The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Long Binh Jail - 'Camp LBJ'- (1966-1973) - Dec 2nd, 2004

Vietnam Magazine | December 2004 | Joe Kolb

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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

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

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Vietnam's Notorious 'Camp LBJ'

The notorious U.S. Army Vietnam Installation Stockade was known to GIs as the Long Binh Jail--or simply Camp LBJ.

Private First Class Thomas McKeon's first day in Vietnam was nothing like what he expected. He was assigned to Company A, 720th MP Battalion, 18th MP Brigade, at Long Binh. Reaching his hooch on the sprawling military compound, the moment he hit his cot he was told to report to the unit armory. Equipped with a flak jacket, a fully loaded M-14 with unsheathed bayonet, tear gas grenades and gas mask, McKeon was soon on his way across the base to the notorious Long Binh Jail to quell an uprising by American prisoners.

LBJ - The Long Binh Jail, Long Binh, Vietnam.
This stockade achieved some notoriety during the war for not treating it's inhabitants very well!

The U.S. Army Vietnam Installation Stockade (USARVIS) at Long Binh was the primary incarceration center in Vietnam. Designed to house the Army's malcontents and criminals, the Long Binh Jail suddenly erupted on August 29, 1968. Despite the magnitude of the riot, history has paid little attention to the incident.

The Long Binh Jail was established in summer 1966, when the stockade was moved from its original location at Pershing Field, the sports field by Tan Son Nhut Air Base, where the prisoner capacity had been about 140. As the U.S. military buildup continued, so did the growing demand for confinement space for American soldiers who went awry of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Those men either served their terms at the Long Binh Jail or were sent to the U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

By mid-1967 the entire U.S. Army, Vietnam, command had become centralized in Long Binh as part of Operation Moose. This massive logistical undertaking made Long Binh the largest military installation in the world, with 50,000 troops on base. Long Binh was a major objective of the VC during the 1968 Tet Offensive.



The stockade quickly acquired the dubious nickname of "Camp LBJ," a contemptuous reference to President Lyndon Baines Johnson. It was not long before Camp LBJ became a reflection of American society 12,000 miles away. Voluntary social segregation became the norm. Black and Hispanic inmates stayed together, as did the whites. The environment was dangerous and frustrating for inmates and guards alike, with morale a daily challenge for both groups. The guards, many of whom initially had little corrections training, were faced with the daunting daily task of controlling a restive population. According to one Judge Advocate General Corps officer who conducted investigations into allegations made by inmates, there were few incidents of overt brutality. Often, what appeared to be brutality was a lifesaving response of a guard or the physical restraint or movement of a belligerent inmate.

Under the overall command of the 18th MP Brigade, the direct supervision of LBJ fell to the 557th MP Company, 95th MP Battalion. The compound had gone through four confinement officers (wardens) by the time Lt. Col. Vernon D. Johnson took command on July 5, 1968. Johnson had an academic bent and tried to be sympathetic to the needs of the inmates, almost at the risk of eroding guard authority and credibility.

Inmates spent their days in tedious work details and mundane recreation. For those not inclined to follow the rules, there was always "Silver City," the maximum confinement area made up of converted Conex shipping containers, where temperatures could exceed 110 degrees. Some inmates considered this a form of torture, and Silver City dramatically contributed to LBJ's reputation as the worst place to be in Vietnam.



For most of the inmates interned in the nearly eight-acre compound, the racial tension was made worse by overcrowding. Designed to hold 400, the facilities housed 719 by mid-1968 and had not been expanded to accommodate the population surge. Each prisoner had originally been allocated 70 square feet of living space, which soon dwindled to 36.5 square feet.

Blacks, who represented nearly 90 percent of LBJ's inmate population, demonstrated their defiant identity with "Black Power" signs and intricate hand gestures. All the while the predominantly white guards had to come to grips with the environment of rising black identity that was surging through the rest of American society.

LBJ had been a problem virtually since its establishment. Thanks to a public relations campaign during the war, most of what went on at LBJ remained essentially quiet, despite previous inmate uprisings in 1966 and 1967. But by August 1968, the embers of the flames from the American cities that had burned the previous two summers, exacerbated by the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., finally ignited the smoldering environment at the Long Binh Jail. Racial tensions, combined with allegations of rampant drug use, were the primary causes of the uprising. Accusations of abuse and neglect, combined with overcrowding, frustration and drugs, served as the catalysts.

[SAMWolf]

The new policy of strip-searching inmates in an effort to stem the proliferation of drugs at LBJ was perceived by the inmates as the ultimate act of degradation. On the night of August 29, 1968, the lid blew. For months the inmates had planned a prison break, but instead they switched to staging an overt act of aggression.


On the road between Bien Hoa and Saigon, the Long Binh Jail, or "LBJ" as we called it, was a prominent landmark. The LBJ was the military prison for U.S. personnel in need of behavioral modification therapy.

A group of black inmates became high on drugs, mostly marijuana and the popular quaalude Binoctal. The drugs allegedly were provided by one or two of the guards. At 2345 hours, once the inmates were comfortably stoned, they approached the administration area and attacked the fence guard. From there, total chaos erupted. The frenzied inmates began to set tents, mattresses and trash on fire. The mess hall, supply building, latrine, barber shop and administration and finance buildings followed.

Guards and many of the inmates were caught by surprise. When they realized what was happening, many other prisoners joined in the riot. A group of 200 began systematically destroying the camp, while beating white inmates and guards with any impromptu weapon they could get their hands on, including wood planks and bars from dismantled beds.

Only four verified escapes were made during the confusing early stages of the uprising. Despite the wholesale violence, the only fatality was Private Edward Haskett of St. Petersburg, Fla., who was beaten to death with a shovel.

Around midnight, Colonel Johnson and Lieutenant Ernest B. Talps entered the compound in an attempt to calm the rioters. While he was addressing the mob, Johnson was viciously attacked, sustaining severe head wounds before he and Talps escaped.

284th MP Co. of the 18th Bde.

By that time the prison guards were shoring up perimeter security, with fire-trucks standing by. A significant number of both black and white inmates opted not to join in the riot. Within 30 minutes, they were escorted to a secured field adjoining the prison where they waited out the night under close guard.

It was on the next day that Pfc McKeon was told to muster with the reaction force from the 720th MPs. Under the command of Lt. Col. Baxter M. Bullock, the force walked in formation across the Long Binh base to the stockade front gate where it assembled in a V formation. According to McKeon, "Every time the front gate opened, we formed a barrier to follow whatever vehicle went in."

