Patton considered himself, with good reason, "the best damn ass-kicker in the U.S. Army," but he accepted this outrageous decision without a protest. This was not the time to raise a fuss. For the moment he saved his invective for his diary. "Ike has never been subjected to air attack or any other form of death. However, he is such a straw man that his future is secure. The British will never let him go."
General Montgomery in a Canadian Army ambulance conversion jeep on the beach in Sicily, 1943.
Yet Patton did not simply give up Highway 124 with a smile. He slyly secured authorization to expand the American perimeter west. Patton had his eyes set on Palermo, and, ultimately, Messina. The next day Patton and Major General Lucien K. Truscott, who headed up the 3rd Infantry Division, discussed a westward reconnaissance in force toward Agrigento and Porto Empedocle. Truscott felt that Alexander would not object to such a move, and Patton, Truscott wrote, "with something of the air of the cat that had swallowed the canary, agreed . . . ." Patton had his foot in the door and he meant to swing it open.
On July 16 Alexander issued another directive that positively infuriated Patton. The order stipulated that Montgomery's Eighth Army would advance on Messina on three fronts. The Americans were officially left with the distasteful task of protecting Montgomery's left flank. Alexander lamely authorized Seventh Army "to capture Agrigento and Porto Empedocle"--something Truscott had done that very day. Patton blamed Montgomery. "Monty is trying to steal the show," he wrote to his wife, Beatrice, "and with the assistance of Divine Destiny [Eisenhower] may do so . . . ."
Lt. Col. Lyle Bernard, CO, 30th Infantry Regiment, a prominent figure in the second daring amphibious landing behind enemy lines on Sicily's north coast, discusses military strategy with Lt. Gen. George S. Patton. Near Brolo, NA 1943/08/09
Patton had had enough. Alexander clearly had no intention of assigning Seventh Army anything other than mop-up duty in Western Sicily, while Montgomery's Eighth marched to Messina and glory in the east. Patton felt his superior lacked "any conception of the power or mobility of the Seventh Army." On July 17 he climbed aboard a B-25 and flew to 15th Army headquarters in Tunisia to confront Alexander. Patton told the army group commander in no uncertain terms that he wanted his army unleashed. He explained "it would be inexpedient politically for the Seventh Army not to have equal glory in the final stage of the campaign." Patton asked for authorization to drive north to split the Axis forces and to clear out remaining resistance in the west. Alexander agreed, providing Seventh Army hold a crucial road network near Caltanissetta in the center of the island. "If I do what I am going to do," Patton confided to his diary, "there is no need of holding anything, but 'it's a mean man who won't promise,' so I did."
Patton wasted no time putting his new plan into action. He created a Provisional Corps under the command of Major General Geoffrey Keyes, his deputy commander, and sent it northwest towards Palermo while Bradley's II Corps set out for the north coast, knifing across the island's center through tough German defenders. Facing light resistance from largely dispirited Italian troops, Keyes' troops "moved so fast that often the German and Italian 88s [88mm anti-tank guns], which they captured en route, had not been pointed around or set up to shoot against them." On July 22 Truscott's Division entered Palermo after covering an astonishing 100 miles in just 72 hours. Wild celebrations and ebullient Sicilians greeted the Americans. Support for Italy's Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini was nowhere to be seen. The next day the 45th Division of Bradley's II Corps reached the coast at Termini, 25 miles to the east. Until he took matters into his own hands, Patton wrote in his diary, "Monty was trying to command both armies and getting away with it." Now Seventh Army was making its mark.
Meanwhile, Patton pushed his personal competition with Montgomery to comical new heights. On July 25 he flew across the island to Syracuse for a meeting with Alexander and Montgomery. On seeing his erstwhile British rival, Patton noted, "I made the error of hurrying to meet him. He hurried a little too, but I started it." At the end of the conference, during which, Patton noted, he didn't receive lunch, "Monty gave me a 5¢ cigar lighter. Some one must have sent him a box of them." When Montgomery visited Palermo a few days later, Patton sent an escort to meet him at the airport and greeted him at his headquarters with a full band. "I hope Monty realized that I did this to show him up for doing nothing for me on the 25th," Patton wrote. At Syracuse, Montgomery surprised Patton by suggesting that Seventh Army capture Messina. While Keyes and Bradley had raced across Sicily, Montgomery's Eighth Army had become completely bogged down in the east. Dug-in German troops continued to hold Montgomery at Catania, while his circling movement west around Etna proceeded slowly. With Seventh Army now poised, cat-like, ready to strike east, Montgomery realized that Patton was best positioned to take the city. Besides, by attacking east Patton would relieve the pressure on Eighth Army and allow him to finally punch past Catania.
