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Had the escorts left port before the cruisers and destroyers, they could have arrived on station and waited for Giffen to join them. As it was, an impatient Giffen, who called the escorts his "ball and chain," simmered while his group inched across the Pacific toward the rendezvous point.

Giffen arrived 50 miles north of Rennell Island, which rests 120 miles southeast of Guadalcanal, late in the afternoon of January 29. His force steamed northwest toward its planned rendezvous at 24 knots, with his six cruisers split into two columns. To the starboard steamed Wichita, Chicago and Louisville, while Montpelier, Cleveland and Columbia advanced to port.

Because of his experience operating against German U-boats, Giffen stationed his six destroyers in a semicircle two miles ahead. While it was appropriate for the Atlantic, this formation left the ships open to air attack--the predominant method of Japanese assault in the Pacific. The cruisers' afterbeams and quarters were exposed to an attack because Giffen's destroyers steamed in front.

During the afternoon of the 29th, radar screens aboard the ships registered unidentified aircraft northwest of Task Force 18. Fighters leaped from the two escort carriers to search the skies, but they had to find the quarry on their own since Giffen had issued strict orders maintaining radio silence. As a result, the planes received no assistance in pinpointing the radar sightings from the fighter-director team aboard Chicago.

At 1850 the American aircraft returned to their carriers, having failed to spot anything. Never expecting the Japanese to mount an attack after dark, Giffen declined to send up another combat air patrol, despite the remaining daylight.

At about that same time, Lt. Cmdr. Higai approached the American task force with his 32 Betty torpedo bombers from Rabaul. Although radar picked up the planes, Giffen did not change course, alert his aircraft or issue orders to his ships about what they should do in case of attack.

All hell broke loose as Higai and his pilots descended toward their targets. One American sailor looked at the radar plate in Wichita and described it as "a disturbed hornet's nest." To avoid silhouetting his aircraft by attacking out of the twilight, Higai had circled his force around Task Force 18 and approached from the darkness. When the planes drew within 14 miles of Task Force 18, Higai split the aircraft into two groups and charged in.

One Betty headed toward Waller, dropped a torpedo at the destroyer and then strafed her and nearby Wichita. A heavy stream of anti-aircraft fire found its mark, however, and the aircraft plummeted to the ocean in a fiery ball, near Chicago. A second Betty sped between Chicago and Wichita and launched a torpedo that barely missed Louisville, then soared into the darkness.

The brief attack ended in moments. Higai's first wave inflicted no damage on the American ships, which had managed to avoid all the torpedoes by zigzagging, and the Americans had downed at least one Betty. Round one went to Giffen, but round two was shortly to begin.

Betty bomber: in the cockpit

Giffen assumed the Japanese attack had ended. Still hoping to make his rendezvous, at 1930 hours he halted the ships' zigzagging and headed on a straight course. While this may have increased his ship's speed it also made them easier targets.

The Japanese took advantage of Giffen's error. One minute later, at 1931, Higai led the second group of Bettys from the east--and this time he could clearly see the targets, since Japanese scout planes had dropped parachutes from which dangled yellow-white flares. As they slowly descended to the ocean on both sides of the columns, the flares illuminated Giffen's cruisers and destroyers. Other clusters of red and green float lights relayed information to Higai about the ships' speed and composition. Brightly illuminated against the black backdrop of the Pacific Ocean and steaming in a straight course, Task Force 18 became an easy mark for Higai's aviators, who focused upon Giffen's right-hand cruiser column, consisting of Chicago, Wichita and Louisville.

Giffen did have one ace in the hole. His anti-aircraft gunners had the new proximity Mark-32 shell fuses, which automatically exploded whenever the shell came near an aircraft. Gunners did not have to hit a bomber; they only had to shoot in its vicinity. The shells lived up to expectations. One Betty careened into the ocean astern of Waller.

Betty bomber defending itself

Luck at first shielded the Americans from harm. One torpedo dropped from a Betty and churned through the waters toward Chicago but missed her by only a few yards. A second torpedo smacked into Louisville but failed to explode.

At 1938 Higai dipped his aircraft and charged through thick anti-aircraft fire toward a ship. He continued through the explosions and tracers that rent the sky until an American shell burst near his aircraft. Higai's Betty then plummeted to the Pacific and crashed off Chicago's port bow.

