The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Dog Tags Lost and Found: An Update (Vietnam)

What was most interesting and unexpected, however, were the circumstances and stories of how these dog tags became separated from their owners. Tony Kurr (Army, 1970-71), a soldier out of Schaumburg, Ill., unknowingly lost both of his dog tags in-country and got replacements, which he still has. Karl Voiles (Navy, 1968-69) wore a peace symbol around his neck and doesn't remember losing his dog tags. Chuck Racette (Army, 1970-71) mistakenly left one of his dog tags tied to his boots when he turned them in at the out-processing station in Vietnam.

Others, such as Edward Liekis Jr. (Marines, 1967-68) and Spencer Zielenski (Army, 1969), after being wounded in battle, were taken to aid stations where medics cut off and discarded their boots with the dog tags tied to them. Joseph Chernowas was injured during a mortar attack and had his boot and dog tag cut off and tossed out the back door at an aid station. He remembers seeing flak jackets, bloody boots and steel helmets lying in piles behind one of the aid station tents. Ronald Castonguay (Army, 1970-71) of Massachusetts lost his dog tags when medics cut off his boots from his badly swollen feet in order to treat his trench foot. And then there was Alfred Pergeau, who lost both dog tags when his Marine squad was attacked by an NVA division in Quang Tri in 1969.

Steven Sweetland (Army, 1969-70) lost his as he was moving along Highway 1 from Da Nang to Chu Lai. John Kreucher (Navy, 1967-69) probably lost his when he sent them out with his laundry, while James Petyak (1967-68) thinks he lost his in the Phu Bai area. Chuck Manlove (Marines, 1966-67) received two reissues of dog tags in Vietnam and remembers losing one pair, as he put it: "...on ambush as the NVA attacked. We were only a reinforced squad. The VC followed us afterwards. When we finally got picked up I was running down the beach and taking off everything as fast as I could to get to the Amtrac and ran for home. I lost them north of Hue, three kilometers from the Ben Hai River in Dong Ha."

Interestingly, Dan Clipson recognized the dog tag from Hue City as the one he had been issued in boot camp. He could tell because it showed his religion as "Methodist," while his second set had "Agnostic" and the third set "Undecided." Dan certainly had a good sense of humor. As for what got stamped on dog tags, "You could have anything put on them if you knew the company clerks," was his reply. That also explains the dog tag we have with "ZIPPO THE GREAT" on it. Our research revealed that the service number on that tag belonged to a Marine who served in Vietnam and went home after the war. And in fact the owner of that tag -- Sergeant Martis Barton of Arkansas -- just recently contacted us. So much for another purported fake!

One thing we have learned, based on dog tags that American teams have personally recovered from crash sites and graves around the world, is that having unusual or misspelled names or incorrect information on a dog tag is commonplace and doesn't mean it's not genuine.

After conversations with 17 veterans, we had learned a lot about the mystery of the dog tags in Vietnam, including -- perhaps most important at this point -- that the vast majority of them seem to be genuine. They were issued to U.S. service members, worn in and out of battle, lost, misplaced, given away as souvenirs, reissued, snagged and left on barbed wire, left hanging on bedposts or at out-processing stations, removed when wounds were treated, turned in while still tied to filthy, mud-covered boots or blown off their owners' bodies in firefights.

Although we haven't seen it firsthand, we accept the possibility that some Vietnamese may be hand stamping or etching dog tags for sale to tourists. One thing we're not seeing, however, is evidence that any Vietnamese are either making fake or replica dog tags in mass quantities or producing ones bearing information that is machine-stamped. Vietnamese citizens are, nevertheless, still finding genuine dog tags along jungle paths, in their rice paddies and yards, in streams and at crash sites. Many are sold to scrap dealers or given to friends, whereupon they make their way to street vendors in the larger cities of Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and are eventually sold to tourists.

The simple truth is that dog tags are not the thriving business that some would have us believe they are. The best way to judge "what's hot and what's not" on the streets and in the shops of Vietnam is to look at the display cabinets holding these items. Zippo-type lighters, Purple Hearts, military payment certificates, cameras, and military equipment such as survival knives and compasses are typically displayed on the top shelf; dog tags are relegated to the bottom shelf or some dusty box in the back.