By August 31 the mood had swung from one of racial discord to one of revolt against the Army. Black and white inmates began to throw rocks and debris at the 720th MPs, who by then had established an outer perimeter. Tom Watson, who was among the reaction force MPs standing 12-hour shifts by the front gate, recalled that there was a "strong pungent smell of burning debris from the fires and a thin layer of smoke that held close to the ground because of the humid night air."

Once the perimeter guard was established, the waiting game began. Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Murdock had assumed command from the injured Johnson by the end of August 30. Personally selected by USARV deputy commander Lt. Gen. Frank T. Mildren, Murdock took the conservative approach of waiting out the inmates. Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Trop, another seasoned MP officer, assisted Murdock. The patient approach they had adopted undoubtedly saved many lives.

Contraband inspection

"Throughout the entire [12-hour] shift [the prisoners] constantly cursed at us and attempted to bait us into approaching the fence," Watson recalled. "If you happened to venture too close they would try to spit or piss on us."

During the evening of August 31, several truckloads of blankets, cots and food were brought in for the prisoners. "We had to form a skirmish line at bayonet point so the gates could be opened to get the trucks inside, unloaded and removed," said Watson. "It was a very strange feeling having a bayonet-tipped and loaded rifle pointed at another American, knowing you might have to kill him if he rushed you. I'm grateful it didn't come to that."

Once the gates were closed, some of the prisoners set fire to the new supplies. The situation then remained at a standoff for about a week, during which time the number of holdouts dwindled to 13. The steady attrition was precipitated by Trop's announcement that anyone who didn't give up would be charged additionally with attempted escape. Trop knew that the inmates did not want any more time added to their sentences.

The remaining stalwarts finally succumbed to boredom and isolation and merely gave up. The uprising had left 63 MPs and 52 inmates injured; Haskett was the only fatality. Following the incident, 129 courts-martial were levied against the insurrectionists for charges including murder, assault on a superior officer, aggravated assault, mutiny, aggravated arson, larceny and willful destruction of government property.

The irony of the LBJ riot is the sparse coverage the event received in the American media, despite the fact that the Army gave the story to many members of the press. The Army's reports highlighted the fact that the riot was racially motivated and was patiently quelled. Unlike other incidents during the war, the 1968 riot at LBJ was a public relations tactical victory for the military.

Until the eventual turning over of the Long Binh base to the South Vietnamese in February 1973, conditions at LBJ improved. There were a few more minor skirmishes between inmates and guards, but nothing comparable to August 1968.

[SAMWolf]

LBJ DID NOT EXIST!
RACE RIOT: THE FORGOTTEN WAR IN VIETNAM
John W. Williams

Introduction

Race relations in the U.S. military received high visibility in 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. General Colin Powell, a black of Jamaican parents, served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the most powerful American in uniform. Powell first saw combat as a young officer in the Vietnam war. That war witnessed growing tension between races, sometimes breaking out in overt violence. Riots between black and white soldiers and airmen temporarily closed Travis Air Force Base, the central transit point for troops heading to the war zone, in May 1971. A riot between black and white sailors incapacitated the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk in October 1972, which had to leave its battle station off the Vietnamese coast. Except for rare instances such as these, the racial tensions of the war received little public or media attention.

In her paper "Black Men With Guns," Katherine Kinney referred to an August 1968 uprising by American soldiers imprisoned in the military stockade at Long Binh, some 18 miles outside of Saigon. She noted how, in spite of the fact that "just 18 miles away was the largest concentration of reporters in the world," the story was barely covered by the American media.

On August 30, 1968, the American prisoners in the Long Binh military stockade or jail (hence the reference to "LBJ") rioted. Initial public reports listed one inmate killed, 58 inmates and five military policemen injured before the military police used tear gas to quell the disturbance. Although the prisoners were predominantly black, the single death was of a white inmate. The following day, in a report calling the riot a "rampage," the number of injured inmates was lowered to 24. Following a quick Army investigation, the U.S. command announced that racial tensions caused the riot. The command also claimed that most of the inmate injuries were caused by inmates fighting among themselves. Nearly a month later, 12 black inmates were still holding out in a section of the stockade. Eventually six of the black inmates accused of starting the riot were charged with the murder or conspiracy to commit the murder of the white inmate.

Earlier in August, American prisoners in the Marine Corps brig at Danang rioted and set fire to cell blocks. Seven inmates and one guard were reported injured. Although at first reported to be under control, new rioting erupted in the brig and the military police used tear gas to quell the riot. Two months later, in response to a weekend of incidents "with racial overtones" and tension between blacks and whites, the U.S. Navy imposed restriction on movement in the Danang region.

It has become generally accepted that reality is what is reported by the news organizations. Reality, therefore, is much like the parable of the tree falling in the forest. If there was no one around to hear it, did it make a sound? Likewise, if the falling tree was not reported by the media, did it really fall? More importantly, do we remember that it fell?

The riot at LBJ raises questions about mediated reality and mediated memory. Was the riot reported? If not, it may have lost its reality. If reported, was the riot remembered? If not, its reality may have been lost.

Research Question and Methodology

The questions driving this study are simple. Was the riot at the Long Binh jail covered by the American media? If so, how was it covered? The first hypothesis, as suggested by Kinney, is that the riot was not reported. Further, was the riot recorded in the history of the war? If so, how was it remembered? The second hypothesis, as a result of its not being reported, is that the riot has not been remembered. These two hypotheses are conceptualized as 1) facts about the riot being recorded in the media concurrent with the event, and 2) facts about the riot being recorded in the histories of the war available today.

The predominant news media of the late Sixties included the nightly news broadcasts of the three television networks, a number of the leading daily newspapers (including The New York Times) and several wide-circulation weekly news magazines (including Newsweek and Time). This collection of media has come to be known as the prestige press.

The immediate coverage of the riot at Long Binh Jail was determined by a content analysis of the official indexes of four leading newspapers; seven periodical indexes including the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and the Public Affairs Information Service for popular and general circulation magazines; and the Television News Index and Abstracts of the Vanderbilt Television News Archives.

Three American newspapers and one British newspaper were selected for this study -- The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor and The Times (of London). The three American newspapers are widely recognized as part of the prestige press and are considered to be "national" newspapers. The papers were chosen because each has a large circulation, each is regarded for its high quality, and they reflect geographic diversity. The Times is considered the newspaper of record for the United Kingdom and was selected to give perspective on the American reporting.

The Readers Guide to Periodic Literature and the Public Affairs Information Service were used in order to identify the coverage of the major American popular and general circulation news, commentary and analysis magazines, including those considered part of the prestige press, such as Newsweek and Time.

