The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Leo J. Ghirardi - Remagen Bridge (3/7/1945) - Nov. 12th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Ludendorff Bridge At Remagen

The many battles and lives lost during World War II are now a matter of record. Future generations can appreciate the fact that the freedom we now enjoy did not come without a price, the blood of our nation’s young heroes. After all of these years, many veterans have passed on. However, thanks to them, our country is one of the freest nations on earth.

I have now reached the age of 83. As the years passed, I have been fortunate enough to retain a sharp memory of my World War II experiences. Many films have attempted to give their account of what occurs in combat, and, sadly, most of the fictionalized accounts are very inaccurate.

This photo was taken on July 27, 1945, the wedding day of the author, Brother Leo J. Ghirardi, 32°, with Beatrice "Dolly" Saben, his British "blind date." Their wedding ring was bartered from a German prisoner of war for one cigarette

At the time of the Battle of the Bulge, December 16–26, 1944, I was for a short while in Paris. Having been in the Armed Forces since 1940, I felt the need to ask for front-line duty. At that time, I did not have a fear of dying in battle. However, when I arrived in Belgium during the worst blizzard in recent times, I had second thoughts. Of course, it was too late. I was now near the heat of battle, and it was time to do my part for my country.

When I arrive at Elsenborn Ridge, I was assigned to L Company 394th Infantry of the 99th Division. The first orders I had as a sergeant were to set up a defense out in the snow. I asked the commanding officer about the men who were to be assigned to my platoon, and he said, "Sergeant, you are the platoon."

Time passed, and we were walking across the Cologne Plains in Germany. Luck was with our unit because we were following up in the rear of one of our regiments that was fighting miles ahead of us. In the distance we could see the steeple of a church and what remained of the city of Cologne, Germany, on the Rhine River. Night was falling quickly as we turned to the east of the city, which followed the banks of the Rhine. To prove to our division commander that we had really reached the river, one of us filled a bottle of water from it and presented it to him.



Our regiment was in the area of Neivenheim-Gohr on March 7 when, unknown to us, the dramatic message came through from division: "Corps to G3-9th. Armed capture RR bridge at 6520. In good order and convertible. They have one and a half Bn of Infantry across the Rhine River."

We had no way of knowing about the captured bridge as we walked most of the night along the banks of the river. However, as we approached the bridge at Remagen, the Germans were firing their 88s over to our side of the river. I feel that it is only fitting to record here the words of a medic, T/5 James Johnson, who wrote an account of what happened: "The war is moving plenty fast and furious; my hands have been literally steeped in the blood from the wounded. It is pitiful to hear four or five wounded men screaming, ‘Medic! Medic! I’m bleeding to death!’ It is bad enough during the day, but at night a wounded soldier is terrified by the utter separation in the pitch blackness lit only by bursting shells (whether he be German or American). There may be a hell in another world, but this one is sure putting up some stiff competition. Compare ‘fire and brimstone’ with twisted steel and bodies, spattered chunks of brains and intestines, shambled buildings, the screams of shells and the cracks of bullets, the stench of death, the earnest soul-searching prayer of the dying. The longer this war lasts the greater toll and hole this living hell will be cut into humanity."



I wasn’t alone when I felt the fear of death as those 88s kept coming in so near to my platoon. I will never forget jumping into a ditch of water and soft mud in an attempt to get away from them. There I was, covered with mud from head to foot. That I could live with. But when I discovered my M1 rifle filled with mud, I knew I had to find a clean one and fast. I got one from a Jeep driver as we crossed the river. I was still afraid that I would not be able to hit a target with it because I had never zeroed this rifle in.

After that eventful dip in the ditch, we soon were approaching the embankment that led to the rail line. Believe it or not, I thought we would make a mad dash across the bridge, but our company commander gave orders for us to walk across and to be sure to keep our distance. Try to imagine having a migraine headache all day and then finding you have to cross a bridge like this under heavy fire. To relieve my backpack, I dumped most of my equipment except for some ammo, hand grenades, and rifle.