The suggestion that the Vietnamese are feverishly stamping out dog tags in some back room in Da Nang just doesn't hold up when all of the pieces of the puzzle are reassembled and examined together. For example, is there any proof that U.S. authorities left rosters listing detailed personal information on thousands of soldiers that included their last name, first name and middle initial, social security number and/or military service number, religion, blood type, gas mask size, date of their tetanus shot, and branch of service? If so, none of our Southeast Asia analysts at JPAC-CIL is aware of it. And while we've often heard accounts of the U.S. military leaving stamping machines behind when American troops pulled out in 1975, none of the authors has ever seen one in Southeast Asia, despite repeated requests to shop owners. In fact, when two of us tried to purchase "replacement dog tags" for ourselves in Saigon, only hand stamping and etching were available. When a half-full box of vintage dog tag blanks from the 1960s and 1970s was found at a shop in Saigon, the owner could not recommend where it could be "professionally" stamped. Two handmade dog tag blanks that were purchased were easily distinguishable from genuine blanks, as they were made of very shiny recycled metal, had irregular curled edges, bent very easily and had jagged eyelets/holes resembling cogwheels. Being machine made, the eyelets in genuine dog tags are precise and smooth, not "flowered." Eyelets resembling cogwheels are perhaps the best indicators of a handmade dog tag blank

One of the things that researchers have to deal with is how to tell whether a particular dog tag is genuine or fake, and there are several ways. "Fake" can either refer to the metallic composition of the dog tag or whether it was actually worn by a U.S. service member. Here is an example of how science proved the authenticity of a dog tag.

In 1966 two soldiers joined the Marines under the buddy system, with the guarantee that they would be stationed together throughout their career. They sat four chairs apart in boot camp and, as a result, received military service numbers that differed only in the last digit -- one soldier's service number ended in 602 and the other in 606. The following year, one of the buddies (606) was killed when the helicopter carrying him crashed in Vietnam. As of 2005, he is still unaccounted for. Despite all efforts, U.S. investigators have been unable to locate the crash site or recover the remains of the crew or passengers.

That would have been the end of the story if not for the fact that a dog tag showed up on the streets of Vietnam in 2002. A Connecticut couple visiting Vietnam, doing what they perceived as their patriotic duty, purchased some dog tags in Saigon and later learned that one (606) was from an unaccounted-for U.S. Marine killed in action. Through a bit of detective work, the couple located the Marine's brother and returned the dog tag to him. The brother, after noticing a reddish substance on the dog tag that he believed might be blood, contacted the JTF-FA, which then contacted the CIL to check it out.

Once at the CIL, scientists measured and weighed the rectangular dog tag and, using a scanning electron microscope, determined that it was made of stainless steel, a substance commonly used to make dog tags before, during and after the Vietnam War. Its weight, size and features, including a smooth curled edge and the absence of an end-notch, were consistent with dog tags issued in the 1960s. Close examination of the dog tag also revealed evidence of bending, burning and exposure to moist soil for an extended period of time. Scientists at the CIL then took the dog tag to the Serology/DNA Unit of the Honolulu Police Department, where the reddish substance was tested and found not to be blood, but a mixture of corrosion and dirt. The combined evidence was consistent with a dog tag that was made, embossed and issued during the Vietnam War. The evidence also indicated that the dog tag might have been damaged in a helicopter crash.

The next step was to compare the dog tag (606) from Saigon with the one carried home after the war by the dead Marine's buddy (602). Using a low-power microscope, CIL scientists noticed that the numbers 602 and 606 on the two dog tags slanted upward in exactly the same way. They also noted that "OLIC" in "CATHOLIC" was misaligned on both dog tags. There was no doubt that the same stamping machine had been used to emboss the dog tag purchased in Vietnam and the dog tag carried home after the war by the missing Marine's buddy. Here was irrefutable proof that both dog tags were genuine, having been stamped by the same machine back in 1966. Anyone wanting to produce a fake dog tag to reflect all of the circumstances behind the real 606 dog tag would have had to go to some extraordinary lengths for $1, which is about what the dog tag sold for. In fact, to replicate the original 606 dog tag one would have to:

Have a genuine/vintage dog tag blank.
Have the precise and correct 606 personal information to include on a fake dog tag.
Know that 606 had died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam.
Replicate the exact misalignments and spacing on the 606 dog tag to match the dog tag of the buddy (602) who went home after the war.
"Antique" the fake dog tag to reflect long-term contact with moist soil and precisely mimic damage and burning associated with a downed helicopter.

