The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Bedford Boys (6/6/1944) - Feb 28th, 2005

World War II. Magazine | June 2004 | David Fortuna

[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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The Bedford Boys

On June 6, 1944, the tiny town of Bedford, Va., suffered a tragedy that would never be forgotten.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the seas were heavy and frosted with whitecaps. A cold, damp wind swept across the ships' decks, which were faintly illuminated by a pale moon that barely penetrated the overcast. Here, in mid-Channel, thousands of ships were assembled in the largest invasion fleet the world had ever known.

In the ensuing hours, hundreds upon hundreds of men would start to prepare for battle. Young and frightened, they could only begin to imagine what would await them. For many it would be their longest day; for others it would be their last. Far removed from the fleet preparing to invade Normandy was Bedford, Va., a small, obscure town lying just below the Blue Ridge Mountains. Most citizens of the peaceful community were fast asleep as the young soldiers hundreds of miles away, some from Bedford, were transported to the French coast and made final preparations before embarking on their mission. Yet, as dawn broke over the English Channel, the tranquility of that little town would soon be completely shaken. Until that awful June day, most people in Bedford had never even heard of Normandy, but in a few short hours they would have a terrible connection with its famous stretch of beach known as Omaha.

Made up of men from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the 29th Infantry Division was a former National Guard unit. Among the division's regiments was the 116th Infantry, whose companies were Guardsmen drawn from various Virginia towns and draftees from elsewhere. Company A of the 116th was home to 35 men from Bedford -- all of them volunteers.

On February 3, 1941, Company A had been activated into federal service. Although comparatively new, it was one of the top-ranking companies of the old National Guard, having won many trophies in past training events. Eight months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that propelled the United States into World War II, the citizen-soldiers of Company A had no idea what the future held for them. After mobilization, the men continued training and, after December 7, performed coastal defense duty along the Atlantic shore.



In a gesture intended to bolster Britain's defenses and to "show the flag" in an active theater, in September 1942 the 29th Division boarded the converted luxury liner Queen Mary and sailed for England, arriving in October. For the next 21 months, while other American divisions saw combat in North Africa, Italy and the Pacific, the 29th continued with its training. The division's 116th Infantry became the first unit to complete amphibious exercises at the U.S. Army's purpose-built amphibious training facility at Slapton Sands in southern England. Known derisively by the men of more experienced divisions as "England's Own," the 29th was selected for its invasion role in part because, unaware of the true nature of combat, the division's men still had a zeal for action that was muted in more experienced formations.

As the date for the invasion neared, the pace of training intensified. In January, British General Bernard L. Montgomery visited the "29ers," and later Generals Omar N. Bradley and Dwight D. Eisenhower also visited the division. On May 18, 1944, the soldiers of Company A began moving from Tidworth Barracks to their marshaling area near Dorchester, England. It wasn't until they were waiting to board the British troopship Empire Javelin, bound for France, that the men finally learned of their final destination -- Normandy -- and that they were scheduled to be the first wave of the invasion at 6:30 a.m. on June 5. The 29ers were then briefed on the obstacles they would face, which were formidable.

Between the high- and low-water marks along Omaha Beach where the 29th and the veteran 1st Division would land, the Germans had placed three distinct ranks of obstacles. The first ran the length of the beach, approximately 250 yards out from the high-water mark; it consisted of steel gatelike structures 10 feet high. They were emplaced irregularly, making it hard for the landing craft to avoid them. Lashed to the uprights were mines that would explode if hit by the boats. Closer in, heavy logs with contact mines secured on top were driven into the sand at an angle so that the top part faced seaward. The final obstructions were some 130 yards from the high-water line. These were barriers of three or more steel rails, crossed at the center and embedded in the sand. Known as "hedgehogs," they could puncture the bottom of any landing craft attempting to ride over them.



If the men were lucky enough to pass through those obstacles, on the shore awaiting them above the high-water mark were strands of barbed wire and thousands of buried mines. Behind the coast rose steep cliffs, some reaching 170 feet above the water. From this high ground, elements of the German 352nd Infantry Division could overlook the entire shoreline, giving them a tremendous field of enfilading fire. Machine guns were positioned in concrete pillboxes and open positions. Mortars, together with 75mm and 88mm guns, formed the final defenses.