Within four minutes of Higai's death, the Japanese retaliated, sending two torpedoes plowing into Chicago and stopping her dead in the water. The first tore into her starboard side, ripping a huge gash, which quickly flooded two compartments and destroyed three shafts, so the cruiser's rudder could no longer be controlled from the bridge. The second smacked into the No. 3 fire room, flooded the forward engine room and knocked out the only remaining drive shaft. Chicago floated helplessly on the ocean as Captain Ralph O. Davis and his crew frantically attempted to regain control and save the ship.

At 2000--in an effort to keep Japanese aircraft from locating them--Giffen made a course change, reduced speed to lessen the ships' phosphorescent wakes and ordered that no ship should open fire unless a target was clearly identified. His orders, though appropriate, meant little, for the Japanese had already broken off their attack and were heading back to Rabaul.

Now the focus switched to saving the crippled Chicago. Work crews aboard the stricken cruiser restored some power from emergency diesel generators, extinguished two fires and started counterflooding to counteract the ship's 11-degree starboard list. At 2030, Giffen moved Louisville into position to send a towline, while the other ships steamed westward as a defensive line against further enemy assaults.

Louisville's skipper, Captain Charles T. Joy, executed a tricky operation in taking Chicago under tow in the darkness. Joy moved his cruiser 1,000 yards to Chicago's bow, then lowered a whaleboat containing the towing gear. The whaleboat inched close to Chicago, where its occupants transferred the gear to Chicago crewmen, who shackled the towline to the anchor cable and slowly let out 60 fathoms of chain. By midnight the towline was in place, and Louisville started towing Chicago at 4 knots. They hoped to reach Espiritu Santo, where repairs could be made to the damaged cruiser.

They never made it. After receiving orders from Admiral Halsey to steam toward Efate, Giffen split Task Force 18 during the afternoon of January 30. Giffen took most of the ships along with him and left only six destroyers to screen the Chicago force. That meant that the bulk of his cruisers and destroyers, most of the air umbrella and anti-aircraft guns, and the force fighter direction officer headed away from the area. To provide some air cover, Halsey moved the escort carriers Chenango and Suwannee closer and ordered a group centered on the carrier Enterprise to steam toward the stricken cruiser. That same afternoon, Louisville transferred the towline to the tug Navajo, which had sped to the scene, and departed to join the other cruisers.

The Japanese air fleet commander at Rabaul, Vice Adm. Jinichi Kusaka, did not intend to let the damaged cruiser escape his clutches. During the afternoon of January 30, he launched a group of Japanese aircraft to chase Chicago and send her to the bottom. By 1445 those Bettys were south of New Georgia and headed toward Rennell Island.

At 1540, four American fighters spotted an advance Japanese aircraft and darted after her. A 40-mile chase ended with the Japanese plane falling in flames into the ocean, and though this left Chicago with no immediate air cover, the carriers moving into position would soon be able to pick up the slack.

USS Cleveland at the Battle of Rennell Island in World War II 1943

At first it appeared the Japanese force would target Enterprise, 40 miles southeast of Chicago. American carrier aircraft rose to meet them, but instead of continuing toward the better-protected Enterprise, the Japanese swerved toward the stricken cruiser. This change of direction made it almost impossible for the carrier aircraft to close with the enemy before they launched their torpedoes at Chicago, which was now defended by two American fighters.

As the Japanese started their run toward the cruiser, Lt. Cmdr. James H. Flatley led four fighters from Enterprise toward the action. Although they arrived after the attack had begun, they charged straight into American anti-aircraft fire after the Japanese aircraft. Flying alongside Flatley, Ensign Edward L. Feightner followed one Betty into a thick cloudbank. Fortunately, Feightner managed to find the Betty inside the clouds and shot it down.

While Flatley and his small group sped to the aid of Chicago, the Japanese entered their final run-in. Since Giffen had Task Force 18's cruisers with him 30 miles to the east, they were out of position to help. All depended upon the six destroyers, three of which steamed on the unengaged side of Chicago. One destroyer, La Vallette, stood squarely between the Japanese Bettys and the cruiser, determined to prevent any aircraft from getting beyond her. La Vallette opened a furious fire when the enemy came within 10,000 yards. Her anti-aircraft batteries, combined with Chicago's, brought down six Japanese planes. The Japanese, however, were able to inflict some damage of their own.