Because the riot raised legal issues, both for the military justice system and for the American judicial system facing legal challenges over the war and its opposition, the two leading indexes of legal periodical literature were examined. The Index to Legal Periodicals covers almost all American legal literature, including both professional and scholarly publications. Among the periodicals covered are professional magazines, such as the ABA Journal, and most law reviews published by law schools, universities, professional associations and commercial publishers. The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, sponsored by the American Association of Law Libraries, is a comprehensive attempt to index all non-American and non-English language legal periodicals, especially those from Western legal systems.

Because the Long Binh Jail population was predominantly black, the Index to Periodical Articles By and About Blacks (cumulative index for 1960-1970) was also examined. This index covers 17 predominantly black periodicals in the collection of the Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, and 14 predominantly black periodicals in the collection of the New York Public Library. Among the periodicals indexed are Black Scholar, Ebony, Jet and the Journal of Negro History.

One of the major criticism of the mainstream press, which this study considers, is its alleged failure to cover alternative or controversial viewpoints and events. A lively alternative press developed during the Vietnam War. The Alternative Press Index began publication at the end of the period of study. Its first volume, covering 72 periodicals, spanned July-December 1969. Among the periodicals indexed are Eyewitness, Punch, the Guardian, Ramparts, I.F. Stone's Weekly and Dock of the Bay.

Given the tumult Vietnam caused within the American military establishment, The Air University Library Index to Military Periodicals was used in order to identify material published in approximately 70 military and military-related periodicals available to military leaders and personnel. The Index is sponsored by the Air University, the Air Force's leading institution of post-graduate learning, located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

The Television News Index and Abstracts of the Vanderbilt Television News Archives began indexing the nightly news broadcasts of the three major networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, on August 5, 1968, just before the riot at Long Binh erupted. Indexing of the networks' weekend broadcasts did not begin until May 1970.

A search was made of each index. First, all references to Long Binh and Long Binh Jail were identified and pursued. Most dealt with Long Binh as one of the largest American military installations in Vietnam or with attacks on or around the Long Binh region. However, in almost all indexes, the primary category is Vietnam rather than Long Binh. If the list of entries was short or not further broken down, all listings concerning Vietnam were examined to identify any reference to Long Binh or Long Binh Jail. In most instances, the indexes were broken down into secondary categories, such as South Vietnam, War in Vietnam, American Military in Vietnam, or Dissent to War in Vietnam. These and other reasonable alternative listings under which the incident might be indexed were searched. All entries concerning the incident were then examined.

By the nature of publishing, the news in newspapers, news magazines and professional journals appear on different cycles. Therefore, the scope of the search of each index was different. All newspaper and the television indexes were searched for the four months following the incident (August through December, 1968). The magazine indexes were searched for the sixteen months (August 1968 through December 1969) following the incident. In a number of instances, because of the varying indexing spans of the specific indexes, longer periods of time were searched. The example, legal indexes were searched for 28 months following the incident (August 1968 through December 1970).

The documentation of the history of Long Binh Jail was determined by identifying and compiling a bibliography of texts generally cited histories of the war or at least repeatedly referred to within the Vietnam War literature. The indexes of these texts were examined for references to Long Binh, Long Binh Jail and race riots. Furthermore, the Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History, 1838-1974 (Vol. IV) was examined. The Index covers approximately 600 American and English professional, intellectual and scholarly journals of history, political science and sociology, including Asian Survey, Broadsheet (UK), Current British Foreign Policy (UK), Far Eastern Economic Review, and Intelligence Digest (UK).

Results -- Long Binh Jail as News

The riot at Long Binh Jail was indexed in five articles in The New York Times: Aug. 30 (6:4), Sept. 1 (9:1), Sept. 4 (38:2), Sept. 25 (2:7) and Oct. 1 (3:2). In addition to these articles, there were two articles each about an earlier riot in the U.S. Marine Corps brig at Danang (Aug. 18, 4:1; Aug. 19, 5:1) and the subsequent racial tension in Danang city (Oct. 21, 11:1; Oct. 22, 7:1). Neither of the Danang riot stories mentioned any racial issues. There were no other articles indexed and abstracted with references to Long Binh Jail, the Danang brig or racial tensions during the four month period. None of the articles received front page coverage.

The first New York Times story about LBJ, three paragraphs on page 6, was datelined Saigon, dated August 30, 1968, and listed a "special to The New York Times." It briefly summarized the basic facts of the "rampage," including "one inmate was killed" and "scores of buildings were burned." Race or racial issues were not mentioned.

Subsequent short articles (Sept. 1, page 9 and Sept. 4, page 38, from AP) noted that the U.S. command acknowledged that "racial incidents caused the riot," although no specifics were given. Military spokesmen "refused to elaborate on the racial aspects of the incidents." The military did release the name of the dead inmate, Private Edward O. Haskett of St. Petersburg, Florida. A short Sept. 25 (page 2) piece (based on UPI) reported "12 still holding out in Longbinh prison." It referred to the remaining rioters as Negroes and to the earlier rioting as "racial." A final story on Oct. 1 (page 3) reported that "six Negro prisoners...will be charged with murder or conspiracy to commit murder." The charges were based on "the slaying of a white inmate...beaten with a shovel." No further mention was made of race or racial issues.

The Danang and LBJ riots were covered in two articles in The Times of London (August 19 and August 30). The first article, a front page story, reported the riot in the Marine brig. The second story, on page 5, only noted the killing of a prisoner at LBJ. Long Binh Jail was not covered by The Christian Science Monitor or the Wall Street Journal during the four month period from August to December 1968.

Long Binh Jail was not indexed in The Air University Library Index of Military Periodicals (all entries under all variations of Vietnam for 1968 and 1969), the Index to Periodical Articles By and About Blacks (all entries under all variations of Vietnam through 1970), the Index to Legal Periodicals (all entries under all variations of Vietnam through August 1970), the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (all entries under all variations of Vietnam through 1970), Reader's Guide To Periodic Literature or the Public Affairs Information Service (all entries under all variations of Vietnam from October 1968 through September 1969). However, in her paper, Kinney made reference to an article about the incident appearing in Newsweek. Therefore, a direct search of the contents of Newsweek, Time and U.S. News and World Report was conducted of the issues from August through December 1986. Only the first two magazines reported the incident.

Time reported the story first (Sept. 6, 1968) in a seven inch story entitled "The War: Riot at the L.B.J." The story, without any pictures or graphics, shared the page with the stories of the killing of John Gordon Mein, the first U.S. ambassador to be assassinated, in Guatemala, and consolidation of power by Argentina's president Juan Carlos Ongania. Both of these stories were accompanied by photographs. The riot story began:

The L.B.J., as its inmates call the Long Binh Jail, is like army stockades everywhere: not much worse than Stateside prisons, or more uncomfortable than the ordinary barracks of South Viet Nam.... Last week the L.B.J. completed the list with its first serious riot. The trouble was set off by a fist fight between two prisoners.... By the time the gas cleared, one prisoner was dead, his skull crushed, 23 were hospitalized, and 35 more needed treatment for lesser wounds. In addition, five guards, including the garrison commander, were in the hospital.

