The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Chris Woods - Frequent Wind - Saigon (4/30/75) - Apr. 29th, 2005

http://fallofsaigon.org/woods.htm ^

[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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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

Operation Frequent Wind
. . . as told by Chris Woods,
Crew Chief of Swift 2-2.

"Gentlemen, start your engines." The laconic command copied from the Indianapolis 500 auto races, echoed from the 1MC, the public-address system of the U.S.S. Hancock. Moments later, the Commanding Officer of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, LtCol. Herbert Fix, lifted his CH-53A Sea Stallion off the deck of the aging carrier. When the other seven choppers in his squadron had left the deck, they fluttered off in a tight formation through blustery winds and dark, ominous rain clouds that hovered over the South China Sea. Operation "Frequent Wind," the emergency evacuation of the last Americans in Saigon was under way.

The rescue operation had been delayed as long as possible-too long, in the view of many Pentagon officials. In recent weeks 44 U.S. Navel vessels, 6,000 Marines, 120 Air Force combat and tanker planes and 150 Navy planes had been moved into the area. Nevertheless, Secretary of State, Henry Kissenger and the U.S. ambassador in Saigon, Graham Martin, argued that the final withdrawal of the American community would probably set off a wave of panic in Saigon and hasten the fall of the South Vietnamese government.

During the preceding eight days, U.S. planes had evacuated almost 40,000 American and South Vietnamese refugees from Tan Son Nhut airbase near Saigon. By last week, the airlift was growing increasingly dangerous. Artillery shells and rockets closed Tan Son Nhut airport Monday morning, April 28, 1975. The next day, an U.S. C-130 transport was hit by a rocket on the runway and burst into flames as the crew escaped. A short time later, two Marine Corporals, Cpl. N. McMahon of Massachusetts and LCpl. D. Judge of Iowa, guarding the US defense attaché’s compound at Tan Son Nhut, were killed by Communist artillery.

News of the destruction of the C-130 and the Marines’ deaths reached President Ford during a meeting with his energy and economic advisers. He scribbled a note to the deputy director of the National Security Council, LtGen. Brent Scowcroft: "We’d better have a NSC meeting at 7."



Plainly, evacuation by commercial flights, by military airplanes or by sea was no longer feasible. The security advisers discussed whether conditions might permit a resumption of the military airlift. If not, they would have to go a fourth option, the riskiest of all: evacuation by Marine helicopters. Scarcely two hours after the meeting ended with no decision, Ford learned that two C-130s attempting to land at Tan Son Nhut had been waved off; the airport was blocked by thousands of panicky South Vietnamese, by then all of Ford’s advisers, including Martin agreed that it had to be "Option Four." At 10:45 p.m., the President ordered Operation Frequent Wind to begin.

Kessinger telephoned Ford to report that a fleet of 81 helicopters was about to embark on its mission, then, at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday, he called again with the news that the evacuation had begun. In Saigon, the center of activity for much of the day was the landing at Tan Son Nhut airport, a tennis court near the defense attaché’s compound. Landing two at a time, the helicopters unloaded their squads of Marines- 860 in all, who reinforced the 125 Marines already on the scene- and quickly picked up evacuees.

As the operation continued, many helicopters came under fire. Most evacuees sat in cold panic as their choppers took off. "For the next three minutes as we gained altitude," reported TIME Correspondent William Stewart, "we held our breaths." We knew the Communists had been using heat-seeking missiles, and we were prepared to be shot out of the sky. As I turned around to see who was aboard, Buu Vien, the South Vietnamese Interior Minister, smiled and gave a thumbs-up signal. "Forty minutes later we were aboard the U.S.S. Denver, a landing-platform dock, and safe."



By nightfall, the mission had been completed at Tan Son Nhut, but the evacuation of the embassy was still to be accomplished. Sheets of rain were pelting the city, and visibility had dropped to barely a mile. Some choppers had to rely on flares fired by Marines within the embassy compound to find landing zones; others homed in on flashlights.