Major General Lucien K. Truscott
Patton doubted Montgomery's motives, but he needed no further urging. "This is a horse race in which the prestige of the US Army is at stake," he wrote to 45th Infantry Division Commander Major General Troy Middleton. "We must take Messina before the British. Please use your best efforts to facilitate the success of our race." Montgomery made little of this "race," but to Patton it became a personal crusade to win acclaim and respect for his much-maligned troops. British soldiers and officers undoubtedly wanted to beat the Americans into Messina. But Patton definitely hyped the contest.
On July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III, supported by leading Italian political figures, deposed dictator Benito Mussolini, and Italy began to negotiate peace terms with the Allies. (Italy would pull out of the Axis in September.) As German commanders planned to evacuate Sicily, Patton and Montgomery began squeezing Axis defenders into the island's northeast corner. Eighth Army continued to probe German defenses at Catania while Canadian and British troops drove in a "left hook" around Etna's western slope. To the north, the 1st and newly arrived 9th American Divisions advanced east from the island's rugged center, while the 3rd Division attacked down the north coast road. "The mountains are the worst I have ever seen," Patton wrote on August 1. "It is a miracle that our men can get through them but we must keep up our steady pressure. The enemy simply can't stand it, besides we must beat the Eighth Army to Messina."
On August 3, Patton stopped by an army hospital outside Nicosia and chatted with several injured soldiers; "All were brave and cheerful," he noted. Then he encountered a 1st Division infantryman who seemed unhurt. Patton asked him what was wrong. "I guess I can't take it," the soldier replied. Patton erupted. Cursing the soldier as a coward, he slapped him with his gloves and pushed him out of the tent. Such men, Patton wrote, "should be tried for cowardice and shot." A week later at another hospital Patton came across another "alleged nervous patient," a private in the 13th Field Artillery Brigade whose case was diagnosed as severe shell shock. Again Patton's anger overcame him; again he slapped and cursed the soldier. "I can't help it," he said, "but it makes my blood boil to think of a yellow bastard being babied." Patton didn't realize the seriousness of what he had done, but the incidents would soon change his life and career.
Patton's relentless push for Messina also took its toll on his relationship with Bradley, a straight-laced subordinate who deplored Patton's use of profanity and flamboyant style of command. "He traveled in an entourage of command cars followed by a string of nattily uniformed staff officers," Bradley wrote. "His own vehicle was gaily decked with oversize stars and the insignia of his command. These exhibitions did not awe the troops as perhaps Patton believed. Instead, they offended the men as they trudged through the clouds of dust left in the wake of that procession." Where Patton was eager to outshine Montgomery, Bradley failed to see the point in capturing Palermo. "Certainly there was no glory in the capture of hills, docile peasants, and spiritless soldiers," he wrote. To Bradley, racing Montgomery to Messina was equally unnecessary, for "However rapidly we pushed into that city, we could not cut the enemy's escape route across to Italy."
Yet Patton wanted more than a cheap victory over Montgomery. Despite galling BBC reports (soldiers called them Badly Biased Comments) "that the Seventh Army has been lucky to be in western Sicily eating grapes," the capture of Palermo had been a publicity coup for Patton's army. The troops' morale soared. The Americans' non-stop marching and ability to operate tanks and other armored vehicles in rough terrain began to open the eyes of their Eighth Army counterparts. Capturing Messina promised more of the same.
Palermo entered by US tanks, ILN 1943/07/31
As the final phase of the Sicily Campaign heated up, Patton drove his officers to push as hard as they could. Troina fell on August 6. To the south, British forces captured Adrano and--finally--Catania. Fighting a brilliant rearguard action, German army units crept back from their narrowing front toward the beaches of the Straits of Messina. There, German and Italian ships waited to ferry troops and equipment across the two-mile passage to the Italian mainland.
In an effort to by-pass enemy positions and speed up his advance, Patton authorized two amphibious landings along the north coast. On the night of August 7-8 Americans swept ashore virtually unopposed behind German lines at St. Agata. At the same time, troops from Truscott's 3rd Division launched an attack on the high ridges inland and took 1,500 prisoners, bringing Seventh Army 12 miles closer to Messina. The second landing nearly proved a disaster. Truscott felt he would not have time to get his infantry up in time to support it, and wanted to postpone the attack for one day. Bradley agreed. But Patton was having none of it. Messina lay around the corner, and this wasn't the time to slow down. Early on August 11 elements of Truscott's 30th Infantry regiment went ashore at Brolo, 12 miles behind a German front. The Americans were quickly pinned down on a hill just above town. Nearly 30 hours passed before the balance of Truscott's troops could relieve them. Progress had again been made, but at a high price.