The article continued: "For all the riot's viciousness, the inmates offered no grievances to explain their outbreak beyond the normal gripes of prison life." The riot was compared to the earlier riot at Danang. The article made no mention of racial tension nor of the race of any of the participants, including the dead inmate.

The Newsweek article appeared on "The War in Vietnam" page nearly a month later (Sept. 30, 1968), and over a month after the riot began. It was headlined "Race Riot at Long Binh" and opened with introductory editorial paragraph which stated: "[I]t has gradually emerged that the worst prison riot in the modern history of the U.S. Army had profoundly racial overtones." The 17 inch article opened: "The Aug. 29 riot at Long Binh began with a ruckus between a relatively small number of blacks and whites...." According to the article, "the troublemakers" overpowered the first group of guards and the riot expanded throughout the stockade. "The black rebels" proceeded to unlock cells and set fire to buildings. "[S]ome 250 hard-core insurgents, the majority of them black, defiantly held their ground...." When the Military Police retook the compounded, 70 "black rebels" were wounded. "And one white inmate lay dead, reportedly clubbed to death by black prisoners." The prisoners were sorted into "cooperatives" and "uncooperatives." The 220 uncooperatives were all black, except for three Puerto Ricans.

As the article noted, the crisis was not over. "Black militants" continued to hold out. "The men in command at Long Binh decided not to crack down on the militants but rather to 'wait them out'." According to the article, "most of the blacks complained that white guards had often abused them verbally and had given white prisoners far better treatment."

The article concluded with an editorial paragraph:

By military standards, the Army's handling of the holdouts was incredibly permissive -- and, to a degree, the policy of restraint did work out. Last week, 21 days after the riot, only thirteen rebels were still defying prison discipline. Nonetheless, the riot at LBJ would seem to have ominous import both for the Army and for U.S. society as a whole. Since Harry Truman integrated the armed forces in 1948, the Army has been justly proud of the opportunities it offers black soldiers. And, for the most part, relations between white and black troops in Vietnam have been good, especially in combat zones where they share common needs and common dangers. But in Long Binh stockade, with these bonds dissolved, black soldiers, rightly or wrongly, felt they faced the same kind of prejudice that they had in the ghettos of the U.S. and quickly rediscovered their built-in resentment of authority. All of which seemed to suggest that the vaunted egalitarianism of the Army cannot, by itself, erase the ingrained tensions that unfortunately exist between white and black Americans.

The impact of the article was offset by the other piece on the page, entitled "No Admirals." It was a "feel-good" story about "a thoroughly routine Army affairs" -- the promotion of Col. Frederic Ellis Davison to brigadier general. Davison was only the third black to become a general. Accompanied by a picture of General Creighton Abrams pinning the stars on Davison, the story ended:

Davison, 51, is also a real Army man. Proud that his branch of the service has made "unbelievable" progress toward the elimination of race prejudice, he celebrated his promotion by aiming a barb at the Navy. "As you can see," he said, "we [Negroes] have no admirals. But we're working on it."

Long Binh was referred to four times on network television during the second half of 1968 according to the Vanderbilt Television News Archives Abstracts. Upon inspection, only two of the stories (9/24/68, 9/30/68) concerned the riot. On Tuesday, September 24, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, as part of a larger story about events in the war, reported the riot. The story had a Saigon dateline and was based on information from UPI. According to the Abstracts,

Riot with racial overtones occurs at servicemen's stockade at Long Binh month ago. One white soldier killed and 65 G.I.'s hurt. UPI reports that 12 black prisoners still control sections of stockade. They are receiving food and water, but are ignored; hoped they'll rejoin rest of men.

The following Monday, September 30, Cronkite, again as a part of a larger piece on events in the war, referred to the incident:

Six black soldiers involved in riot at Long Binh Stockade will be tried for murder or conspiracy to commit murder. One white soldier killed.

As noted in the story, the initial CBS report was a month old and was apparently dependent on UPI. According to the Index, neither ABC nor NBC reported or made any reference to the incident. None of the networks apparently pursued the story.

There was only one entry indexed in the Alternative Press Index that could be related to the Long Binh Jail riot. It was an article titled "G.I.s Rebel in Vietnam" in Dock of the Bay (Vol. 1, page 6, September 9, 1969). The author was not able to obtain a copy of this twenty-two year old article. Therefore, the exact content of the article could not be determined.

Results -- Long Binh Jail as History

The stockade at Long Binh and its nickname are discussed in the two popular reference books. Harry Summers' Vietnam War Almanac states in part:

A logistical complex constructed by the United States on the outskirts of the city of Bien Hoa in III Corps on the Bien Hoa-Saigon highway. site of numerous ammunition depots, supply depots and other logistic installations, it also contained a replacement depot, where many incoming and outgoing soldiers were processed, and a stockade (a "confinement facility," in current bureaucratic jargon), known to soldiers as the Long Binh Jail -- or "LBJ" for short.

James Olson's Dictionary of the Vietnam War states:

Long Binh was a major United States supply facility constructed just outside the city of Bien Hoa, about 20 miles north of Saigon. The headquarters of II Field Force Vietnam and the III ARVN Corps were located at Long Binh, as was the Long Binh Jail -- the "LBJ." Vietcong attacked the Long Binh complex during the Tet Offensive in 1968, the Post-Tet Offensive in 1969, and again successfully, during the Final Offensive of 1975.

The Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History did not list, according to the titles, any relevant articles under the various Vietnam topics.

The process of combing histories of the Vietnam War for reporting on the LBJ riot is a slow and apparently fruitless trek. Very few have entries under Long Binh, race, riot, or some combination. None of the three dozen books investigate so far -- Baritz, Boettcher, Braestrup, Buttinger, Colby, Davidson, Herring, Halberstam, Joes, Karnow, Lewy, Lomperis, MacPherson, Morrison, Turley, etc. -- have indexed references to the riot. This is not to say that the LBJ riot is not mentioned, but it does seem to signal the degree of importance the riot holds for those documenting the war.

Additional Sources:

www.prin.edu/users/els/departments/poli_sci
www.w7rjr.com
www.petester.com
www.geocities.com/militarypoliceofvietnam
wolfspirit73.tripod.com

[SAMWolf]

Discussion

For the vast majority of people, reality is mediated. Because we are unable to experience so many things first hand, we have to rely on media to inform us as to what has occurred. As a result, what we know as reality is what we have been told. Regardless of how accurate the media attempts to be, the very process of mediation distorts the reality. As a result, almost all reality is mediated reality. If it is not reported, it did not happen. Hence, it was not real.

