As South Vietnam's designated special forces unit, the 1st Observation Group was unusual in that it was supported by both the U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency. Its initial function was to act as a resistance cadre in the event of an invasion by the People's Republic of China -- an event some American and Vietnamese officials considered likely during those tense years of Cold War confrontation.

The group grew quickly in its new role. In March 1958 Training Cycle B took shape, this time under the auspices of instructors from Cycle Cramer. Cycles C and D, each with roughly 50 officers and sergeants, were conducted the following year. Graduates were organized into 15-man teams, each assigned a specific geographic area of responsibility for establishing guerrilla pockets during any invasion of South Vietnam.

Although the 1st Observation Group was well trained and armed, it accomplished little during its first three years of existence. Colonel Tung's attention was focused on covert operations inside North Vietnam, an additional CIA-supported mandate that the PLO assumed in early 1958. The group's de facto commander, Captain Dam Van Quy -- a minority Tho tribesman from northern Vietnam -- was content to hold his commandos in readiness for the post-invasion mission. Aside from a few brief forays against the VC in the swampy Mekong Delta, the group rarely ventured far from Nha Trang.

Not until November 1960 did the South Vietnamese special forces get its true baptism by fire. Rather than facing an occupying Chinese army, however, they were ordered to fight their fellow countrymen. That came about after paratroopers from the ARVN's Airborne Brigade took over parts of Saigon in an attempt to unseat the increasingly unpopular Diem. When the president turned to the loyal Tung for help, the 1st Observation Group rushed to the capital from Nha Trang and fought a pitched battle against the airborne troops near the city's horse track.

In the aftermath of the failed paratrooper putsch, Captain Quy was promoted and placed in command of the rebellious 3rd Airborne Battalion. Captain Bui The Minh replaced him in the PLO. Although a Buddhist, Minh had joined a militant Catholic group during the First Indochina War, thereby earning the president's trust.

Under Minh's command, the special forces were next called to duty to assist BV 33 inside Laos in the spring of 1961. On May 5 a half-battalion task force -- comprising both commandos and troops from the ARVN 1st Infantry Division -- crossed the border. There, the infantry helped the remnants of BV 33 form a new defensive position at Ban Houei Sane. The special forces, meanwhile, positioned themselves six kilometers farther west, to serve as a temporary blocking force. South Vietnamese artillery also moved to the border outpost at Lao Bao to provide fire support.

While that was happening, the administration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy was fuming at the Communist power play in Laos, especially since the land-grab along the eastern corridor had come immediately prior to a scheduled cease-fire. On May 6, 1961, Washington authorized a top-secret program of action in response to the North Vietnamese -- inspired moves across mainland Southeast Asia. As part of that plan, the 1st Observation Group was slated to expand operations against the VC inside South Vietnam. Additionally, the group was to infiltrate teams under light civilian cover into southeastern Laos to locate and attack Communist lines of communication. Those teams would be used in conjunction with South Vietnamese assault units numbering between 100 and 150 commandos.

To implement the Lao portion of the program, Washington turned to the Combined Studies Division (CSD), the cover designation for the small CIA paramilitary support office located in the Saigon embassy. Colonel Gilbert Layton, the CSD chief, took the mandate to Major Tran Khac Kinh, the PLO deputy and a graduate of Cycle Cramer. Working together, they quickly planned for Project Lei Yu (Mandarin for "Thunder Shower"), a program that soon became known by the more dramatic English translation -- Typhoon.

Kinh relied upon existing units in the 1st Observation Group for Typhoon's intelligence teams. Rather than using 15-man teams, however, he reconfigured them as 14-man units. "This allowed for four 3-man sub-units, plus a team leader and a radio operator," he later recalled, which would "enable them to split if they came under pressure." By midsummer, 1961, 15 14-man teams -- numbered 1 through 15 -- had been gathered at a new Typhoon camp established near the Thu Duc Infantry Academy on the outskirts of Saigon. As all team members already had completed airborne and commando training, they underwent only mission-specific instruction at that point.