Palermo - women hold up babies to U.S. soldiers, ILN 1943/07/31
On August 13 American troops captured Randazzo. To the south, British and Canadian troops forced the Germans from the slopes of Mt. Etna. Axis forces flooded toward Messina. On the night of August 15-16 Montgomery tried an amphibious landing of his own, putting elements of his commando and armored units ashore at Scaletta, just eight miles from Messina.
Patton ordered a third "leap-frog" operation for that same night, but by then American troops were moving so fast that they had already passed the scheduled landing site by the time the ship borne force arrived. Around 10:00 p.m. on August 16 elements of Truscott's 3rd Division entered bomb-scarred Messina. Patton immediately notified Eisenhower and Alexander, and called Bradley to tell him "we would enter Messina in the morning at 1000 hours."
Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery is bid a jolly farewell by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., at the Palermo, Sicily airport after a visit by Gen. Montgomery. (28 Jul 43) Signal Corps Photo: MM-Bri-7-28-43-R2-6 (Lt. Brin)
Early the next morning as the last of the Axis troops slipped off the island, Patton met Truscott, Keyes, and a host of reporters on a hill outside town. "What in hell are you all standing around for?" he bellowed. Bradley remained conspicuously absent. "This is a great disappointment to me," Patton later wrote, "as I had telephoned him, and he certainly deserved the pleasure of entering the town." But Bradley wanted no part of Patton's pomp and ceremony. Minutes later, a procession of army vehicles led by Patton's command car roared into Messina, chased all the way by exploding shells fired by Axis guns on the Italian mainland.
After fighting their way over mined roads and around blown-up bridges in the early-morning hours, Lieutenant Colonel J.M.T.F. Churchill's British commandos reached the city only to find the Americans already there. At about 10:30 a.m., Patton pulled into the city square just as a squadron of Brigadier J.C. Currie's British 4th Armored tanks rumbled into town. Both Churchill and Currie had brought along a set of bagpipes to celebrate beating the Americans into town. "I think the general was quite sore that we had got there first . . . ." Patton wrote. Currie climbed out of his Sherman tank to shake hands with a glowing Patton. "It was a jolly good race," Currie said with a smile. "I congratulate you."
Comino entered by U.S. 7th Army July 16, ILN 1943/07/31
Patton's victorious, hell-for-leather drive on Messina restored some luster to an otherwise badly managed campaign. Rather than firmly coordinating the moves of Seventh and Eighth Armies, Alexander had vacillated, first backing down to Montgomery and then allowing, almost forcing, Patton to set his own course. Poor decisions, such as the reassignment of Highway 124 to Montgomery (and poor air cover over the Messina Straits), ultimately cost time, and allowed Axis ships and ferries to evacuate roughly 60,000 Italian soldiers, 40,000 Germans, 10,000 vehicles, and 17,000 tons of equipment from the island--all of which would soon be used against the Allies in Italy.
The race had significant, if less tangible, repercussions for Patton and American fighting men. The fast-moving Seventh Army had proved itself the equal of Eighth Army and set a new standard in mobile warfare. The Americans, Montgomery admitted after the war, had "proved themselves to be first-class troops. It took time; but they did it more quickly than we did."
Patton was entirely satisfied with his own performance. "Of course, had I not been interfered with on the 13th of July by a full change of plan," he wrote to his wife, "I would have taken Messina in ten days, but then I would have had to turn back to get Palermo, so it all came out O.K." Although Alexander would continue to rate British troops above the Americans, Patton had effectively exorcised the demons of Kasserine Pass.
Messina entered by American troops, ILN 1943/09/11
Yet the Sicilian campaign almost ended Patton's 34-year army career. Reports of the two slapping incidents made their way to Eisenhower and, even worse, a small group of reporters. Eisenhower was furious. He ordered Patton to apologize to the soldiers involved and warned him that such behavior "will not be tolerated in this theater no matter who the offender may be." Meanwhile he asked the reporters to refrain from publishing the story for the good of the Allied cause. Patton was his best general and would be needed again. They agreed.