Of course skeptics may say, "Well, that's just one example, what about all the other dog tags?" There's no realistic way to answer that -- in fact, it's impossible to answer with certainty. What we have found, however, is that an intensive program to get to the bottom of these and other dog tag questions has revealed no evidence that any one of the 1,444 dog tags from Hue City is a fake. We've also found no evidence to support such statements as "You know, the Vietnamese are making dog tags out of beer cans over there " (although we have found handmade dog tag blanks made of recycled metal in Saigon) and "Oh, they're all fakes." Such statements only cloud the issue and cast doubt on the authenticity of many genuine U.S. dog tags. There's no reason for the Vietnamese to produce fake dog tags or -- perhaps more accurately -- replica dog tags, using vintage blanks with machine-stamped personal information of someone who actually served in-country, when they have so many genuine ones at hand. Considering that some 2 1/2 million Americans served in Southeast Asia, some 5 million genuine dog tags have passed through there.

Additional Sources:

www.6foot6.com
www.diggerhistory.info
www.commandodogtags.com
www.jpac.pacom.mil
www.vietnamdogtags.com
www.peterroskam.com
www.peprallyusa.com
www.topvietnamveterans.org
www.jsonline.com www.founddogtags.com

One unexpected and surprising finding, however, was that 15 of the 1,444 dog tags may belong to Americans killed in action. A check of the mortuary files maintained at JPAC revealed that eight of those 15 individuals were received at the Da Nang and Tan Son Nhut mortuaries missing one or both of their dog tags. For comparison, a random records search of 325 American service members who died in Vietnam and Laos between 1969 and 1971 revealed that 56 percent of them (182 people) were received at the mortuaries without any dog tags, 19 percent (61) had only one dog tag, 23 percent (75) had two, and three individuals had three dog tags. Perhaps a buddy, one of the graves records personnel at the collection point, or even the enemy, removed the dog tags after the soldiers were dead but before they were received at one of the two mortuaries in-country. Regardless, the dog tags for all 15 of the above-mentioned service members ended up on the streets of Hue City more than 30 years after being lost.

What We’ve Learned So Far…

Most of the 1,444 dog tags from Hue City appear to have been worn by Americans who served in Vietnam.
As of April 2005, JPAC-CIL has returned 49 of the lost dog tags to their owners.
Some of the 1,444 are from U.S. service members killed in action.
Not one of the 1,444 dog tags seems to be a fake.
About a third of the 1,444 dog tags are duplicates (two dog tags per service member).
The vast majority of genuine dog tags from the Vietnam War will not stick to a magnet. Although many combinations of metal have been used in the manufacture of genuine dog tags, most so-called “notched” dog tags from World War II (first issued in 1940) will stick to a magnet if not too badly corroded (rusty).
The bodies of many service members were received at mortuaries in Vietnam without their dog tags.
It is likely that most of the dog tags that are offered for sale on the streets of Vietnam are genuine.
Vietnam-era embossing/stamping machines and vintage blanks are not as common in Vietnam as one might suspect.
Most fake dog tag blanks will have an irregular “gearlike” margin encircling one side of the eyelet and/or are irregular in size and shape.
Unlike most genuine dog tags that are made of brushed stainless steel, many fake dog tag blanks have a polished, shiny appearance and are made of recycled metal that will stick to a magnet.
Several of the 1,444 dog tags are notched, indicating that they were manufactured prior to or during WWII. The service members owning these dog tags served during WWII, or were issued WWII–era stock until supplies ran out or the newer non-notched blanks were issued.
Many dog tags were lost as a result of battle injuries or in the heat of battle, at aid stations or during out-processing and clothing reissue while a soldier was in-country.
We have analyzed two other dog tags from Vietnam belonging to unaccounted-for service members and found them to be genuine; one service member was identified in 2004 and his dog tag returned to his family. The other dog tag, based on our research, prompted a reinvestigation of the incident.
A fourth dog tag is that of a deserter (in Vietnam) who has yet to be found.

Trying to unravel the mystery of the dog tags and determining whether a dog tag is genuine or fake represent a necessary, albeit complicated and difficult, step in understanding how and why service members became separated from their dog tags. While many tags were dropped, forgotten, misplaced, given away as souvenirs or turned in while attached to boots, many others were "lost" in the heat of battle.

The purpose of the project is fourfold. The original and primary goal is to reunite lost dog tags with their owners. The second is to develop criteria for distinguishing genuine dog tags from fakes. The third is to understand the circumstances of when, where, why and how dog tags became separated from their owners by talking to the service members who lost them. The fourth is to trace the path of dog tags from the time they left their American owners until they ended up on the streets of Vietnam. Regardless of the circumstances of loss, each dog tag has a history -- whether it is genuine or fake -- and each carries information that we hope may lead to identification of a missing service member.