The PLO and CSD had to start from scratch in establishing the assault units. Authorized to recruit two companies, Kinh first approached the Kontum-based 22nd Infantry Division, which was composed primarily of Tai tribesmen who had fled their traditional homeland in the hills of North Vietnam for the relative freedom of South Vietnam. The 160 Tai selected were brought down to Thu Duc, just north of Saigon, in July and given three months of airborne and ranger training. Upon graduation, the newly dubbed 1st Airborne Ranger Company was placed under the command of Captain Luong Van Hoi, a Tai from Dien Bien Phu who had fought with the 3rd Airborne Battalion during the First Indochina War.

Kinh also approached the Song Mao-based 5th Infantry Division, which was dominated by Nung tribesmen originally from the coast of northernmost Vietnam. He selected a company of Nung and brought them to Thu Duc as well. Designated the 2nd Airborne Ranger Company, the 160-man team was commanded by Lieutenant Voong Chay Menh, a veteran of the Nung-based White Star anti-Communist guerrilla movement that had been supported secretly by the Republic of China on Taiwan during the First Indochina War.

While the two airborne ranger companies were undergoing final outfitting, Major Kinh went ahead with the first deployment of intelligence teams in August 1961. The initial group of 14 commandos -- Team 1, under Lieutenant Nguyen Van Ton -- boarded an unmarked Douglas C-47 at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base and headed across the Laos border into Attopeu province. The team parachuted into the jungle east of the provincial capital, along the riverbanks of the Se Kamane. All were outfitted in sterile uniforms and carried Swedish K submachine guns, offering Saigon some measure of plausible deniability in the event of their capture.

The next day, three more teams -- Nos. 2, 3 and 6 -- filed into a single C-47 and headed for Laos. They floated to earth over the same drop zone that had been used the previous day. Shortly thereafter, two additional teams -- Nos. 7 and 8 -- parachuted to the south of the first four. After the group was resupplied by parachute drop, the commandos divided up and began patrolling in different directions. The operation took place during the rainy season, which complicated movement for the troops and apparently reduced Communist trail activity in Laos to a minimum. "We had very little contact," summed up Lieutenant Dang Hung Long, the Team 6 commander.

Pham Van Phu

After almost three months, the teams regrouped and made their way overland to the South Vietnam border. Already, elements of the two airborne ranger companies had been flown to Kontum, where they were aided by USSF medical NCOs Paul Campbell and Ray James, recently arrived on temporary duty from Okinawa. From Kontum the troops were trucked to a border outpost near the village of Ben Het. Once there, Captain Hoi -- commander of the first company -- took a 90-man column into Laos to link up with the four northern intelligence teams and escort them home. At the same time, a second ranger task force moved across the border to rendezvous with the two southern teams. One week later, all the commandos and rangers were safely back at Ben Het.

Back in September, meanwhile, Major Kinh had opened a second Typhoon operational zone just south of Tchepone. Because of some earlier concern that the South Vietnamese C-47s were not hitting their correct drop zones, two teams -- Nos. 5 and 10 -- were shuttled to Takhli Air Base in Thailand and loaded aboard an Air America Curtiss C-46. The U.S. crew, it was felt, could insert them with more precision. Such sentiment did little to reassure the commandos. "They were packed in pretty tight," recalled Miles Johnson, one of three American jumpmasters on the flight. "We taped cardboard over the windows so we could turn on the cabin lights to calm their nerves."

While the C-46 circled south of Tchepone, the two teams jumped above a small hill near the village of Muong Nong. Everything did not go smoothly. One of the commandos seriously injured his back upon landing. Establishing radio contact with headquarters, his teammates called for a medical evacuation. This resulted in a flurry of activity in Saigon, since at that time Typhoon had only been authorized to make fixed-wing flights for cross-border work. They had not been authorized to use helicopters. In the end, however, the CIA's deputy station chief granted them permission. A South Vietnamese Sikorsky H-34 went to the rescue.

Ironically, the evacuation placed the rest of the commandos in great danger. In the process of investigating the chopper landing, Communist troops located and attacked both teams, capturing a medic from Team 5 in the process. Fleeing without their radio, the rest of the commandos managed to reach the safety of the South Vietnamese border outpost at Lao Bao.

For the next round of Typhoon, the CIA and PLO decided in November 1961 to re-establish a presence in the southern zone near Attopeu. For added punch this time, Team 4 would infiltrate with a platoon from the 2nd Airborne Ranger Company. Back to using South Vietnamese aircraft, the combined force jumped near the banks of the Se Sou. After hiding a bag of rice near the drop zone, the troops began to conduct short patrols in various directions. Unlike on the earlier Attopeu foray, when there had been little evidence of the enemy, the Communists were more in evidence this time. "There were punji sticks set up near the drop zone," recalled Team 4 commander Cam Ngoc Huan. "We could see cooking fires and other activity around."