The story finally broke in November but Eisenhower refused to relieve his old friend. Still, the public furor over the slapping incidents doomed Patton to many months of glum idleness while the war passed him by. Eisenhower dropped him from consideration for command of American ground forces in the inevitable invasion of Europe--an honor that eventually went to Bradley. When Patton finally returned to action in France in command of Third Army in August 1944, he was subordinate to both Bradley and Montgomery. Yet to Patton, that was secondary. Destiny had beckoned him and he would soon become, as one German officer said, "the most feared general on all fronts."
Additional Sources: www.answers.com
history.acusd.edu
www.1uptravel.com
www.temple.edu
www.webbuild.net
bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
www.army.mil
www.ibiblio.org
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on February 23:
1417 Paul II [Pietro Barbo], Italy, Pope (1464-71)
1633 Samuel Pepys London England, navy expert/composer (Diary, Memoirs)
1649 John Blow composer of 1st English opera (Venus & Adonis) (baptized)
1685 George Frideric Händel Halle Germany, organist/baroque composer (Messiah)
1734 Mayer Amschel Rothschild Frankfurt, founder (House of Rothschild)(it's all a plot)
1776 John Walter II London, chief proprietor (The London Times, 1812-47)
1818 Major General Jeremy F Gilmer General/Chief Engineer Confederate War Department
1824 Lewis Cass Hunt Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1838 Gilbert Moxley Sorrel Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1901
1865 Barney Dreyfuss baseball owner (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1868 W E B Du Bois Great Barrington MA, civil rights writer (Souls of Black Folk)
1879 Agnes Arber English biologist/philosopher (Mind & the Eye)
1883 Victor Fleming Pasadena CA, director (Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind)
1883 Karl Jaspers Oldenburg Germany, existentialist philosopher
1904 William L Shirer historian (Rise & Fall of 3rd Reich)
1911 G Mennen Williams Detroit MI, Sup Court Justice/(Governor-D-MI, 1949-60)
1917 Kenneth Tobey actor (Chuck-Whirlybirds)
1928 Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev Siberia USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A)
1929 Elston Howard Yankee catcher (1st black New York Yankee/1963 AL MVP)
1937 Tom Osborne college football coach
1939 Majel Barrett Columbus OH, actress (Christine Chapel-Star Trek)
1940 Peter Fonda actor (Easy Rider, Lilith, Wild Angels, Trip)
1943 Fred Biletnikoff NFL wide receiver (Oakland Raiders)
1944 Johnny Winter [John Dawson], Leland MS, guitarist (Silver Train)
1947 Colin Sanders British computer engineer (Solid State Logic)
1951 Ed "Too Tall" Jones NFL linebacker (Dallas Cowboys)
1963 Bobby Bonilla New York NY, outfielder (New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Marlins)
Deaths which occurred on February 23:
0155 Polycarp disciple of Apostle John, arrested & burned at stake
1447 Eugene IV [Gabriele Condulmer], Italian Pope (1431-47), dies
1468 Johannes Gutenberg German inventor (boekdrukkunst), dies
1792 Joshua Reynolds English portrait painter (Simplicity), dies at 68
1821 John Keats Romantic poet, dies of tuberculosis at 25 in Rome
1848 John Quincy Adams 6th US President (1825-1829), dies of a stroke at 80
1900 William Butterfield architect of the Gothic revival, dies
1915 Robert Smalls Reconstruction congressman, dies at 75 in South Carolina
1924 Thomas Woodrow Wilson 28th US President (1913-21), dies
1930 Fahne Hoch lyricist (Horst Wessel) German Nazi, dies at 22
1945 Aubrey Cousins Canadian sergeant (Victoria Cross), dies in battle
1965 Stan Laurel comedian (Laurel & Hardy), dies in California of heart attack at 74
1969 Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Rahman al-Faisal al-Saud King Saudia, dies at 67
1976 Fuzzy Knight actor (Gun Town, Ragtime Cowboy Joe), dies at 74
1990 James Gavin commandant US 82nd Airborn Division (Normandy), dies at 82
1990 Jose Napoleon Duarte President of Salvador (1984-89), dies at 62
1995 James Herriot (78), Scottish author (All Creatures Great & Small), died.
1995 Peter Guy Wykeham Fighter Pilot (WWII ace) dies at 79
1996 Lieutenant General Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Saddam Kamel al-Majid, murdered (sons-in-law of Saddam Hussein)
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1968 DONALD MYRON L.---MORAVIA NY.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 GUTTERSON LAIRD---CULVER CITY CA.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 HUBLER GEORGE L.---MOAB UT.
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
0303 Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians
1455 Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, the Bible (estimated date)
1540 Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado began his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest.