Those truly brave men who tried to keep the bridge in one piece deserve the credit for getting us over to the other side of the river on March 7, 1945. I have often wondered how many of those boys lived to tell their story. From what I remember of the heavy fire as we crossed the river, I doubt that many of those young men survived.



As we approached the other side of the river, we saw the train tunnel which gave us courage to continue on. We thought we could take cover in the tunnel, but instead we turned eastward and walked along the river to find a city that was on fire.

After we crossed the river, we advanced and took more German prisoners. From our vantage point, we could see P38 fighters chasing the German planes away from the bridge. We watched the Ludendorff Bridge as it collapsed on March 17th and saw its crumpled remains in the Rhine River.

The medic James Johnson lived what he wrote. He was at Remagen as the enemy peppered it with high explosives as the 394th walked across. Shells came at the rate of one every 30 seconds that night. The 394th Regiment was one of the first units to cross the Rhine River, and they are an example of the individual heroism of men risking their lives to keep traffic flowing across the bridge as they treated and evacuated casualties and rallied the shell-shocked soldiers.



I hope that this essay will be kept as a record for future generations. I have heard and read about how brave soldiers are in combat, but, honestly, I was scared as never before or since, and being only human, I was afraid to die on a foreign battlefield.

I am writing this account of the crossing of the Remagen Bridge while my mind is still clear. Age is taking its toll on me. I am now almost 84 years old. I crossed the bridge when I was 29.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

.......
The Remagen Bridgehead Battle

In early March, the 394th bypassed Koln and fought battles at Bergheim, Elsdorf, and Fortuna in the Erft Canal area. They were northwest of Koln when ordered to turn immediately south towards the city of Remagen. Both German and Allied forces had already bombed many of the bridges that crossed the Rhine but amazingly, the railroad bridge at Remagen still stood. Upon hearing this, American forces raced to cross this bridge that would take them deep into enemy territory. Meanwhile, the Germans were desperate to blow the bridge and prevent the American penetration.



Built in 1916, Remagen's railroad bridge rested on four fortress-like towers black with grime. The overall length was 1,069 feet. A year before the start of WWII, the Germans had installed an elaborate demolition scheme to blow up the bridge in the face of an enemy attack. Now, as German troops crossed the bridge, they warned of the Americans coming behind them. Although Hitler gave prior orders to destroy any bridge threatened by the enemy, he was fanatically against destroying a bridge prematurely; therefore, precious time was lost in deciding when to blow up the bridge.

Finally, Germans received the order from Major Hans Scheller, staff officer of the German Army Corps, and raced to set off the explosion. Much to their surprise, nothing happened. The activation key was turned again and again and still no response. A repair team moved onto the bridge under intense machine gun, tank fire, and phosphorus smoke screens that burned the eyes and skin. Unable to complete the repair job, a German volunteer dashed to the bridge and ignited the primer cord by hand. At last, a sudden roar ripped through the air and timbers flew wildly in every direction. Yet, when the smoke cleared, the bridge still stood!

Despite the fact that the bridge was structurally damaged, under constant heavy artillery fire, pitted with huge holes, and littered with dead bodies, the allied troops poured across.


The Race to the Rhine



According to a diary written by a K Company soldier and given to Captain Simmons, K Company reached the outskirts of Koln but bypassed it and continued to Elsdorf, where "villages were wrecked and fires were still burning." K Company moved on to Garsdorf and to Anstel and then to Gohn (northwest of Koln). Suddenly, they were ordered to turn south to the city of Remagen. They began a dead-heat race with the Germans to reach the Rhine River and cross the bridge at Remagen. The soldiers had to discard much equipment, including their blankets, to lessen the load. It was still uncomfortably cold in early March. Pine branches were cut down and used for blankets during the one hour of sleep each man received while his buddy stood watch. Two or three times per night the troops stopped to "dig in" and then were told to "move out." The partially-dug, unused fox holes were left behind as they continued the relentless drive to the Rhine. The lack of food, shelter, and sleep became the enemy. Troops searched abandoned farm houses for food and usually turned up nothing. To find a piece of German black bread or home-canned cherries was nirvana--the gift of life itself. At one point, Pvt. Arlinghaus gagged while eating a jar of fat drippings just to keep from starving.