A spread of torpedoes churned toward La Vallette. She managed to avoid all but one, which ripped into her forward engine room and sent water gushing into it and the forward fire room. Lieutenant Eli Roth, the ship's damage control officer, and 20 other men died in the explosion.

Water Tender Second Class M.W. Tollberg was severely burned and blinded by a spurt of live steam from a damaged pipe. Although in enormous pain, Tollberg still managed to climb topside and reach an oil valve that needed to be closed. Later, he was found by the ship's medical officer still clutching the oil valve in a heroic attempt to close it. Tollberg died two hours later.

USS Chicago (CA-29), at left, under tow at five knots by USS Louisville (CA-28) on the morning of 30 January 1943. The damaged cruiser had been torpedoed by Japanese aircraft on the previous night.
A tug, probably USS Navajo (AT-64), is alongside Louisville.

Although damaged, La Vallette eventually steamed out of the battle area under her own power. Another ship rigged a towline and slowly towed the battered destroyer toward safer waters.

Navajo quickly started aligning Chicago's bow with the direction of the Japanese attack, to make her a smaller target. Just when it seemed that the attack had been successfully repulsed and the remaining Bettys had been driven off, lookouts on Chicago spotted five torpedo wakes heading toward the cruiser. At 1624, while traveling at the agonizingly slow speed of 4 knots, the cruiser suddenly shuddered from the blasts of four successive torpedoes tearing into her starboard side. One torpedo struck forward and showered the bridge and deck with debris, while the others ripped apart the middle of the ship and created a raging inferno belowdecks. The cruiser listed and started to sink.

Captain Davis ordered Navajo to cut the towline and told his crew to abandon ship. Davis said that less than 20 minutes after the first torpedo exploded, the ship "rolled slowly over on her starboard side and settled by the stern, with colors flying." Six officers and 56 men went down with the ship. Edwards, Waller, Sands and Navajo picked 1,049 survivors from the water.

As often happened after a naval contest in the Pacific, the Japanese boasted of a huge victory. To divert attention from the catastrophe unfolding on Guadalcanal, where U.S. Marines and naval forces had seized the initiative and sent the Japanese army reeling, the Japanese government claimed her aircraft had sunk one American battleship and three cruisers and damaged others. In fact, the Japanese had registered a minor victory in sinking Chicago, but they had also lost 12 Bettys--as well as one of their top torpedo bomber commanders, Higai. However, because the enemy's attention had been focused on the ships of Giffen's task force, the transports were able to land their Marine replacements on Guadalcanal without interference.

Numerous errors of judgment contributed to the loss of Chicago. Admiral Giffen had been so obsessed with keeping his rendezvous that he left his escort carriers behind. He had also been so concerned with the threat from Japanese submarines that his ships steamed in poor formation for defense from an air attack. American fighters lacked any coordinated fighter direction and thus could not mount an effective defense when Chicago was threatened. One historian labeled the mismanaged affair "tactical ineptitude of the first order."

USS Chicago shown down hard by the stern and sinking on January 30, 1943 after being struck by 6 torpedoes in two days

Giffen's superiors, especially Halsey and Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, were irate over the loss of Chicago. Halsey, who had been frantically trying to assemble sufficient forces near Guadalcanal to blunt the Japanese offensive, described the loss of Chicago as a "blow at any time, and just now we felt it with special severity." Halsey had succeeded in stopping the enemy, but he knew that he needed every ship, every Marine, every aircraft to maintain momentum. The loss of a cruiser, especially when occasioned by command mistakes, made his task more difficult.

Nimitz had already been angered, even embarrassed, by earlier American naval losses in the Solomons. The Battle of Rennell Island did not help matters. At first, he intended to include a harsh condemnation of Giffen in his official report, but he eventually watered down his remarks, stating that the loss of Chicago was "especially regrettable because it might have been prevented." However, Nimitz ordered that word of the cruiser's sinking be withheld from the public. He also vowed in a staff meeting, "If any man lets out the loss of the Chicago, I'll shoot him!"