There are certainly weaknesses in the search for coverage of the LBJ riot. Perhaps the major shortcoming of this study is its dependence on the quality (or lack of quality) of indexing of the various media. The failure of the major indexes to list the articles in Newsweek and Time magazines is a key example. Additionally, there is no easy method for searching the alternative media, the most likely sector to cover such an event, for its coverage. The Alternative Press Index did not begin until a year after the riot and is only indexed back to July 1969. Furthermore, most of the periodicals are not readily available. The quality of indexing is also a shortcoming with books about the war. Unless one reads every word, there is no guarantee of completeness.

Fall of 1986 was a busy news period. A race riot in an unpopular war was not the only news of the day. The Democratic Party's national convention occurred in late August, resulting in massive, nationally televised anti-war protests and riots which have come to be remembered as "the days of rage." The 1968 presidential contest between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon soon followed. Smaller stories, such as the assassination of Ambassador Mein, also dominated the headlines and cover pages.

This study examined how the media, in particular the prestige press, reported one specific event that occurred during the Vietnam War. For those concerned with opposition to the war and with race relations, the riot at Long Binh Jail was an important event. However, as this study has confirmed, the event was not reported by the prestige press. What little reporting occurred was dependent on the wire services, AP and UPI. The initial stories were simple though factual. The later stories, usually much shorter, did mention the racial nature of the riot. None of the stories -- newspaper, magazine, television -- analyzed the issues or circumstances. The "best" coverage, if it can be called that, was by Newsweek, a month after the riot had occurred.

Curiously, every medium, including Newsweek, indicated that the military acknowledged the racial nature of the riot. Apparently, the U.S. command did not try to suppress the racial nature of the situation. Exposure of the riot as a racial issue was not a coup for the media. It was given to them. Vietnam may stand out as the least censored war, at least by the military and governmental authorities.

The LBJ riot does not appear in the popular textbooks and history books. As a result, it does not exist in the mediated reality that has become the history of the Vietnam War. The critics are correct. In effect, LBJ did not exist.

Too bad, it wasn't Lyndon Baines Johnson.

[SAMWolf]

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.

------

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 StayAtHomeMother

---

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.

---

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

---

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"

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Thursday Morning Everyone.


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

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

The Foxhole
19093 S. Beavercreek Rd. #188
Oregon City, OR 97045

[snippy_about_it]

First I've heard of this Sam.

Too bad, it wasn't Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Couldn't agree more. Goodnight, looks like a good read for morning.

[Iris7]

Hi, Snip, SAM.

This sort of thing happened all of the time. Happened Stateside a great deal, also. The rules of engagement in these events were very restrictive. You kill a black "rioter", actually mutineer, you went to Leavenworth. (Had an MP fill me in on Leavenworth one evening. Doubt I would be believed if I repeated his stories.)

My brother did a Viet Nam tour as an AF SP in Da Nang after I was there. The situation was very dangerous.

I saw this happen in my time also. The incidents were hushed up. The blacks acted like a stateside street gang does, if they didn't like your face you better just take your beating or you would be killed. Shooting was routine. Investigation of incidents faced a stone wall of silence. Anybody who ratted, black or white, wished he hadn't. For a while.

Dang, I am beginning to see where my point of view has come from. Seen much worse in humans than this stuff I have written about.

I said something about human nature on a thread about a common sort of murder and was accused of being a dangerous psychopath by a young lady. Don't think I am.

[Iris7]

Speaking of human nature, I am rarely surprised any more. Speaking of Putin, he did something once that did surprise me.

Remember the bombings in Russia aimed at occupied apartment buildings late at night? There were a half dozen or so. Usually killed everybody. Blamed on Chechen terrorists. Recollect?

One aerial photo of a collapsed apartment building showed the building fallen into a heap. No debris field whatever. Real clean job, from inside the building, carefully laid charges required. Made me go heh, heh. What really interested me is that the Russians released that photo to the world, a photo anyone not totally asleep could interpret.

Still not surprised, though, at this point. The last incident never went off, the bomb was defused by local authorities. The explosive was Soviet military granular hexogen, in cotton sacks.

There had been a car standing guard over the bomb laying with three Russians in it, one a woman. They showed FSB credentials to a local cop, the first on the scene, as I recollect. (A resident in the apartment tumbled and called in the local cops, Militsia.)

What was really wild is that the watch car was still there after the bomb layers had left. (The cop went into the OPEN basement door, saw the bomb, about a pallet of HE, and ran back to the watch car with his pistol in his hand. It was gone.) Why did the watch car wait until the local cop showed up? Why was the bomb fused with so long a delay? Why not just shoot the cop if you meant to blow the building? Was a very real bomb, remember.

Then a really clumsy obvious cover up, it wasn't hexogen but instead really sugar, was just a training exercise, maybe. Weren't really FSB operatives but instead Chechens trying to embarrass the government was about the best one. As I recollect there were about five different stories.

Took a few days to figure that one out. Putin was pointing out to somebody (good old "somebody") that if they wanted to play hardball (as has been threatened many times) then hardball it would be. Surprised me, I was a little shocked. Hard man.

[Iris7]

Speaking of stuff, the Ukraine situation is getting much more clear than it was. The Viktor Yushchenko, Viktor Yanukovych, Kuchma names need Yulia Timoshenko and especially Serhiy Tyhypko added. Still very obscure and likely to remain so.

Kind of like Yukos. Oligarchic factions fighting for dominance, one using Western media, public opinion, and wishful thinking. Not all of the Poles are idealists, either.

This is a continuance of my previous post. Same subject.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole. I've got critical updates to download and things to bump. See ya' in awhile.

[alfa6]

Thursday Bump for some interesting reading later today.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[E.G.C.]

Folks, I've just finished downloading th update. It's for Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Be sure to download it if you haven't already if you use Windows.

[The Mayor]

December 2, 2004

Returning God's Love

Read: Malachi 3:16-18

"I have loved you," says the Lord. —Malachi 1:2

Bible In One Year: Ezekiel 42-44; 1 John 1

---

The book of Malachi begins with this wholehearted word from the Lord to His halfhearted worshipers: "I have loved you" (1:2). Though Israel had long been the object of God's love, they no longer returned His love.

God listed the ways His people had offended His love through their disobedience. Israel's response was to question God. When He implored them, "Return to Me, and I will return to you," they questioned Him in their blindness, "In what way shall we return?" (3:7). With divine "tough love," the Lord exposed their many blind spots. He did this so that they might repent and accept His love, and return it with wholehearted obedience.

