The FReeper Foxhole - Dick Winters' Reflections on His Band of Brothers - Nov 3rd, 2005

American History Magazine | Christopher J. Anderson

[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.
.

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for all those serving their country at this time.


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Dick Winters' Reflections



His Band of Brothers, D-Day and Leadership

Major Richard "Dick" Winters of "Band of Brothers" fame speaks candidly about the men and actions of Easy Company and reflects on D-Day and the lessons he learned about leadership.

After his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1945, Major Richard Winters returned to civilian life. He worked for a while for Nixon Nitration Works, the family firm of his wartime friend Louis Nixon. Following a brief tour of duty during the Korean War, he returned to Hershey, Pa., embarked on a successful business career, raised a family and lived the quiet life he had promised himself after his first day in combat on June 6, 1944. In 1992 this solitude was interrupted with the publication of historian Stephen E. Ambrose's best-selling book Band of Brothers, which brought the World War II story of Dick Winters and Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division -- which he had commanded from Normandy to Berchtesgaden -- to the public's attention. The spotlight intensified exponentially when Hollywood's Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks teamed up to bring Winters' story to tens of millions in the highly acclaimed, Emmy-winning HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. This mass exposure transformed Winters and his comrades into cultural icons for generations far removed from World War II. They have become the embodiment of millions of American servicemen who marched off to war as ordinary men but achieved extraordinary things.

Faced with his newfound fame, Winters seized the opportunity to continue to lead and instill in others the lessons about leadership he learned in the life and death crucible of war. It was Ambrose who, after chronicling Winters' story, impressed upon him that his leadership ethics could inspire all generations.

Major Dick Winters: After Band of Brothers became such an unexpected success, Ambrose wrote me a letter of thanks. In that letter he said, "Thanks for teaching me the duties and responsibilities of a good company commander." Later on, he again acknowledged me in his book on Lewis and Clark. He continued to do this with every book he wrote afterward. I appreciated that recognition, and I appreciated the fact that he never forgot me. I was one of the first people he called when he said that he had sold the book to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

Ambrose later wrote me another letter and said that in the future, whenever I had an opportunity, I should talk on the subject of leadership. So, as a way to deliver what I believe is an important message, and to honor my friend's request, I speak on this subject whenever I have an opportunity.

Winters' first opportunity to lead came in 1942, when he completed Officer Candidate School and began his journey to Easy Company and war.

When I first joined the Army I took a series of tests to see where I would best fit. I scored high enough that I qualified for Officer Candidate School [OCS]. While I was at OCS at Fort Benning, Ga., I applied for the airborne, a new thing that looked like a challenge. I had always enjoyed sports and physical activity, and there was a certain appeal to being with the best. After graduating from OCS, I reported to Camp Croft, in South Carolina, where I was busy training new men. I had been at this for about 13 weeks when I got orders to report to Camp Toombs in Georgia. On the way to the camp I was pretty unsettled. I took Highway 13, passed a casket factory and reported in at Camp Toombs. There was not much there, and I was assigned to a tar-paper shack. There were no windows in any of the buildings, and the only place with electricity was the latrine. This was rough. But you were expecting to have it rough if you were going to be in the parachute troops.

Training started right away, and there was this Currahee Mountain that we had to run up and down. It was wicked, a real killer. But Currahee was terrific, as it became a test for all the men and officers. Everyone had to run up it -- walk actually, in what we called the "airborne shuffle." It was equal for every man, every officer. Nobody was getting by with a thing. Everybody was being treated the same.

Shortly after Winters' arrival in July 1942, the Georgia camp's name was changed from the ominous Toombs to Toccoa. The new airborne officers were highly selective when it came to picking the men to fill what was to be the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.


Winters at Toccoa

We looked for the ones who looked like they could take it. When the going got tough, could they stick with it? We also looked for the men who accepted discipline. I already knew discipline is what makes a good soldier. On the runs and the hikes it was discipline that kept the men going. Another thing we looked at was if the individual was accepted by the other men. The men themselves did a lot of the work for the officers by sizing each other up. If someone could not be accepted by his fellow soldiers he was gone right away. The men who were told to leave didn't get to vote or make an appeal. This was not a popularity contest.

At Toccoa, Winters first met Colonel Robert Sink, the legendary commander of the 506th. Sink turned down two promotions during the war to stay with the regiment, an unusual choice given his West Point credentials as a professional soldier.

When I first met Sink I was in awe. He was sitting behind his desk smoking a cigarette. He came across as having this West Point attitude. You know, "You are not any big deal." But I learned pretty quickly that my first impression was wrong. Sink was a terrific leader, and he stuck with the regiment from the beginning to the very end of the war. I often wondered during the war how come this guy is sticking around? Frankly, I thought it was his drinking problem. He had a drinking problem, but it did not affect his leadership of the regiment.