Crossing the Bridge



On March 10, 1945, they arrived in the town of Remagen--the Germans were waiting for them. A deafening Boom! Boom! sounded about 250 feet down the main road. Artillery guns had opened up in a "traverse and search" military operation. The shells were exploding at precise intervals killing the troops with deadly precision. Because of his sergeant's training in Heavy Weapons at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, Arlinghaus knew the shells hit every ten seconds; this was the time it took to reload the artillery and change its trajectory (position). His platoon, with just four or five months of infantry training, was not so lucky; Arlinghaus yelled to his buddies to "hit the ditch" but many were dead before they knew what happened. The only way to outwit the gunners was to dive into a ditch right before a shell exploded, break into a run while counting to eight, and dive again before the next shell exploded two seconds later.

Everything was in chaos. Men screamed and writhed in agony as they watched their blood stream onto the road. Arlinghaus gave them "wound pills" but felt helpless to do more. He picked up a soldier who had half his buttock blown off, carried him up an incline to a brick house and into the cellar for protection. He put the soldier down in a cleaned-out coal bin and looked around for something to lay him on. There was nothing. He lit a candle and bandaged the man who didn't even whimper (probably in shock, he thought). As he turned to go, the soldier pleaded with him to stay. Arlinghaus felt like hell leaving him there but knew his duty was to continue fighting with the troops. He placed the man's rifle, topped with his helmet, at the door to alert the medics. (The rifle topped with a helmet is the army's pre-arranged signal that a wounded man is nearby). As he walked out the front door, he could see his thinned out Company running towards the bridge; behind them was a scene far worse than any depicted in Dante's Inferno. A line from the Charge of the Light Brigade echoed in his head: "through the valley of death rode the six hundred...." As he ran to catch up, he knew he would meet the mutilated man in his nightmares and wonder if he survived.



When Company K crossed the Remagen railroad bridge, the night was so black that it seemed the earth ceased to exist. The blinding flash and deafening scream of artillery every thirty seconds reminded the men that they remained in hell. The soldiers were taut with fear, expecting the bridge to collapse. Men who were not shot, worried about falling through the jeep-sized holes. Some sources say that at many places the holes in the bridge stretched all the way across, while some were located between the railroad tracks and between the tracks and the steel girders. Arlinghaus was terrified because he could not swim. He kept his eyes on a white track and dutifully followed it, although he did not know why it was there. Later, he thought the white tape may have been put down for tanks to follow. He did not know how long it took to cross the bridge. Many thought it took a lifetime.

[snippy_about_it]

............

A task force of the 9th Armored Division reached the Rhine River on March 7, 1945, and found the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen still standing. Although the bridge was expected to be blown up by its German defenders at any moment, U.S. infantrymen and engineers stormed across the bridge and captured it intact, the only Rhine bridge to be captured. The Americans immediately exploited this unexpected success and built up their forces on the east bank of the Rhine.



First to join the 9th Armored Division in the ever-expanding bridgehead was the 78th Infantry Division (Organized Reserve). On March 10, the 99th Infantry Division (Organized Reserve) began crossing the Rhine at Remagen. Despite stubborn enemy resistance, these and later forces continued to expand the bridgehead. The capture of the Remagen Bridge was a major blow to the Germans, who expected to make the Rhine their final major defense line on the western front. Two months after the capture of the bridge, the war in Europe would be over.

