircraft Group 11, Chief of Staff of the 1st Wing and Commanding Officer of the Strike and Search Patrol Commands, Solomon Islands. He returned to the United States in September 1943, and commanded the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, North Carolina, until March of the following year.

From April to June 1944, General Schilt headed the 9th Marine Aircraft Wing during the organization of that unit. He then served for six months as Chief of Staff of the wing and for another month as its commander before returning to the Pacific theater in February 1945. This time he was Island Commander, Peleliu, from March to August 1945, and Commanding General, Air Defense Command, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, on Okinawa until October 1945, when he took command of the 2d Wing.



Returning from Okinawa in March 1946, the general reported to the Naval Air Station at Glenview, Illinois, the following month. There he headed the Marine Air Reserve Training Command until July 1949, when he was ordered to Norfolk as Chief of Staff, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic. He served in that capacity until he took command of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea in July 1951.

In April 1952, General Schilt returned from Korea to serve in Hawaii as Deputy Commander, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, until February 1953 when he became Commanding General, Aircraft, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at the Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California. He left El Toro in July 1955, and assumed his duties at Headquarters Marine Corps as Director of Aviation on 1 August 1955, as a lieutenant general. He served in this capacity until retirement from the Marine Corps when he was promoted to his present rank.



In addition to the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal with Gold Stars in lieu of four additional awards, the general's medals and decorations include the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon with one bronze star; the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal; the World War I Victory Medal with Overseas clasp; the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal with one bronze star; the Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal; the American Defense Service Medal with Base clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with two bronze stars; the American Area Campaign Medal; the World War II Victory Medal; the Navy Occupation Service Medal with Asia clasp; the National Defense Service Medal; the Korean Service Medal with one silver star; the United Nations Service Medal; the Nicaraguan Medal of Merit with silver star; the Nicaraguan Cross of Valor; the Korean Order of Military Merit TAIGUK; and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.



General Schilt died 8 January 1987, and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/schiltarch.htm
www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/usmcnic.html
http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Historical/Whos_Who/Schilt_CF.htm

[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]

What a man! But then he was a US Marine.

[snippy_about_it]

Time to hit the hay. Good night Sam.

[Neil E. Wright]

BUMP for an AMERICAN HERO!!!!

Lt Christian F. Schilt, USMC (later General Schilt)

SEMPER FI!!!!!! HAND SALUTE!!!!! CARRY ON!

Sam and Snippy .... thanks for this GREAT STORY!!!

±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty."
Toward FREEDOM

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

[snippy_about_it]

Good evening Neil.


You're welcome.

[SAMWolf]

Evening Neil.

Some people really live life to the fullest. General Schilt was one of those people.

[Neil E. Wright]

Hey Tonk, this story is worthy of a PING, doncha think? :)

±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty."
Toward FREEDOM

[Iris7]

The General was not only a Marine, a Marine Aviator, and a wearer of the Medal of Honor, but most especially he came up from the ranks and was a Mustang, as they call such men in the Naval Service.

I was talking to two old Marines a while back, they were handing out poppies. My wife was with me. The three of us started to talk the talk, clean of course, these men are gentlemen, and a lady was present.

Anyway, I brought up the fact that the Corps is Naval Infantry, a part of the Navy, and that is why the Corps is so good. Standard Swab line of attack, hey.

Got an immediate rejoinder to my "the Corps is part of the Navy" line - "Yeah, the MEN'S part." Heh, heh. Marines. The best infantry on the planet. Darned good combat fliers, too.

Speaking of Marine aviators who hold the Medal of Honor - how about a piece on Joe Foss? Good interviews -

http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_foss_wartime.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_foss.asp

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[Iris7]

Just looking at those Foss interviews again. Boy, you folks are in for a treat. Snip, you are going to love that guy. No lies in that man's heart.

Big fan of Merritt Edson, also. Another Guadalcanal Marine Medal of Honor. And "Manila John" Basilone, who did not want to stay back in the States doing war bond rallies but wanted to be with the guys. Killed on Iwo. Left a young wife, who was also a Marine. Wonder if she is still alive.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[alfa6]