This was his first regiment. And if you look at it through his eyes, and you see these troops coming from civilian life, direct from school, from work, maybe a few of them with a little college, and he is supposed to make a regiment out of this group?

It makes it even tougher when you look at the officers he was assigned -- and I include myself here. Here I am, a year out of college. I go through basic training as a volunteer. I signed up for Officer Candidate School. So a 90-day wonder, and now I am a second lieutenant. And this is the kind of stuff he was assigned and told to turn into a crack airborne unit. He had a heck of a job. To make it worse, he had nothing there at the camp. There were no buildings when he first reported in. He had to build an obstacle course. He had to beg, borrow and steal what he needed. He had to search for men who knew even the basics of their job. Of the cadre that he started with in Toccoa, not one of them was around by the time we got into combat. They were all good enough men, they were just not fit enough to be in the airborne. They came in and were there to teach us, give us basic training and construct the camp, put it together, but not one of them was around by the time we were ready to go to France. Sink did a terrific job from start to finish. He stuck with us throughout the entire war. I respect "Bourbon Bob." He was a good man.

Following Camp Toccoa, Winters and his men continued training at Fort Benning and other camps in the States before shipping out for Aldbourne, England, in September 1943. Winters credits his time in the idyllic English village and his relationships with its residents with truly preparing him for the tasks to come.

On the way over to England, the conditions on the troopship were awful; even the officers were crowded together. We arrived in Aldbourne on a Saturday evening and were immediately made busy getting the men settled and bedded down. All of the officers were crowded together in another building. The next morning, Sunday, I decided to get away from everybody to be by myself for a few minutes. The best place to be alone with your thoughts is in church, so I went to church. It gave me a chance to relax a little bit, get my thoughts together. I didn't pay any attention to the sermon, that wasn't important -- I just needed to be alone. After the service I still wanted to enjoy my solitude. Adjacent to the church there was a small cemetery. I went out of the church and walked up a hill to two small benches, and I sat down. As I looked over the cemetery I could see an elderly couple fussing over a grave. They eventually wandered up the hill and sat beside me.

We were soon engaged in a little conversation, and they invited me for tea. We had been briefed on how to handle our dealing with the English. It had been pointed out to us that they were on very strict rationing and that we shouldn't overdo invitations of this kind and make their problem all the more severe. But I went to tea and had a few visits with them after that. Shortly, it was decided that the officers were too crowded and some should be boarded with families in the town. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes offered to take two officers in, as long as I was one of them. I took Lieutenant Harry Welsh with me. Our quarters were with the family in a room over their store. It was not a big room, and we slept on army cots, but it got us away from the crowds. Now Welsh, he enjoyed going out in the evenings to the pubs, but I preferred to stay at home with the Barneses. In the evenings, as was their custom, shortly before 9 o'clock when the news came on, Mrs. Barnes would come up and knock on my door and say, "Lieutenant Winters, would you like to come down and listen to the news and have a spot of tea?" So naturally I took the opportunity to join them and listen to the news. Afterward Mr. Barnes, who was a lay minister, would lead us in a short prayer. Then we would have a small treat and chat for a while. Then, at 10, Mr. Barnes would announce that it was time for bed. That ritual became so important. I'd found a home away from home.

And, you see, the day I first saw the Barnes couple they had been decorating the grave of their son, who was in the Royal Air Force and had been killed. They adopted me and made me part of the family. This helped me prepare mentally for what I was about to face. As I look back on the months before the invasion, my stay with the Barnes family was so important. They were giving me the best treatment they could; they gave me a home, which was so important for my maturing.

While his time with the Barnes family afforded him an opportunity for calm and reflection, the days after his transfer to the marshaling area at Uppottery, England, were filled with final preparations for the impending invasion of Normandy.

They would take groups of us into tents in the marshaling areas to brief us and show us sand table models of the area where we were going to be jumping. When I went into the tent, a staff officer instructed us to memorize everything we saw -- the roads, bridges, trenches, everything. It was all very impressive, but you can only take so much of this. Frankly, I didn't let myself get carried away trying to memorize every cockeyed thing, because the big thing in life, not only in making a jump into Normandy, is that you have got to be able to think on your feet. That's what we had to do, and that's what we did. You've got to be able to think on your feet throughout your life. You have to do it every day.

The miniseries depicts a moment in the marshaling area at Uppottery when Winters disciplines Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton, a fellow officer and close friend.