Some machine gun nests were almost impossible to spot or hit. And they were positioned so that a burst of machine gun fire that missed one group of Americans was likely to hit other soldiers farther down the shore.

In order to secure the beach and prepare it so vehicles and heavy equipment could cross, the men of the first wave were responsible for securing four passages, or draws, along the beach. These led inland, and each was well defended by troops with mortars, infantry howitzers and antitank weapons as well as small arms.

[SAMWolf]

The assignment for Company A was to land on the Dog Green portion of Omaha Beach and secure the D-1 draw in front of the village of Vierville. Following their briefings, the 29ers gave their equipment a final look before boarding the trucks on the morning of Sunday, June 4, that would take them to Weymouth, where they boarded Empire Javelin. The invasion fleet left from Weymouth and other English Channel ports and began assembling prior to making the final run to the beaches. As the vessels approached Normandy, however, the weather deteriorated, and later that evening General Eisenhower made the agonizing decision to turn the fleet around and postpone the invasion for 24 hours. The next day the weather improved sufficiently for the ships to leave the safety of the Channel ports for the second time and make the crossing to France.



In the Omaha Beach first wave with Company A were Ray and Roy Stevens of Bedford. They came from a farm family of 14 children. The twins -- Roy was older than Ray by 20 minutes -- grew up during the hard times of the Depression, and both had dropped out of school to help support their family. Like many twins, they were close and did many things together, buying a 130-acre farm and even dating twin sisters for a while.

In 1939 Ray joined the local National Guard, and Roy followed a week later. At the time, many young men were joining the Guard; it seemed the thing to do. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the company was in southwest Virginia on maneuvers. Roy Stevens remembered: "I was watching a movie in South Hill, Va., when they broke in and told us. We all left and was going to whip them that night; it was pretty exciting. But that's when we knew we were in for it, we were supposed to be in [the Guard] for a year, and our year was almost up."

Now on board Empire Javelin, the Stevens brothers, like others, talked of home and what they would do when they returned. Earl Parker, another Bedford soldier, proudly showed off pictures of his daughter, born four weeks after he shipped out. Parker told them he would not mind dying if he could only see her just once.

"People were serious about this thing," Roy recalled. "We knew somebody was going to die and it wasn't going to be long. There was no swearing or cussing like you see in the movies."

A priest told the men they should prepare for whatever awaited them. "I imagine everybody did," Roy remembered. "If anybody believed in an almighty, they did that night."

As the troopship pulled out of Weymouth on the night of June 5, Roy lay in his bunk trying to sleep and wondering if he would make it. "Nobody slept that night," he recalled, "nobody."

At 3 a.m. on the morning of June 6, troops began to assemble to go ashore. Heavily laden with equipment, they slowly climbed down the netting on the side of Empire Javelin and boarded their 30-man LCA (landing craft, assault). Before they climbed aboard their landing craft, Roy recalled he told Ray that they would shake hands when they met again on shore in Vierville. But Ray just kept his head bowed down. In retrospect, Roy is sure that Ray must have had a premonition about what was to come. That moment has haunted Roy ever since.

In the heavy seas, their boats lurched forward, slamming into the towering gray-black waves. Crowded tightly together, many men became violently seasick. With feet awash in water and vomit, they were finally heading to war.

The seven landing craft that would carry Company A -- the boys from Bedford -- onto the beach formed up in the darkened sea. Finally all the LCAs were lined up and starting to shore. Riding out 6- and 7-foot waves that sprayed water into the boats, the soldiers huddled, wet and shivering. Fearful the craft would be swamped, some men began to bail with their helmets, as water poured in faster than bilge pumps could take it out.

Mammoth naval guns opened up, as did tank guns and artillery firing from LCTs (landing craft, transport), creating a deafening roar that hammered the senses. Landing craft armed with rocket launchers fired thousands of missiles that gave off a horrendous banshee wail. The battleship Texas fired its huge 14-inch guns, lobbing 2,000-pound shells at distant targets. The recoil of the mighty cannons actually moved the ship, causing giant swells that almost swamped some of the small boats.

[SAMWolf]

In the early morning mist, a haze of smoke was the first sign of shore, and then the line of bluffs emerged. When the landing craft were about 400 yards out, the Germans began firing, and artillery and mortar shells splashed down around the boats. At first the fire was inaccurate. Near misses sent water skyward, falling back on the already soaked soldiers. As the LCAs came closer to shore, the shelling became more effective.