Busy Sunday Morning Bump for the Freeper Foxhole

More Later

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on October 10:
1486 Charles III Duke of Savoy
1731 Henry Cavendish England, physicist/chemist (discovered hydrogen)
1738 Benjamin West painter (Death of General Wolfe)
1819 Zebulon York Brig general (Confederate Army), died in 1900
1825 Paulus Kruger Pres of South African Republic (1883), Boer leader
1829 Dandridge McRae Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1830 Isabella II Queen of Spain (1833-68)
1832 Theodore Shelton Bowers Bvt Brig General (Union Army), died in 1866
1834 Aleksis Kivi Finland, playwright (Kullervo, Seitsem„n Veljest„)
1861 Fridtjof Nansen Norweg Arctic explorer/humanitarian (Nobel 1922)
1900 Helen Hayes Wash DC, actress (Ceasar & Cleopatra, Happy Birthday)
1918 Thelonious Monk jazz pianist (Monk's Dream)
1924 James Clavell author (Tai Pan, Shogun) (or 1920)
1924 Edward D Wood Jr, Poughkeepsie NY, director (Plan 9 from Outer Space)
1926 Richard Jaeckel NY, actor (3:10 to Yuma, Sands of Iwo Jima, Gomer Pyle USMC)
1927 Dana Elcar Ferndale Mich, actor (Baretta, Baa Baa Black Sheep)
1930 Adlai Stevenson III (D-Sen-Ill)
1930 Harold Pinter England, playwright (Homecoming, Servant)
1941 Laurence Henry Tribe Shanghai China, Harvard Law professor
1946 John Prine Maywood Ill, country singer (Angel from Montgomery Sam Stone, In Spite of Ourselves)
1946 Ben Vereen Miami Fla, actor/dancer (Pippin, Roots, Webster)
1955 David Lee Roth rock singer (Van Halen-Jump)
1958 John M Grunsfeld Chicago Ill, PhD/astronaut
1958 Tanya Tucker Seminole Tx, country singer/actress (Follow that Car)
1959 Chris Lowe rocker (Pet Shop Boys-Left to My Own Devices)
1964 Maxi Gnauck German DR, uneven parallel bars (Olympic-gold-1980)

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Deaths which occurred on October 10:
0019 Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant of Rijnleger, dies at 33
0413 Nicias, Athens politician (Peace of Nicias), killed at about 57
0732 Abd ar-Rahman, Yemenite general strategist (Bordeaux occupier), dies in Battle of Tours
1659 Able J Tasmania, navigator/discovered (Tasmania, NZ), dies at about 56
1797 Carter Braxton US boer/signer (Decl of Independence), dies at 61
1864 David Bullock Harris US Confederate colonel, dies of yellow fever
1886 David L Yule 1st Jewish US senator, dies
1964 Eddie Cantor comedian (Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater), dies at 72
1976 Connee Boswell singer (Pete Kelly's Blue), dies at 68
1978 Ralph H Metcalfe (Rep-D-Ill), dies at 68
1980 Bill Thomas actor (Buckwheat), dies
1983 Sir Ralph Richardson actor, dies at 80
1985 Orson Welles actor (Citizen Kane), dies at 70
1985 Yul Brynner actor (King & I), dies of cancer at 70
1990 Dick Jorgensen NFL referee, dies at 56
1995 Paolo Gucci, entrepreneur/accessories designer, dies at 64

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 DODD JOE L.
[10/25/65 ESCAPED]
1966 CONFER MICHAEL STEELE---MC COOK NE.
[ACFT EXPLODE NO TRACE PILOT]
1968 HANDRAHAN EUGENE A.---ST PAUL MN.
1968 HERREID ROBERT D.---AURORA IL.
1969 MAXWELL CALVIN W.---EDDY NM.
1969 WEISNER FRANKLIN L.---FORT BENNING GA.
1970 GRAZIOSI FRANCIS G.---ROCHESTER NY.
1972 CLEARY PETER M.---COLCHESTER CT
1972 LEONOR LEONARDO C.---ASTORIA NY.