Compton had been with the company for six months, and I liked him very much. One problem, however, was that he had gotten into the habit of gambling with some of the men in the marshaling area. That is why I reprimanded him. It is a poor policy, and it puts him in the position, the embarrassing position, that if he wins, he must take from the men. He had taken from the men already. The point I was trying to make is that you have to be prepared to give to the people you lead. You must give in every way. You must give of your time, and you must be consistent in your treatment of them. You must never take from people you lead. Later, at Brécourt Manor, Compton did a fantastic job leading his men.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, Winters leapt out into the flak-filled skies over Normandy and landed outside of Ste. Mère-Eglise just after 1 o'clock in the morning. After a harrowing night, he managed to collect a handful of men from Easy Company and bring them to Le Grand-Chemin, from where he led the attack on a battery of four German guns at Brécourt Manor -- guns that lay at the end of crucial Causeway No. 2, and that the 4th Infantry Division needed to get off Utah Beach. Of all Winters' actions in France, the destruction of German guns positioned at Brécourt Manor, raining down fire on the Americans struggling off Utah Beach, has been the most often cited. Professors at West Point have used this action as a lesson on the proper method of carrying out a small-unit attack. Chillingly depicted in the HBO miniseries, this daring assault is credited with saving many lives and expediting the advance of American forces inland on D-Day.




After roaming around at the tail end of another column for most of the evening, I finally stumbled into Le Grand-Chemin, where the 2nd Battalion was gathering. At the time, E Company consisted of just 13 men. As I was sitting there with my men, an officer came back and said, "Winters, they want you up front!" When I got there, Captain Clarence Hester turns to me and says: "There's fire along that hedgerow there. Take care of it." That was it. There was no elaborate plan or briefing. I didn't even know what was on the other side of the hedgerow. All I had were my instructions, and I had to quickly develop a plan from there. And as it turns out, I did. We were able to take out those four German guns with the loss of only one man, Private John Hall, who was killed just in front of me. He was a good man, and his death was hard on me. But the attack leaves good memories. We got the job done. It was only later, much later, that I realized how important knocking out those guns had been to our securing Causeway 2, which became the main causeway for troops coming off Utah Beach.

Years later, I heard from someone who had come up off the beach on that causeway. This guy, a medic, had been following behind some tanks. As they came up from the beach, one of the tanks became disabled. When the driver got out, he stepped on a mine. The medic went out into the field and patched this guy up. Later, after the book came out, this medic wrote me a letter and pointed out that he always wondered why the fire onto Utah Beach had stopped. "Thanks very much," he said. "I couldn't have made it without those guns being knocked out." That medic was a man named Eliot Richardson, who, as it turns out, later became attorney general in the Nixon administration. So we did a little good out there for those troops coming in on D-Day, which makes you feel pretty good.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

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Lt. Richard Winters

After more than a month of combat in Normandy, Easy was pulled out of the line in July and returned to England on July 12. The 101st Airborne Division spent the remainder of the summer preparing for a series of missions that were all canceled as Allied forces raced across occupied France. In September the 101st was one of three airborne divisions that took part in the Allied effort to seize a bridgehead over the Rhine. Following the drop in September, the division fought a series of small battles along its corridor of "Hell's Highway" in Holland before moving to positions along the southern band of the Lower Rhine River, known to the men of the 101st as "the Island." It was here, on October 5, 1944, where Winters led an attack that prevented a German breakthrough of thinly held American lines.

The Island leaves memories that I have never forgotten. We went up to the dike along the Rhine River to relieve the British. I was sent up ahead of the men and had an opportunity to witness a British attack. The officers walked with the men across this field. They all walked. Nobody took evasive action; nobody tried looking for cover or anything. They walked, the officers with their side arms in their holsters and the men with their rifles in their hands, going across a wide-open field. The Germans just cut them to pieces. I never saw anything like it. It was like a battle from the Civil War. It was very noble, very brave and unbelievably foolish. We had to replace them, and I had a tremendous front to cover. So the only thing I could do was place strongpoints at certain places along the dike and then cover the spaces in between with patrols.

It was on October 5 at a place we called the crossroads. Earlier that evening one of my patrols had encountered a large number of Germans and been forced to withdraw. When they reported in to me what they had encountered, I decided to take a group out to stop these Germans from infiltrating our lines. When we got to the spot where the Germans were and I could see how many there were, I immediately gave a hand signal back to the men in the squad I had with me to follow me up to the dike. As they came up to me, I assigned each a target. I stepped back and in a quiet stage whisper said, "Ready, aim, fire." We eliminated all of our targets. At this point we are on the German side of the dike, and there are other Germans on the other side of the road leading to the Rhine River that intersects with the dike.