We too are often halfhearted in our faith, appearing to love and serve God but really loving and serving ourselves. Today, as in Malachi's time, God looks for people who reverence Him by maintaining two spiritual practices: speaking to each other about Him, and meditating on His wonderful attributes (v.16). The first is fellowship with God's people; the second is fellowship with God Himself. Not only are we to receive and share God's love, we are also to return it through glad obedience.

Such worshipers are God's "jewels" (v.17). Are you one of them? —Joanie Yoder

"We love You, Lord Jesus," we often will say,
But are we as ready His will to obey?
Let's heed what God's Spirit would have us to do—
That's how we show Him a love that is true. —D. De Haan

To love God is to obey God.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on December 02:
1578 Agostino Agazzari composer
1678 Nicolaas S Cruquius Dutch hydraulic engineer (drained Haarlemmermeer)
1728 Ferdinando Galiani Italian economist/philosopher/diplomat
1821 Rufus Barringer Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
1825 Pedro II van Alcantara Emperor of Brazil (1831-89)
1837 Dr. Joseph Bell, British physician believed to be the prototype of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes
1837 Charles Garrison Harker Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1869 Jonas Cohn German/English philosopher (Theory of the Dialects)
1875 Frank Reicher Munich Germany, actor (King Kong, Son of Kong)
1885 Níkos Kazantazakís Greece, writer (Zorba, Last Temptation of Christ)
1892 Leo Ornstein composer
1893 Julius Bissier German painter
1894 Warren William [Krech] Aitkin MN, actor (Cæsar-Cleopatra, Morgan-Go West Young Man)
1895 Klaas Voskuil journalist
1896 Georgi K Zjukov marshal of Moskow/Stalingrad
1902 Horace A Hildreth (Governor-ME, 1945-49)
1902 Miroslav Ponc composer
1906 Peter Carl Goldmark developed color TV & LP records
1908 Robert F Simon Mansfield OH, actor (Custer, MASH, Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
1914 Ray Walston Laurel MS, actor (South Pacific, My Favorite Martian, Damn Yankees)
1919 Michael Geoffrey Corcos medical researcher
1923 Maria M Callas New York NY, soprano (Carmen, Mademoiselle Award-1953)
1923 Meshulam Riklis chief executive-McCrory Corporation, (Mr. Pia Zadora)
1924 Alexander Haig Jr Bala-Cynwyd PA, (R) US Secretary of State (1981-82)/general (He's in charge here)
1924 Jonathan Frid actor (Barnabas Collins-Dark Shadows)
1925 Julie Harris Grosse Pt MI, actress (Bell Jar, East of Eden)
1931 Edwin Meese III prude, US Attorney General (1985-88)
1938 Michael Levin Minneapolis MN, actor (Ryan's Hope)
1940 Willie Brown NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders)
1941 Paul C W Chu China, physicist, superconductivity researcher
1942 Ted Bluechel San Pedro CA, rock vocalist/drummer (Association)
1944 Cathy Lee Crosby Los Angeles CA, actress (Coach, That's Incredible)
1946 Gianni Versace fashion designer (Versace)
1950 Merrill Ashley St Paul MN, ballerina (NYC Ballet)
1952 Michael McDonald St Louis MO, rock keyboardist/vocals (Doobie Brothers)
1953 Meg Griffin DJ (WNEW-FM, WPLJ-FM, WKRK-FM)/VJ (V-1)
1954 Dan Butler actor (Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe-Frasier)
1954 Stone(ed) Phillips news host (NBC Dateline)
1960 Rick Savage bass player (Def Leppard-Hysteria, Rock of Ages)
1964 Brian Habib NFL guard (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1965 Karrie Mitchell Arvada CO, Miss Colorado-America (1991-top 10)
1966 Zeke Jones Yipsilanti MI, 114½ lbs freestyle wrestler (Olympics-96)
1968 Mark Harding Bath England, keeper of Internet biographies
1973 Monica Seles Novi Sad Yugoslavia, tennis star (US Open-1992, French Open-1990)
1981 Britney Jean Spears Kentwood, LA, singer(?) (Baby One More Time, You Drive Me Crazy, Oops I Did It Again)
1988 Edward EMG baron Downpatrick grandson of English prince Edward

---

Freeper birthdays
SAMWolf, Rumored to soon be able to tie his own shoes.
Hi Jinx, Doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fear' - but then again he doesn't know the meaning of most words

Well what can we say about these two fine people?



Nothing good I suspect. :-)
Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else

---

Deaths which occurred on December 02:
0537 Sylvester Italian Pope (536-37), dies
1463 Albrecht VI archduke of Habsburg, dies
1515 Gonzalo de Córdoba Spanish general/strategist/viceroy of Naples, dies
1719 Pasquier Quesnel French theologist (La Foi), dies at 85
1723 Philip French duke of Orléans/regent (1715-23)/PM (1723), dies
1814 Marquis de Sade writer, dies at 74
1828 Simon Paap Dutch 56 cm long dwarf/cabaret artist, dies at 39
1831 Traugott Maximilian Eberwein composer, dies at 56
1845 Johannes Simon Mayr composer, dies at 82
1859 John Brown US abolitionist, hanged in Charles Town WV at 59
1864 Archibald Gracie Jr Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 31
1888 Mehmed N Kemal Bey Turkish writer/journalist (Vatan), dies at 47
1915 Jan Malat composer, dies at 72
1918 Margit Kaffka writer, dies at 38
1919 Henry Clay Frick built largest coke & steel operation, dies at 69
1935 Albert Kessel first to die in California gas chamber
1943 Nordahl Grieg writer, dies
1944 Filippo T Marinetti Italian writer (father of futurism), dies at 67
1944 JW Ummels Dutch resistance fighter (House of Saxon-Nazi), dies
1953 Francis Picabia French painter/illustrator, dies at 75
1957 Harrison Ford silent screen actor (Rubber Tires), dies at 73
1963 Sabu Sabu actor (Jungle Book, Drums), dies of heart attack at 39
1964 Roger Bissière French painter, dies at 76
1966 Luitzen [Bertus] Brouwers Dutch mathematician, dies at 85
1967 Cardinal Francis Spellman archbishop of New York, dies at 78
1969 Kliment J Voroshilov President of USSR (1953-60), dies
1972 Friedrich Christian Christiansen German Luftwaffe general, dies
1976 William Tannen actor (Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp, Jailhouse Rock, Sitting Bull), dies at 65
1976 Danny Murtaugh baseball manager (Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 59
1979 Vasily Pavlovich Solov'yov-Sedoy composer, dies at 72
1981 Wallace K[irkman] Harrison US architect (UN), dies at 86
1982 Marty Feldman comedic actor (Young Frankenstein), dies at 49 of a heart attack in México
1985 Alex Courtney actor (Sword of Justice), dies
1985 Philip Larkin [hermit of Hull] English poet, dies at 63
1986 Desi Arnaz actor (Ricky Ricardo-I Love Lucy), dies of lung cancer at 69
1986 Lee Dorsey R&B singer, dies at 59
1990 Aaron Copland composer (Fanfare for the Common Man), dies at 90
1990 Robert Cummings actor (Love that Bob), dies of kidney failure at 82
1992 Gary Mascaro choreographer, dies at 43
1992 Loek Elfferich Dutch journalist/historian (Treason in Rotterdam), die
1993 Pablo Escobar Gaviria Colombian drug baron, shot to death at 44(Gee That's really too bad)
1994 James Norman Dalrymple Anderson lawyer, dies at 86
1995 Francis Joseph Quinn academic, dies at 90
1995 Roxie Roker actress (Helen Willis-Jeffersons)/mother of Lenny Kravitz, dies of breast cancer at 66
1995 Stanley Devon photographer, dies at 88

