The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez - March 12th, 2005

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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


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U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

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Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez



Medal of Honor Recipient


Roy P. Benavidez

Rank and Organization: Master Sergeant. Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group, Republic of Vietnam

Place and Date: West of Loc Ninh on 2 May 1968

Entered Service at: Houston, Texas June 1955

Date and Place of Birth: 5 August 1935, DeWitt County, Cuero, Texas

Citation:

Master Sergeant, then Staff Sergeant, United States Army. Who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely glorious actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam.

On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance and requested emergency extraction. 3 helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small arms and anti-aircraft fire.

Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crew members and to assess aircraft damage. Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face and head.

Despite these painful injuries he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant Benavidez was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back.

At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant Benavidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight.

Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant Benavidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gun ships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed with additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed 2 enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them.

With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sergeant Benavidez' gallant choice to voluntarily join his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least 8 men.

His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.

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Thanks to Iris7 for suggesting this story and providing the links.

FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

USNS Benavidez



Ship's name to honor Army hero Benavidez

San Antonio Express News

17 September 2000

The U.S. Navy plans to name a new ship after the late Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez, a Medal of Honor recipient with deep ties to San Antonio.

The seventh in a class of large, medium speed roll-on/roll-off sealift ships will be named for Benavidez and will be the second Navy vessel named for a Hispanic Texan, U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Danzig said.

"Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez was a true American hero, rising from humble origins in South Texas to become an Army legend," Army Secretary Louis Caldera said.

"Wounded over 40 times as he saved the lives of eight fellow soldiers under heavy fire in Vietnam, he always said he was only doing his duty to his fellow soldiers and to the country he loved," Caldera continued. "The Navy's recognition of his selfless service is truly an appropriate tribute to Master Sgt. Benavidez's memory, and to the ideals of our nation that he epitomized."

To be christened next summer, the USNS Benavidez is to be a non-combatant vessel run by civilian mariners and operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C.



Built by Litton-Avondale Industries in New Orleans, La., large, medium speed roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs are the Navy's newest class of vessels. They can carry an entire Army task force, including 58 tanks, 48 other tracked vehicles, plus more than 900 trucks for use in combat and humanitarian missions.

Each ship has cargo deck space of more than 380,000 square feet, equivalent to almost eight football fields, and a crew of up to 45 civilians and 50 active-duty military personnel.

The Navy's first LMSR was named after the late Sgt. 1st Class Randall D. Shughart, a Delta Force operative killed in a 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The Navy made history when it launched the guided missile destroyer USS Gonzalez on Oct. 12, 1996, before a crowd of 5,000 at Ingleside Naval Station.

The ship was named for Medal of Honor recipient Alfredo "Freddy" Gonzales, a 21-year-old Marine sergeant from Edinburg who was wounded on Jan. 31, 1968, while protecting fellow GIs during the battle for Hue City, one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Vietnam War. Despite his wounds, Gonzales refused medical treatment and continued supervising an attack, then fell mortally wounded the next day.

"I think it is a great honor," said Benavidez's 28-year-old son, Noel, an El Campo computer network engineer and San Antonio native.

"How many ships are named after soldiers? How many ships are named after an enlisted man?" wondered retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Benito Guerrero, a longtime Benavidez confidant. "Most of them are named after generals or after presidents."

Danzig described the 950-foot long, 62,000-ton LMSR ships, known as Bob Hope class vessels, as "resolute assets that are always quietly there in the background," capable of providing vital reinforcement worldwide.

The Navy secretary said Benavidez "personified that same spirit throughout his life, and most powerfully during a single action that saved lives in combat."



Benavidez was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from Gen. William Westmoreland for his heroism in a rescue of Special Forces troops in Cambodia on May 2, 1968. When the full story of his actions became known, the award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which Benavidez received from President Reagan in 1981.

A Green Beret, Benavidez was three months into his second tour of Vietnam when a North Vietnamese regiment surrounded a dozen soldiers from his unit during a secret mission to Cambodia authorized by President Johnson.

When he became aware of the situation, then-Staff Sgt. Benavidez thought of three friends trapped in the fire zone and rushed to a helicopter.



"When I got to that 'copter, little did I know we were going to spend six hours in hell," he told the San Antonio Express-News weeks before his death in 1998 at age 63.