The first craft sunk was Boat No 5. Six members of Company A drowned in that vessel, along with the boat crew. Twenty other men were rescued by naval craft. As the six other LCAs continued to approach shore, a shell hit Boat No. 3, killing several men. A dozen men of the assault team were hurled into the water and drowned.

Roy Stevens was in Boat No. 4. As it approached the beach, he remembered: "It came down off a wave and hit an obstacle just like that. Punched a hole in it." Fortunately there was no explosive on the end of the obstacle, and the boat simply sank, 500 yards from shore. "I was about as scared as I ever was," Roy recalled. "I could swim, but not real well." Like others, he wore a life preserver, but loaded down with 60 pounds of equipment, it was a struggle to keep his head above water. Roy would have drowned if another Bedford native, Clyde Powers, had not come to his aid and cut off his pack. The survivors of Boat No. 4 bobbed alone in the water for almost two hours before they were rescued by a passing boat and returned to England.



Roy was lucky, but his brother Ray had not been so fortunate. When Roy finally reached Omaha Beach three days later, a medic told him that Ray had been shot across the midsection by a machine gun and had died on the beach. Several days later Roy found his brother's grave. He said he couldn't write his family with the news: "I was hoping all the time that I was wrong, but it didn't turn out that way."

Lieutenant Edward Tidrick, heading to shore in Boat No. 2, saw that it was coming in at the right spot, but the beach was untouched. In briefings, the 29ers had been told that bombs and artillery shells would create craters in the sand for their protection. For Company A, however, there was no cover on the beach. The U.S. Army Air Forces was supposed to bomb the beach, but, fearing they would hit invading Americans, the airmen flew too far inland before dropping their bombloads. The plan had been for the men to wade ashore in three files from each landing craft. But when the ramps were dropped at 6:30 a.m., all hell broke loose as the waiting Germans unleashed fusillades of withering automatic weapons fire. Order turned into confusion, with each man fighting for his own survival.



Ray Nance in Boat No. 1 remembered: "The minute the ramp went down they opened up. We must have been torn up pretty badly. A good many men were killed on the ramp." Nance left the landing craft and plunged into the chest-deep water. "I think that is what saved me," he recalled.

Struggling ahead of Nance was Pfc John Reynolds. Reynolds went down on his knees, then brought his rifle up and fell forward, dead. "It was here that the heaviest fire came down on us," Nance would write later. "A bullet passed through my pack and clothing, cutting the strap on my binocular case. We were caught in very heavy machine gun fire." Not long after, Nance was struck in the heel and also the stomach by bullets. All but three men on Nance's boat were either killed or wounded before even reaching the water's edge. Later, two of the three survivors were killed; only Cecil Breeden was untouched.



The objective was to get up to the high-water mark and off the beach, but many did not make it. John Wilkes and John Schenk were cut down by heavy fire at the waterline, and J.D. Clifton only made it as far as the cliffs before he was killed. Lieutenant Tidrick was struck in the throat shortly after landing. Gasping for air, he ordered, "Advance the wire cutters." Private Lee Nash heard the order, but was badly wounded and unable to comply.

Nearby, Boat No. 7 drifted toward shore, its coxswain dead beside the wheel. A medical section with 17 men was on board but could not exit; the Germans zeroed in on them as they struggled to get out, and the medics were helpless. Several were killed before they had a chance to help their badly wounded comrades on the beach.


Capt. Taylor Fellers

Company commander Captain Taylor Fellers (who was seriously ill with a severe sinus infection and could have remained in England) and Lieutenant Benjamin Kearfott arrived at the beach with 30 infantrymen aboard LCA-1015. When the ramp went down on their boat, the Germans trained devastating machine gun fire on the group. Fellers and the rest of the men on his boat were killed before they got far up the beach.

Additional Sources:

www.timesdispatch.com
virginiaphotographics.com
www.pbs.org
www.staunton.com
www.dean.usma.edu
www.ibiblio.org
www.britannica.com
www.history.navy.mil
www.source.ie

[SAMWolf]

After Fellers' death, Nance became the senior officer in the company, but he did not have many left to command. Despite his wounds, Nance managed to move up the beach, flopping down less than 100 yards from a German pillbox. He could see that bullets were striking the ground around him. One of them hit his pack again, which contained a quarter of a pound of TNT, but it did not strike his skin.