Additional Sources:

www.brooksart.com
home.earthlink.net/~klavir/WWII
www.schweinfurt.army.mil
www2.gasou.edu
www.army.mil

[snippy_about_it]

'It would be nice to get that bridge too while we’re at it.'

-- Brig. Gen. William M. Hoge
to Lt. Col. Leonard Engeman

'To hell with the planners, Sure, go on; Brad, and I’ll give you everything we’ve got to hold that bridgehead.'

-- General Dwight Eisenhower
to Gen. Omar Bradley

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



It's Friday. Good Morning Everyone.


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If you'd like to drop us a note you can write to:

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[snippy_about_it]

Here are the recommended holiday mailing dates for military mail this year:

For military mail addressed TO APO and FPO addresses, the mailing dates are:

• Parcel Post - November 13
• Space Available - November 27
• Parcel Airlift - December 4
• Priority Mail, First Class cards and letters - Mailing date is December 11 to all locations
  • EXCEPT for locations starting with ZIP 093. For all locations starting with ZIP 093 the mailing date is December 6.
• Express Mail - December 20 to locations where Express Mail service is available. Check with your local post office to determine which APO/FPO addresses can receive Express Mail. Note: This service is not available to ships.

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For military mail FROM APO and FPO addresses, the mailing dates are:

• Space Available - November 20
• Parcel Airlift - December 4
• Priority Mail, First Class cards and letters - December 11
• Express Mail - December 18 from APO/FPO addresses where Express Mail can be accepted. Check with your local military post office to determine if they can accept Express Mail. Note: This service is not available from ships.

Thanks for the information StayAt HomeMother

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

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

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

[alfa6]

Night Shift Bump for the Freeper Foxhole

Hi manna

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

I'm gonna go crash for the night. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

Hi alfa6.

You're getting too fast for me. :-)

[alfa6]

Lt. Timmerman and Sgt Drabick are still remembered, no?

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[SAMWolf]

I remember Lt. Phil Hartman and Sgt. Angelo. ;-)

[snippy_about_it]

Good night alfa6.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Good night Sam.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

[ken5050]

The 1969 movie was excellent..great footage..blended combat photography seamlessly with the film...but the three main cast members really stunk..usual Hollyword drivel....George Segal as the wise-guy platoon leader..Bradford Dillman as the southern officer..with a terrible phoney drawl, who was eager to sacrifice his troops for personal glory..("get me that brige, and I promise you a unit citation!"..and the worst..Robert Vaugn..as the Nazi...trying to escape type-casting as the Man from UNCLE..

[Iris7]

Morning, Miss Snippy.

The first piece, the old soldier and fighting man, said "Many films have attempted to give their account of what occurs in combat, and, sadly, most of the fictionalized accounts are very inaccurate." Well, the elderly soldier was raised in a more polite era than I. Remove "most of". All movies, without exception, do battle ridiculously, absurdly, badly.

I was talking to another Viet Nam guy about making a true to life combat movie. This was more than thirty years ago. This fellow had a battlefield commission, Silver Star, promoted to Captain before separation. He said, about making a true to life combat movie, "You know that it can't be done."

I realized that, indeed, I did know. He was right. It can't be done. There can be no fear, no pressure. You would have to give the audience a little toasting with a flame thrower or something to make the movie experience anything at all like the real thing. The movie would never sell.

[The Mayor]

November 12, 2004

Gloom Index

Read: Acts 16:16-31

At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. —Acts 16:25

Bible In One Year: Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

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Gray skies, blue mood. It's common enough to produce what some have called the "gloom index." That's a way of describing the amount of cloudy weather a region can expect during a winter season.

A related idea is called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The theory is that weather-sensitive people experience a certain amount of cloud-induced melancholy.