Benavidez suffered wounds to the right leg, face and head while charging through heavy enemy fire. He shifted team leaders so they could give cover to the helicopters, then carried the wounded GIs to nearby aircraft.

But that only was the beginning of a vicious fight.

Benavidez retrieved classified documents from a dead team leader, then gathered wounded soldiers from a downed aircraft and set up a defense perimeter. As enemy fire intensified, he called in airstrikes, directed fire from helicopters buzzing over the battlefield and, though badly wounded, administered first aid.

Bleeding from gunshot wounds and hit in the back by grenade fragments, Benavidez was clubbed while leading a second extraction.



In the hand-to-hand fighting that ensued, he suffered wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary and cutting down two other enemy soldiers as they tried to overtake a helicopter.

The bloodied and exhausted Benavidez then made another trip in search of classified documents, but instead emerged with even more wounded.

Benavidez , a devout Catholic, said he made the sign of the cross so often during the fight his arms "were going like an airplane prop."

"He was a hard-charger, a good soldier, a fighter who never gave up," said retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Willie Noles, 70, of San Antonio.

"He was a soldier's soldier, there's no doubt about it," Guerrero agreed.

Born in the South Texas German community of Lindenau, Raul Perez Benavidez was a sharecropper's son who barely knew his parents. Salvador and Teresa Benavidez died a year apart, leaving him and a younger brother, Roger, to live with an uncle, Nicholas Benavidez.

The family worked as migrant laborers, toiling in sugar beet and cotton fields from West Texas to Colorado. The young Benavidez spent more time in the field than in school, finishing only the eighth grade, and though he faced discrimination in the 1940s he vowed to master English and his life.

Benavidez found his high school diploma, and upward mobility, in the Army. A stint in airborne school persuaded him to make a career of the service and, he said later, "become a soldier and be the best."

Benavidez died Nov. 29, 1998, at Brooke Army Medical Center. Five days later, more than 1,500 family and friends gave Benavidez one last salute as he was buried in the shade of a live oak tree at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

The man known by Army Special Forces troops everywhere as "Tango Mike Mike" has not been forgotten since that afternoon.

The $14 million Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez Special Operations Logistics Complex at Fort Bragg, N.C., was dedicated 13 months ago.

Efforts are under way to erect a statue of Benavidez in El Campo, where his widow, Hilaria "Lala" Benavidez, 66, got word of the Navy's decision Thursday evening.



"It came as a surprise to me to receive a telephone call from Capt. Bill Cullin of the United States Navy to inform me that the secretary of the Navy has decided to name a naval ship after my late husband," she said. "My children and I are truly honored that the Benavidez name will be added to a long list of Navy vessels. Roy would be proud."

Family members already are looking forward to launching the Benavidez, his four grandchildren flanking the VIP section.

"Roy was quite a military man. I think he would be quite proud," said Roger Benavidez, 64, an El Campo real estate broker and former Army National Guard sergeant.

"I think that would be a great thing," Noles said.

"I rarely have heard of these things, that the Navy honors an Army soldier, and I think if my father were here today he would be ecstatic," Noel Benavidez said. "However, I know in my heart that he's grinning from ear to ear."

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.mishalov.com/Benavidez.html

[snippy_about_it]

Profile



On February 24, 1981, President Ronald Reagan awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez for distinguishing himself by a series of daring and extremely glorious actions on the morning of May 2, 1968.

President Reagan suggested to Roy that he should make himself available to the youth's of America. Shortly thereafter, Roy decided to dedicate his life to helping his fellow veteran's and the future leader's of America. Roy became popular as a speaker and traveled throughout the United States and to foreign countries speaking to civic and military organizations as well as groups of school children. Roy always said, "An education is the key to success. Bad habits and bad company will ruin you." His message was simple and people listened.

Roy P. Benavidez always envisioned starting a non-profit organization that would educate the youths on the importance of staying in school and staying away from drugs and gangs. Unfortunately, our dear husband, father, grandfather and friend passed away on November 29, 1998 before he could realize his dream.

We are fortunate to have known a man who taught us that we should never take anything for granted, we should help those who need help and we should never forget where we came from. We do this in honor of our dearly departed husband, father, grandfather, friend and comrade in arms.