Nance remembered a Navy medic who approached him and tended his wounds. "I wondered where he came from. I was wet, dirty and my hands black and greasy from all the oil in the water, but he was clean and dry. I knew he was from the Navy because he wore green coveralls. As he squatted beside me, he said, 'This is worse than Salerno.' He was there. I didn't see him touch anyone near me. Then he left. Others I asked later said they never saw him. I know he was real, he touched me." To this day Nance still wonders where that medic came from.

Less than 10 minutes after the ramps dropped, Company A was virtually gone. By the end of the first hour, only a handful of survivors remained. Those men crawled across the sand to the seawall and stayed there throughout the day, suffering from shock, exhaustion and wounds. By nightfall, of the 230 men in the company, only 18 men were unhurt. "It took me until 11 a.m. to reach the bank," Nance recalled. "You can't imagine the sight of all the bodies, lying close together. I knew what happened then."

Bob Slaughter, who went ashore with Company D that same morning but landed to the right of Company A, described the beach the next morning: "The tide was coming in, and we stared in disbelief at this wasted scene. Hundreds of dead bodies and wrecked hulks littered the somewhat tranquil shore. There were wrecked landing craft, burned-out tanks, LSTs [landing ships, tank], ammo, helmets, grenades, but most shocking were the cold and bloody bodies washing in the surf." Company A's soldiers, so young, proud and eager to do their job, had paid a terrible price -- more than 90 percent casualties. A few days later four more would die in combat.



Another casualty was the town of Bedford itself. With a population of 3,200, it had the unfortunate distinction of suffering the highest one-day loss of any U.S. town. The first reports of the D-Day invasion received in Bedford had indicated that overall losses were light. News reports stated that there was little opposition from the enemy land and air forces, but at points on the beaches losses were quite heavy from machine gun fire.

The people of Bedford worried for weeks after the invasion. They knew their "Bedford Boys" were assigned to Company A -- a unit that reports said had been in heavy fighting, but they did not know that many of their fathers, sons and husbands had been in the first wave, or that most had been hit before even reaching Omaha Beach.

A month after that tragic morning, however, the Bedford Bulletin reported that the town's own Company A had been in the first wave. At the time, there were still no reports of casualties. Eleven days later, on the morning of July 17, Elizabeth Teass was at her Western Union booth at Green's Drugstore when the telegrams began to arrive.

Over and over the same message came across: "The Secretary of War desires to express his deep regrets...." No one remembered exactly how many telegrams came that day, but by the end of the week the hard reality was that 22 men from Bedford were dead. A somber stillness descended as the whole town mourned. Almost everyone knew those killed or their family or friends.


French fishermen with the bodies of men killed during the D-Day landings, Omaha Beach, June 1944 by Robert Capa

"I had a job to do, a responsibility," Teass recalled. "I don't remember crying, but it was shocking to get so many messages and keep them confidential and find someone to take them out to the families. It was one of the saddest things I've ever had to do, delivering that sad news to a loved one."

The hardest-hit family was that of John and Macie Hoback. On Sunday morning, the sheriff brought a telegram saying that their son Bedford had been killed. The following day, another telegram arrived saying that their other son, Raymond, was missing in action. "My mother was never the same after," Lucille Hoback Boggess, who is the brothers' sister, later remembered.


National D-Day Memorial

Not long after the telegrams arrived, the Hobacks received a package in the mail with Raymond's Bible inside. With it was a letter from Corporal H.W. Crayton, who said he found the Bible on Omaha Beach the day after D-Day. The Bible was not wet, so Raymond probably made it ashore, but his body had not been found. After the war, Bedford's body was exhumed from a cemetery overseas, and it was sent back home.

When Roy Stevens returned in August 1945, his mother saw him walking up the road to their house and came out to greet him. "I was home," he said, "but Ray would never be coming up that road. I could see the pain of it in her eyes."

The town welcomed the survivors home, but things were not the same again. To those who were there, the memories never went away -- not only of the terrible carnage and the still, lifeless bodies, but also of the young, smiling faces, boyish laughter and youthful innocence. These are the memories that time cannot diminish or take away.