Other factors might be figured into a gloom index. Think about what Paul and Silas endured (Acts 16). Any one of their troubles was enough to ruin the sunniest day. Imagine the irritations of dealing with greedy profiteers who had turned a demon-possessed girl into a sideshow (vv.16-17). Think about the pain of confronting an angry mob and furious judges (v.22), of receiving a whipping and imprisonment (v.23), and of having your feet locked in stocks (v.24).

But Paul and Silas rose above it (v.25). How did they do that? They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they had a sense of mission. They were motivated by a desire to obey God and spread the message of Christ.

Like them, we can rise above the mood swings prompted by our circumstances. By being strong in the Spirit, we can overcome the gloom index. —Mart De Haan

God often sends me joy through pain,
Through bitter loss, divinest gain;
Yet through it all—dark days or bright—
I know my Father leads aright. —Conklin

God's Son can brighten our darkest days.

[manna]

Present!

[U S Army EOD]

Check out the vidio store and see if you can find, "To End All Wars", and "The Cruel Sea". They came pretty close.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on November 12:
1790 Letitia Christian Tyler 1st wife of President Tyler
1815 Elizabeth Cady Stanton Johnstown NY, suffragist (80 Years & More)
1817 Bahá'u'lláh (Mirza Husayn Ali) founded Bahá'ís faith
1833 Aleksandr Borodin Russia, composer (Robert LeDiable)
1840 Auguste Rodin France, sculptor (Kiss, Thinker)
1841 Lord Rayleigh England, physicist/chancellor of Cambridge (1908-14)
1866 Sun Yat-sen father of modern China (ROC & PRC) (traditional)
1889 DeWitt Wallace St Paul MN, publisher, founded Readers Digest (1921)
1903 Jack Oakie Sedalia MO, actor (Great Dictator, 1974 Photoplay Award)
1908 Harry A Blackmun Illinois, Supreme Court justice (70-94)
1912 Alphonse [Tuffy] Leemans NFL fullback (NY Giants)
1914 Roberto Cavanagh Argentina, polo (Olympic-gold-1936)
1918 Jo Stafford Coalinga CA, singer (I'll Never Smile Again)
1920 Richard Quine Detroit, actor (Clay Pigeon)
1922 Kim Hunter Detroit MI, actress (Bell, Book and Candle)
1929 Grace Kelly Phil, Monaco princess/actress (Philadelphia Story, Rear Window)
1934 Charles Manson [No Name Maddox], Cincinnati OH, criminal (Tate-Labianco)
1935 Jerry Douglas actor (John-Young & Restless)
1937 Richard H Truly Fayette Miss, Rear Adm USN/astro (STS T-2, T-4, 2, 8)
1943 Brian Hyland Queens NY, rocker (She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini)
1945 Al Michaels Brooklyn, sportscaster (ABC Monday Night Baseball/Football)
1945 Neil Young Canada, singer/songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1961 Nadia Comaneci Onesti Romania, gymnast (Oly-gold-1976, 80)
1975 Angela Watson actress (Karen Foster-Step by Step)
1989 Paul Jessup actor (Mikie-Baby Talk)
1989 Ryan Jessup actor (Mikie-Baby Talk)

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Deaths which occurred on November 12:
1035 Canute "The Great" King of the Danes (1016-1035), dies at 41
1558 Rabbi Shalom Shakna ben Joseph founder of 1st Polish Yeshiva, dies
1600 John Craig, Scottish church reformer/James VI's court vicar, dies
1777 Rev. Benjamin Russen hanged at Tyburn, England for rape
1889 Robert Browning, English poet (Ring & Book), dies at 77
1939 Douglas Fairbanks, actor (Zorro, 3 Musketeers, Robin Hood), dies at 56
1941 Abe "Kid Twist" Reles NY gangster/police-informant, dies
1962 Sid Tomack actor (Jim Gillis-Life of Riley, My Friend Irma)
1987 Roger Lewis aviation exec (Lockheed, C Wright, Pan Am), dies at 75
1990 Eve Arden actress (Our Miss Brooks), dies at 82
1971 David Sarnoff, US TV pioneer (RCA), dies at 80
1990 Dave Willock actor (Queen of Outer Space), dies at 81
2000 Actor George Montgomery died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 84.