Foul weather made resupply drops difficult. When the team members returned to their original rice cache, they found it had been spoiled by rodents. They decided to head for the airfield at Attopeu, in the hope of getting food from the local Lao garrison. Along the way, the South Vietnamese troops came upon a village and placed it under observation. They saw some soldiers milling around and guessed from their uniforms that they were Royal Lao troops. That put the commandos more at ease, but they spent the night hidden in the nearby jungle.

The following morning, the commandos radioed headquarters word of their movements and continued heading west. After moving only 100 meters, however, they came under heavy fire. "We saw some footprints," said Huan, "so we again presumed they were Royalists. I yelled in the Lao language for them to cease fire." As the rifle reports died out, a platoon surrounded the South Vietnamese. The commandos lowered their weapons to offer greetings, but instead they were ordered to disarm and surrender. Huan now realized they were facing a mixed Pathet Lao/North Vietnamese patrol, but it was too late to put up a fight.

As the Communists collected their weapons, six of the South Vietnamese -- three commandos and three Nung rangers -- bolted into the jungle toward Attopeu. The remainder were marched a kilometer into the jungle and interrogated. Their radio was still operational, and they were ordered to contact Saigon and request a supply drop. The radio operator did as told, but he included his safety code, alerting headquarters they were under duress.

Aware his men were in danger, Major Kinh pondered his next move. Playing for time, he instructed the captured commandos to move back to their original drop zone. He intended to drop some airborne rangers to the west and then flush the Communists toward an infantry blocking force positioned along the border. The infantrymen, however, flatly refused to participate in the scheme.

As an alternative, Kinh contacted his Royal Lao counterparts and asked them to launch an airstrike. After a delay of four days, Kinh radioed his men in the field and told them to expect the promised drop. The Communist captors -- with their South Vietnamese prisoners in tow -- were met by a flight of Royal Lao Air Force North American T-6 fighter-bombers. As bombs exploded nearby, three more commandos -- including the Team 4 radio operator -- broke loose and disappeared into the jungle.

Incensed by the delay and the double-cross, the Communists forced the remaining captives to remove their shoes. Marching barefoot and with their hands bound, they were told they were headed north on a week-long trek to a jungle airstrip, where they would then be taken to North Vietnam. After only one day, however, another group of South Vietnamese -- including Huan -- managed to escape toward Attopeu. In the end, only one commando remained a captive.

Additional Sources:

www.freevn.org
members.aol.com/Hey8Ball
atroop.homestead.com
ngothelinh.tripod.com
bcdlldb.com
grunt.space.swri.edu
www.ptb.be

Aware of the unfolding situation, the Royalist commander in Attopeu, Colonel Khong Vongnarath, dispatched two companies to meet the fleeing commandos. By the close of November, some 35 had made it to Attopeu. Kinh arranged for a C-47 to transport them back home.

Unfazed that a previous operation had gone sour, Typhoon units returned to the Tchepone sector in early December. Of the six teams selected, two -- Nos. 1 and 5 -- were on their second mission. Having learned a few things from the first time around, Team 5 commander Nguyen Ngoc Giang had proposed that his normal 14-man configuration be cut to six commandos to enhance mobility. Major Kinh agreed, although the five other teams retained their full complement.

After three teams were already on the ground, the remaining three teams boarded a pair of C-47s in Saigon and headed for the drop zone. For an hour, they circled in an attempt to locate the three teams below. Failing to do so, they scrubbed the mission. The following night they were back in the sky, and this time they managed to establish radio contact with the ground.

Flying in the lead plane, Team 5 leader Giang jumped first, with his radio set packed in a rucksack between his legs. That proved to be a major mistake. When Giang crashed through the jungle canopy, the heavy set drove him hard into the ground. He fractured both his right tibia and the right side of his jaw in the fall. The rest of his team found him an hour after the jump. Placing Giang in a small cave in the cave- and fissure-studded limestone karst, they took away his weapon after he threatened to commit suicide. Then they gave him a morphine injection. Miraculously, the radio was still intact and they were able to contact headquarters and request a heliborne evacuation.

