The FReeper Foxhole - Happy Thanksgiving Everyone - November 24th, 2005

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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


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

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THANKSGIVING "OVER THERE"



World War Two Voices from the Front

Bill Sykes of Plymouth, Combat Engineers and then 1095th Engineer Utility Company, Command SoPac, US Army Engineers 1942-1945 :
"My first Thanksgiving, that was kind of a sad thing for me, being away from home and being young and not being with my family for Thanksgiving, missing the football games.   And having no Thanksgiving -- we had no Thanksgiving.  They attempted to do it in a field kitchen, but what can you do in a field kitchen?  After that first Thanksgiving, though, they put on some beautiful meals.  They had everything you could think of for Thanksgiving dinner.  They really made a big effort to do it the proper way.  We would find out who had the best dinner.  And the Navy had the best dinner, I'll tell you right now.  The Navy had really good Thanksgivings.   They had the ships, you know.  And they'd bring in all kinds of food.   But the Army did pretty good, too. 
"The Thanksgiving dinners were served on trays.  (My first one, with the Combat Engineers, was served in mess kits.  That doesn't work too well.)  They had cranberry sauce, stuffing, the whole thing.  It was a good meal.  But the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't there.  The meal was there, but the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't.  I guess you couldn't have Thanksgiving when you were overseas.   There wasn't much to be thankful for.  It was sad.  Although, I guess there was some thankfulness, at least you were still alive!"

Cliff Sampson of Plymouth, US Navy 1942-1945 :
"My first military Thanksgiving was in 1942 at Great Lakes.  We had a big mess hall and it was a typical Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixings, apple pie and mince pie.  They tried to make it special and, of course, everybody was hepped on the war.  Just being a little recruit, you didn't have much to say about it anyhow, you just did what they told you and ate what they gave you.  But it was good food, I can't complain.  Some of the food probably was better than a lot of people ever had before they were in the service.  Some people came from poverty...
"Thanksgiving 1945 I was home in Plymouth with my family and my wife.  We were getting ready to settle down and I was back to work, running the store again.  It was a great feeling to be home, after being blown up on a ship in July (the USS YMS 84 yard mind sweeper was blown up 3 July 1945, Cliff Sampson received the Purple Heart) and then in November, I'm out of the service and the war is over.  I feel sorry for all those that didn't come back.  It was a great experience, but it's too bad for those who had to leave us.  They fought for a great cause."

Bill Shepard of Plymouth, 102 Infantry Division ("Ozark Division"), U.S. Army, stationed in Ohio, Germany and Wales :

Thanksgiving Dinner Two Ozark infantrymen, Pfc William G. Curtis from San Diego, California, and Pfc Donald R. Stratton from Colville, Washington, enjoy a hasty meal in the battered window of a shell-torn house far, far from home. 23 November 1944. Waurichen, Germany.

"The Armed Forces were absolutely adamant about getting the troops a Thanksgiving dinner, all over the world, no matter who you were or what you were doing.  Whether it was on the front lines or in a big fort like Sam Houston in San Antonio, they always made sure that the Armed Forces got a Thanksgiving dinner.  Christmas meals were also somewhat like that, but I remember the Thanksgiving dinners -- there were always turkeys and pies and everything you would have at home.  The food was often cold, if you were in the field (Thanksgiving Day 1944, the Ozark Division had just broken through the Siegfried Line at Aachen), but it was Thanksgiving."

Stanley Collins, US Navy :
"I was on submarine duty in the Pacific in the year 1943.  We were in the area off the cost of the Philippines.  I remember having a complete turkey dinner on Thanksgiving.  While the turkeys were cooking, the submarine took a dive.  We went down too steeply and the turkeys fell out of the oven onto the deck.  The cook picked them up and put them back into the oven -- and we ate them, regardless of what may have gotten on them as a result of their fall.  That meal was so good!"

Ervin Schroeder, 77th Infantry Division, 3rd Battalion, I Company, US Army :
"On Thanksgiving Day, we made our landing on Leyte Island in the Philippines very early in the morning.  We therefore missed our dinner aboard ship.  Somewhere down the beach from where we landed, the Navy sent us ham and cheese sandwiches.  My buddy happened to get one of the sandwiches and brought it back to our area.  I was complaining to him for not bringing one back for me when he started to have stomach cramps...  At this point, I shook his hand and thanked him for not bringing me a sandwich."