Mission

The mission of this Foundation is to educate our youths on the importance of staying in school and staying away from drugs and gangs. We will instill Roy's vision of promoting leadership training, and encouraging teamwork development with the hopes of building a better future for the leaders of tomorrow.

[snippy_about_it]

GI JOE

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Saturday Morning Everyone.

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

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[snippy_about_it]

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

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

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

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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

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NOW UPDATED THROUGH JULY 31st, 2004




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

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[Leofl]

I had the honor of meeting Master Sgt Benavidez at Fort Sam Houston in the early 90's. My family had a AAFES contract to deliver service member's cars to the port of New Orleans for shipment overseas. He was in for a haircut at the base barbershop with which we shared office space. The Sheer presence of this man among men was AWESOME. We chatted while he was waiting for his turn in the barber's chair when the barber told me who he was. General Officer's stopped to pay their respects to the man!!
The Barber refused to take payment for his haircut and everyone else who was present stood at his exit.

I say Msgt Benavidez several more times around Fort Sam. Every where he went you could see the respect he engendered.

He was a MAN among Men.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for sharing with us!

[alfa6]

Saturday AM bump from the night shift for the Freeper Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[radu]

Happy weekend y'all!

To all our military men and women past and present, military family members, and to our allies who stand beside us
Thank You!

[Iris7]

Roy Benavidez was a great man. The quote below is accurate.

[Iris7]

After leaping off the helicopter, Benavidez was shot in the face, head and right leg, but he ran toward his fellow troops, finding four dead and the others wounded.

He dragged survivors aboard the helicopter, but its pilot was killed by enemy fire as he tried to take off, and the helicopter crashed and burned. Benavidez got the troops off the helicopter, and over the next six hours, he organized return fire, called in air strikes, administered morphine and recovered classified documents, although he got shot in the stomach and thigh and hit in the back by grenade fragments. He was bayoneted by a North Vietnamese soldier, whom he killed with a knife. Finally, he shot two enemy soldiers as he dragged the survivors aboard another evacuation helicopter.

When he arrived at Loc Ninh, Benavidez was unable to move or speak. Just as he was about to be placed into a body bag, he spit into a doctor's face to signal that he was still alive and was evacuated for surgery in Saigon.

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A North Vietnamese regiment had surrounded a dozen soldiers from his unit during a secret mission in Cambodia that had been authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Three helicopters trying to save the men came under heavy fire and were unable to land.

When he became aware of the situation, Benavidez thought of three friends trapped in the fire zone and rushed to the helicopter.

"When I got on that 'copter, little did I know we were going to spend six hours in hell," he said in an interview earlier this month.

Moments after jumping off his helicopter in a clearing, Benavidez suffered wounds to the right leg, face and head while charging through heavy enemy fire. He repositioned team leaders so they could give cover to the helicopters, then carried the wounded troops to nearby aircraft.

But that was only the beginning of a long and vicious fight.

Benavidez found classified documents from a dead team leader, then gathered wounded troops from a downed aircraft and set up a defense perimeter. As enemy fire intensified, he called in airstrikes, directed fire from helicopter gunships swarming over the battleground and - though himself already gravely wounded - gave first aid to another soldier.

Bleeding from new gunshot wounds to the thigh and abdomen, and hit in the back by grenade fragments, Benavidez was clubbed while leading a second extraction.

In the hand-to-hand fighting that ensued, he suffered wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary and cutting down two other enemy soldiers as they tried to overtake a helicopter.

The bloodied and exhausted Benavidez then made one last trip, this time looking for classified documents, and brought more wounded in tow to a waiting helicopter.

Throughout the fighting, Benavidez, a devout Catholic, made the sign of the cross so often his arms "were going like an airplane prop." But never gave in to fear.

When told his one-man battle was awesome and extraordinary, he replied: "No, that's duty."

"Quitters never win and winners never quit."

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning, radu!!

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[GailA]

Good morning

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Gram.

[E.G.C.]

The wether here in Southwest Oklahoma is nice. Couldn't ask for better weather. forecast high lower 80's.

In the Big 12 Tournament at KC. OU 83 Missouri 79. OSU 87 Colorado 85 Yesterday.

Today, OU vs Texas Tech at 1:00 PM. OSU vs. Kansas at 3:20 PM.