Once again, Kinh was able to overcome initial CIA opposition to an H-34 exfiltration. This time, however, the chopper was to be escorted by a pair of South Vietnamese Douglas A-1 fighter-bombers. Kinh would personally coordinate the operation from a C-47 command ship overhead. As planned, Kinh lifted off in the C-47, while a pair of H-34s staged through the village of Khe Sanh for final refueling. Soon after the two A-1s left Da Nang, however, they lost radio contact. After repeated attempts to raise the A-1s failed, the H-34s stood down and the rescue was aborted. The rescuers later learned that both fighter-bombers had crashed into Ba Long Mountain.

With aerial rescue no longer an option, four of the commando teams converged around Giang, trying to protect him. North Vietnamese troops were approaching, however, forcing the commandos to flee toward Lao Bao. On December 10, 1961, Giang and a medic from Team 1 were captured.

By year's end, Operation Typhoon was in for some cosmetic changes. Back in July, a member of the 1st Observation Group seconded to a different operation had been captured aboard a downed plane inside North Vietnam, thereby compromising the operation. The ARVN special forces unit was consequently redesignated Group 77, in honor of July 7, the date in 1954 when Diem took over the reins of government. During that same plane crash, the name of commander Bui The Minh also was compromised by one of the captured aircrew, leading to his replacement by Major Pham Van Phu. The first Vietnamese deputy commander of an airborne battalion during the French colonial period, Phu had jumped into Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and had been taken prisoner when that outpost fell. Fearing he had been brainwashed, South Vietnamese officials gave him a series of innocuous posts after his release. After proving himself trustworthy, however, Phu was entrusted with the command of Group 77.

Under Phu, the group was set for expansion. Plans called for the raising of two additional airborne ranger companies -- the 3rd and 4th. For the first of these, Major Kinh canvassed the entire ARVN for any paratroopers who had been transferred to line units. "Most of them were disciplinary cases," he later admitted. The 4th Airborne Ranger Company, meanwhile, consisted of Catholic volunteers recruited with the assistance of a staunchly anti-Communist priest named Mai Ngoc Khue. That company was placed under the command of Lieutenant Tran Khac Khiem, Major Kinh's younger brother.

Now numbering four companies, Typhoon was operating in full force by early 1962. This time, however, there was a difference. Rather than airborne insertions in two different sectors, the operation now concentrated on the area around Tchepone and relied exclusively on ground infiltrations from Khe Sanh.

The 1st Airborne Ranger Company and a complement of four intelligence teams kicked off the new Typhoon campaign in January. Proceeding on foot to the border outpost at Lao Bao, they then veered south toward Muong Nong. The plan was for them to remain in the field for four weeks, but shortly after arriving at their target area they came under heavy enemy fire. After the rangers sustained four casualties, they withdrew back to Lao Bao. "At Lao Bao we had two 105mm howitzers and a company from the 1st Infantry Division," recalled a ranger commander. "From this base, we turned around and conducted hit-and-run attacks toward Tchepone."

Until late summer 1962, Typhoon forces took turns staging from Khe Sanh and Lao Bao. In October, however, an international peace agreement went into effect for Laos, requiring all foreign military forces to vacate the country. Accordingly, the South Vietnamese task force left Lao Bao and Operation Typhoon came to a close.

In all, the South Vietnamese program had resulted in 41 team-size infiltrations lasting from one week to three months. One notable mission had maintained a two-month watch on the airstrip west of Tchepone, which was being used by North Vietnamese supply planes. In addition, eight company-sized raids had been conducted based on team intelligence.

While Typhoon came to an end, the moratorium on operations in Laos did not last. By the beginning of 1963 a series of Communist cease-fire violations had put the lie to Hanoi's adherence to the Lao peace agreement. Moreover, an escalation in VC activity pointed to an increase in traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In response, Washington once again called for cross-border operations to collect intelligence and conduct ambushes. The second round of the covert war against the trail was set to begin.

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"

Waiting on the Ice Storm bump for the Freeper Foxhole.

Fortunately the freeze line never quite made it to KC today. There has been some scattered outages but nothing major yet. The rain gauge at work is showing about .60+ inches of rain, glad it did not freeze. Suppose to get a big wallop about 4am our time.