There was only one thing to do. I withdrew my men to an adjoining gully to assess the situation. I got in touch with company headquarters and told them to send up the reserve platoon. After I was joined by another platoon and some additional machine guns, I went off by myself a little way to assess the situation and decide what to do. My group was the only thing separating the Germans from the rear of my battalion. So I decided we must charge them. I returned to the gully where the rest of the platoon was, and after ordering fixed bayonets, which makes every man have a second thought, I signaled when to throw a smoke grenade. This was the order to charge. As I leap off and begin the charge I am pretty pumped up. In fact, I have never been more pumped up in my life. I ran faster across the field separating us from the Germans than I have ever run in my life. All the men in the company are behind me, but they seem to be moving so slow. Nobody seemed to be moving normally, only me. When I got up to the road where the Germans were, there was a German in front of me, so I shot him. I then turn to my right, and there I see a whole company of Germans. I began firing into them, and they seemed to be moving so slow and then the rest of the company joined me. As the boys said later, it was a duck shoot. They never had a target like that before. We had caught two companies of SS soldiers pinned to the dike, and as they retreated we poured fire into them, and then I called in artillery fire. We destroyed those two companies.



I remember when I was interviewed for the movie, I told one of the writers that as I shot the German, he looked up at me and smiled. Well, I kept going with my story, but later, as it turns out, the writer wanted to play up the thing about the smile. He wanted to play that up as a flashback, the type of bad flashbacks you can have. I have flashbacks every day. But the writer wanted to play up that point. And that is why in the series that German is portrayed as a kid and why later on when I am in Paris they portray me looking at this kid on the train and having another flashback. It's stupid, but I didn't get the chance to review the scenes.

Winters believes his ability to inspire men to follow him into harm's way on the dike in Holland and elsewhere was attributable to his bedrock beliefs in basic leadership qualities.

The qualities you are looking for in a leader include: Does the individual have the respect of the men? How do you get the respect of the men? By living with them, being a part of it, being able to understand what they are going through and not to separate yourself from them. You have to know your men. You have to gain their confidence. And the way to gain the confidence of anybody, whether it's in war or civilian life or whatever, you must be honest. Be honest, be fair and be consistent. You can't be honest and fair one day, and the next give your people the short end of the stick. Once you can achieve that, you will be a leader.

It's a matter of adjusting to the individual, and you do this every day. You don't have just one way of treating people; you adjust yourself to who you are talking to. I might talk to one person one way, someone else another. Ambrose had spent a good deal of time thinking about leaders and leadership. He had it about right. If you have character, that means the guy you are dealing with can trust you. So when you get into combat, and you get in a situation such as we were in along the dike in Holland, when I gave the orders, "Ready, aim," and this cook who had been in the unit only a short time but was experiencing his first combat action interrupted and said, "Don't talk so loud!" nobody else there was thinking about anything except what he had been told to do. They trust in you, have faith in you and they obey right now, no questions asked.

You get it done by making a decision quick, getting to it and getting the thing done. Don't sit back and let the other guy make a decision that will put you on the defensive. Make up your mind quickly and get it done, right or wrong. Were you going down the tube, like running across that damn field? I could have been caught in the middle of the field if the Germans had been on the ball, and lost every goddamn man in that platoon. In some ways we lucked out.

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[snippy_about_it]

Another character who features prominently in the story of Easy Company is Captain Ron Speirs, who took over Easy Company outside of Bastogne when Lieutenant Norman Dike froze in the field during an assault and Winters turned to Speirs and commanded him to "take the company in!" Two of the stories that have circulated about Speirs were that he shot some German prisoners in Normandy and, later, one of his own sergeants.

Speirs was very effective. He got the job done. But if you were around and talked to the men who worked under him, he was never liked.

Now, he could turn around and walk away and talk to someone at my level and be a completely different guy. He could take orders. He was very likable.

The stories about him are true. When I first heard, I was speechless. What he did was unbelievable, inexcusable. If you talk to somebody in today's Army, they would say, well, how come he wasn't court-martialed? Well, you needed every man you had. Those guys that goofed up, didn't measure up, you couldn't just get rid of them. You needed the body, because if you lose that body, then somebody else has to shoulder twice the burden. You needed every body you could get. At Foy, he was the first officer I saw when I turned around. It could have been anybody, but it was Speirs. I didn't ask, "OK, would you mind taking over?" No, I just turned around, saw him and said take over. It was just a roll of the dice that he was standing there when I needed someone.

Through the course of his campaigns with Easy Company, Winters developed a great affection for his men and his men for him. He led them and, despite his affection, commanded them.