The Battle of Rennell Island was not one of the war's conclusive encounters in the Pacific. However, it occurred at a time when American forces appeared to have swung momentum in the Solomons in their favor and to have halted the Japanese advance in the South Pacific. Any setback, no matter how small, was thus seen as a threat to the success of the American war effort.

Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison offered a calmer summation of the Battle of Rennell Island. In his History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Morison wrote: "This defeat was due not only to a combination of bad luck and bad judgment, as at Tassafaronga, but to Admiral Giffen's inexperience and his determination to make the rendezvous with Briscoe on time. Halsey's endorsement on Giffen's Action Report was a scathing indictment of mistakes in judgment; that of Nimitz was more tolerant."

Additional Sources:

www.history.navy.mil
www.navsource.org
www.compass.dircon.co.uk
www.aviation-history.com
www.domeisland.com www.ibiblio.org
community.webshots.com

"...in coordination with a second group of 16 Mitsubishi G4M torpedo bombers, were ordered to rise from Rabaul's airfields, head southwest, and attack American naval and air forces in the Solomon Islands..." - in the first paragraph. "Southwest" should be read as "Southeast". This incorrect direction is repeated later. A lubber, for sure!!!

Actually, Guadalcanal is more like southeast by east, about a bearing of 120 degrees, though this is by eye, not measuring from my maps.

The Betty caught fire amazingly quickly and thoroughly. Otherwise a good machine, apparently.

Imagine putting a guy in charge of a whole task force who had no experience in the southwest Pacific. Imagine refusing radio contact with his fighters so that they could not be vectored in to their targets. A other mistakes were made by the US Navy in those waters, though.

The First and Second Naval Battles of Guadalcanal, 12/13 November 1942:

The Marines on Guadalcanal needed supplies and reinforcements (including US Army regulars and National Guard). Several American convoys were to do this job under the overall command of Rear-Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner. These convoys arrived off Lunga Point on the morning of the 12th and commenced unloading their reinforcements and supplies. Although there was still cargo aboard his ships, Turner received reports from Australian coast watchers from other islands that a Japanese force consisting of two battleships, one light cruiser, and eight to ten destroyers was heading south. Because the Japanese transports had not yet been sighted, Turner reasoned that this force had been dispatched to deal with his transports. Based on this information, Turner decided that his ships must depart before sunset. The majority of the escort, which was five cruisers and eight destroyers, were left behind under the command of Rear-Admiral Daniel Callaghan to engage the Japanese force wherever it could be found.

Callaghan's force escorted the transports from the immediate area at sunset and returned to the waters off Guadalcanal. The transports would wait, with three destroyers, to the south of the island. Callaghan, who was somewhat inexperienced and had general uncertainty regarding his ships' abilities to conduct battle, aligned his 13 ships in line ahead. The four destroyers were first, then the cruisers Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Helena, Juneau, with another four destroyers making up his rear.

The Japanese force had fallen into disarray during the night's steaming through rainsqualls. Admiral Callaghan was hampered by poor radio discipline and the fact that an American commander had once again decided to be on a ship without the proper radar needed. As a result, even when the Japanese force was detected on radar, Callaghan suffered from an unclear perception as to their composition, speed, and course. Other command and control errors were made. The Admiral ordered his ships to cease fire at exactly the wrong time, probably to stop aan ongoing friendly fire situation. Mistakes in ship handling resulted in a confused melee. The Admiral was killed that night by Japanese fire, so what actually happened is not known.

Admiral Callaghn's attempt to cross the Japanese 'T' instead placed his ships on a collision course with the enemy. By the time fighting commenced at 2am, the range between the lead vessels of each force had closed to mere 1000 yards.

The result of all this was a battle of monstrous proportions as both formations passed through each other. Damage was severe on both sides, with the Americans getting the worse end of the deal. However, the Japanese bombardment mission was a failure and the severely damaged IJN battleship Hiei met her doom the next morning as she tried to struggle back up to Rabaul under tow. The Cactus Air Force made her a visit at the very first light and did their usual good job.

Neither side was willing to give up the struggle to maintain control over the Sound, which would allow one side to deny supply to the other side's land forces.

Having lost practically every cruiser in the inventory either sunk or damaged, the American forces left to dispute Japan's ability to reinforce Guadalcanal were running thin.