1574 France begins 5th Holy War against Huguenots
1660 Charles XI becomes king of Sweden
1672 Joan Blaeus publishers destroyed by fire in Amsterdam
1689 Dutch prince William III proclaimed king of England
1778 Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge
1792 Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
1792 Joseph Haydn's 94th Symphony in G, premieres
1813 1st US raw cotton-to-cloth mill founded in Waltham MA
1820 Cato Street conspiracy uncovered
1821 College of Apothecaries organized in Philadelphia; 1st US pharmacy college
1822 Boston is incorporated as a city
1836 Alamo besieged by Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
1847 Battle of Buena Vista, México; Zachary Taylor defeats Mexicans
1854 Great-Britain & Orange Free state sign Convention of Bloemfontein
1861 By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US
1861 President-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington DC to take office
1869 Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
1870 Mississippi is re-admitted to US
1874 Major Walter Winfield patents game called "sphairistike" (lawn tennis)
1883 Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
1883 American Anti-Vivisection Society organized (Philadelphia)
1886 Aluminum manufacturing process developed
1886 London Times publishes world's 1st classified ad
1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die
1892 1st college student government established, Bryn Mawr PA
1896 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield
1898 In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing government of anti-Semitism & wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus
1903 Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA
1904 Control of Panamá Canal Zone acquired by US for $10 million
1905 Rotary Club International established by 4 men in Chicago
1910 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia)
1915 Nevada enforces convenient divorce law
1916 French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun (another great moment in French military history)
1917 February revolution begins in Russia
1919 Benito Mussolini founds the Facist party of Italy
1921 1st US transcontinental air mail flight arrives in New York NY from San Francisco CA
1927 President Coolidge creates Federal Radio Commission (FCC predecessor)
1934 Casey Stengel becomes manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
1934 Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium
1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake NY
1938 Twelve Chinese fighter planes dropped bombs on Japan
1938 Joe Louis KOs Nathan Mann in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
1940 Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio", released
1942 Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood CA
1943 German troops pull back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia
1945 US Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima, famous photo & statue
1947 General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews
1954 1st mass inoculation with Salk vaccine (Pittsburgh)
1956 20th Congress of CPSU closes in Moscow
1956 Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
1960 Demolition begins on Brooklyn's Ebbets Field (opened in 1913)
1966 Aldo Moro forms Italian government
1966 Premier Obote grabs power in Uganda
1967 25th amendment (Presidential succession) declared ratified
1967 US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War
1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Democratic People's Front for Liberation of Palestine
1971 Lieutenant Calley confesses & implicates Captain Medina (My Lai massacre)
1976 Owners announce spring training won't open without a labor contract
1979 Frank Peterson Jr named 1st black general in Marine Corps
1980 Eric Heiden wins all 5 speed skating golds at Lake Placid Olympics
1985 Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game
1985 US Senate confirms Edwin Meese III as Attorney General
1987 Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604
1987 Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak posthumous as member
1991 US insists Iraq publicly announce it is leaving Kuwait by 12 PM EST
1991 North Carolina is 1st NCAA basketball team to win 1,500 games
1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1
1997 NBC TV shows "Schindler's List", completely uncensored, 65 million watch
1997 Scientists in Scotland announced they succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly"
1998 Supreme Court lets Megan's Law stand
1998 Tornadoes in Florida kills at least 31
1998 Osama bin Laden declares a holy war on the US.
2003 In Iraq Saddam Hussein met separately with Russian Yevgeny Primakov and former US attorney gen'l. Ramsay Clark. Clark said Hussein feared that Pres. Bush had made up his mind to attack and that there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
World : International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day
Brunei : National Day
Guyana : Republic Day (1970)
US : Iwo Jima Day (1945)
US : Wine Appreciation Week (Day 2)
US : Engineers Week (Day 2)
Macadamia Nut Month
Religious Observances
Ancient Rome : Terminalia; festival of Terminus, god of boundaries
Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyr
old Roman Catholic : Feast of St Peter Damian, bishop of Ostia/confessor/doctor (2/2)
Lutheran : Commemoration of Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, missionary
Christian : Shrove Monday
Religious History
155 Martyrdom of Polycarp, an early Church Father who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Arrested at age 86, Polycarp was burned at the stake for refusing to deny the Christian faith.
1744 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'There is a God in heaven who over-rules all things for the best; and this is the comfort of my soul.'
1775 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'How great and honorable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage, for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power.
1834 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in his journal: 'Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?'
1970 The Holy Eucharist was distributed by women for the first time in a Roman Catholic service.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"Almost anything is easier to get into than out of."