You maintain close relationships with your men, but not friendship. You have mutual respect for one another, but yet you have to hold yourself aloof, to a degree. If you are too friendly, it works in a negative way when you need to discipline your men. You can have your men's respect and friendship, but there is a point where you have to rise above this relationship and make sure they are following the orders that are in effect for everybody. In leading groups effectively, you have to rise above camaraderie. You have to be fair to everyone. Everyone must know that they are treated equally.

Winters acknowledges different styles of leadership and cites the ability of men to lead through fear, such as Speirs and E Company's first commander, Herbert Sobel. He asserts, however, that the most effective leader will have quiet self-confidence and self-assurance that ultimately commands the respect of the men.

In Sobel's case it was in training, and in Speirs' case it was in combat. It is impossible to imagine what would have been the result if we had been led into battle by Sobel. He had driven the men to the point of mutiny, and, more important, he had lost their respect. If he had been in command, more men would have died in battle. Speirs had the men's respect. He had my respect. We both knew he would get the job done.

If you can, find that peace within yourself, that peace and quiet and confidence that you can pass on to others, so that they know that you are honest and you are fair and will help them, no matter what, when the chips are down. I was never one for officers' parties. And in my diary I would keep asking myself why am I sitting here when the others are out at parties. I am at the Barnes home studying my manuals. I'm reading and educating myself. Getting ready. But before the evening is over, I will pick up and read a novel before I go to sleep. Now, a good guy would have been out at all those parties. The pressure of being a good fellow oftentimes brings people to what? You can be a good fellow, get along with everyone and not be a good leader. Sure, I was a good fellow during the day. I joked and palled-around with the other officers, but then in the evening I would go home and I could be myself.

I was fortunate enough to fall in with the Barnes family. They were wonderful people. For the nine months prior to the invasion, I was there and studied, developing my own personality, my own personal perspective on command. Most of the other officers never had that. It was a chance for self-analysis. If you listen and pay attention, you will find that your own self-consciousness will tell you if you are getting off track. Nobody will have to tell you that what you are doing is incorrect or ineffective. If you take advantage of opportunities for self-reflection, and honestly look at yourself, you will be able to be a better leader.

At age 86 (snippy note: now 87) Dick Winters lives in Hershey with his wife of 56 years, Ethel. He receives hundreds of letters a month, many of which come addressed simply to "Major Richard Winters, Hershey, Pa.," and he attempts to respond to each one, with Ethel's help.

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

American History Magazine

For an excellent thread and further education revisit this thread from last year
The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Lt. Richard Winters at Brecourt Manor - (6/6/1944) - Jan 21st, 2004

[snippy_about_it]

Showcasing America's finest, and those who betray them!

Please click on the banner above and check out this newly created (and still under construction) website created by FReeper Coop!

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

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

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

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

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

Veterans Wall of Honor

Blue Stars for a Safe Return

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NOW UPDATED THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30th, 2004




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

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To The FReeper Foxhole

Good Thursday Morning Everyone.

If you want to be added to our occasional ping list, let us know.

[snippy_about_it]

Someone was digging his way to China when SAM wasn't looking!

He recovered. :-)

[Iris7]

Richard Winters is a remarkable man. Wise. Noble.

If you find yourself ready to lie remember that to lie to someone you have to first lie to yourself. A person who will not lie to himself cannot be successfully lied to by others. This is the core of nobility.

Got a bit of a way to go myself, you bet!! Call me semi - noble. Ah, shucks, call me "wannabe"!! ;-)

[Iris7]

Had to put down Jack, my old dog, about five years ago. I miss him. Still not puppy time for me yet. Jack and his lady want me to get another German Shepard Dog.

"My Father's House has many mansions." Every mansion has room for a few good dogs.

Sarge looks good to me. Puppy thoughts and a pure heart.

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning to everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[GailA]

Good morning Snippy, Sam and every one.

[alfa6]

What a surprise bump For the Freeper Foxole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Mr Ducklips]

Thanks for having a relapse and posting this. I've seen Maj. Winters several times on the tube and have always been impressed with him. A heck of a guy.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Soaring Feather]

LOL Sarge!!

[The Mayor]

November 3, 2005

Hiding From God

Read:
Genesis 3:7-13

The Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" —Genesis 3:13

Bible In One Year: Luke 22-24

Two brothers were extremely mischievous and their parents were at their wits' end. So they asked their pastor to talk with the boys.

The pastor sat the younger one down first. He wanted him to think about God, so he started the conversation by asking, "Where is God?" The boy didn't respond, so he repeated the question in a stern tone. Again he gave no answer. Frustrated, the pastor shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, "Where is God?!"