[Darksheare]

Morning!

[Professional Engineer]

Tears in the eyes bump!

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on March 12:
1336 Eduard Duke of Gelre (1361-71) husband of Catharina of Bayern
1479 Giuliano de' Medici monarch of Florence
1710 Thomas Augustine Arne English composer (Alfred, Rule Britannia)
1806 Jane Means Appleton Pierce 1st lady-Franklin Pierce (1853-57)
1816 David Stuart Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1818 John Lorimar Worden Captain (Union Navy), died in 1897
1823 William Flank Perry Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1901
1827 John Robert Jones Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1901
1827 William Richard Terry Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1830 William Felix Brantley Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1870
1831 Clement Studebaker automobile pioneer (Studebaker)
1832 Charles Boycott Ireland, estate manager/caused boycotts
1838 William Perkin inventor (1st artificial dye)
1862 Jane Delano US, nurse/teacher/founder (Red Cross)
1881 Daniel Webster Hoan Wisconsin (Mayor-Socialist-Milwaukee)
1881 Kemal Atatürk 1st President of Republic of Turkey
1890 Vaslav Nijinsky Ukrainian/US ballet dancer (Petroesjka)
1896 Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller San Francisco Blues Great
1910 Tony "Two-Ton" Galento Orange NJ, boxer/actor (On the Waterfront)
1921 Gordon MacRae East Orange NJ, singer/actor (Oklahoma, Carousel)
1922 Jack Kerouac Beat writer (Dharma Bums, On the Road, Mexico Blues)
1923 Walter M Schirra Jr Hackensack NJ, Captain USN/astronaut (Mercury 8, Gemini 6, Apollo 7)
1925 Harry [Maxwell] Harrison UK, sci-fi author (Stainless Steel Rat, Make Room Make Room)
1925 Louison Bobet French cyclist (Tour de France 1953-55)
1927 Mstislav Rostropovich Baku Russia, conductor/cellist (Cello Concerto)
1928 Edward Albee Washington DC, playwright (Virginia Woolfe, Zoo Story)
1931 William "Buckwheat" Thomas actor (Little Rascals)
1932 Andrew Young US ambassador to UN (1977-79)/(Mayor-Democrat-Atlanta)
1942 Paul Kantner San Francisco CA, rock singer/guitarist (Jefferson Airplane-White Rabbit, Somebody To Love)
1942 Salvatore "the Bull" Gravano mobster (testified against Gotti)
1946 Liza Minnelli Hollywood CA, singer/actress (Sterile Cuckoo, Cabaret)
1948 James Taylor Boston MA, vocalist/guitarist (Sweet Baby James)
1948 Kent Conrad (Senator-D-ND)
1949 Bill Payne Waco TX, rock keyboardist (Little Feat-Time Loves a Hero)
1950 Jon Provost actor (Timmy-Lassie)
1957 Marlon D Jackson Gary IN, singer (Jackson 5-Maybe Tomorrow)
1960 Courtney B Vance Detroit MI, actor (Hamburger Hill)
1962 Darryl Strawberry Los Angeles CA, right fielder (New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees)
1963 John Andretti race car driver

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Deaths which occurred on March 12:
0417 Innocent I Italian Pope (401-417), dies
0604 Gregory I the Great Pope (590-604), dies at 64
1209 Djamal al-din Abu Mohammed Iljas Nizami Persian poet, dies
1507 Cesare Borgia cardinal/soldier/politician, killed in battle at 31
1628 John Bull thought to have composed British national anthem (God Save The King), dies
1834 Karl W Feuerbach mathematician (circle of Feuerbach), dies at 33
1888 Henry Bergh founder (ASPCA), dies at 76
1914 George Westinghouse US engineer (Westinghouse Electric), dies at 67
1925 Sun Yat-Sen Chinese revolutionary president, dies at 58
1945 Anne Frank diarist (Diary of Anne Frank), killed in Belsen Camp
1955 Charlie "Bird" Parker US jazz saxophonist, dies in New York NY at 34
1973 Frankie "Fordham Flash" Frisch baseball player, dies at 74
1978 John Cazale actor (Dog Day Afternoon, Deer Hunter), dies at 41
1985 Eugene Ormandy [Blau] Hungarian/US conductor, dies at 85
1993 June Valli singer (Crying in the Chapel), dies of cancer at 62
2001 Morton Downey Jr. (68), dies