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

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On this day...
0019 Germanicus, the best loved of Roman princes, dies of poisoning. On his deathbed he accuses Piso, the governor of Syria, of poisoning him.
680 Battle at Kerbela: Kalief Yazid beats pretender al-Hussein
0732 End of Battle of Tours
1631 Saxon army occupies Prague
1780 Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in Caribbean
1802 1st non indian settlement in Oklahoma
1845 The Naval School (now called US Naval Academy) opens at Annapolis
1846 Neptune's moon Triton discovered by William Lassell
1857 American Chess Association formed (NYC)
1863 Skirmish at Blue Springs, Tennessee (166 casualties)
1865 John Hyatts patents the billiard ball
1868 Cuba revolts for independence against Spain
1868 Declaration of the plan of Yara in Cuba
1874 Fiji becomes a British possession
1886 1st dinner jacket worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY (the tuxedo)
1888 Teetotalers excursion train crushed, killing 64 (Mud Run Pa)
1908 Baseball Writers Association, formed
1911 The Panama Canal opens
1911 Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries overthrow Manchus (Taiwan Nat'l Day)
1913 Gamboa Dam in Panama blown up; Atlantic & Pacific waters mix
1914 German forces route Belgians in Antwerp Belgium (WW I)
1920 Phoenix Cardinals (then in Chicago) play 1st NFL game, a 0-0 tie
1920 Indian's Bill Wambsganns makes 1st unassisted world series triple play (World Series #17)
1920 Indian's Elmer Smith hits the 1st world series grand slam (World Series #17)
1921 NFL Decatur Staleys become Chicago Staleys, win 14-10
1924 Ibn Saud of Nedzjed captures Mecca
1924 Washington Senators win their 1st World Series beat Giants in 7 (World Series #21)
1932 "Betty & Bob" premiers on radio
1933 1st synthetic detergent for home use marketed
1935 George Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" opens on Broadway
1938 Germany completed annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland
1941 German U-boat torpedoes US destroyer Kearney
1943 Chiang Kai-shek takes oath of office as president of China
1957 Braves' Lew Burdette beats Yankees for 3rd time in 1 world series (World Series #54)
1957 Milwaukee Braves beat NY Yankees, 4 games to 3 in 53rd World Series
1957 Pres Eisenhower apologizes to finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Del, restaurant
1963 Treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests signed by US, UK, USSR
1970 Fiji gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1970 October Crisis, the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ), a militant separatist group, kidnaps Quebec labor minister Pierre Laporte (Laporte's body was found about a week later.)
1971 1st game played at Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium, Phils win 4-1
1973 VP Spiro T Agnew pleads no contest to tax evasion & resigns
1974 Canadian John Hathaway begins 2-yr ride of 50,600 miles
1974 Israel formally signs Sinai accord with Egypt
1975 Liz Taylor's 6th marriage (re-marries Richard Burton)
1976 NJ Meadowlands' Giant's Stadium opens
1976 Greece's 98 year-old Dimitrion Yordanidis, is oldest man to compete in a marathon; he finishes in 7:33
1978 Pres Carter signs a bill authorizing the Susan B Anthony dollar
1979 Panama assumes sovereignty over Canal Area (ie Canal Zone)
1980 4,500 die when a pair of earthquakes strikes NW Algeria
1980 Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope network dedicated
1980 Yanks lose 4-2 & are swept by Royals in the AL Championship series
1981 Anwar Sadat's funeral service is held in Cairo
1982 Pope John Paul II canonizes Rev M Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of another inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp, a saint
1983 Israel's Knesset votes 60-53 to endorse Yitzhak Shamir as PM
1985 US fighter jets force Egyptian plane carrying hijackers of Italian ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, gunmen are placed in custody
1986 7.5 Earthquake strikes San Salvador, El Salvador
1986 Israel Prime Minister Shimon Peres resigns
1987 Bruce Springsteen releases his 9th album "Tunnel of Love"
1990 US 67th manned space mission STS 41 (Discovery 11) returns from space
1991 Ex-postal worker Joseph Harris kills 4 postal workers
1991 Greyhound Bus ends bankruptcy
1994 Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, commander-in-chief of the Haitian armed forces, resigned to make way for the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
1996 President Clinton joined Vice President Al Gore in Knoxville, Tenn., where the president moved to broaden the sweep of the Internet at 100 universities, national labs and other federal institutions.
2002 Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was cited for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and his commitment to human rights and democratic values around the world.

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

Afghanistan : Deliverance Day
Cuba : Yara Day/Beginning of War of Independence (1868)
Finland : Aleksis Kivi Day (1834)
Japan : Health-Sports Day (1964)
Namibia, South Africa : Kruger Day (1825)
Oklahoma : Historical Day (1802)
South Dakota : Pioneers' Day
Taiwan : Double Tenth Day/National Day (1911)
Wash DC : Samuel Fraunces Day Memorial Day
Western Samoa : White Sunday (2nd Sunday) (Sunday)
National Chimney Sweep Week (Day 6)
Get Organized Week (Day 6)
Mental Illness Awareness Week (Day 6)
US : National Metric Day.
Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month
National Sarcastics' Awareness Month

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Religious Observances
RC : Commemoration of St Francis Borgia, confessor, Jesuit

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Religious History
1560 Birth of Jacob Arminius, the Dutch theologian from whose writings and doctrines Protestants opposed to Calvinism have since been called "Arminians."
1821 Charles Finney, 29, claimed to have received "a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost," and was converted to a Christian faith. Finney soon abandoned his pursuit of law and embarked on a 50-year career in evangelism and higher education.
1838 Birth of Theodore Zahn, German Lutheran Bible and patristics scholar. Author of many monographs and commentaries, Zahn's leading work was his 3-volume "Introduction to the New Testament" (1899; 1909).
1841 Birth of William A. Ogden, American sacred composer. A student of Lowell Mason, Ogden became a well-known music teacher, and penned the hymns "Bring Them In" and "He is Able to Deliver Thee."
1851 Birth of W. Robertson Nicoll, Scottish theologian. At one time editor of five periodicals, his most enduring achievement was "The Expositor's Greek Testament," a series of 50 volumes of commentaries he edited and published between 1888-1905.

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

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Thought for the day :
"You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.... We are not a nation, so much as a world."

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Gender Dictionary...
COMMITMENT (ko-mit-ment) n.

A. Female...A desire to get married and raise a family.

B. Male...Not trying to pick up other women while out with one's girl friend.

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Lesser Known Breeds of Dogs - Cross Breeds...
Collie + Malamute = Commute, a dog that travels to work

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The Ultimate Scientific Dictionary...
Pilot Plant:
A modest facility used for confirming design errors before they are built into a costly, full-scale production facility.

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Things you would like to say at work, but won't...
So you're a feminist. Isn't that cute.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

Joe Foss, good idea. :-) We'll look into it. Thanks for the links.

The best infantry on the planet.

AMEN

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

We did a thread a while back that covered a little about Joe Foss. (Can't remember which thread though, probably one covering Guadalcanal)

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

Fog's so thick I can't see the mailbox in front of the house.