The boy bolted from the room, ran home, and hid in his closet. His brother followed him and asked, "What happened?" The younger boy replied, "We're in big trouble now. God is missing, and they think we did it!"

Sounds a bit like Adam and Eve, who were filled with guilt and tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:10). They had known the Lord's close fellowship, but now they were afraid to face Him. God pursued them, though, and asked, "What is this you have done?" Instead of repenting, Adam blamed God and Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.

How do we respond when we've sinned against God? Do we hide, hoping He won't notice? If we are His, He'll pursue us. The wisest choice is to come out of our hiding place, confess our sin, and have our fellowship restored. —Anne Cetas

Heavenly Father, forgive me for trying to hide from You.
I confess my sins and ask for Your forgiveness.
Help me own up to my wrongs and not let anything come between You and me. Amen.

Sin brings fear; confession brings freedom.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The Way Back

[ex-snook]

Thanks again for another great post. I just marvel at his memory of happenings after all the years. Regards,

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies and gents. Flag-o-Gram.

[Professional Engineer]

In case you didn't see it last night.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning, PE!!

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on November 03:
0039 Lucan Cordova Spain, Latin poet (Bellum Civile)
1718 John Montague 4th Earl of Sandwich, inventor (sandwich)
1793 Stephen Fuller Austin colonized Texas
1801 Karl Baedeker Germany, published travel books
1816 Jubal Anderson Early Lt General (Confederate Army), died in 1894
1818 Gustavus Adolphus DeRussy Brig Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1891
1826 Jasper Adalmorn Maltby Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1830 Esten Cooke John (Confederate Army), died in 1886
1833 Edward Dorr Tracy Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1863
1844 Mehmed V Reshad sultan of Turkey (1909-18)
1852 Mutsuhito 122nd emperor of Japan (1867-1912)
1857 Michail V Aleksejev Russian general (WW I-chief of staff)
1880 Edmond Barrett heavyweight wrestler (Olympic-bronze-1908)
1903 Walker Evans US, photographer (Fortune Magazine)
1908 Bronko Nagurski NFL fullback (Chicago Bears)
1909 James Reston columnist (NY Times)
1918 Bob Feller pitcher (Cleveland Indian, 3 no-hitters)
1918 Russell B "Kingfisher" Long (D-Sen-La)
1919 Bert Freed NYC, actor (Rufe-Shane)
1922 Charles Bronson Pennsylvania, actor (Death Wish, Dirty Dozen)
1930 William H Dana pilot (X-15)
1931 Monica Vitti Rome Italy, actress (Tigers in Lipstick)
1933 Ken Berry Moline IL, actor/dancer/TV personality (F Troop, Mayberry RFD)
1933 Michael S Dukakis (D-Gov-MA) (1988 Presidentidential Candidate)
1935 Jeremy Brett actor (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
1943 Ken Holtzman Cub/Oriole/Yankee pitcher (2 no-hitters)
1948 Lulu (Marie Lawrie) Glasgow Scotland, singer/actress (To Sir With Love)
1949 Larry Holmes heavyweight boxing champ (1978)
1952 Roseanne Barr Arnold Salt Lake City, comedienne/TV star (Roseanne)
1953 Dennis Miller Pittsburgh PA, comedian/TV host (SNL, Dennis Miller Show)
1954 Adam Ant [Stuart Goddard], punk rocker (If I Strip For You)
1954 Kevin P Chilton Los Angeles CA, major USAF/astronaut (sk: STS-49)

1954 Godzilla, Japanese monster
An Exclusive Interview with Godzilla, Hosted by Malachi Pulte!
http://www.heptune.com/Godzilla.html

1955 Phil Simms NFL quarterback (NY Giants, Superbowl 1986)
1959 Dolph Lundgren actor(?) (Rocky IV)
1959 Timothy Patrick Murphy Hartford CT, actor (Dallas, Glitter)

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Deaths which occurred on November 03:
0361 Flavius Julius Constantius II, 1st Byzantine Emperor, dies at 44
1378 Jan II ruler of Polanen/Leck/Breda, dies
1639 Martinus de Porres Peru saint (patron of social rights), dies at 69
1864 Antonio Gonsalves Dias Brazilian national poet, dies at sea
1926 Annie Oakley dies
1962 Harlow H Curtice President of General Motors (1953-8), dies at 69
1990 Mary Martin actress (Peter Pan), dies at 76
1996 Jean-Bedel Bokassa, dictator of Cent Africa Rep (1967-79), dies at 75