Through Tuesday night, the Vietnamese crowd grew uglier, hundreds tried to scale the ten-foot wall, despite the barbed wire strung on top of it. Marines had to use tear gas and rifle butts to hold back the surging mob. Some screamed, some pleaded to be taken along. Floor by floor, the Marines withdrew toward the roof of the embassy with looters right behind them. Abandoned offices were transformed into junkyards of smashed typewriters and ransacked file cabinets. Even the bronze plaque with the names of the five American servicemen who died in the embassy during the 1968 Tet offensive was torn from the lobby wall. Marines hurled tear-gas grenade into the elevator shaft; at time the air was so thick with tear gas that the helicopter crews on the roof were effected.


A HMH-463 crew stands before YH-12 on the deck of the USS Hancock sometime during operations Eagle Pull (the evacuation of Phnom Phen, Cambodia) and Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Saigon). Standing left to right are: Major J. R. Howell, pilot; Cpl R. L. Bartlett, crew/chief; and 1Lt C. L. Stonecypher, co-pilot. Sitting left to right are Cpl D. R. Levin, 1st mech. and Sgt R. D. Brookins, gunner. - photo courtesy of R D Brookins

By that time, tempers were frayed in Washington as well as in Saigon. Martin had drawn up a list of 500 Vietnamese to be evacuated; he refused to leave until all were safely gone. His delay prompted one Administration official to quip, "Martin got all 600 of his 500 Vietnamese out." Finally, at 5:00 p.m., Washington time- it was 5:00 a.m., in Saigon- Kessinger told the president that Martin was closing down the embassy and destroying its communications equipment. Minutes later, Lady Ace 09 landed on the embassy helo pad and Ambassador Martin boarded the helicopter as Major James Kean urged the CH-46 pilot Captain Berry, to please be sure someone comes for them. After lift off, Captain Berry broadcast the message; "Lade Ace Zero Nine, Tiger-Tiger-Tiger."

As many as 130 South Vietnamese planes and helicopter, including F-5 fighter-bombers, transports and attack planes, were reported meanwhile to have reached the US run Utapao airbase in Thailand with about 2,000 soldiers and civilians; already some 1,000 Cambodian refugees were crowed into tents there. Alarmed, the Thai government announced that the refugees had to leave within 30 days and that it would return the planes to "the next government in South Vietnam." Defense Secretary James Schlesinger firmly advised Bangkok that it should do no such thing; under aid agreements, the equipment cannot be transferred to a new government but must revert to U.S. possession.



By the end of the week, another seven or so South Vietnamese helicopters had landed or tried to land on the U.S. naval vessels. One South Vietnamese pilot set his chopper down on top of another whose blades were still turning. Others ditched their craft and had to be fished out of the water. An American search-and-rescue from the U.S.S. Hancock crashed at sea, and two of its crewmembers, Captain William C. Nystul and First Lieutenant Michael J. Shea were listed and missing, possible the last American fatalities of the war. The Crew Chief, Cpl. Steve Wills and the left gunner were rescued by another CH-46, Swift 0-7, during a zero visibility, night water landing to pick up the two wounded Marines.

"The last days of the evacuation were very hairy indeed," Ford confesses afterward. "We were never sure whether we were going to have trouble with the mobs." As Ford noted, the whole operation had gone better "than we had any right to expect." According to the Defense Department, 1,373 Americans and 5,680 South Vietnamese- many more that the US had originally intended- had been removed. Another 32,000 desperate Vietnamese had managed to make their way by sampan, raft and rowboat to the US ships offshore, bringing to about 70,000 the number evacuated through the week.



For the next three hours the Marines wait, and grow more concerned as they discover no one responds to their radio signals. Finally, after they have resigned that they will not be rescued, and have voted to make an Alamo-like stand, the Marines hear the familiar sound of rotor blades slapping the humid air, a CH-46 Sea Knight, and two AH-1G Cobra escorts come in to view.