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 ADRIAN JOSEPH D.---RIVER EDGE NJ.
1967 CLARK JOHN W.---COLUMBIA MO.
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 GOODRICH EDWIN R.---OLEAN NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85]
1968 GRIFFITH JOHN GARY---KANSAS CITY MO.
1968 KOLLMANN GLENN E.---DALY CITY CA.
1968 ROGERS EDWARD F.---ROSLINDALE MA.
1969 ROBINSON FLOYD H.---BURLINGTON KS.
1970 SCULL GARY B.---CEDAR RAPIDS IA.
1971 JEFFS CLIVE G.---SALT LAKE CITY UT.

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

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On this day...
0417 St Innocent I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0604 St Gregory I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1000 Odo of Lagery elected as Pope Urban II, replacing Victor III
1054 Pope Leo IX escapes captivity & returns to Rome
1144 Gherardo Caccianemici elected Pope Lucius II, succeeding Callistus II
1350 Orvieto city says it will behead & burn Jewish-Christian couples
1365 University of Vienna founded
1496 Jews are expelled from Syria
1587 English parliament leader Peter Wentworth confined in London Tower
1609 Bermuda becomes an English colony
1622 Ignatius of Loyola declared a saint
1664 New Jersey becomes a British colony
1689 Former English King James II lands in Ireland
1737 Galileo's body moved to Church of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy
1755 1st steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine
1773 Jeanne Baptiste Pointe de Sable found settlement now known as Chicago
1789 US Post Office established
1799 Austria declares war on France
1848 2nd republic established in France
1849 1st gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to California
1850 1st US $20 gold piece issued
1860 Congress accepts Pre-emption Bill; free land in West for colonists
1867 Last French troops leave Mexico
1868 Congress abolishes manufacturer's tax
1868 Great Britain annexes Basutoland in Africa
1877 Great Britain annexes Walvis Bay at Cape colony
1884 Mississippi establishes 1st US state college for women
1888 2nd day of the Great blizzard of '88 in northeast US (400 die)
1894 Pittsburgh issues free season tickets for ladies on Tuesday & Friday

1894 Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time

1900 President Steyn of Orange-Free state flees from Bloemfontein
1901 Ground is broken for Boston's 1st American League ballpark (Huntington Ave Grounds)
1903 New York Highlanders (Yankees) approved as members of American League
1904 Andrew Carnegie establishes Carnegie Hero Fund
1912 Captain Albert Berry performs 1st parachute jump from an airplane
1912 Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) founded in Savannah, by Juliette Gordon Low
1916 French airship sinks British submarine D3 (Another great moment in French military history)
1917 Russian Dumas sets up Provisional Committee; workers set up Soviets
1917 Stalin, Kamenev & Muranov arrive in St Petersburg
1925 British government of Baldwin refuses to ratify Geneva agreement
1926 Denmark begins unilateral disarmament
1930 Mohandas Gandhi begins 200 mile (321 km) march protesting British salt tax
1933 FDR conducts his 1st "fireside chat"
1934 Josip Broz (Tito) freed from jail
1935 England establishes 30 MPH speed limit for towns & villages
1938 Nazi Germany "invades" Austria (Anschluss)
1939 Pope Pius XII crowned in Vatican ceremonies
1940 Finland surrenders to Russia during WWII, giving up Karelische Isthmus
1945 30 Amsterdammers executed by Nazi occupiers
1945 Italy's Communist Party (CPI) calls for armed uprising in Italy
1945 New York is 1st to prohibit discrimination by race & creed in employment
1945 The British Empire celebrates its 1st British Empire Day
1945 USSR returns Transylvania to Romania
1947 President Truman introduces Truman-doctrine to fight communism
1948 -5ºF lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in March
1950 Pope Pius XII encyclical "On combating atheistic propaganda"
1951 "Dennis the Menace," created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers
1951 Communist troops driven out of Seoul
1956 Dow Jones closes above 500 for 1st time (500.24)
1957 German Democratic Republic accepts 22 Russian divisions
1958 British Empire Day is renamed "Commonwealth Day"
1959 US House joins Senate approving Hawaii statehood
1963 Bob Dylan cancels "Ed Sullivan Show" television appearance
1964 Jimmy Hoffa sentenced to 8 years
1964 Malcolm X resigns from Nation of Islam
1964 WKAB TV channel 32 in Montgomery AL (ABC) begins broadcasting
1966 Bobby Hull's 51st goal of season, sets record
1967 Austria's Reinhold Bachler ski jumps 505 feet
1967 Indonesian congress deprives President Sukarno of authority
1968 Mauritius gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1969 Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman in London
1970 US lowers voting age from 21 to 18
1971 Syrian premier Hafez Assad "elected" President
1971 Turkish Government of Demirel forced to resign by Army
1972 NHL great Gordie Howe retires after 26 seasons
1974 Bundy victim Donna Manson disappears, Evergreen SC, Olympia WA
1975 Vietcong conquer Ban me Thuot South Vietnam
1976 South African troops leave Angola
1977 Chile President Pinochet bans Christian-Democratic Party
1977 Egypt's Anwar Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel
1978 Eric Heiden skates world record 1000 meter (1:14.99)
1980 Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago
1981 Walter R T Witschey installs world's largest sundial, Richmond VA
1984 British ice dancing team, Torvill & Dean, become 1st skaters to receive 9 perfect 6.0s in world championships
1984 National Union of Mine Workers in England begin a 51 week strike
1985 Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points
1986 210.25 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange
1986 Giotto encounters Comet Halley
1986 Susan Butcher wins 1,158 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
1987 "Les Miserables" opens at Broadway/Imperial NYC for 4000+ performances
1989 Some 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of a student's exhibit
1990 Los Angeles Raiders announce they were returning to Oakland
1993 317 killed by bomb attacks in Bombay
1993 Inkhata leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi begins 2½ week speech
1993 Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general
1994 Church of England ordains 1st 33 women priests
1998 The Senate passed the ISTEA legislation, a $214 billion, 6-year bill called the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. (your tax money at work)