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Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
03-Nov-2003 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Rayshawn S. Johnson Tikrit (N of) - Salah ad Din Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

03-Nov-2004 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Charles Joseph Webb Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - IED 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://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

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On this day...
0644 Kalief Omar I injured during assassination attempt
1394 Jews are expelled from France by Charles VI
1507 Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini ("Mona Lisa").
1534 English parliament accepts Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII church leader
1620 Great Patent granted to Plymouth Colony
1679 Great panic occurs in Europe over the close approach of a comet
1762 England & Spain signs Treaty of Paris
and Spain acquires Louisiana
1791 Battle at Wabash: Indians assault Gen St Clair/killed 637 soldiers

1783 Washington orders the Continental Army disbanded
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html


1813 US troops under Gen Coffee destroy indian village at Talladega Ala
1820 Cuenca, Ecuador declares independence
1839 1st opium war-2 British frigates engage several Chinese junks
1862 Battle between gunboats at Bayou Teche, Louisiana
1862 Dr Richard Gatling patents machine gun(gatling gun) in Indianapolis
1863 Battle of Grand Coteau, GA
1867 Battle at Mentana: French/Vatican troops defeat Garibaldi
1868 1st black elected to Congress (John W Menard, Louisiana)
1868 Ulysses Grant (R) wins presidential election over Horatio Seymour (D)
1883 Race riots in Danville Virginia (4 blacks killed)
1883 Battle of El Obeid (The Sudan). Mahdi defeats Egyptian army under General William Hicks
1885 Tacoma vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes & businesses
1888 Jack the Ripper kills last victim (or did he?)
1896 William McKinley (R) defeats William Jennings Bryan (D) for President
1899 Jim Jeffries retains heavyweight boxing title over Sailor Tom Sharkey
1900 1st national automobile show opens at Madison Square Garden (NYC)
1903 Colombia grants Panama independence
1908 William Howard Taft (R) elected 27th President over William Jennings Bryan
1916 Treaty establishes British suzerainty over Qatar
1917 1st class mail now costs $0.03
1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolves
1918 Poland proclaims independence from Russia after WW I
1928 Turkey switches from Arabic to Roman alphabet
1930 1st vehicular tunnel to a foreign country (Detroit-Windsor) opens
1930 Bank of Italy becomes Bank of America
1931 1st commercially produced synthetic rubber manufactured
1936 President FDR wins landslide victory over Alfred M Landon (R)
1946 Emperor Hirohito proclaims new Japanese constitution
1952 Clarence Birdseye markets frozen peas
1952 Egypt protests German retribution payments to Israel
1953 "Sacrifice fly" reactivated in baseball (1939)
1953 1st live color coast-to-coast telecast (NYC)
1954 Linus Pauling wins Nobel Chemistry Prize
1955 Alabama woman bruised by a meteor
1955 Australia takes control of the Cocos Islands
1956 "Wizard of Oz" 1st televised (CBS-TV)
1957 USSR launches Sputnik 2 with a dog (Laika), 1st animal in orbit
1964 LBJ (D) soundly defeats Barry Goldwater (R) for President
1964 Robert Kennedy, brother of the slain president, is elected as a senator from New York.
1968 NY Jet Jim Turner kicks 6 field goals to beat Buffalo 25-21
1970 Salvador Allende inaugurated as President of Chile
1973 Good Morning America premiers on ABC (David Hartman & Nancy Dussault)
1973 Mariner 10 launched-1st Venus pics, 1st mission to Mercury
1979 5 mortally wounded during anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstration in NC

1979 63 Americans taken hostage at US Embassy (Teheran, Iran)

1982 Detroit blocks 20 Cleveland Cavalier shots tying NBA regulation game record
1983 Jesse Jackson launches his 1st campaign for Presidency (D)
1984 3,000 die in 3 day anti-Sikh riot in India
1986 Lebanese magazine Ash Shirra reveals secret US arms sales to Iran
1986 President Machel killed in air crash in Mozambique
1988 Pakistan claims it downed Afghan warplane
1988 Reagan signs credit-card disclosure-bill
1988 Soviet Union agrees to allow teaching of Hebrew (Gosh that was awefully nice of them)
1988 Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera's nose is broken as Roy Innis brawls with skinheads at TV taping
1989 Minnesota Timberwolves' 1st NBA game, lose to Seattle, 106-94
1991 NYC Marathon winners are Salvador Garcia (Mex) & Liz McColgan (Scot)

1992 Bill/Hillary Clinton elected US President (ushering in the era of honest ethical government. From now on they'll be no more selling secrets to foreign governments, being...serviced in the oval office, firing longtime WH office staff just to put political cronies in, stealing FBI files on political enemies, no more arresting of people who boo the president, rapeists will no longer be allowed inside the WH, condoms will no lomger be used as Christmas tree decorations, from now on campaign contribution from foreign goernment will be BANNED, and as for turning the WH into a motel 6 not while Bill & Hillary are there, no sir!