Dodging small arms fire and using riot control agents against people attempting to force their way to the rooftop, Major Kean and his 10 Marines boarded a HMM-164 CH-46 helicopter, Swift 2-2. After closing the ramp, Swift 2-2 (piloted by Captains Holden and Cook, and crewed by Sergeant Stan Hughes, left machine gunner and Sergeant Chris Woods, Crew Chief and right gunner) lifted into a hover and the pilots were overcome by CS gas had to set back down on the embassy helo pad. Regaining their composure, Captain Holden lifted the helo and departed the embassy rooftop. The last American helicopter to leave South Vietnam, Caption Holden radioed the last official message from Saigon: Swift 2-2 airborne with 11 passengers, ground security force onboard. Clearing antennas and church steeples, Swift 2-2 picked up the Saigon River and descended to tree top level and followed the river out to the awaiting American Forces. During the flight along the river, Sergeant Woods sighted approximately eight communist tanks, parked side-by-side, waiting until the eighth hour to enter the city. Checking his watch, Major Kean noted that it was two minutes until eight, only 23 hours since the NCOIC of Marine Security Guard, Manila, had called him to relay a message from his wife in Hong Kong that she was pregnant. Only 32 minutes later on that unforgettable day, 30 April 1975, the 11 Marines exited Swift 2-2 onto the deck of the U.S.S. Okinawa.



Disembarking, many on board the Okinawa, the consensus was why so much time had elapsed between the arrival of the Ambassador’s flight and Swift -2-2, well over two hours. Had someone forgotten these Marines were still at the Embassy? The answer is no. The intention was to remove the Ambassador while some security still remained at the Embassy, and then have other helicopters pick up the remaining Marines, but it appears that when Captain Berry’s aircraft transmitted "Tiger is out," those helicopters still flying, including Captain Walters who was orbiting the Embassy at the time the Ambassador left, thought the mission was complete. This particular transmission had been the preplanned code to indicate when the Ambassador was on board a helicopter outbound to the task force. Having waited so long for his departure, this transmission caused some to conclude that he had departed as part of the last group to leave the Embassy. Captain Berry late explained that radio message " ‘Tiger-Tiger-Tiger’ was the call to be made when the Ambassador was on board and on his was out of Saigon. It had absolutely nothing to do with the cessation of the operation. We had originally planned to bring the Ambassador out on the afternoon of the 29th."



At this juncture, thinking the mission complete and the Ambassador safe, Captain Walters headed back to the USS Okinawa. Subsequent to his landing at approximately 0700, the command realized that Captain Walters did not have the remaining Marines on board. Due to a misunderstanding and miscommunication, they were still at the Embassy. General Carey immediately recycled the HMM-164 CH-46 "Swift 2-2", but by this time due to the ships’ offshore movement, the time required to reach the Embassy exceeded 40 minutes. With two hours of fuel on board, the CH-46 did not have any room for error. Swift 2-2 landed on the USS Okinawa with two "LOW FUEL" lights, or 20 minutes of fuel remaining.

To the Marines waiting in Saigon, attempts by the South Vietnamese to reach the rooftop kept them busy and as a consequence, they did not notice the extended gap between the flights. Major Kean later stated that he and his Marine did not become alarmed because they knew that another CH-46 would arrive. "We never had a doubt that our fellow Marines would return and pick us up. They had been doing it all night long."



This was a term paper I did in August 1996. I have made every attempt to state the facts to the best of my knowledge having dusted the cobwebs from my memory.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

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The Last Casualties

Since arriving at the Defense Attaché Office on 16 April 1975, Marine security guards Lance Corporal Darwin Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Corporal Charles McMahon Jr., Woburn, Mass., were primarily responsible for assisting evacuees during processing and manning security posts. A steady stream of American, Vietnamese and foreign national evacuees had passed through the DAO compound, but as the advancing North Vietnamese Army gradually tightened the noose around Saigon, the pressure was beginning to mount.


CPL Charles McMahon, Jr.

Sergeant Doug Potratz and his family were among the multitudes seeking safe passage to American soil. Throughout his last month in-country, Potratz displayed an unerring knack for making crucial decisions on particularly ominous occasions. He married his Vietnamese girlfriend on 4 April--the same day Da Nang fell to the communists. He then arrived at Tan Son Nhut air base with his wife and 4-year-old stepdaughter the same day South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned from office, 21 April.

Frustrated by red tape, endless hours of waiting and fruitless attempts at securing a flight out of the country, "I was ready to scream," Potratz recalled. "Judge came up to me and said, 'Sergeant Potratz, I know the guy who fills out the plane manifest. Give me your paperwork, and I'll get your family on the next flight out.' "


L/CPL Darwin L. Judge

Displaying typical Marine resourcefulness, Judge returned a few minutes later, picked up Potratz's stepdaughter and a suitcase, and escorted the family to the plane. "That was the last time I saw Darwin Judge alive," Potratz said. "He was my hero that day."