2000 In Rome Pope John Paul II begged for God's forgiveness for sins committed or condoned by Roman Catholics over the last 2,000 years, including wrongs inflicted on Jews, women and minorities

2002 In Houston a jury found Andrea Pia Yates (37) guilty of capital murder for drowning her 5 children.

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

British Commonwealth : Commonwealth Day (formerly British Empire Day)
Gabon : Renovation Day (National Day)
Lesotho : Moshoeshoe's Day
Libya : King's Birthday
Mauritius : Independence Day (1968)
Venezuala : Flag Day
World : Girl Scouts Day (1912)
World : World Culture Day (non Leap year)
US : Women's Get-Away Weekend Begins
US : Aardvark Week (Day 6)
National Pothole Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of Ss Peters Gorgonius & Dorothheus
Christian : Feast of St Alphege of Winchester
Christian : Feast of St Bernard of Capua
Christian : Feast of St Maximilian of Theveste
Christian : Feast of St Paul Aurelian of Leon
Christian : Feast of St Seraphina/Fina & St Theophanes the Chronicler
Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican : Commemoration of St Gregory I the Great, pope (590-604)

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Religious History
1607 Birth of Paul Gerhardt, German clergyman and hymnwriter. He lost four of his five children in childhood, yet also composed over 130 hymns, including "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded." (Gerhardt's music marks the transition in Lutheran hymnody from confessional and high_church hymns to hymns of devotional piety.)
1622 Gregory XV canonized Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits; Philip Neri, Italian co_founder of a medical religious order; Teresa of Avila, a Spanish Carmelite nun; and Francis Xavier, the Jesuit "Apostle of Eastern Asia."
1710 Birth of Thomas A. Arne, considered one of the outstanding English composers of the 18th century. Today, Arne is best remembered for his hymn tune ARLINGTON, to which we commonly sing, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?"
1826 Birth of Robert Lowery, American Baptist clergyman and hymnwriter. He is chiefly remembered today for writing and composing the hymns "Christ Arose," "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus," "We're Marching to Zion," "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" and "I Need Thee Every Hour."
1904 Raphael Hawaweeny was ordained Eastern Orthodox bishop of Brooklyn, NY, at St. Nicholas Church. As a vicar under the Holy Synod of the Church of Russia, Hawaweeny thus became the first Russian Orthodox bishop ordained in America.

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

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Thought for the day :
"Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player."