As the damaged survivors of the Battle of Friday the Thirteenth withdrew, the Americans knew that the Japanese were moving another force into the area. The American theatre commander, William Halsey, reacted by detaching the fast battleships of Enterprise's screen to the constricted waters of the Sound. Under the command of Rear Admiral Willis Lee, the South Dakota and Washington, along with a nominal screen of four destroyers, arrived off of Savo on November 14.

Down from the north came another Japanese force bent on bombarding Henderson Field. The battleship Kirishima, a survivor of the battle two nights before, along with heavy cruisers Atago and Takao, formed the bulk of the force. In the resulting melee, South Dakota had a bad go of it, repeatedly losing power due to faulty electrical equipment, and was unable to contribute much to the battle. Taken under fire by the IJN battleship Kirishima and practically every ship in the Japanese main body, her superstructure was riddled and her radar disabled. However, her watertight integrity was never damaged a whit. And in the meantime, Washington had approached undetected, shielded by a rain squall from Japanese eyeballs, to within 8,400 yards of the Japanese force. Taking Kirishima under fire at 0005 by SH radar control, she quickly buried the Japanese battlewagon under an avalanche of 16" and 5" fire. By 0012 she was a floating wreck. Washington proceeded to sink Ayanami, and then began a gradual disengagement from the action, avoiding several torpedo attacks in the process.

For the Japanese, it was the end of any hope of wresting Guadalcanal from the Americans; in the course of three days of constant fighting in and around the area, they had lost two battleships, one heavy cruiser, three destroyers and eleven combat transports, not to mention 5,000 infantrymen drowned, and several thousand naval casualties.

In the course of three days of constant fighting in and around the area, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost two battleships, one heavy cruiser, three destroyers and eleven combat transports with all hands. The Imperial Army lost 5,000 infantrymen drowned. From this point on, the Japanese would never stop retreating in the Pacific, and the US would continue to push their offensive throughout the South Pacific.

The loss of life in the Guadalcanal campaign was tremendous for both sides. In these two night battles the US Navy had 6,000 casualties out of 60,000 men involved including 1600 killed in action. The Japanese had even more devastating losses which amounted to 24,000 casualties of 36,000 involved.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 09:
1640 Leopold I Emperor of Holy Roman Empire
1672 Peter I Aleksejevitsj, the Great, Russian tsar/Emperor
1781 George Stephenson inventor (principal RR locomotive)
1791 John Howard Payne US, author/actor/diplomat (Home Sweet Home)
1893 Cole Porter Indiana, composer/lyricist (Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate)
1900 Fred Waring Tyrone Penn, musician/conductor/inventor (Waring Blender)
1908 Robert Cummings Joplin Mo, actor (Love that Bob, Dial M For Murder)

1915 Les Paul Waukesha Wi, guitarist/inventor (Les Paul guitar) Chester & Lester [w/Chet Atkins - 1976], Trustees Award [1982]; w/Mary Ford: Vaya Con Dios, How High the Moon, Hummingbird, Sittin' on Top of the World; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1988])

1916 Robert S McNamara US Sec of Defense (1961-68)/head of World Bank
1930 Jackie Mason(Yacov Moshe Maza) comedian (The World According to Me, Chicken Soup)
1930 Marvin Kalb NYC, educator/newscaster (CBS/NBC)
1934 Donald Duck famous fowl
1934 Jackie Wilson Detroit, singer (Lonely Teardrops)
1934 Joe Santos Bkln NY, actor (Rockford Files, Shamus)
1947 Mitch Mitchell drummer (Jimi Hendrix Experience-Purple Haze)
1958 Donald Michael Santini Mass, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1961 Michael J Fox, actor (Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf)
1963 Johnny Depp Queensboro Ky, actor (Donnie Brasco)

Deaths which occurred on June 09:
0068 Nero Roman Emperor commits suicide
1870 Charles Dickens author, dies in England
1897 Alvin Graham Clark dies 3 weeks after 1st use of Yerkes 40" lens
1911 Carry Amelia Moore Nation, American temperance leader, dies
1964 W Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Engl Min of Info, dies at 85
1972 John Paul Vann, (American military adviser,) killed in a helicopter accident in South Vietnam. He posthumously was awarded the highest American civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1981 Allen Ludden game show host (Password), dies at 63
1982 Hank Ladd TV host (Arrow Show, Waiting for the Break), dies at 74