The days and hours leading up to 29 April were becoming increasingly tense and as one MSG described, "full of action, boredom and turmoil."

Responsible for posting the guard that night was Sgt Kevin Maloney, who, like McMahon, spoke with a thick Bostonian accent. The two Massachusetts natives were originally scheduled for the midnight watch at Post 1--a position at the DAO compound's outer gate--but buddies Judge and McMahon requested to be posted together. "I reasoned that no real action would occur until morning [and that] I should be where the action was," said Maloney.



At midnight, McMahon and Judge relieved LCpl Bill English, who, like a somnambulist, trudged to his rack and settled down for a well-deserved rest. Less than four hours later, the base came under attack by North Vietnamese rockets launched from nearby positions. Grabbing their weapons and gear, English and his fellow Marines scrambled to reach bunkers located outside the building. They soon discovered that Post 1 had taken a direct hit, and both McMahon and Judge had been killed.

Unknown to the MSGs at the time, Judge and McMahon had become the last U.S. servicemembers to die in combat on Vietnamese soil.

Because Judge and McMahon exemplified the Marine spirit--exhibiting compassion and professionalism during a bleak, extremely confusing period--they remain both admired and honored by the MSGs who served in Saigon. One man who can testify to this is Potratz, who still remembers the actions of a young lance corporal on his behalf, 25 years ago this month.



"If it weren't for the 'Darwin Judges' and the 'Charles McMahons,' " he reflected, "thousands of Americans and Vietnamese would not have made it out of the country and lived a fuller life."

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[snippy_about_it]

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

Operation Frequent Wind

Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Vietnam in April 1975, moved over 50,000 people. The initial decision to depart Saigon was made to evacuate the Defense Attaché's office by fixed-wing aircraft. This fixed-wing evacuation was determined impossible when hostile artillery and rocket fire closed the air base at Tan Son Nhut. The decision to evacuate the entire US presence by helicopter under Operation Frequent Wind was made late morning, 29 April 1975, Saigon time. Due to the delayed timing of the order, the capability for rapid response to such an order was imperative. The deteriorating situation at the Defense Attaché location required the Embassy to become a major site.



The evacuation of the Defense Attaché people proceeded smoothly. Total casualties were relatively light: two USMC Embassy Security Guards killed in an attack by ground fire, and two USMC CH-46 search and rescue helicopter aircrews presumed dead following a crash at sea. Total evacuation helicopter sorties from the US Defense Attaché compound numbered 122. The sorties from the US Embassy numbered 72. The evacuation of 7,806 US citizens and foreign nationals from these two places by the US Air Force and Marine Corps helicopters was supported by a major air effort by the Air Force and Navy. This effort consisted of: 444 USAF/USMC helicopter sorties; 204 TACAIR sorties; 24 AH-1J (Cobra) combat escort sorties; 8 AC-130 gunship sorties; 5 EC-130 (ABCCC) sorties; 44 KC-135 tanker sorties; and 2 HC-130 search and rescue support sorties.


After being evacuated from their homeland, a line of Vietnamese refugees disembark from an HMH-463 Sea Stallion helicopter and are led to their temporary living quarters. In the forground, armed guards are vigilant for possible enemy agents as the refugees pass by a pack of CH-46s from HMM-164

The 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, a task force of the III MEF successfully extracted by helicopter more than 7,000 Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon, Vietnam, in Operation Frequent Wind. In conjunction with this operation, Marine detachments from III MEF provided security of U.S. ships engaged in carrying Vietnamese refugees to Guam.

Additional Sources:

www.mca-marines.org
www.globalsecurity.org
www.homeofheroes.com
news.bbc.co.uk
www.loc.gov
www.afa.org
www.hmh-463-vietnam.com

[snippy_about_it]

'That [the fall of Saigon] was probably the hardest day of my presidency for me. ... I think we made a very heroic effort and did the best we could under the worst of circumstances. I look upon it as the sadness of a retreat that I'll never forget. '

-- Former President Gerald R. Ford,
Newsweek magazine, March 8, 1999

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



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[snippy_about_it]

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NOW UPDATED THROUGH JULY 31st, 2004




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

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

LINK TO FOXHOLE THREADS INDEXED by PAR35

[snippy_about_it]

We had quite a long day today and must start getting more sleep around here.