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 HUNTING PETER M
[REMAINS RETURNED 11/13/65]
1966 FROSIO ROBERT CLARENCE---WARRINGTON FL.
1966 JONES JAMES GRADY---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1967 CAYCE JOHN D.---SAN ANTONIO TX.
1967 ROARK JAMES D.---ABINGDON VA
1969 BODAHL JON KEITH---BOISE ID.
1969 DENNANY JAMES E.---MATTAWAN MI.
1969 HELMICH GERALD ROBERT---MANCHESTER NH.
1969 SMITH HARRY WINFIELD---BATON ROUGE LA.
1969 TUCCI ROBERT L.---DETROIT MI.

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

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On this day...
0324 -BC- Origin of Era of Alexander
0607 Boniface III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1098 1st Crusaders capture and plunder Mara, Syria
1428 Siege of Orléans Begins The siege of Orléans lasted until Joan of Arc persuaded King Charles VII of France to send an army to relieve the city in April.
1474 Isabella crowns herself queen of Castilia & Aragon
1492 A sailor on board the Pinta sighted land early in the morning, and a new era of European exploration and expansion began.
1533 Juan Diego said he saw the Virgin Mary on a hill near Mexico City; Our Lady of Guadalupe became the patron saint of all Latin America by 1910.
1775 General Washington forbids recruiting officers enlisting blacks
1792 In Vienna, Ludwig Van Beethoven (22) receives 1st lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn
1800 Washington DC established as capital of US
1859 Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris). He also designed the garment that bears his name
1864 William Tecumseh Sherman's Federal troops burn the City of Atlanta, Georgia
1873 Bay District Race Track opens
1892 Pudge Heffelfinger receives $500, becomes 1st pro football player
1892 Allegheny Athletic Association beats Pittsburgh Athletic Club, 4-0 in football
1910 1st Movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river from a burning balloon
1915 Britain annexes Gilbert & Ellice Islands
1917 Father Edward J. Flanagan, a thirty-one-year-old Irish priest, founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb A home for troubled and neglected children, and a half-dozen boys enter to seek a better life.
1918 Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary abdicates, Austria becomes a republic
1919 Ross & Smith start a 1 month flight from London to Australia
1920 Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis elected 1st baseball commissioner
1921 Washington Conference for Limitation of Armaments
1927 Notre Dame's Fighting Irish changes blue jerseys for green
1925 Arthur Heinman coins term "motel," opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo, CA
1927 Trotsky expelled from Soviet CP; Stalin becomes undisputed dictator
1928 British steamer "Vestris" capsizes & sinks off Virginia, kills 110
1931 NHL's Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto, Leafs beat Black Hawks 2-1
1933 1st known photo of Loch Ness monster (or whatever) is taken
1933 1st Sunday football game in Philadelphia (previously illegal)
1936 1st TV Gardening show
1936 Oakland Bay Bridge opens
1938 Hermann Goering announces he wants Madagascar as a Jewish homeland
1939 Jews of Lodz Poland are ordered to wear yellow armbands
1941 Germany's drive to take Moscow halted
1941 WOV-AM & WNEW-AM in New York City swap call letters
1944 German battleship "Tirpitz" sunk off Norway
1946 1st driv-up bank window established (Chicago)
1946 Walt Disney's "Song Of The South" released
1948 Japanese premier Hideki Tojo sentenced to death by war crimes tribunal
1950 Gene Roberts sets NFL NY Giant rushing record (218 yards) vs Chicago Cards
1953 US district Judge Grim, rules NFL can black out TV home games
1954 Ellis Island, immigration station in NY Harbor, closed
1955 Date returned to in "Back to the Future" & "Back to the Future II"
1955 E Arcaro, E Sande & G Woolf 1st inductees in Jockey hall of fame
1956 Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, 1st sighted
1960 Mercury-Redstone 1 test launch fails at 10 cm altitude
1964 Paula Murphy sets female land speed record 226.37 MPH
1965 Venera 2 launched by Soviet Union toward Venus
1966 Dick The Bruiser beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champ
1966 High schooler Robert Smith kills 7 for fame
1970 Cleveland Cavaliers 1st NBA victory (11th game), beating Portland 105-103
1975 Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas retired after 36 years
1977 New Orleans elects 1st black mayor, Ernest (Dutch) Morial
1979 US halts Iranian oil imports & freezes Iranian assets
1980 NYC Mayor Ed Koch admits to trying marijuana
1980 US space probe Voyager I approaches 77,000-mi (124,000 km) of Saturn
1981 1st balloon crossing of the Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V)
1981 2nd shuttle mission-1st time spacecraft launched twice (Columbia 2)
1981 Billy Martin named AL Manager of the Year (Oakland A's)
1982 Yuri V Andropov succeeds Leonid Brezhnev as Soviet leader
1983 4 die in a train crash in Marshall Texas
1984 Space shuttle astronauts snared a satellite 1st space salvage
1985 STS 61-B vehicle moves to the launch pad
1987 Heavy snow closes schools from DC to Maine
1988 Japan beats MLB All-Star team 5-4 in Tokyo (Game 6 of 7)
1989 Brazil holds 1st free presidential election in 29 years
1991 "Full House" 100th episode-The twins are born
1997 Ramzi Ahmed and Eyad Ismoil, were convicted of involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
2000 A divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision for recounts in Florida's contested election, effectively transforming George W. Bush into the president-elect. (The high court agreed, 7-to-2, to reverse the Florida court's order of a state recount and voted 5-to-4 that there was no acceptable procedure by which a timely new recount could take place.)
2002 A new tape surfaced from terrorist "mastermind" Osama bin Laden in which he warned U.S. allies to be ready for the consequences of supporting Washington against his al-Qaida network (yadda yadda yadda)