Maybe it will miss us, hope, hope.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!

Good Wednesday 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

I am so glad I shouldn't have to deal with ice storms here in Oregon. I always dreaded them.

I can remember using a tool, can't remember the name of it, darn. Anyway it looks like a giant iron nail with a bottom that looks like a flat head screwdriver. It was a tool my ex used at work, Sam says maybe it was to break up concrete. Anyway we had to use it to break up ice on our porch several times when it was over 6 inches thick. You could just raise it up and drop it. It had to be five feet tall and very heavy but it worked.

Yuck. I don't miss Ohio at all.

Yep I got one them that things, it was probably about as tall as you are right and weighed in at 18 pounds or so. They are called, among other things, pinch bars and digging bars.

I made the mistake of answering my phone about 4:30 this aternoon. The night shift technician had called in so they called me to cover the shift. Wish I would have known an hour or two earlier so I could have gotten a nap. Oh Well, it means a litle extra money next week.

Hope the shop is doing well.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

Good morning Snippy.

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Good morning, I get my van back today. It turned out to be the gasket on the oil pan. Not the expensive to fix head gasket.

I am so glad I shouldn't have to deal with ice storms here in Oregon.

Don't brag too much. ;^)

Oregon Ice

Good morning everyone.

Story reminds me of some Viets I have met. One particularly sticks in the mind, fastest driver of a two and a half ton I ever saw. That truck was in the air more than it was on the ground. Not exaggerating. Fellow always carried a few fragmentation grenades, very useful in bar fights, he said.

January 5, 2005

"Enough!"

Read: James 1:9-11; 5:1-6

The rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. —James 1:11

Bible In One Year: Genesis 12-15

After Bob Ritchie graduated from college, he spent the next two decades in the grasp of a love for money and advancement. He uprooted his wife and family five times for his career, so that he could make more money. Each time they left warm church communities behind.

After a while, Bob and his family seldom had time for church. As God's people became strangers, so did the Lord. He became desperately lonely and isolated. Growing discontented with his life, he finally said, "Enough!"

Bob now testifies that God taught him the meaning of the word downsize. He stopped pursuing money, spent less time at work, cut back on his purchases, and learned to be content with what he had. The family again became faithful to the Lord and active in a church.

In his brief and practical epistle, James warned us not to be obsessed with amassing wealth (1:9-11; 5:1-6). Whether we're rich or poor, the desire for money can subtly take over our lives. Some believers have fallen into its clutches without being aware of it and are fading away in their pursuits (1:11).

Do you need to follow Bob's example? It may be time to say, "Enough!" —Dave Egner

If money is your highest goal,
The thing you long to gain,
Its power will enslave your soul
And cause your life much pain. —D. De Haan

He is truly rich who is satisfied with Jesus.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all at the FReeper Foxhole

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 05:
1592 Shah Jahan Mughal emperor of India (1628-58), built Taj Mahal
1769 Jean Baptiste Say French economist (Political Economics)
1779 Stephen Decatur US, naval hero (War of 1812)
1779 Zebulon Montgomery Pike explorer (Pike's Peak)
1787 John Burke Irish genealogist (Burke's Peerage)
1813 Thomas Neville Waul Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1903
1822 Joseph Brevard Kershaw Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1894
1828 August Valentine Kautz Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1895
1846 Rudolf Christoph Eucken Germany, Idealist philosopher (Nobel 1908)
1848 Khristo Botev hero of Bulgarian revolt against Turkey, poet
1855 King Camp Gillette inventor (safety razor) (How are ya fixed for blades?)
1859 DeWitt B Brace inventor (spectrophotometer)
1874 Joseph Erlanger doctor (shock therapy-Nobel 1944)
1876 Konrad Adenauer Cologne Germany, chancellor of Germany (1949)
1895 Jeannette Piccard balloonist/Episcopal priest
1901 Mario Scelba premier Italy (1954-55)
1906 Kathleen Kenyon 1st person to place date on remains of Jericho
1914 George Reeves [George Lescher Bessolo], actor (Superman)
1918 Jeanne Dixon Medford WI, psychic (Gift of Prophecy)(Never won the lottery)
1923 Sam Phillips musician/record company founder (Sun)
1928 Walter Fritz Mondale (Senator-D-MN)/42nd Vice President (1977-81)
1931 Robert Duvall San Diego CA, actor (Great Santini, Taxi Driver)
1932 Chuck Noll Cleveland OH, NFL coach (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1932 Umberto Eco author (Name of the Rose)
1938 Juan Carlos I king of Spain (1975- )
1938 Edwin Elliason Washington, US archer (Olympics-92)
1942 Charlie Rose Henderson NC, newscaster (Charlie Rose show)
1945 Sam Wyche NFL coach (Cincinnati Bengals)
1945 Jimmy Page (musician: group: Led Zeppelin)
1946 Diane Keaton Louisiana, actress (Annie Hall, Little Drummer Girl)
1953 Pamela Sue Martin Westport CT, actress (Nancy Drew, Fallon-Dynasty)