1993 President Clinton joins his wife, Hillary, in attacking the health insurance industry.
1994 Susan Smith of Union, S.C., is arrested for drowning her two young sons, nine days after claiming the children had been abducted by a black carjacker.

2001 Osama bin Laden, in a taped message, called the U.S. led attack on Afghanistan a war against Islam. (wanna bet?
2001 Arkansas beat Mississippi 58-56 in seven overtimes in the longest NCAA college football game in history, four hours and 14 minutes.
2002 North Korea was reported ready to negotiate its newly disclosed nuclear weapons program with the United States, including the dismantling of its uranium-enrichment facilities. (riiiight)
2002 Karl Rove causes a 7.9 earthquake hit Alaska 90 miles south of Fairbanks.
2002 6 al-Qaida suspects were killed in Yemen when the car they were travelling in was struck by a missile from a US Predator drone. Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaida leader, was among the dead along with Kamal Derwish, a member of the Lackawanna, NY, sleeper cell.
2003 Saudi police battle terrorists in the streets of the holy city of Mecca, killing two of the suspects and uncovering a large cache of weapons. Police arrested six al-Qaida suspects.
2004 President Bush's campaign declared victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry and claimed a second term in the White House, but Kerry refused to concede until all ballots were counted in the undecided state of Ohio.
2004 Republicans tightened their grip on the US Senate adding 4 seats to hold 55. Democratic Leader TOM DASCHLE of South Dakota defeated...eighty-sixed...vanquished...foiled by Rep. John Thune.

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

Ecuador : Cuenca's Independence Day
Japan : Culture Day
Panama : Independence Day (1903)
Texas : Father of Texas Day (1793)
Dominica : National Day
Belgium : Grand Festival of St. Hubert
US : Sandwich Day
Housewife's Day
International Doll Collectors Month

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Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of Blessed Martin de Porres, confessor (opt)
Chr : Commemoration of St Hubert, bishop of LiŠge, patron of hunters
RC : Commemoration of St Malachy, Irish bishop
Ang : Commemoration of Richard Hooker, priest
RC : Feast of Blessed Martin de Porres, confessor

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Religious History
0753 Death of St. Pirminius, first abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Reichenau (located in modern Germany). His name endures today as author of a book entitled "Scarapsus," which is the earliest known writing to contain the Apostles' Creed as it is worded in its present form.
1631 English clergyman John Eliot, 27, first arrived in America, at Boston. He afterward became the first Protestant minister to devote himself to evangelization of the American Indian.
1784 English clergyman Thomas Coke, 37, first arrived in America, at New York City. He was the first Methodist bishop to come to the New World.
1818 Pliny Fisk, 26, set sail for Palestine. Ordained by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Fisk became the first American missionary to journey to the Near East.
1925 The Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance was organized at St. Louis, MO. It became the forerunner of a new denomination, established in 1932 as the Pentecostal Church, Inc.

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

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Scientists Find Fossils in Sexual Union

Nov 3, 7:57 AM (ET)


LUCKNOW, India (AP) - This was no one-night stand. Scientists in India say they have discovered two fossils fused together in sexual union for 65 million years.
The findings were published in the October edition of the Indian journal "Current Science," which said it was the first time that sexual copulation had been discovered in a fossil state, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
But voyeurs will need a microscope to view the eternal lovers.

The fossils are tiny swarm cells, a stage in the development of the fungus myxomycetes, also known as slime molds.
The cells reproduce by "fusing," Ranjeet Kar of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow reportedly told PTI. Once the cells fuse, long, threadlike appendages known as flagella, are lost, he said.

Finding the fossils in a fused position and with their flagella shed, is evidence that the two cells were having sex, Kar said.
"The sexual organs being delicate and the time of conjugation short lived, it is indeed rare to get this stage in the fossil state," the study said.
The cells were discovered in a 30-foot deep dry well in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

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Thought for the day :
"There's nothing wrong with being shallow as long as you're insightful about it."
Dennis Miller

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Folks~

Wonderful read . . . next to reading the book of proverbs, a very grounded and humble exposé on the famous Band of Brothers.

If someone could not be accepted by his fellow soldiers he was gone right away. The men who were told to leave didn't get to vote or make an appeal. This was not a popularity contest.

Today, at least in corporate America everything revolves around enabling the dysfunctional employee.