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 AUSTIN CARL BENJAMIN---WOODBURN OR.
1965 LOGAN JACOB DRUMMOND---SEATTLE WA.
1965 ROBERTS GERALD RAY---SAN MARCOS TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED, IDENTIFIED 10/30/96]
1966 BOTT RUSSELL P.---WORCHESTER MA.
1966 BERGER JAMES R.---MANSFIELD OH
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1966 BURNS DONALD R.---MINERAL WELLS TX.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DECEASED]
1966 CORDIER KENNETH W.---CANTON OH.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 DUCAT BRUCE C.---BETHESDA MD.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 DYER IRBY III---MIDLAND TX.
1966 GREGORY ROBERT R.---CAPE GIRADEAU MO.
[POSS DIED IN CAPT REMAINS RETURNED ID 06/09/88]
1966 LANE MICHAEL C.---CORAL GABLES FL.
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 MC RAE DAVID EDWARD---DECATUR GA.
[CMDR THINKS SUBJ DID NOT GET OUT]
1966 MOORBERG MONTE LARUE---GRAND ISLAND NE.
[PROB KIA PIC PUBLISHED REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85]
1966 NYSTROM BRUCE A.---MARION OH.
[POSS DEAD]
1966 REHMANN DAVID G.---LANCASTER CA.
["02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 STARK WILLIE E.---OMAHA NE.
1966 STUTZ LEROY W.---EFFINGHAM KS
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 SULANDER DANIEL A.---MINNEAPOLIS MN.
1966 WORRELL PAUL L.---PHILADELPHIA PA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85]
1967 CROSBY RICHARD A.---SPOKANE WA.
1967 LEEPER WALLACE W.---WELLINGTON CO.
1967 MOREIDA MANUEL J.---HARLINGEN TX.
1967 STRANGE FLOYD W.---CHICO CA.
1969 DUNLAP WILLIAM C.---TUCSON AZ.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2/26/90]
1969 SANDERLIN WILLIAM D.---FORT WORTH TX.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2/26/90]
1969 SHANLEY MICHAEL H. JR.---LA MESA CA.
REMAINS RETURNED 3/90]
1969 VANDEN EYKEL MARTIN D. II---WHEATON IL.
[NO POSITIV ID ON MARTIN 2/02/90]
1972 SHINE ANTHONY C.---PLEASANTVILLE NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED 09/96]

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

---

On this day...
1620 English language newspaper "Namloos" begins publishing in Amsterdam
1682 English Earl of Shaftesbury's flight to Amsterdam
1697 St Paul's Cathedral opens in London
1763 Touro shul of Newport RI dedicated (oldest existing US synagogue)
1777 British General Howe plots attack on Washington's army for Dec 4
1790 Austrian army occupies Brussels
1802 English sell Suriname to Dutch
1804 Napoleon Bonaparte crowned 1st emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII

1805 Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz

1812 James Madison re-elected President of US, Elbridge Gerry Vice-President
1816 1st savings bank in US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society)
1822 In San Salvador, a congress proposes incorporation into US
1823 President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine"
1840 Gaetano Donizetti's opera "La Favorita" premieres in Paris
1840 William H Harrison elected President of US, John Tyler Vice-President
1848 Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria and King of Hungary
1852 2nd French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor
1864 Skirmish at Rocky Creek Church, Georgia
1868 1st British government of Disraeli resigns
1877 Camille Saint-Saëns' opera "Samson et Dalila" premieres in Weimar
1883 Johannes Brahms' 3rd Symphony in F, premieres
1887 Charles Dickens' 1st public reading in US (New York NY)
1887 French President Grévy (80) resigns
1896 Gerhart Hauptmann's "Die versunkene Glocke" premieres in Berlin
1899 US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them
1900 South African President Paul Kruger arrives in Germany
1901 King Camp Gillette begins selling safety razor blades
1907 English Professional Football Player's Association forms
1908 Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) became China's Last Emperor at age 3
1913 Archdiocese of Managua created
1914 Austria army occupies Belgrade Serbia
1916 Baseballers who are injured now get full pay for duration of contract
1917 Han Yong-woon, found Zen awakening at Osean Monastery Korea
1918 Armenia proclaims independence from Turkey
1924 British-German trade agreement signed