Deaths which occurred on January 05:
1066 King Edward the Confessor of England, dies
1387 Pedro IV king of Aragon/conqueror of Sicily, dies at 67
1477 Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy/writer, dies at 43
1589 Catherine de' Medici Queen mother of France, dies at 69
1796 Samuel Huntington US judge (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 64
1904 Karl A von Zittel German geologist/paleontologist (Libya), dies at 64
1922 Sir Ernest Shackleton Antarctic explorer (Endurance), dies aboard his ship at 47
1933 Calvin Coolidge 30th President (1923-29), dies in Northampton MA at 60
1943 George Washington Carver famous black American agricultural scientist dies at 81
1963 Rogers Hornsby baseball player, dies of a heart ailment at 66
1970 Joseph A Yablonski candidate for United Mine Workers president, murdered
1971 Sonny Liston World Champ heavyweight boxer (1962-64), found dead at 36
1982 Hans Conried actor (Bullwinkle Show, Make Room for Daddy), dies at 64
1982 Harvey Lembeck actor (Phil Silvers, Hathaways), dies at 56
1988 "Pistol Pete" Mavarich NBAer (Atlanta), dies of a heart attack at 40
1993 Westley A Dodd US murderer, 1st hanging in US since 1965
1994 Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill (D-MA)/Speaker of House (1977-86), dies at 81
1995 Yahya Ayyash PLO bomb maker, booby trapped cellular phone at 28
1998 Sonny Bono (Representative-R-CA)/singer (Sonny & Cher), dies skiing at 62

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 STRATTON RICHARD A.---QUINCY MA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 ANTON FRANCIS G.---WILLINBORO NJ.
[03/16/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 BRIGGS ERNEST F.---DEVINE TX.
[NO SIGN OF CREW]
1968 FOULKS RALPH E.---RIDGECREST CA.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 12 JAN 93]
1968 FANTLE SAMUEL---SIOUX FALLS SD.
[09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV]
1968 GALLAGHER JOHN T.---HAMDEN CT.
[NO SIGN OF CREW]
1968 HAMILTON DENNIS C.---BARNES CITY IA.
[NO SIGN OF CREW]
1968 HARTNEY JAMES C.---FORT LAUDERDALE FL.
[REMAINS RETMAINS 11/20/89]
1968 JONES WILLIAM E.---FORT WORTH TX.
[REMAINS RECOVERED 08/14/85]
1968 LEWIS ROBERT III---HOUSTON TX.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 PFISTER JAMES F. JR.---INDIANAPOLIS IN.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 SCHULTZ SHELDON D.---ALTOONA PA.
[NO SIGN OF CREW]
1968 SCHWEITZER ROBERT J.---ORELAND PA.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DECEASED]
1968 WILLIAMSON JAMES D.---TUMWATER WA.
[NO SIGN OF CREW]
1970 BURNES ROBERT WAYNE---EDMOND OK.
1970 ROBINSON LARRY WARREN---RANDOLPH NE.
1971 CRAMER DONALD M.---ST LOUIS MO.