GWOT Casualties

Iraq
09-Jun-2004 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Thomas D. Caughman Baghdad (eastern part) Hostile - hostile fire

Afghanistan
A Good Day

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

On this day...
1456 23rd recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1534 Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River
1549 Book of Common Prayer was adopted by the Church of England.
1628 1st deportation from what is now US, Thomas Morton from Mass
1732 Royal charter for Georgia granted to James Oglethorpe
1772 1st Protestant church west of Penn (in Ohio) holds communion
1784 John Carroll appointed supervisor of US Catholic Missions
1789 Spanish capture British schooner Northwest America near Vancouver Island
1790 1st book copyrighted under the constitution, Philadelphia Spelling Bk
1822 Charles Graham receives 1st patent for false teeth
1851 San Francisco Committee of Vigilance forms (1st time)
1862 Battle of Port Republic, last of 5 battles in Jacksons Valley camp
1863 Battle of Brandy Station, Va
1868 1st meeting of the Board of Regents, University of California
1869 Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)
1883 1st commercial electric railway line begins operation (Chicago El)
1898 China leases Hong Kong's new territories to Britain for 99 years
1899 Jim Jeffries KOs Bob Fitzsimmons for the Heavyweight boxxing crown
1901 NY Giants get record 31 hits to beat Cin Reds 25-13 (talk about a pitchers duel!)
1907 K Lohnert discovers asteroid #635 Vundtia
1914 Honus Wagner becomes the 1st baseball player to get 3,000 hits
1924 "Jelly-Roll Blues," was recorded by blues great, Jelly Roll Morton.

1928 1st aerial crossing of the Pacific lands in Brisbane Australia
1931 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1197 Rhodesia
1931 Goddard patents rocket-fueled aircraft design
1934 1st Donald Duck cartoon, The Wise Little Hen, released
1940 Norway surrenders to Germany during WW II
1943 Congress passes "pay-as-you-go" income tax
1944 23 puppies (record litter) born to Lena, a foxhound, Ambler, Penn
1945 Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender
1946 19 guests at Canfield Hotel die in fire. (Dubuque Iowa)
1946 66,545 fans help Yanks break million attendance mark, the earliest
1946 NY Giant Mel Ott becomes the 1st manager to be ejected from both games of a doubleheader
1949 Mrs Georgia Neese Clark of Kansas becomes 1st woman treasurer of US
1953 Tornado strikes Worcester Mass destroying Assumption College (100 die)
1954 Joseph Welch asks Sen Joseph McCarthy "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" during Senate-Army hearings
1955 100ø F-Hottest day in Seattle Washington
1957 Anthony Eden resigns as British PM
1959 1st ballistic missile sub launched (George Washington-Groton, Ct)
1960 ABC & AFL sign a 5 year contract
1963 Barbra Striesand appears on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
1963 Movie "Cleopatra" opens in NY
1966 5 Minn Twins (Rich Rollins, Zolio Versailes, Tony Oliva, Don Michner,& Harmon Killebrew) all homer in the 7th inning to beat Athletics 9-4
1967 The Monkees appear at the Hollywood Bowl
1969 Warren Burger confirmed as US Chief Justice
1970 Harry A Blackmun becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1972 14" of rain in 6 hrs burst Rapid City SD dam, drowns 200
1972 Bruce Springsteen signs a record deal with Columbia
1973 Secretariat wins Belmont Stakes & Triple Crown
1974 Supergroup Blind Faith's (Clapton, Windwood, Baker) 1st concert
1975 E Roemer discovers asteroid #1983 Bok
1977 Silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth celebrated with fireworks
1978 Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) sells for $2.4 million, London
1978 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) strikes down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood
1979 Coastal wins the Belmont Stakes
1979 Michael Cairney topples a record row of 169,713 dominoes
1979 Phillies wear burgundy uniforms for 1st & last time
1980 Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine
1980 Phillies & SF Giants end their game at 3:11 AM
1980 Soyuz T-2 returns to Earth
1982 Israel wipes out Syrian SAM missiles in Bekaa Valley
1985 American Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped & held hostage in Lebanon
1985 USSR's Vega 1 deposits lander on surface of Venus
1986 Angel Don Sutton (298 wins) beats White Sox Tom Seaver (306 wins) 3-0
1986 Rogers Comm report on Challenger disaster blames Morton Thiokol
1988 Attorney General Meese orders Joseph Doherty deported to the UK
1989 "Star Trek V" premiers
1989 Barry Switzer resigns as head coach of Oklahoma's football
1989 Rare tornado in Philadelphia kills 1
1992 Vice President Dan Quayle, addressing Southern Baptists in Indianapolis, condemned the "media elite," saying, "I wear their scorn as a badge of honor."