The ultimate goal of this research, however, is to understand how dog tags can be used to help locate crash sites and unmarked graves in a land of jungles, mountains, rivers and rice fields. These rectangular pieces of metal, worn close to the hearts of service members in battle, carry not only information intended for identification after death, but also, as we're learning, unintentional information about how they were lost, where they were found and the hands that found them. Before we undertook this research, who would ever have thought that a few subtle features of a dog tag, such as being bent, burnt or covered with soil, could carry such a wealth of information about the circumstances surrounding the loss or death of a service member? What we do know is that in some cases dog tags, like silent witnesses, may be the only available source for locating missing service members and, therefore, deserve attention. Although we don't claim to have all of the answers when it comes to dog tags, we're certainly trying and, as a result, are getting a little closer to the truth. So, what may have begun as souvenir collecting for some and an act of good faith and Samaritanism for others may someday help investigators locate, recover and identify some of our MIAs...even if we only find one.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on July 07:
1752 Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented programmable loom
1813 William Scott Ketchum, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1871
1816 Isaac Fitzgerald Shepard, Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1889
1824 Alfred Pleasonton, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1897 Chocolate Day
1827 James Murrell Shackelford, Brig General (Union volunteers) Chocolate Day
1827 William Montague Browne, Brig General (Confederate Army)
1860 Gustav Mahler Kalischat Bohemia Austria, composer/conductor (Titan)
1887 Marc Chagall Vitebsk Russia, artist (I & The Village)
1899 George Cukor producer/director (Adam's Rib, Philadelphia Story)
1906 Satchel Paige baseball pitcher, never look back
1907 Robert A Heinlein sci-fi author (Stranger in a Strange Land)
1911 Gian Carlo Menotti Italy, composer (Amahl & Night Visitors)
1919 Jon Pertwee, English comic/actor (Dr Who, Worzel Gummidge)
1919 William Kunstler (radical)defense attorney (Chicago 8)
1921 Ezzard Charles world heavyweight boxing champion (1950-51)
1922 Pierre Cardin Paris France, fashion designer (Unisex)
1923 Jean Kerr Scranton Pa, novelist (Please Don't Eat the Daisies)
1927 Carl (Doc) Severinson Arlington Or, bandleader/trumpeter (Tonight)
1927 Charlie Louvin Rainsville Ala, country singer (Louvin Brothers) "See the Big Man Cry"
1928 Vincent Edwards actor (Dr Ben Casey, Death Stalk, Firehouse)
1932 Ted Cassidy, actor (Lurch-Addams Family)
1940 Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr Beatles' drummer/actor (Magic Christian)
1946 Joe Spano SF Calif, actor (Henry Goldblume-Hill St Blues)
1949 Shelley Duvall Houston Tx, actress (Popeye, Faery Tale Theater)
1959 Jessica Hahn evangelist rape victim/model (playboy)/actress
1968 Chuck Knoblauch, Houston TX, shortstop (NY Yankees, Minn Twins)
1980 Michele Kwan, Torrance Calif, figure skater (Oly-94, Oly-silver-98)

Deaths which occurred on July 07:
1129 Shirakawa, emperor of Japan (1072-86)/budhist monk, dies at 76
1304 Benedict XI, [Niccol• Boccasini], Pope (1303-04), dies [poisoned?]
1307 Edward I, King of England (Longshanks) (1272-1307), dies at 68
1572 Sigismund II August, last Jagellonen king of Poland, dies at 51
1647 Thomas Hooker clergyman, father of American democracy, dies Chocolate Day
1799 William Curtis, English botanist (Botanical Magazine), dies at 53
1865 Mary Surratt, and 3 other Lincoln conspirators, hanged
1930 Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (Sherlock Holmes), dies at 71
1967 Vivian Leigh Scarlet in Gone with the Wind, dies at 53
1970 Louise Harrison mother of Beatle George, dies
1973 Veronica Lake actress, dies at 58
1983 Herman Kahn, US futurist/nuclear strategist, dies at 71
1990 Bill Cullen game show host (Price is Right), dies at 70 of cancer

GWOT

Iraq
07-Jul-2003 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Chad L. Keith Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - bomb
US Staff Sergeant Barry Sanford Sr. Balad Non-hostile - weapon discharge