1927 1st Model A Fords sold, for $385

1928 Cardinals 1B Jim Bottomley is voted National League MVP
1929 1st skull of Peking man found, 50 km out of Peking at Tsjoe Koe Tien
1932 "Adventures of Charlie Chan" 1st heard on NBC-Blue radio network
1933 1st transatlantic telephone wedding (Bertil Clason-Sigrid Carlson)
1933 Fred Astaire's 1st film, "Dancing Lady" is released
1934 5.08-m (200") Mount Palomar Observatory mirror is cast
1939 British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC
1939 New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands, 1 minute after midnight
1941 Largest roller skating rink (outside of NYC) opens in Peekskill NY
1941 Naval Intelligence ceases bugging Japanese consul
1941 New York Giants name Mel Ott as player-manager, replacing Bill Terry
1942 1st controlled nuclear chain reaction (Enrico Fermi-University of Chicago)
1943 1st RSHA transport out of Vienna reaches Birkenau camp
1944 10th Heisman Trophy Award: Les(lie) Horvath, Ohio State (QB)
1944 General George S. Patton's troops enter the Saar Valley and break through the Siegfried line
1947 13th Heisman Trophy Award: Johnny Lujack, Notre Dame (QB)
1948 Stan Musial is picked National League MVP
1950 Vic Toweel knocks down Danny O'Sullivan 14 times in a title fight
1951 Philadelphia sets NFL record of 25 1st-downs rushing
1952 1st human birth televised to public (KOA-TV Denver CO)
1954 Frank Selvy of Milwaukee sets then NBA record of 24 of 26 free throws
1954 US Senate censures Joe McCarthy (Senator-R-WI) for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute" (And THAT'S saying a great deal)
1956 Fidel Castro lands with on coast of Cuba
1957 1st US full-scale atomic electric power plant-power generated, Shippingport PA
1957 Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" reaches #1
1958 Benelux treaty signed by Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg
1958 24th Heisman Trophy Award: Pete Dawkins, Army (HB)
1958 KNOP TV channel 2 in North Platte NE (NBC) begins broadcasting
1959 Malpasset dam collapses destroying French Riviera town of Frejus
1961 Fidel Castro declares he's a Marxist, & will lead Cuba to Communism (SHOCK!)
1961 Wind Bell, journal of San Francisco Zen Center, begins publishing
1962 50th CFL Grey Cup: Winnipeg beats Hamilton, 28-27 at Toronto [OT]
1963 1st Dutch rocket launched/reaches height of 10 km
1963 Major League Rules Committee bans oversized catcher's mitts, effective in 1965
1964 Ringo Starr's tonsils are removed
1966 Love, Moby Grape & Lee Michaels perform at Fillmore East
1968 President Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor
1969 Boeing 747 jumbo jet 1st public preview (Seattle WA to New York NY)
1970 Environmental Protection Agency begins (Director: William Ruckelshaus)
1971 Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah & Umm ak Qiwain form the United Arab Emirates
1971 Soviet Mars 3 is 1st to soft land on Mars
1971 Zayid bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan of Abu Dhabi becomes President of UAE
1972 "December Giant" largest sinkhole in US collapses (Alabama)
1972 In one of their worst trades Yankees get Rich McKinney for Stan Bahnsen
1973 62nd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Cleveland (5-0)
1973 US Air Arena opens in Landover MD, Bullets beat Seattle, 98-96
1974 Soyuz 16 launched into Earth orbit for 6 days
1974 Giant Baba beats Jack Brisco in Kagoshimi, to become NWA champion
1975 Laos falls to communist forces; King Sisavang Vatthana resigns, Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed
1975 7 South Moluccans hijack train at Wijster Drente, 3 killed
1978 Chanting "Allah is great", anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran
1978 Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1
1979 Crowds attack US embassy at Tripoli Libya
1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
1981 Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco opens at 11:30 AM
1981 Fernando Valenzuela (Dodgers) wins National League Rookie of the Year
1981 Spanish government requests membership in NATO
1982 1st permanent artificial heart successfully implanted (University of Utah) in retired dentist Barney Clark; lived 112 days with the Jarvic-7 heart
1984 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1985 Rupert Holmes' musical "Mystery of Edwin Drood" premieres at Imperial Theater NYC for 608 performances
1986 Dow-Jones index hits record 1955.57
1987 Chicago City Council elects Eugene Sawyer acting mayor
1987 Jennifer Steele, 17, of Colorado becomes Miss Teen America
1987 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 "Naked Gun" premieres, a movie based on TV's "Police Squad"
1988 5 gunmen who hijacked Soviet Aeroflot jet, surrender in Israel
1988 STS-27 Atlantis launched (Secret military mission)
1988 UN votes 151-2 (Israel & US) to move PLO debate to Geneva, Britain abstains
1989 KHJ-TV in Los Angeles CA changes call letters to KCAL-TV
1989 Vishwanath Pratap Singh sworn in as President of India
1990 1st parliamentary election in newly reunified Germany
1990 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) launches into orbit
1991 Bobby Bonilla signs record $29 million-5 year pact with the New York Mets
1991 Muslim Shites release American held hostage in Lebanon (Joseph Cicippio)
1992 WQEW-AM radio replaces WQXR on 1560 in New York NY
1993 Houston Rockets tie NBA record of 15-0 start
1993 Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5), launches
1994 Achille Lauro (Willem Ruys) sinks off the coast of Somalia
1994 Jury finds Heidi Fleiss guilty of running a call girl ring
1995 17th ACE Cable Awards
1997 MCI Center opens in Washington DC, Wizards vs SuperSonics

---

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

America : Pan American Health Day
Cuba : Landing of Granma Expeditionaries
UAE : Independence Day (1971)
US : Mars Landing Day
International Calendar Awareness Month

---

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Bibiana, virgin & martyr
Anglican : Memorial of Channing Moore Williams, missionary bp in China & Japan

---

Religious History
1763 The Touro Synagogue opened in Newport, RI. Sephardic Jews in Jamaica, Surinam, London and Amsterdam sponsored the building of this first major center of Jewish culture in America.
1831 Birth of Francis N. Peloubet, American Congregational clergyman. A promoter of the Sunday School, he penned 44 annual volumes of "Select Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons" between 1875 and his death in 1920. They were known afterward as "Peloubet's Notes."
1873 The Reformed Episcopal Church was organized in New York City when 8 clergymen and 20 laymen broke from the Protestant Episcopal Church over a debate regarding proper church ritual.
1908 The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America was founded in Philadelphia. (In 1950 this ecumenical organization was replaced by the National Council of Churches.)
1946 Rev. E.V. Steele founded the European Christian Orphanage and Mission Society in Alberta, Canada. Its name was changed in 1953 to World Missions Fellowship and has been headquartered since 1961 in Grants Pass. OR.

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

---

Thought for the day :
"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead."

---

Signs You've Bought a Cheap Car...
The car reaches its optimum speed when going downhill

---

Ads gone wrong...
Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.

---

Dictionary of the Absurd...
renounce
Put all the nouns back.

---

Man's Answers to Every Question a Woman ever asks
WHY DOESN'T MY PARTNER EVER ANSWER ME?
We just simply don't have the energy to answer every single one of your questions. If we think we do not have the answer, or that you will not like the answer, we simply remain quiet and save the energy for other things.
Besides the couch is lumpy.

[Darksheare]

Sam's birthday today?

[SAMWolf]

All I remember about LBJ was hearing that it wasn't a place I wanted to be. Saw it as we convoyed by a few times.

My two best buddies in Nam were Black, never had race come up as an issue. When I went to Germany after my tours, the situation was the same as Stateside, it was all about Race. Black and White troops stayed apart after hours. They had "their" bars, we had "ours". You didn't dare go into each others. Never really understood the whe thing, it seemed that was just "the way things were".

[SAMWolf]

Once KGB, always KGB.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram. Something for the Camp LBJ resisdents to think about.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

A crisp cloudy Fall morning here.