Good night everyone, see you in the morning.

[Samwise]

Sleep tight.

[A Jovial Cad]

Good morning snippy, SAM.

Sad day in American history; but not one in American military history.

As you both well know, our Armed Forces did everything they were asked up to and often beyond the call of duty in Vietnam. As someone once noted, we won every battle, and "lost" the war. I put the responsibility for that "loss" directly at the feet of the Democrat Party and it's "leaders" in the United States Congress at the time. The historical record reflects this, all the way from the insane "Cooper-Church" amendment right up to their refusal to authorize the funds for South Vietnam's military--so necessary to that now vanished nation's survival circa 1973, '74, & '75--year after year following the treaty which guaranteed said aid.

The Thieu government wasn't perfect, by any means; but it was sure a hell heck of alot better than the communist regime that replaced it.

This post stirs a bit of the nostalgic in me, because it was the Fall of Saigon that stirred my first vague political leanings. I was six, and watched the news accounts of that evacuation on TV with my parents. During the course of the subsequent evening dinner banter about the day's events (a common occurrence at our supper table), I remember one of them saying, sarcastically, "well, at least the communists are happy tonight." And the other replying: "Don't forget the Democrats."

It was a throwaway remark, made half in jest, but it left a deep impression on me that I carried over from childhood. And it contained a kernel of absolute truth that has been proved over and over and over again as a verity in the subsequent years to my satisfaction; from Reagan's (ultimately successful) attempt to end the Cold War, to the current day WOT (and much in between), the Democrat leadership's public line, talking points, and ultimate position always seems to find itself on the opposite side of the country's national security and interests.

I guess you can say I became a little Republican on that faraway day, for life. I've seen no reason since to alter my partisan allegiance; the Democrats were then and remain now pitifully weak on such issues. And probably always will.

Anyway, far more than enough about my juvenile memories of that long-ago day when Saigon was evacuated; just found it interesting to reflect. It's amazing how powerful those memories remain thirty years after the event.

The best account I've read of those last days in Saigon are from this book: Epic Retreats: From 1776 to the Evacuation of Saigon by Stephen Tanner.

I highly recommend it: it is well-written, accurate, and conveys the tempo of the inevitable events leading up to that final day at a gripping pace.

Thanks, again, for posting this, and for all you both do on behalf of history and our veterans here in the Foxhole.

[Grzegorz 246]

Is this a real picture ??

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning to everyone at the foxhole.((HUGS))

[GailA]

Good morning All.

[alfa6]

We had quite a long day today and must start getting more sleep around here.

And you asked me if I get any rest :-)

SAD 30 year bump for the Freeper Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[E.G.C.]

folks I've just posted on observation on legisation affecting the nation's radio and Tv Stations.

You can read it by clicking on my screename and then "In Forum."

If you have a news story you wish to comment on, post your observations to that thread. Those wishing to read it can click on your screename and then "In Forum" to read it.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on April 29:

1660 Matthias Henriksen Schacht composer
1745 Oliver Ellsworth 3rd Chief Justice Supreme Court (1796-1800)
1769 The Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) born.
1806 Earnest Freiherr von Feuchtersleben Austria, physician/philosopher
1815 Abram Duryee Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1890
1818 Alexander II [N Romanov] Tsar of Russia (1855-81)
1855 Anatol K Liadov Russian composer (Bewitched Lake)
1860 Lorado Taft US, sculptor (Black Hawk)
1863 William Randolph Hearst publisher (San Francisco Examiner, Seattle P-I)
1879 Sir Thomas Beecham England, composer, founded London Philharmonic
1893 Harold C Urey Walkerton IN, physicist (discovered Deuterium, Nobel 1934)
1899 Duke [Edward Kennedy] Ellington Washington DC, bandleader (Take the A Train, It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing))
1901 Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1926-89)
1907 Fred Zinnemann Vienna Austria, movie director (From Here to Eternity, Day of the Jackal, Julia)
1908 Jack [Stewart] Williamson US, sci-fi author (Firechild, Golden Blood, Cometeers)
1909 Tom Ewell [S Yewell Tompkins] Owensboro KY, actor (Tom Ewell Show, 7 Year Itch, Adam's Rib)
1915 Donald Mills singer (Mills Brothers)
1919 Celeste Holm New York NY, actress (Gentleman's Agreement, All About Eve)
1922 George Allen football coach (Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins)
1922 Toots [Jean] Thielemans Belgian/US jazz musician/composer
1928 Carl Gardner Tyler TX, rock vocalist (Coasters-Searchin)
1931 Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 17, 28)
1932 Alexei A Gubarev cosmonaut (Soyuz 17, 28)
1932 Yevgeni Alekseyevich Zaikin Russian cosmonaut (Voshkod 2 backup)
1936 Richard Lynch actor (Xavier-Battlestar Galactica)
1936 Zubin Mehta Bombay India, conductor (New York Philharmonic)
1936 Jacob Rothschild English banker/multi-millionaire
1946 John Waters Baltimore MD, director (Hairspray)
1947 Tommy James singer(?) (cri-im-son & clo-o-ver o-o-ver & o-o-ver)
1951 [Ralph] Dale Earnhardt Kannapolis NC, NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator"
1953 Nikolai Nikolayevich Budarin Kirya Russia, cosmonaut (STS 71, TM-27)
1954 Bill Paxon (Representative-Republican-NY)
1955 Kate Mulgrew Dubuque IA, actress (Captain Janeway-Star Trek Voyager, Heartbeat, Kate Loves a Mystery)
1955 Jerry Seinfeld comedian/actor (Seinfeld)
1958 Michelle Pfeiffer Santa Ana CA, actress (What Lies Beneath, Up Close & Personal, Ladyhawke, Married to the Mob, Grease 2)
1967 Rachel Williams Greenwich Village NY, model (Absolut Vodka, Elle)
1970 Uma Thurman Boston MA, actress (Baron Munchausen, Pulp Fiction)

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Deaths which occurred on April 29:
1699 Samuel Apostool vicar/theologist (Zonisten), dies at 50
1864 Charles-Julien Brianchon math (Brianchon's theorem), dies at 80
1943 Joseph Achron Latvian violinist/composer (Golem suite), dies at 56
1951 Ludwig J J Wittgenstein Austria/English philosopher, dies at 62
1967 Anthony Mann US director (El Cid, Last Frontier), dies at 60
1968 Frankie Lymon rocker (& Teenagers), dies of a drug overdose at 25
1975 Charles McMahon Jr US USMC lance corporal, killed in Vietnam
1975 Darwin Judge USMC-corporal, 1 of last US soldiers killed in Viet
1975 Michael John Shea USMC-Lieutenant/pilot, 1 of last soldiers killed in Vietnam
1975 William Craig Nystul USMC Captain, 1 of last US soldiers killed in Viet
1980 Alfred Joseph Hitchcock British director (Psycho, Birds), dies at 80
1984 Marvin Gaye rocker (Sexual Healing), shot dead by his father at 45
1986 Seamus McElwaine Irish IRA-terrorist, killed at 25
1993 Mick Ronson English guitarist/producer (Mott the Hoople), dies at 46
1995 Robert Gibb zoo/theme park creator, dies at 57
1997 Keith Ferguson blues (Fabulous Thunderbirds), dies of overdose at 50
1997 Mike Royko columnist, dies of stroke at 64

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GWOT Casualties

Iraq
29-Apr-2004 11 | US: 11 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Adam W. Estep Baghdad (eastern part) Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
US Specialist Martin W. Kondor Ba’qubah Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Staff Sergeant Esau G. Patterson Jr. Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Staff Sergeant Jeffrey F. Dayton Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Specialist James L. Beckstrand Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Specialist Justin B. Schmidt Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Private 1st Class Ryan E. Reed Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Private 1st Class Norman Darling Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Private 1st Class Jeremy Ricardo Ewing Mahmudiyah (near) Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Sergeant Landis W. Garrison Baghdad (Abu Ghuraib) Non-hostile - unspecified cause