07-Jul-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Michael C. Barkey Ramadi (near) Hostile - vehicle accident
US Private 1st Class Samuel R. Bowen Samarra Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack

Afghanistan
A Good Day

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://www.taps.org/
(subtle hint SEND MONEY)

On this day...
1124 Tyrus surrenders to Crusaders
1456 Joan of Arc acquitted of heresy. Though she had already been executed.
1550 Chocolate introduced (Europe).
1585 King Henri III & Duke De Guise signed the Treaty of Nemours: French Huguenots lost all freedoms.
1607 "God Save the King" is 1st sung (everyone had a Cadbury)
1647 People's uprising against high prices and Spanish rule in Naples
1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge Chocolate Day
1713 1st performance of Georg F Handel's "To Deum" and "Jubilate"
1753 English parliament grants Jewish English citizenship
1754 Kings College in NYC opens (renamed Columbia College)
1797 US House of Representatives votes to impeach Senator William Blount of Tennessee with "a high misdemeanor, entirely inconsistent with his public duty and trust as a Senator." Blount had financial problems which led him to enter into a conspiracy with British officers to enlist frontiersmen and Cherokee Indians to assist the British in conquering parts of Spanish Florida and Louisiana.
1838 Central American federation is dissolved
1846 US annexs California
1862 Land Grant Act endows state colleges with federal land
1863 Orders barring Jews from serving under US Grant are revoked
1863 1st military draft by US (exemptions cost $100) Chocolate Day
1865 4 Lincoln assassination conspirators, including Mary Surratt, hanged
1867 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #92 Undina
1875 Jesse James robs train in Otterville Missouri
1891 Travelers cheque patented
1896 The Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago. The National Democratic Party formed to run a slate of candidates in 1896 because the Democratic Party had been taken over by the free-silver faction, which called for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the 16 to 1 ratio. They also condemned trusts, monopolies, high protective tariffs and the use of injunctions against labor. The “sound money” or gold Democrats withdrew from the party convention, organized the National Democratic Party and nominated John M. Palmer of Illinois its presidential candidate. The gold plank in the Republican Party caused a similar split, with free-silver Republicans bolting the party and forming the National Silver Republicans, who endorsed the Democratic Party candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan. Republican William McKinley won the presidential election
1898 Pres McKinley signs resolution of annexation of Hawaiian Is Chocolate Day
1898 US annexes Hawaii
1904 A Charlois discovers asteroid #537 Pauly
1905 127ø F (53ø C), Parker Ariz (state record)
1908 Great White Fleet leaves SF Bay
1923 University of Delaware invents the "junior year abroad" (at Sorbonne)
1924 E Hertzsprung discovers asteroid #1702 Kalahari
1928 Edward Hamm of the US, sets then long jump record at 25' 11"
1930 Construction begins on Boulder (Hoover) Dam)
1937 Japanese & Chinese troops clash, which will become WW II
1941 Nazis executed 5,000 Jews in Kovono Lithuania
1941 US forces land in Iceland to forestall Nazi invasion
1943 Adolf Hitler made the V-2 missile program a top priority in armament planning
1943 3rd day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Dubrova
1943 Erich Hartmann shoots 7 Russian aircraft at Kursk
1943 Liberator bombers sinks U-517
1946 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini canonized as 1st American saint
1948 6 female reservists become 1st women sworn into regular US Navy
1948 Cleveland Indians sign Leroy "Satchel" Paige
1949 "Dragnet" premiers on NBC radio; also a TV series in 1951 & 1967 Chocolate Day
1954 T.A.N.U. party founded in Tanzania
1956 7 Army trucks loaded with dynamite explode in middle of Cali, Columbia, killing 1,100-1,200. 2000 buildings were destroyed.
1958 Pres Eisenhower signs Alaska statehood bill
1960 USSR shoots down a US aircraft over Barents sea
1961 James R Hoffa elected chairman of Teamsters
1965 Otis Redding records "Respect"
1966 U.S. Marine Corps launch 'Operation Hasting" to drive the North Vietnamese Army back across the Demilitarized Zone in Vietnam
1967 Beatles' "All You Need is Love" is released
1969 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English language
1972 1st women FBI members sworn in (Susan Lynn Roley and Joanne E Pierce)
1976 Viking 2 goes into orbit around Mars
1980 Az Judge Sandra Day O'Connor 1st female nominated to Supreme Court
1980 Jim King completes riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours Chocolate Day
1981 1st solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, crosses English Channel
1983 11 year old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, leaves for USSR
1986 Jordan government shuts al-Fatah offices
1986 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 (updated) released
1986 Supreme Court strikes down Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law
1987 Kiwanis Clubs end men-only tradition, vote to admit women
1987 Lt Col Oliver North began public testimony at Iran-Contra hearing
1990 Greg Lemond wins his 3rd Tour de France (90:43:20 avg 23.3 mph)
1998 2 Texas Border Patrol agents were killed in a gun battle with Ernest Moore who was suspected of killing a woman and her daughter. Moore soon after died of wounds at a hospital