Ed Campbell, US Marine Corps, 1943-1945 :
"There were 3 Thanksgivings.  Actually, the one in '43 I don't really remember -- we may have been in California but it was just about the time we were getting ready to leave for the invasion of the Marshalls.  I think we spent it like we spent all our weekends -- every weekend we would all get liberty and head for Los Angeles.  That Thanksgiving just draws a blank.
"The second one, I was on Maui and I do remember.  It was an odd day.  You remember all of your early Thanksgivings with the family and a certain feeling of nostalgia sets in.  Then you take your mess kit, which is like an oval opened up, and go down to the mess hall and get your Thanksgiving dinner thrown into the mess kit.   It ends up with the turkey and carrots all mixed.  The cooks do a great job of trying to make it a festive meal but when you mix it all together with the gravy in the mess kit, its sort of like mush.  I do remember that.  Other than that, there was no celebration.  There wasn't too much discussion, we just all sort of hunkered into ourselves and thought of earlier days and days to come, hopefully.
"The third and last Thanksgiving (1945), I landed in Boston on Thanksgiving Day...  I walked around the city for a little bit, with joy in being immersed in the quietness of Boston -- it was around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning.  I decided I would take a taxi home to Quincy.  I had enough money -- my discharge money -- so I was able to pay for a cab to take me home in style.  Of course, we had a great Thanksgiving.  My mother had all the relatives and old friends there -- I had called her to say that I would be home on Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful day to come home.  It was literally the first day of the rest of my life."

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[RasterMaster]

Happy Thanksgiving, Snippy, Sam, & all the FReeper Foxhole FRiends!

[Soaring Feather]

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the FOXHOLE!

[Soaring Feather]

Johnny!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

[Samwise]

Happy Thanksgiving!

As you say your Thanksgiving grace, remember to thank God that this turkey isn't President.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy day!

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Folks~

[manna]

Happy Thanksgiving to both of you (and to everyone else on this thread)!!!

[Valin]

On This Day In history


Birthdates which occurred on November 24:
1632 Benedict de "Baruch" Spinoza Amsterdam, rationalist philosopher
1713 Father Junipero Serra had a mission in California
1784 Zachary Taylor (Whig) 12th President (Mar 5,1849-July 9,1850)
1826 Collodi [Carlo Lorenzini], Italian author (Pinocchio)
1829 William Passmore Carlin Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1903
1847 Bram Stoker Irish theater manager/author (Dracula)
1849 Frances Hodgson Burnett author of children's book (My Secret Garden)
1864 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec France, painter (At the Moulin Rouge)
1868 Scott Joplin US, entertainer/composer (The Entertainer)
1877 Alben W Barkley Graves County KY, (35th Vice President-D-1949-53)
1888 Dale Carnegie author (How to Win Friends & Influence People)
1889 Albert J Sylvester England, ballroom dancer (Alex Moor Award-1977)
1911 Kirby Grant Butte MT, actor (Sky King)
1912 Garson Kanin American playwright/producer (Double Life)
1917 Howard Duff Bremerton Wash, actor (Flamingo Road, Knots Landing)
1918 Tom "Stubby" Fouts Carroll County IN, actor (Polka-go-round)



1925 William F Buckley Jr Writer, Publisher/Editor/Writer (National Review) (Firing Line) (God and Man at Yale, Blackford Oakes)



1932 Katalin Juhasz-Nagy Hungary, foils (Olympic-gold-1964)
1934 Martin Charnin Broadway lyricist (Annie, West Side Story)
1935 Ron (Red) Dellums Oakland CA, (Rep-D-CA)
1939 Yoshinobu Miyake Japan, featherweight (Olympic-gold-1964, 68)
1941 Donald "Duck" Dunn TN, bassist (Booker T & the MG's-Mar-Keys, Walkin' the Dog)
1942 Marlin Fitzwater press secretary (George Bush)
1946 Ted Bundy Burlington VT, serial murderer
http://www.crimelibrary.com/bundy/attack.htm
1947 Dwight Schultz Baltimore MD, actor (A-Team)
1948 Steve Yeager catcher (Los Angeles Dodger)
1956 Doug Davidson actor (Young & Restless)
1957 Denise Crosby Hollywood CA, actress (Tasha-Star Trek: Next Gen)
1958 Carmel (McCourt) England, rocker (Storm, More More More)