Afghanistan
A Good Day

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White

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On this day...
1091 Battle at Monte Levunium Emperor Alexius I beats Petshegenes
1289 Qala'un, the Sultan of Egypt, captures Tripoli
1429 Joan of Arc leads the French to victory over English
at Orleans France,
1522 Emperor Charles V names Frans van Holly inquisitor-General of Netherlands
1550 Emperor Charles V gives inquisiters additional authority
1553 Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England
1628 Sweden & Denmark sign defense treaty against Duke of Wallenstein
1661 Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan
1670 Pope Clemens X elected
1706 Emperor Jozef I becomes monarch of Cologne/Bavaria
1707 English/Scottish parliament accept Act of Union, form Great Britain
1715 John Flamsteed observes Uranus for 6th time (some one better pull the shade down)
1781 French fleet stops Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope
1784 Premiere of Mozart's Sonata in B flat, K454 (Vienna)
1813 Rubber is patented
1852 1st edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus annunciated disseminated promulgated
1853 Comet C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) approaches within 0.0839 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
1856 During the Tule River War Yokut Indians repel a second attack by the 'Petticoat Rangers,' a band of civilian Indian fighters-some wearing body armor-at Four Creeks, California
1856 End of Crimean War
1857 US Army, Pacific Division HQ is permanently established at Presidio (San Francisco)
1861 Maryland's House of Delegates votes against seceding from Union
1862 100,000 federal troops prepare to march into Corinth MS
1862 New Orleans falls to Union forces during Civil War
1863 Battle of Chancellorville VA (Fredericksburg, Wilderness Tavern)
1864 Skirmish at Jenkins' Ferry AR begins
1892 Charlie Reilly is baseball's 1st pinch hitter
1894 Commonwealth of Christ (Coxey's Army) arrives in Washington DC 500 strong to protest unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol
1901 27th Kentucky Derby Jimmy Winkfield on His Eminence wins in 2:07.75
1901 Anti semitic riot in Budapest
1905 2" rain falls in 10 minutes in Taylor TX
1912 108º F (42º C), Tuguegarao Philippines (Oceania record)
1913 Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patents all-purpose zipper
1916 Irish nationalists set post office on fire in Dublin

1918 America's WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scored his first victory with the help of Captain James Norman Hall

1918 Tris Speaker ties career outfield record of 4 unassisted double plays
1922 1st official International Weightlifting Federation Champion (Tallinn Estonia)
1926 France & US reach accord on repayment of WWI
1927 Construction of the Spirit of St Louis is completed
1934 Pittsburgh is last major league city to play a home game on a Sunday
1936 1st pro baseball game in Japan is played Nagoya defeats Daitokyo, 8-5
1939 Whitestone Bridge connecting Bronx & Queens opens
1940 1st radio broadcast of "Young Dr Malone" on CBS
1940 Norwegian King Haakon & government flees to England
1942 Japanese troops march into Lashio, cut off Burma Road
1942 Jews forced to wear a Jewish Star in Netherlands & Vichy-France
1943 Dietrich Bonhöffer arrested by Nazi's
1943 US 34th Division occupies Hill 609, North Tunisia
1945 1st food drop by RAF above nazi-occupied Holland (operation Manna)
1945 Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun
1945 Japanese army evacuates Rangoon
1945 Terms of surrender of German armies in Italy signed
1945 US liberates 31,601 in Nazi concentration camp in Dachau Germany
1946 28 former Japanese leaders indicted in Tokyo as war criminals
1956 WSPA TV channel 7 in G'ville-Spartanburg SC (CBS) begins broadcasting
1957 1st military nuclear power plant dedicated, Fort Belvoir VA
1961 ABC's "Wide World of Sports, debuts
1965 Earthquake hits Seattle; 5 die
1965 Australian government announces it will send troops to Vietnam
1967 Aretha Franklin releases "Respect"
1970 50,000 US & South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia
1971 Bill Graham closes down the Fillmore & Fillmore East
1971 Boeing receives contract for Mariner 10, Mercury exploration
1974 President Richard Nixon said he will release edited tapes made in White House
1975 US Forces pull out of Vietnam
1981 Peter Sutcliffe admits he is the Yorkshire Ripper (murdered 13 women)
1981 Philadelphia Phillie Steve Carlton is 1st lefty to strike out 3,000 batters
1983 Harold Washington sworn in as Chicago's 1st black mayor
1986 Boston Red Sox Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners
1986 800,000 books destroyed by fire in Los Angeles Central Library
1987 Chicago Cub Andre Dawson hits for the cycle