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

On this day...
1463 French poet François Villon banished from Paris
1477 Battle at Nancy, Burgundy vs Switzerland, 7000+ killed
1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza's troops reconquer Milan
1531 Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry
1554 Great fire in Eindhoven Netherlands
1638 Petition in Recife Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues
1719 England/Hannover/Saxony-Poland/Austria sign anti-Prussian/Russian pact
1757 Failed assassination attempt on French king Louis XV by Damiens
1776 Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution
1781 British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond VA
1800 1st Swedenborgian temple in US holds 1st service, Baltimore MD
1804 Ohio legislature passes 1st laws restricting free blacks movement
1815 Federalists from all over New England, angered over the War of 1812, draw up the Hartford Convention, demanding several important changes in the U.S. Constitution
1834 Kiowa Indians record this as the night the stars fell
1836 Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo
1841 James Clark Ross (UK) is 1st to enter pack ice near Ross Ice Shelf
1861 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Fort Sumter
1892 1st successful auroral photograph made
1895 French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, publicly stripped of his rank; later declared innocent
1896 German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen's discovers x-rays
1903 San Francisco-Hawaii telegraph cable opens for public use
1905 Charles Perrine announces discovery of Jupiter's 7th satellite, Elara
1905 National Association of Audubon Society incorporates
1909 Colombia recognizes Panamá's independence
1911 Portuguese expel Jesuits
1914 James Cox of Ford Motor Co announces wages will jump from $2.40/9-hour day to $5.00/8-hour day
1916 Austria-Hungary offensive against Montenegro
1918 British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace
1919 National Socialist Party (Nazi) forms as German Farmers Party
1925 Nellie Taylor Ross became Governor of Wyoming, 1st woman governor in USA
1927 Judge Landis begins 3-day public hearing on charges that 4 games played between Chicago & Detroit in 1917 had been thrown to White Sox
1933 Work on Golden Gate Bridge begins, on Marin County side
1937 Only unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session (Nebraska)
1942 55 German tanks reach North-Africa
1945 Pepe LePew debuts in Warner Bros cartoon "Odor-able Kitty"
1949 President Harry S Truman labels his administration the "Fair Deal"
1951 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Ponte Vedra Beach Women's Golf Open
1955 KMSP TV channel 9 in Minneapolis-St Paul MN (IND) 1st broadcast
1956 Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 Eisenhower asks Congress to send troops to the Mid East
1959 "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV
1964 Pope Paul VI visits Jordan & Israel
1968 U.S. forces in Vietnam launch Operation Niagara I to locate enemy units around the Marine base at Khe Sanh
1968 Dr Benjamin Spock indicted for conspiring to violate draft law
1970 Soap Opera "All My Children" premieres on ABC
1971 Harlem Globetrotters lose 100-99 to New Jersey Reds, ending 2,495-game win streak
1972 President Nixon signs a bill for NASA to begin research on manned shuttle
1973 Mali & Niger break diplomatic relations with Israel
1976 "MacNeil-Lehrer Report" premieres on PBS
1979 Vietnamese troops occupy Phnom Penh and the Cambodian ruler Pol Pot is ousted from power
1981 "Nightline" with Ted Koppel extended from 20 minutes to 30 minutes
1993 Reggie Jackson elected to Hall of Fame
1998 Ice storm knocks out electricity in Québec & Ontario
1998 Vandals decapitate Copenhagen's Little Mermaid

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

Bird Day (1905)
England : Glastonbury Thorn Day
Scotland : Handsel Monday
US : Diet Resolution Week (Day 5)
US : Pun Week (Day 3)
National Egg Month

Religious Observances
Christian : 12th Night, end of Christmas season (Denmark)
Christian : Epiphany Eve
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Telesphorus, 8th pope (125-136), martyr
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Simeon Stylites
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St John Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia
Lutheran : Commemoration of Kaj Munk, martyr
Jewish : Asarah B'Tevet (Siege of Jerusalem); Tevet 10, 5761

Religious History
1527 Swiss Anabaptist reformer Felix Manz, 29, was drowned in punishment for preaching adult (re-)baptism. Manz's death made him the first Protestant in history to be martyred at the hands of other Protestants.
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'There is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise.'
1949 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'Our Father in heaven, give us the long view of our work and our world. Help us to see that it is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.'
1922 Following her sensational divorce, popular American evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 32, resigned her denominational ordination and returned her fellowship papers to the General Council of the Assemblies of God.
1964 Following an unprecedented pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. It was the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in over 500 years (since 1439).

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

Thought for the day :
"Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying"

Morning alfa6.

We're supposed to have some bad eather coming our way. Cold, maybe snow and freezing rain. What's you do send your weather back West?

Morning Snippy.

Morning Aeronaut.