[SAMWolf]

Bedford Veterans  D-day KIA  Virginia National Guard  Company A 116th Infantry 29th Division  Names given are not in photo order Sgt. Leslie C. Abbott, Jr.        PFC Wallace R. Carter        PFC John D. Clifton        Sgt. Frank P. Draper, Jr.          Capt. Taylor N. Fellers      PFC Nicholas N. Gillaspie      Pvt. Bedford T. Hoback      Sgt. Raymond S.Hoback       Pvt. Clifton G. Lee      Sgt. Earl L. Parker      Sgt. Jack G. Powers      PFC John F. Reynolds       PFC Weldon A. Rosazza      Sgt. John B. Schenk      Sgt. Ray O. Stevens      Sgt. Gordon H. White, Jr.       Master Sgt. John L. Wilkes      Sgt. Elmere P. Wright      Sgt. Grant C. Yopp

[SAMWolf]

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.

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

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We here at Blue Stars For A Safe Return are working hard to honor all of our military, past and present, and their families. Inlcuding the veterans, and POW/MIA's. I feel that not enough is done to recognize the past efforts of the veterans, and remember those who have never been found.

I realized that our Veterans have no "official" seal, so we created one as part of that recognition. To see what it looks like and the Star that we have dedicated to you, the Veteran, please check out our site.

Veterans Wall of Honor

Blue Stars for a Safe Return

---

UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



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

Click on Hagar for
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[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Monday 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
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[Diver Dave]

Sad story SAM and the phrase "a greatful nation..." are not just hollow word.
We are indeed greatful for the sacrifices of so many from Bedford.
Thanks for the presentation.

[JLS]

Yep every time I read about the Bedford boys, it just amazes me what they did.

[Neil E. Wright]

Words fail me everytime I read a story like this.

Thank you both for the reminder of the cost of FREEDOM! This old sailor SALUTES the Bedford Boys, and all the heroes of our military and merchant marine (past and present) who sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice, in the cause of liberating a world from the tyrants, dictators and despots who would enslave the world, given the chance. The decades of the dictators are OVER (Bush doctrine)

Socialism/Communism has killed over 100 MILLION people in the last century. Its time to put it in the trashcan of history where it belongs.

Here is the prayer that starts (except when the VetsCoR Chaplan sends us a new one) and ends the meetings of the Board of Directors every week :
Dear Lord, watch over our Brothers and Sisters who remain in harms way, where ever they are around the globe. Grant them Thy blessing, that they be protected from harm, and may they be safely, and swiftly, returned to their loved ones. AMEN

±

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

[Iris7]

"...the 29th was selected for its invasion role in part because, unaware of the true nature of combat, the division's men still had a zeal for action that was muted in more experienced formations."

Don't believe that is wise. An earlier smaller, less intense opposed landing would have helped.

The United States Army was not all inexperienced at Omaha Beach. The First Infantry Division, the Big Red 1, landed with their normal tight discipline and reliable aggresiveness.

All but five or thirty two amphibious tanks were lost while in the water that day. The tanks were supposed to suppress the machine gun fire, but had drowned coming in. Anti tank fire destroyed the five.

DD Sherman

"The main goal was to develop a tank that could be unloaded at sea from a vessel that was just a dot on the horizon and so became a very small target for enemy fire. Hobart's team took a Sherman tank and gave it a high canvas skirt. To bring and hold up the canvas skirt, they placed rubber hoses on the inside of the canvas skirt that were inflatable (compare it with innertubes). To gave the tank propulsion in the water it had two propellers at the back that were connected to the engine. Because of all the extra features the tank got a new name, DD tank (Duplex Drive)."

[Iris7]

Horrible story, SAM. Right straight in on well prepared fields of fire.

The DD Tank had a brother Hobart vehicle:

Range 220 feet.

[alfa6]

Monmday Morning Bump for the Freeper Foxhole

What if Burt Rattan had worked for Boeing before WWII?

Looked good for a Monday AM Grin, eh

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

[larryjohnson]

A visit to the Memorial at Bedford is worth it.

[GailA]

Good morning...work up to rain outside, and NO water in the house. My youngest had to rehook the main water pipe late yesterday afternoon, and in the middle of the night it has come up hooked again.

[Eastbound]

Never forget those who carried the torch of Freedom nor those who recover flag and carry it forward.