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Deaths which occurred on November 24:
1572 John Knox Scottish preacher, dies
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/v1n3/ant_v1n3_knox.html
1674 Franciscus van Enden Flemish jesuit/free thinker, executed at 72
1863 Claudius Charles Wilson Confederate brig-gen, dies in battle at 32
1929 Georges Clemenceau, PM of France (1906-09, 17-20), dies at 88
1962 James J Kilroy tank inspector (Kilroy was here), dies at 60
http://www.kudzumonthly.com/kudzu/jul01/kilroy.html
1963 Lee Harvey Oswald JFK's assassinator shot dead by Jack Ruby
1974 Charles Quinlivan actor (Frank-Mr Garland), dies at 50
1980 George Raft NYC, actor, dies at 85
2003 Warren Spahn (82), the Hall of Fame pitcher (won more games than any other left-hander in history) died

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Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
24-Nov-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Sergio R. Diaz Varela Ramadi - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Sergeant Nicholas S. Nolte Bethesda Naval Hosp., MD Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack


Afghanistan
11/24/04 Fleischer, Jacob R. Corporal 25 US U.S. Army 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Div. Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack Deh Rawood (near) [Uruzgan Prov.]
11/24/04 Fracker Jr., Dale E. Corporal 23 US U.S. Army 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Div. Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack Deh Rawood (near) [Uruzgan Prov.]



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...
0166 BC Origin of Era of Maccabees
0496 Anastasius II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0642 Theodore I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1639 1st observation of transit of Venus occurred (only 2, record event)
1642 Abel Janzoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
1703 1st Lutheran pastor ordained in America, Justus Falckner at Philadelphia
1759 Destructive eruption of Vesuvius
1832 South Carolina passes Ordinance of Nullification
1859 Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species"
1863 Battle for Lookout Mountain (Battle Above the Clouds) began in Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's forces take Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tenn


1871 National Rifle Association organized (NYC)


1874 Joseph F Glidden patents barbed wire
1880 Southern University established
1896 1st US absentee voting law enacted by Vermont
1903 Clyde Coleman of NYC patents automobile electric starter
1914 Benito Mussolini leaves Italy's socialist party
1922 Italian parliament gives Mussolini dictatorial powers "for 1 year"
1927 Riot at Folsom prison
1930 1st woman pilot on a transcontinental air flight Miss Ruth Nichols (Mineola, NY to CA), in a Lockheed-Vega, took 7 days
(She kept stopping to ask for directions)
1938 National Semi-Pro Basketball Congress authorizes yellow basketball
1944 US bombers based on Saipan, 1st attack Tokyo
1947 John Steinbeck's novel "The Pearl" published
1947 Un-American Activities Committee finds "Hollywood 10" in contempt because of their refusal to reveal whether they were communists
1952 Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" opens in London
1954 1st US Presidential airplane christened
1958 Mali becomes an autonomous state within French Community
1960 Wilt Chamberlain pulls down 55 rebounds in a game (NBA record)
1963 1st live murder on TV-Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald
1964 Rebellion ends in Zaire
1965 Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu, becomes pres of Zaire
1966 400 die of respiratory failure & heart attack in killer NYC smog
1969 Apollo 12 returns to Earth
1970 Stanford's QB Jim Plunkett wins Heisman Trophy
1971 Dan "DB" Cooper parachutes from a Northwest AL 727 with $200,000
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/
1971 Prison rebellion at Rahway State Prison NJ
1977 Miami Bob Greise passes for 6 touchdowns vs St Louis (55-14)
1983 PLO exchanges 6 Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Palestinians & Lebanese
1985 The hijacking of an EgyptAir jetliner parked on the ground in Malta ended violently as Egyptian commandos stormed the plane. Fifty-eight people died in the raid, in addition to two others killed by the hijackers. Ali Rezaq of the Abu Nidal terrorist group was imprisoned in Malta for 7 years and then released. The US FBI apprehended him in Nigeria in 1993 and he was convicted by a US federal jury in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.
1989 Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia
1991 1st international flight from Long Island's MacArthur Airport (to Mexico)
1991 After going 12-0 Washington loses to Dallas 24-21
1991 US 75th manned space mission "STS 44" Atlantis 10 launched
1992 Chinese air crash kills 141
1993 Brady bill passes establishing 5-day waiting period for handgun sales
(Well THAT worked out real well. Since this day no criminal has used a gun in the comission of a crime)
1993 End of world, according to Ukrainian sect White Brotherhood (going to go waaay out on a limb and say they were wrong)
1995 Ireland votes to end 70-year-old ban on divorce (50.28% to 49.72%)
1997 Saddam Hussein continues to withhold access to 63 weapons sites that included 47 presidential compounds
1999 It's reported that US married couples with children comprised 26% of the population as opposed to 45% in 1972
(OK people, let's get busy!)
2000 U.S. Supreme Court agrees to consider George W. Bush's appeal whether the extended Florida ballot counting violates federal law.
2003 A Virginia jury decided that John Allen Muhammad, convicted of masterminding the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington DC region, should be executed.