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

Austria : Republic Day (1918)
Bermuda : Rememberance Day
Saudi Arabia : Coronation Day
Taiwan : Sun Yat Sen's Birthday (1866)
Women's Organizations : Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day (1815)
West Germany : Repentance Day
US : Operating Room Nurse Week (Day 4)
Aviation History Month

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Religious Observances
Old RC : Commemoration of Martin I, pope (649-55)
RC : Memorial of St Josaphat Kuncevyc, bishop/martyr
Ang : Commemoration of Charles Simeon, priest

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Religious History
1556 Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter: 'I can neither teach nor live by the faith of others. I must live by my own faith as the Spirit of the Lord has taught me through His Word.'
1701 The Carolina Assembly passed a Vestry Act making the Church of England the official religion of the Carolina Colony. (Strong opposition by Quakers and other resident Nonconformists forced the colony's proprietors to revoke their legislation two years later.)
1818 Birth of Henri F. Hemy, English church organist. Of his several original compositions, best known is the tune ST. CATHERINE, to which we commonly sing the hymn, "Faith of Our Fathers."
1899 American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, 62, began his last evangelistic campaign in Kansas City, Missouri. Becoming ill during the last service, Moody was unable to complete his message, and died a few days later, on Dec 22.
1954 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'Loyalty to organizations and movements has always tended over time to take the place of loyalty to the person of Christ.'

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

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Thought for the day :
"Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river."

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Office Inspirational Sayings...
If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos...then you probably haven't completely understood the seriousness of the situation.

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Things I learned from children...
If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is
not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing pound
puppy underwear and a superman cape.

It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four
walls of a 20 by 20-foot room.

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Signs You Need Anger-Management Counseling
You cold-cocked Grandma when she burned the French toast.

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Historical Spam Subject Lines...
Can't start smoking? We can help!