1994 The U.S. House of Representatives voted to require the Clinton administration to stop participating in the U.N.-sponsored arms embargo against the Bosnian government.

1995 Colombian police arrested Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, believed to be a leader of the Cali drug cartel.
1997 British lease on New Territories in Hong Kong expires
1999 President Clinton instructed federal law agencies to collect race and gender data on people they stop or arrest, in a move to end racial profiling by police.
2000 Congo 22-month civil war averaged some 2,600 deaths every day. The total was estimated at 1.7 million dead
2003 Hillary Clinton's (Alleged) memoir "Living History" was released.
2004 Thousands viewed the flag-draped casket of Pres. Reagan in the Capitol Rotunda of Washington DC.
2005 Anti-government demonstrations continue in Iran.

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

Oklahoma : Senior Citizens Day
Massachusett : Children's Day (Sunday)
Shelby, Mich : National Asparagus Festival (Thursday)
Great Britain : Queen's official birthday (National Day)(Saturday)
National Humor Week (Day 5)
National Fragrance Week (Day 5)
National Bathroom Reading Week (Day 4)
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month

Religious Observances
Ancient Rome : Vestalia (honors goddess Vesta); a d v Id Juni‘
Christian : Feast of St Pelagia
RC : Memorial of Ephraem, deacon & doctor (opt)
RC : Commemoration of SS Primus & Felician, martyrs
Ang, Luth, RC : Commemoration of Columba, Abbot of Iona
Luth : Commemoration of Aidan, confessors
Luth : Commemoration of Bede, confessors

Religious History
0597 Death of St. Columba (born 521), pioneer missionary to Scotland. From the Isle of Iona, Columba evangelized the mainland of Scotland and Northumbria.
1549 In England, Parliament established a uniformity of religious services and the first Book of Common Prayer, as Anglicanism became the newly established national faith.
1732 Englishman James Oglethorpe received a royal charter to form the American colony of Georgia. It was to be a place of refuge for sectarian Protestant believers, persecuted in England.
1784 In the first step toward formal organization of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S., Father John Carroll was appointed superior of the American missions by Pius VI.
1834 English Baptist missionary pioneer William Carey died at 73. Having translated portions of Scripture into as many as 25 languages, he is known by some today as the 'father of modern missions.'

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

U.S. MILITARY HAS TEAM OF 'UNDERGROUND SUBMARINES' STALKING IRAN

By MICHAEL FORSYTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- America's military arsenal includes a deadly new weapon: Submarine-like craft that travel underground instead of underwater!

Dubbed Subterranean Underground Vehicles, or SUVs, 14 of the top-secret vessels are already roving far beneath the sands of Iran, poised to launch a surprise attack if it becomes necessary to overthrow the rogue regime.

"They're mega-gasguzzlers, but that's no problem since they clandestinely tap into Iran's oil wells," said a reliable Pentagon source.

"SUVs are already in place near Iraq's most strategically important cities -- including Tehran, Hamadan, Bakhtaran and Mashad.

"The White House is hoping diplomacy will persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

"But if President Bush gives the word, elite troops aboard those craft could emerge and easily overrun Iran's unprepared defensive forces."

Each SUV's nose is equipped with powerful drills capable of boring through solid granite and the craft's six giant, retractable digging claws allow it to tunnel like a mole. Under farmland, the vehicles can travel 20 miles a day.

"Under sand, they're faster -- capable of slithering up to 45 m.p.h.," the insider said.

The source refused to provide details of the highly classified technology. But he warned: "If Iranian officials don't play ball with Uncle Sam they'll face dire consequences."

Thought for the day :
"Never miss a good chance to shut up"