1990 Wrecking cranes began tearing down Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate


1991 Croatia declares independence
1991 Cyclone strikes Bangladesh, 139,000 die/10 million homeless
1992 Jury acquits Los Angeles police officers of beating Rodney King, riots begin
1994 Israel & PLO sign economic accord
1996 Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned in Maryland after an apparent boating accident; his body was later recovered.
1997 A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons went into effect.(Sleep well, there's a treaty)
1997 Astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev went on the first U.S.-Russian space walk.
1997 The Global Anti-Golf Movement, GAG’M, proclaimed a World No-Golf Day
1997 The French oil company Total signed a $2 billion contract to explore for gas in Iran
1998 Israel formally open the celebration of the 50th anniversary of its founding.
2000 In Malaysia a court upheld the 1999 corruption conviction against former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim
2003 Qataris voted on their first permanent constitution
2004 GM ends production of its Oldsmobile line (b.1897), named after Ransom E. Olds. The last Olds Alero rolls off a GM assembly line in Lansing, Mich

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


Alabama, Florida, Mississippi : Confederate Memorial Day (1868) (Monday)
US-Utah : Arbor Day-plant a tree (1872)
US : Dancers Day
Moment of Laughter Day
National Shrimp Scampi Day
America's Heartland Development Month

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Religious Observances
Bahá'í : 9th day of Ridván-festival
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Peter of Verona, martyr
Anglican : Commemoration of St Catherine of Siena, patron of Italy/virgin/doctor
Bahá'í : 9th day of Ridván (Bahá'í festival); Jamál 2, 20

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Religious History
1607 The first Anglican (Episcopal) church in the American colonies was established at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1834 Birth of Joseph H. Gilmore, American Baptist clergyman and Hebrew instructor. He is better remembered today, however, as author of the hymn: "He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought."
1933 The Navigators trace their origin to this date, when founder Dawson Trotman began the work in San Pedro, CA. In 1943, this evangelical mission was formally incorporated, and is headquartered today in Colorado Springs, CO.
1945 U.S. troops liberated the oldest of the Nazi concentration camps -- Dachau -- in Bavaria, West Germany. It is estimated that nearly 32,000 prisoners (mostly Jews) perished at Dachau during its 12-year existence as a Nazi detention camp.
1952 Death of Samuel M. Zwemer, 85, American Dutch Reformed missionary. Serving in Egypt between 1890-1905, Zwemer helped found the Arabian Mission in 1888 and authored over 50 volumes during his life -- many in Arabic.

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

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Thought for the day :
"A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother."

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Valin]

As Rush says, Bad news for America is good news for the democrats.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. It's Friday!

[The Mayor]

April 29, 2005

The One Who Could Not Be Hidden

Read:
Mark 7:24-30

He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. -Mark 7:24

Bible In One Year: Psalm 55-57

Attar of Roses, a fragrant oil, is one of the most valuable products of Bulgaria and is heavily taxed for export. A tourist, unwilling to pay the duty, sought to evade customs by concealing two vials of the precious fluid in his suitcase. Apparently a little of the perfume had spilled in his suitcase. By the time he reached the train station, the aroma was emanating from the luggage, declaring the presence of the hidden treasure. The authorities immediately knew what the man had done and confiscated the costly souvenirs.

The Lord Jesus could not be hidden either. Crowds were constantly mobbing Him to hear His words of wisdom, to benefit from His deeds of mercy, and to derive help from His loving compassion.

After He ascended to His Father, Jesus' influence continued in the lives of His disciples. The populace "realized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). Their deportment and their attitude marked them as His true followers.

Are you living completely for Jesus? Is the love of Christ so obvious in your life that those who know you realize that you are a follower of the One who "could not be hidden"? (Mark 7:24). If so, the world will readily see that you are on God's side. Your influence cannot be hidden. -Henry Bosch

When we've been alone with Jesus,
Learning from Him day by day,
Others soon will sense the difference
As we walk along life's way. -Hess

You cannot hide your influence.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
What Does It Take To Follow Christ?
Keeping Our Appointments With God

[snippy_about_it]

Yes, it's real.