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

Zaire : New Regime Anniversary
Mass : John F Kennedy Day (1963) (Sunday)
US : Thanksgiving
US : Tryptophan awareness day
US : Game and Puzzle Week
US : Holidays Are Pickle Days (thru 12-31)
National Neurofibromatosis Month

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Religious Observances
Old RC : Commemoration of St John of the Cross, confessor/doctor

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Religious History
1703 In Philadelphia, German_born pastor and hymnwriter Justus Falckner, 31, became the first Lutheran clergyman to be ordained in America.
1713 Birth of Father Junipero Serra, Spanish missionary to western America. From 1769, he established 9 of the first 21 Franciscan missions founded along the Pacific coast, and baptized some 6,000 Indians before his death in 1784.
1838 Canadian Sulpician missionary Franois Blanchet, 43, first arrived in the Oregon Territory. A native of Quebec, he spent 45 years planting churches in the American Northwest, and is remembered today as the "Apostle of Oregon."
1880 In Montgomery, AL, more than 150 delegates from Baptist churches in 11 states met to form the Baptist Foreign Missions Convention of the United States. Liberian missionary William W. Colley was chief organizer, and the Rev. William H. McAlpine was elected the first president.
1941 American Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in his "Secular Journal": 'Spiritual dryness is an acute experience of longing therefore of love.'

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

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Man Leads Police on Slow Lawnmower Case


Nov 23, 6:09 PM (ET)


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Bad idea: fleeing from police in a stolen car. Terrible idea: fleeing in a stolen lawnmower. But that's what police say a "happy drunk" did, a decision that landed the suspect back in prison for violating his parole.

Police say they got a tip about a stolen riding lawnmower. When they investigated, they spotted a man driving across a cornfield near Springfield.
"I happened to be driving south when the call went out, and lo and behold, off to the west there was this man bouncing through the cornfield with his ponytail flopping in the breeze," said Kurt Taraba, a police officer in the suburb of Southern View.

Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Jim Tapscott said authorities set up a perimeter while he and another deputy drove into the field to talk to the lawnmower driver. They identified themselves and told him to stop, but he allegedly tried to drive off.
"I thought, 'You're on a riding mower, and we're in a car,'" Tapscott said with a laugh. "He was only going four or five miles per hour, so I got out and jogged alongside him."
The driver finally stopped when police threatened to stun him with a Taser.

Police arrested Charles H. Carter, 45, and returned him to the Illinois Department of Corrections. Carter was wearing an ankle monitor because he'd been on home confinement.
The Prisoner Review Board will decide whether he goes back on parole or remains in prison to serve the rest of his two-year sentence for theft.

Deputies have been unable to determine who owns the Craftsman mower. They said Carter had a handwritten bill of sale for it, but was unable to tell them where it was purchased or provide any other details.

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Thought for the day :
"Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years."
William F. Buckley, Jr.

[Valin]

YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH US! And it goes without saying BOOOOOOOO THEM!

[snippy_about_it]

US : Tryptophan awareness day

I'll think about this while I'm napping on a full stomach of turkey white meat. :-)

[snippy_about_it]

A "slow" oven was the temperature when you pulled your hand out slow, and a "fast" oven was when you had to pull your hand out fast.

I had no idea. I love learnin' stuff in the Foxhole. Have a great day Iris7.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Like your tagline.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for "fallin' in" at the Foxhole today.

[snippy_about_it]

Hey David. It's so good to see you. We hope all is well with you and yours.

[snippy_about_it]

Mornin' PE. We could camp for quite awhile with that gear!

[snippy_about_it]

Hey EGC. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family.

[SAMWolf]

Happy Thanksgiving
to all the Foxholers

[SAMWolf]

Hi Manna.

[Valin]

Tryptophan poisoning! OH NO! There's only one cure, a "small" piece of pumpkin pie, and 6 hours for football.

[SAMWolf]

thank God that this turkey isn't President.

AMEN!!

[SAMWolf]

Nice one. :-)