Freedom is not free.

[The Mayor]

February 28, 2005

Child's Play

Read:
Matthew 18:1-11

Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 18:3

Bible In One Year: Deuteronomy 1-3

After a surprise storm blanketed the Middle East with snow, a newspaper photo showed four armed men smiling as they built a snowman outside the battered walls of a military headquarters. The wintry weather also caused a protest to be canceled and delayed a debate over parliamentary matters of pressing importance. Men wearing long robes and women in traditional black dresses and headscarves were seen playing in the snow. There's something about snow that brings out the child in all of us.

And there's something about the gospel that beckons us to abandon our deep hostilities and feelings of self-importance in favor of a childlike humility and faith. When Jesus was asked, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" (Matthew 18:1), He called a little child to come to Him and said, "Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (v.3).

It has been said that age diminishes our imagination, hopes, and possibilities. The older we get, the more easily we say, "That could never happen." But in a child's mind, God can do anything. A childlike faith filled with wonder and confidence in God unlocks the door to the kingdom of heaven. -David McCasland

God, give me the faith of a little child!
A faith that will look to Thee-
That never will falter and never fail,
But follow Thee trustingly. -Showerman

Faith shines brightest in a childlike heart.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Do I Have The Right Kind Of Faith?
What Is A Personal Relationship With God?

[Eastbound]

Correction: 'recover flag' = recover THE flag.

Hi, Snippy and Sam. Well done!

-- Dave

[U S Army EOD]

Thought you might be interested in this, am still in the process of moving, here and there short periods of time.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on February 28:
1533 Michel de Montaigne France, essayist/philosopher
1552 Jobst Bürgi [Justus Byrgius], Swiss/German mathematician
1573 Elias Hill German architect/city builder (Augsburg)
1663 Thomas Newcomen English co-inventor (steam engine)
1690 Aleksei P Romanov Russia, son of Peter the Great
1712 Louis Joseph de Montcalm de Saint-Véran France, General
1779 Augustus Callcott landscape painter, Kensington
1797 Mary Lyon US, educator (Mt Holyoke) (Hall of Fame)
1797 W Frederik K prince of Netherlands/General/Admiral (10 day campaign)
1817 James Craig Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1888
1820 John Tenniel England, cartoonist/illustrator (Alice in Wonderland)
1822 Matthew Duncan Ector Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1879
1824 John Creed Moore Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1910
1825 Quincy Adams Gillmore Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1888
1833 Alfred von Schlieffen Count/Prussian General-field marshal
1865 Sir Wilfred Grenfell England, medical missionary
1882 Geraldine Farrar US soprano/actress (Story of American Singer)
1887 William Zorach Lithuania, US sculptor (Spirit of the Dance)
1890 Vaslav Nijinsky Kiev Ukraine, ballet dancer
1901 Linus Pauling chemist/peace worker (Nobel 1954, 1962)
1906 Bugsy Siegel gangster created casinos in Las Vegas
1907 Milton Caniff Hillsboro OH, cartoonist (Terry & the Pirates)
1910 Vincente Minnelli Chicago IL, movie director (American in Paris, Gigi)
1915 Zero [Samuel Joel] Mostel Brooklyn NY, actor (Fiddler on the Roof, The Producers)
1923 Charles Durning Highland Falls NY, actor (Dog Day Afternoon, Fury, Sting, Tootsie)
1926 Svetlana Alliluyeva daughter of Josef Stalin, author (My Life)
1928 Smokey The Bear
1930 Leon Cooper US physicist (Nobel 1972)
1931 Gavin MacLeod Mt Kisco NY, actor (Murray-Mary Tyler Moore, Love Boat)
1934 Willie Bobo New York NY, jazz drummer (Cos)
1938 Martin Olav Sabo (Representative-Dummy-MN, 1979- )
1939 John Fahey singer (Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death)
1939 Tommy Tune Wichita Falls TX, dancer/choreographer (The Boyfriend)
1940 Joe South Atlanta GA, guitarist/songwriter/singer (Games People Play)
1940 Mario Andretti race-car driver (1969 Indianapolis 500)
1942 Brian Jones rock guitarist (Rolling Stones-Brown Sugar)
1945 Charles "Bubba" Smith Texas, NFLer (Baltimore Colts)/actor (Police Academy)
1948 Bernadette Peters [Lazzaro] Queens NY, actress (The Jerk, Song & Dance)
1953 Ricky "Dragon" Steamboat [Richard Blood], wrestler (NWA/WWF/WCW/AWA)
1962 Rae Dawn Chong Edmonton Alberta, actress (Quest for Fire)
1967 Jeff[rey] Pfaendtner Detroit MI, rower (Olympics-bronze-1996)
1967 Marcus Lillington rock guitarist (Breathe-All I Need)
1970 Noureddine Morceli Algeria, 1500 meter runner (Olympics-gold-96)