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

Bhutan : Guru Rinbochy
Equatorial Guinea : P.U.N.T. Anniversary
Japan : Star Festival/Tanabata
Pamplona, Spain : Fiesta de San Fermin-running of the Bulls
Tanzania : Saba-Saba Day-founding of TANU party (1954)
National Canned Luncheon Meat Week (Day 5)
Be Nice to New Jersey Week (Day 5)
Nude Recreation Week (Day 4)
Chocolate Day (Cover that girl with Chocolate sypup and boogie till the cows come home)
National Tennis Month

Religious Observances
Orth : Nativity of St John the Forerunner (6/24 OS)
Old Catholoic : Comm of St Methodius (Cyril), converted Slavs, devise Cyrillic alphabet

Religious History
1586 Birth of Thomas Hooker, colonial American pastor and an originator of the earliestsystem of federal government in America.
1851 Birth of Charles A. Tindley, African-American Methodist preacher and songwriter.His most enduring gospel hymns include 'Stand By Me,' 'Nothing Between,' 'Leave It There'and 'By and By.'
1946 Italian-American educator, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) became thefirst American citizen to be made a saint in the Catholic Church. She arrived in the U.S.in 1889, and was naturalized in 1909.
1952 Six churches met to form the Southern Baptist Association of Colorado, the firstorganization of this denomination in the state.
1959 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'I "believed" theoretically inthe divine forgiveness for years before it really came home to me. It is a wonderful thingwhen it does.'

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

Centenarian Celebrates Birthday On Harley

POSTED: 10:42 am PDT July 6, 2005

STOUGHTON, Wis. -- Ruth Stewart celebrated her 100th birthday by doing something she always wanted to try: Taking a ride on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"If I were 20 years younger, I would buy one," said the retired music teacher. "I think they're just beautiful, but I never could afford it."

Richard Ireland, 62, of Deerfield, gave Stewart a three-mile ride through downtown Stoughton after being contacted by Stewart's nieces and nephews. They wanted their aunt to realize her years-long dream of riding a Harley.

Ireland drove her from her condominium to the Vennevol Clubhouse, where nearly 100 family members, friends, and Mayor Helen Johnson waited to celebrate with her.

Her top speed Monday on the back of the Harley was 33 mph and she wanted to go faster.

"It could have been a lot faster," she said. "Next time, when he comes back, I'll go 50. That will be fun."

Thought for the day :
"To be matter-of-fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful."
Robert A. Heinlein

July 7, 2005

Lost Books?

Read:
1 John 4:1-3

Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh . . . . is the spirit of the Antichrist. —1 John 4:3

Bible In One Year: Isaiah 1-3

cover Everybody likes a good story, but many people are taking the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code as historical fact.

Central to the book's plot line is the allegation that "lost books of the Bible" have been suppressed by the church for centuries. These lost books claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children with her. This radically misrepresents history and is misleading many people.

These alleged "lost books of the Bible" were found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. They deny the biblical Jesus and promote goddess worship, self-deity, and secret knowledge.

So why did the church exclude these books from the Bible? Because the documents did not meet the criteria for authentic Scripture, which involved several central questions: Was the writer someone Jesus had chosen as an apostle? Did the book have widespread acceptance among church leaders? Did God's Spirit speak through it? The "lost books" did not pass these tests. All the books we have in our New Testament did.

When people question the trustworthiness of the Scriptures, we need to give them a respectful and an informed answer. It might just make them want to know more about our Bible—and our God. —Dennis Fisher

God's words of pure, eternal truth
Shall yet unshaken stay,
When all that man has thought or planned
Like chaff shall pass away. —Anon.

To the wise, God's Word is sufficient.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Can I Really Trust The Bible?
Knowing God Through The Whole Bible

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Lost Books?

Read:1 John 4:1-3

Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh . . . . is the spirit of the Antichrist. —1 John 4:3

Bible In One Year: Isaiah 1-3

Read:
1 John 4:1-3