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Deaths which occurred on February 28:
1261 Hendrik duke of Brabant (1248-61), dies
1573 Jan "Hans" Liefrinck Flemish engraver/publisher, dies at about 54
1609 Paul Sartorius composer, dies at 39
1638 Henri duc de Rohan, French soldier/Huguenot leader, dies
1781 Richard Stockton US attorney (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 50
1784 Phillis Wheatly poetess, dies
1844 Abel P Upshur Secretary of State, dies in explosion on USS Princeton
1844 Thommas W Gilmer Navy Secretary, dies in explosion on USS Princeton
1913 Elephant seal 6.8-m, 4000-kg, killed in South Georgia (South Atlantic)
1916 Henry James US/British writer (Bostonians), dies in London at 72
1931 Ban Johnson created (baseball's AL), dies after a long illness
1941 Alfonso XIII de Borbón King of Spain (1902-31), dies
1959 Maxwell Anderson US dramatist (Key Largo, Bad Seed), dies at 70
1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34
1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38
1968 Frankie Lymon singer, dies at 25
1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71
1978 Philip Ahn Los Angeles CA, actor (Master Kan-Kung Fu), dies at 66
1978 Eric Frank Russell sci-fi author (Hugo, Deep Space), dies at 73
1979 Mr Ed talking horse, dies
1986 Sven Olof Palme Swedish PM (1969-76, 82-86), assassinated at 59
1993 Fer A Olthoff Dutch WWII resistance fighter (Het Parool), dies
1993 Ruby Keeler actress (42nd Street, Dames), dies of cancer at 82
1994 Elbert "Skippy" Williams tenor Sax player, dies at 77
1998 Albert Lippert, co-founder of the Weight Watchers diet program, died at age 72

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 MOORE JAMES RODNEY---ONTARIO NY.
1968 COONS HENRY A.---GERMANTOWN NY.
1968 HUNT ROBERT W.---BECKLEY WV.
[POSS CAPTURED POSS DIC]
1968 STEGMAN THOMAS---CATONSVILLE MD.
1968 SCUITIER JAMES J.---SUMMIT NJ.
[01/73 PRG SAYS DIC]
1969 LONG STEPHEN G.---CHILOQUIN OR.
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL, ALIVE AND WELL 98
1970 BOYLE WILLIAM---WATROUS PA.

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

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On this day...
0870 8th Ecumenical council ends in Constantinople
1066 Westminster Abbey opens
1570 Anti-Portugese uprising on Ternate, Moluccas
1574 On the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, two Englishmen and an Irishman were burnt for heresy
1610 Thomas West, Baron De La Warr, is appointed governor of Virginia
1638 Scottish Presbyterians sign National Convenant, Greyfriars, Edinburgh
1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church
1692 Salem witch hunt begins
1704 Elias Neau, a Frenchman, opens a school for blacks in New York NY
1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100
1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die
1728 Georg F Händels opera "Siroe, re di Persia" premieres in London
1749 1st edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" published
1759 Pope Clement XIII allows Bible to be translated into various languages
1778 Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of slaves
1784 John Wesley charters Methodist Church
1794 US Senate voids Pennsylvania's election of Abraham Gallatin
1810 1st US fire insurance joint-stock company organized, Philadelphia
1827 1st commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) chartered
1844 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton explodes
1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento


1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI


1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery
1861 Territories of Nevada & Colorado created
1863 Confederate raider "Nashville" sinks near Fort McAllister GA
1864 Raid at Kilpatrick's Richmond
1864 Skirmish at Albemarle County Virginia (Burton's Ford)
1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections
1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation
1883 1st US vaudeville theater opens (Boston)
1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum"
1900 General Buller's troops relieve Ladysmith Natal
1903 Barney Dreyfuss & James Potter buys Philadelphia Phillies for $170,000
1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran
1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic)
1914 Construction begins on Tower of Jewels for the Exposition (San Francisco)
1917 Russian Duma sets up Provisional Committee; workers set up Soviets
1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI
1922 Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain
1924 US begins intervention in Honduras
1925 "Tea For Two" by Marion Harris hit #1
1929 Chicago Black Hawks lose record NHL 15th straight game at home
1931 Oswald Mosley founds his New Party
1933 1st female in cabinet Francis Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor
1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion
1933 Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD)
1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers
1939 Great-Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain
1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37)
1940 Richard Wright's "Native Son" published
1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%))
1941 39 U Boats (197,000 ton) sunk this month
1942 Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies
1942 1st weapon drop on Netherlands
1943 "Porgy & Bess" opens on Broadway with Anne Brown & Todd Duncan
1943 63 U Boats (359,300 ton) sinks this month
1947 Anti Kuomintang demonstration on Taiwan
1951 Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime syndicates
1954 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory
1959 Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit
1960 US wins Olympics hockey gold medal by defeating Czechoslovakia 9-4
1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor
1966 Sandy Koufax & Don Drysdale begin a joint holdout against Dodgers
1967 Wilt Chamberlain sinks NBA record 35th consecutive field goal
1968 Pirate Radio Hauraki, off New Zealand, returns to the air
1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge
1970 "Georgy" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 4 performances
1970 Caroline Walker runs world female record marathon (3:02:53)
1971 53rd PGA Championship Jack Nicklaus shoots a 281 at PGA National to win his 2nd golf grand slam
1972 President Richard Nixon ends historic week-long visit to China
1974 US & Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations after 7 years
1974 Taiwan police shoot into crowd
1975 40 killed in London Undergroud, as train speeds past final stop
1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA)
1981 China PR throws out Netherlands ambassador due to submarine sale to Taiwan
1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day
1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street
1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch
1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8
1986 Peter Uberroth suspended 7 baseball players for 1 year, after they admitted in Curtis Strong's trial in September, they used drugs
1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public
1990 US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis 6) launches into orbit
1991 US & allied forces grant Iraq a cease fire
1993 Gun battle erupts at Waco TX between FBI & Branch Davidians

1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect

1996 Britain’s Princess Diana agreed to divorce Prince Charles
1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia
1998 Likoshan two Serbian police officers were killed. Police blamed the Kosovo Liberation Army. The Serbian SAJ, an anti-terrorist unit, was immediately called to the scene and rounded up 10 males who were summarily shot. Another 15 villagers were also killed.
1999 In Colombia 3 US citizens, Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahe'ena'e Gay, were kidnapped by FARC terrorists.
2000 In Algeria an armed group massacred 20 people, shepherds and their families, near Brezina
2002 In Pakistan gunmen attacked a police bus in a bid to free prisoners that included a suspect in the slaying of Daniel Pearl. A policeman and a prisoner were killed.
2004 In Taiwan an estimated 1.2 million people linked hands in a human chain the length of the island as President Chen Shui-bian urged protesters to oppose China's military threats and create the "Great Wall of Taiwan's democracy."

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

Finland : Kalevala Day (1835)
Luxembourg : Burgsonndeg-celebrates end of winter
Sweden : Maria name day (most popular woman's name in Sweden)
Public Sleeping Day
Creative Romance Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Romanus
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Hilarius, pope (461-68), calendar reformer (non-leap years)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gabriel Possenti (leap years)

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Religious History
1759 Pope Clement XIII granted permission for the Bible to be translated into the languages of the Roman Catholic states.
1784 English churchman John Wesley, 80, formally chartered the movement within Anglicanism which afterward came to be known as Wesleyan Methodism.
1873 The Society of Mary, founded in 1816, was officially recognized by Pope Pius IX. This religious order seeks to combine the work of education with foreign missions.
1947 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'Let not the past ever be so dear to us as to set a limit to the future. Give us the courage to change our minds when that is needed.'
870 The Fourth Constantinople Council closed, under Pope Adrian II in the West and Emperor Basil I in the East. The council had condemned iconoclasm, and became the last ecumenical council held in the Eastern Mediterranean area.

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Thought for the day :
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen"