The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Task Force Baum - The Hammelburg Raid - Jan. 16th, 2003

http://www.milmag.com/newsite/features/articles/hammelburg/ ^ | Herndon Inge, Jr.

[SAMWolf]

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The Hammelburg Raid

World War II in Europe was nearly over when, on 26 March 1945, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Commander of the famous United States Third Army, ordered a Task Force from the Fourth Armored Division comprising 294 men and 53 vehicles and composed of Sherman tanks, light tanks, 105 millimeter assault guns, halftracks and jeeps to break through the German front lines at Ashaffenburg on a strange mission. Capt. Abraham Baum was in command of the Task Force whose mission was to head for Hammelburg, 60 miles away, and liberate the American officers who were imprisoned in Oflag XIIIB and bring back as many as they could.

Articles and books have been written about Gen. Patton's abortive raid to Oflag XIIIB, (Offizierslager), an American officers' prison camp at Hammelburg, in which, it just so happened, his son-in-law Lt. Col. John Knight Waters was a prisoner. The end of the war was in sight and the American Army was fighting for every foot of ground against a defeated, but still potent, German Army composed of the troops that had escaped though the Falaise Gap after the Normandy invasion and made their way back to Germany and regrouped east of the Rhine River. In addition to the seasoned German troops who had escaped from Normandy, all able-bodied male Germans of all ages were mobilized to make the Americans pay dearly for every foot of ground taken.

Lt. Col. John Knight Waters, a West Point graduate and the husband of Beatrice Patton, Gen. Patton's daughter, had been captured in the fighting in Tunisia, North Africa, in 1943. He was a prisoner in Oflag 64 at Szubin, Poland, with several hundred American Army officers. When the Russian Army troops began to threaten northern Germany, the prisoners in Oflag 64 were marched on the road south in mid-winter. They arrived at Oflag XIIIB at Hammelburg in central Germany early in March. The group of officers from the Battle of the Bulge and other officer prisoners captured in North Africa and after the Normandy invasion were at Hammelburg, making a total of about 1,500 American officer prisoners of war in the Oflag.

I was a lieutenant in Company D, 301st Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. After forced marches in blizzard weather and two freezing boxcar rides I arrived at Hammelburg about 6 March, the same day Lt. Col. Waters and the officers from Oflag 64 arrived after their forced march.

Col. Paul R. Goode, one of the Oflag 64 men who had been captured by the Germans in Normandy, became the senior American officer at Hammelburg after their arrival.

The American front lines were east of the Rhine River in mid-March and the German Army was putting up a fierce defense. Gen. Patton claimed he did not know that his son-in-law was at Hammelburg but military intelligence had indicated that the officers from Oflag 64 had arrived there.

On 26 March the Fourth Armored Division Task Force, after a fierce artillery barrage and tank battle, crossed the Main River and blasted its way through the German lines at Ashaffenburg. It headed toward Hammelburg, 60 miles inside the German lines.



We, as Kriegsgefangen, or Kriegies (war prisoners), at the Oflag were gaunt and skinny and lacked energy as we milled around the compound. On 27 March we heard the sound of tanks and artillery to the west and black clouds of smoke rose over the horizon. We knew the Americans were on their way and we were excited over the prospect of being liberated.

Task Force Baum

We saw several American tanks of Task Force Baum appear over the crest of the hill to the west of the camp firing their guns in our direction. Some German army vehicles sped ahead of them down the hill and past the prison camp. When the American Sherman tanks at the head of the column approached the compound, the prisoners went inside the buildings as the shells shrieked toward us.

Several of the lumbering American tanks appeared at the Oflag and fired their guns overhead and to each side where they expected opposition. The shells screamed through the air and the deafening explosions echoed among the buildings. Black smoke billowed up over the camp as a building was hit and soon consumed in flames.

About 1430 hours two of the big Sherman tanks broke through the double barbed wire fence, trailing the wire and uprooted fenceposts. The pavement in the street cracked under the tanks' weight.

The American tanks on the hill were still firing their cannons and shells continued to explode around the perimeter of the camp. A joyous feeling of liberation prevailed among all of the American POWs in the prison camp.



It was almost dark when I walked through the gaping hole in the fence and up the hill. The POWs were gathered around the tanks in small groups as darkness descended. We felt we were free men once again and would soon be back in the safety of the rear areas behind the American front lines. We were a group of jubilant prisoners, but there was not much chance of fighting alongside our liberators since we were weak from our starvation diet during the past few months. Many of the freed prisoners returned to the Oflag.

As it got dark the tanks started to crank up their engines to prepare for the return to the American lines. While we were standing around, some German soldiers crept up and fired several panzerfaust rockets at the idling tanks. One tank was hit and burst into flames.

I decided to go back to the American lines with the tanks and climbed up on one of the Shermans along with five or six other former prisoners. The deck of the tank was crowded with extra tank tracks, jerricans of gasoline and water and clusters of 76mm shells. The tank drivers gunned their motors and began to move out. I felt exposed high up above the ground. As we moved out the cold wind blew in my face and I had an exhilarating and wonderful feeling of freedom.

Germans close in

None of us knew that hostile German troops were closing in on the Task Force returning to the American lines. When the German military units in the area learned that the American tank convoy was loose inside their lines they began to close in. The Germans knew the size of Task Force Baum. We had seen a small German reconnaissance plane circling overhead before the Task Force arrived at Hammelburg.

I clung to the top of the Sherman tank as it roared and pulled out of the group and became the lead tank of the column in hostile enemy territory. The column of tanks and other vehicles moved slowly through the dark woods along a narrow road until a log pile road block was spotted about 200 yards ahead.

The column stopped and the tanks ground around with much noise and confusion and headed back in the opposite direction. The Germans at the road block fired several bazooka or panzerfaust rockets at the column as we were turning around. One of the rockets swooshed by my head like a deadly Roman candle as it went past and exploded in the woods. I felt the heat and crouched down and hung on for dear life. If the round had been a few inches closer and had hit the tank all of us hanging on would have been killed.



When the column slowed down, I climbed down from my place on the lead tank and ran back about 10 or 12 tanks and other vehicles in the column and climbed up on the back of a halftrack. Two other lieutenants and I hung on and we stood on the narrow metal flange on the back. I felt relieved that I was no longer at the head of the column behind the German lines.

The column of American tanks, half-tracks and other vehicles was hit again with German rockets and panzerfausts as they turned around and headed toward the town of Hessdorf. The column with the liberated prisoners hanging on headed back to Hill 427 and a large clearing. When the convoy disbursed around a big field, a group of liberated officers milled around the tanks and halftracks that had pulled into the clearing. In the center of the clearing was a stone building and the tanks, halftracks and other vehicles formed a defensive perimeter. It was extremely cold and we could hear the sound of German tanks in the woods beyond.

Colonel Goode

After reaching the Oflag and breaking through the barbed wire and heading back to the American lines with the liberated prisoners who could climb aboard, the tanks blasted their way through the quiet countryside. Those of us who were hanging on were exhilarated and happy at being free and headed for the American lines. I hung on the back of the halftrack for several hours and was totally exhausted.



As it began to get light, Col. Paul Goode climbed up on a tank and announced that those of us who had been liberated and who wanted to stay with the task force and fight could do so, but that he was going back to the Oflag at Hammelburg.

He jumped down from the tank and produced a white sheet and started walking back toward the Oflag at Hammelburg with most of the POWs, including me, following. We walked at a rapid pace down a narrow dirt road in the open German countryside to the Oflag, now retaken by German soldiers.

Although we were weak and had not eaten or had a drink of water or slept for over 24 hours, we followed Col. Goode back toward the Hammelburg Oflag. After we had gone about a mile we heard the noise of a terrific battle taking place. The Germans surrounding the beleaguered Task Force were firing point blank at the tanks and other vehicles with everything they had. We could see columns of black smoke rising up over the trees. We trudged the 11 or 12 miles back to the Oflag and were exhausted when we got there. The German guards who had taken off when the tanks arrived had returned and reoccupied the Oflag.

At 0810 hours on 28 March the Task Force prepared to return to the American lines. On the command of Capt. Baum the tanks roared to life and began to slowly move out. The halftracks and other vehicles started up and moved in with the tanks.

Germans attack

The German tanks, tank destroyers and heavy guns cut loose with everything they had. The American tanks, halftracks and other vehicles were hit and many exploded in flames.



The German attack was well coordinated. Tank destroyers with 90mm cannons followed by German infantry converged on the surrounded vehicles. The 76mm guns on the American tanks and tank destroyers were no match for the German 90mm guns. Capt. Baum ordered all drivers not to stop at road blocks but to fight their way back to the American lines destroying anything in the way. After Capt. Baum's order to move out, the onslaught by the Germans damaged or destroyed nearly all of the vehicles. Many went up in flames as their gas tanks exploded.

Before leaving, Capt. Baum found a halftrack with a radio and he tapped out his last message to the Fourth Armored Division Headquarters in Morse Code: "Task Force Baum surrounded, under heavy fire. Request air support."

When it appeared that the situation was hopeless, the men in the Task Force and the remaining liberated officers took off into the woods and some eventually made it back to the American lines. Most were recaptured as they went through the hostile German woods and countryside.

POWs again

Those of us who followed Col. Goode returned exhausted to the deserted Oflag where we stayed for several hours before we were ordered to prepare to leave under the watchful eyes of fully-armed and equipped German soldiers.

Lt. Col. Waters, while attempting a truce with the Germans when the tanks arrived, was shot by a German guard. He was taken to the Oflag hospital and a week later after the American lines had moved up, he was evacuated to a field hospital.

The German soldiers who had returned to the Oflag were now armed and equipped for combat. They marched us the couple of miles down the steep road to the rail yards at Hammelburg where we were ordered to get in box cars and were locked in. We were targets of our own P-47 and P-51 air attacks and were given no food, water or heat. The next afternoon we arrived at Nurnburg at the heavily bomb-damaged rail yards and marched to a prison camp there.



Lt. Col. John Knight Waters remained in the Army and later became a 4-star general. He served the United States with distinction until he retired. He wrote me several years prior to his death that Gen. Patton, his father-in-law, did not know that he was a prisoner at Hammelburg when he sent the Task Force through the front lines to liberate the American prisoners.

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., "Old Blood and Guts," was soundly reprimanded by both Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Omar N. Bradley for the abortive attack on Hammelburg and the loss of the Task Force. He told correspondents that he did not know until nine days after the Task Force reached Hammelburg that his son-in-law was among the prisoners. He produced his private diaries and said he attempted to liberate the prison camp because they were afraid that the American prisoners might be murdered by the retreating Germans. Gen. Patton later admitted: "I can say this, that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except that of failing to send a combat command to take Hammelburg. Otherwise, my operations were to me, strictly satisfactory."

[SAMWolf]

(This is the report of Captain Abraham J. Baum he made at HQ 4th Armored Division when he returned 10 April 1945)

We broke through at SCHWEINHEIM and started to clean out that town at 20:00 hours that night. It took us until 00:30 hours before we could pass anything through. From there we went to HAIBACH, GRUENMORSBACH where we received our first bazooka fire. I lost a few infantrymen but no vehicles. We continued on to STRASSBESSENBACH and turned north to KEILBERG. This was somewhere between 01:30 hours and 02:30 hours in the morning. At KEILBERG we got on the main road and went through FRONHOFEN, LAUFACH and HAIN and then went through a stretch of woods. All during this operation we lost infantrymen in these various towns from small arms and bazooka fire. We kept on going through that stretch of woods and got to RECHTENBACH.

Just outside of the town of LOHR we lost our first tank. Of course, during our trip we shot up various vehicles and Krauts in all towns but the momentum of our column was too fast and too great and so we went straight through. In the town of LOHR itself we got a Kraut column of twelve vehicles coming toward us. The town was so situated that we just happened to get on the right road and pass on through and out of it. We then got on the road junction and all along the railway from LOHR to NEUENDORF to LANGENPROZELTEN to GEMUENDEN were trains. I estimate there must have been about twelve trains each consisting of about twenty cars. It was just getting light and it was there that I realized that I was going to run into something. We shot up these trains and a big thirty-car ack-ack train which was loaded with antiaircraft weapons and concrete pillboxes. The infantry cleaned that out. We got some 20 mm fire from the vicinity of GEMUENDEN and from the other side of the train but they stopped firing as soon as the column really started rolling. We got into GEMUENDEN and lost three tanks and a bunch of infantry including a platoon leader and to this day I don't know whether he's dead or alive. They blew a bridge right in our face. This bridge was the only one that would take us to the place we were going to. After further investigation, a PW informed us that the region around LOHR and GEMUENDEN was a marshalling area for two divisions, one division having just unloaded in GEMUENDEN. I believed it as the Krauts were filtering all over the place. After losing three tanks and finding the town was loaded, I decided it was best not to go in and seek another route. We backed out of town and went north.

It was about 08:30 hours when we got into RIENECK. SHAIPPACH was the town before that. The momentum of the column was quite great and we picked up a couple of Germans in that town and used them to guide us to BURGSINN as there was no bridge in RIENECK. In BURGSINN we captured a Kraut General and his staff. I also picked up a Kraut civilian to guide us to the town of GRAEFENDORF. We took off cross-country and went up a mountain trail. In and around GRAEFENDORF the task force freed 700 Russians. These Russians took a magazine and some of them armed themselves and took to the woods in the direction from which we came. We crossed the bridge at GRAEFENDORF and followed the river and railroad until we came to WEICKERSGRUEBEN. At this time - 14:00 hours in the afternoon - I noticed a Kraut liaison plane in the air. I also heard vehicular movement other than my own column when we stopped. I then stopped to orient myself and decide which way to attack this town where the PW camp was located and also find out exactly where the American prisoners were. We left WEICKERSGRUEBEN heading northeast and were engaged in a tank fight at OBERESCHENBACH. We didn't lose anything nor did the Krauts.

The column started moving again but I knew damn well that we were going to have a tank fight real soon. From OBERESCHENBACH to the camp site we went over two bridges - bypassing the town of HAMMELBURG. We had a tank fight and my platoon of lights, one assault gun, the majority of half-tracks and a platoon of infantry went on and started making a move to free the camp. Meanwhile, my medium tanks of which I had about six left engaged these tanks and knocked out three of them, also knocking out three or four ammunition trucks that were in the Kraut column. I kept pushing the task force over the ridge onto this high ground where about two companies of Kraut infantry were dug in. It took us two and one-half hours to clean it up so that the infantry and tanks could move in. In the meantime, the Kraut tanks had knocked out five of my half tracks and three peeps, one being a medical peep - one of the half-tracks contained gas and one other 105 mm-ammunition. It was about 16:30 hours when the first shots were fired on the guards of this military camp. It was about 18:30 hours or 19:30 hours in the evening when the American PW's came out of the camp. I gave them instructions and as many of them as possible rode on my vehicles, reorganized and got ready to go back.

A great number of the PW's were in no shape to go anywhere and they immediately took off in a group carrying a white flag back to the camp. Starting back, we hadn't gone fifty yards when we lost another tank by bazooka fire. I had to change my direction so took a compass reading and went cross-country. Everything was fine until I crossed the bridge and got into HESSDORF and ran into two road blocks. At HOELLRICH three more tanks were bazooked. I lost a tank company commander there and a large group of infantrymen. Knowing that I couldn't mess around there, I backed out of the area into assembly for reorganization on Hill 427 - coordinates 495652. It was about 03:30 hours in the morning when I got back on this hill. I immediately got the people together and found out how much gas we had. We siphoned gas out of eight of the half-tracks and destroyed eight to give us some zone of radius for the vehicles. At this particular time I had three mediums and three lights, plus one command tank. It was then that I sent my last message to the battalion that the mission was accomplished and we were on our way back for the second time. I oriented the people and informed them to use half-tracks for bridging equipment if necessary to cross streams so as to avoid towns. The real seriously wounded were left in a building marked with a big red cross just before daylight.

I got the men together here on top of this hill and gave them a pep talk and upon finishing got into my peep when the Krauts attacked. They had an unknown number of SP's to my South, six tanks and the equivalent of two infantry companies advancing on the position from the southeast, backed by SP's which were stationery. To the northeast were six Tiger tanks that were in position firing. A column of tanks came in from the direction of WEICKERSBRUEBEN when the attack commenced and stayed in the northwest. At the time they opened up, everybody was just ready to move out, in fact, I had pulled my peep out to form the column when they hit us with the fastest automatic tank fire I had ever seen. My tanks returned the fire best they could and jockeyed for position. All the vehicles were knocked out and burning and the infantry advanced under this assault. They practically destroyed the building in which the wounded were in that was marked with the Red Cross. We moved out into the woods and assembled. We then tried to get back to see what we could salvage out of the mess, but each time we showed our faces, the infantry opened up with small arms and the advancing tanks started firing again. We went back into the woods and the two platoon leaders who had taken over told the men to split up in groups of four and take off in the general direction from which we had come. The entire fight lasted twenty-five minutes, but that was the fight. At this time the Krauts had the situation well in hand and they continued blowing more bridges in preparation for a larger force. The infantry started mopping up the area with the aid of bloodhounds from the Hammelburg PW camp and captured quite a number of the men. In overrunning the positions, they also evacuated our wounded to the hospital in the prison camp that we had just set free.

Major Stiller, myself and a lieutenant (anonymous) took off in the woods. They ran us down - it got too close for comfort. I could barely walk and had been shot in the knee and in the leg with a P 38 pistol which convinced me I had enough for a while. After being captured, we were evacuated to the town of HUNDSFELD. The confusion was so great at that town nobody even bothered to search us and from there we were marched back to the prison camp. I was being partially carried - one man assisting me. Being wounded, I managed to get in the building that night while the other prisoners were being taken away. Some of these ex-prisoners who knew the ropes told the Krauts I was one of the group who had escaped and should be sent to a hospital as I couldn't walk. Before I knew it, a Kraut woke me up and sent me by truck to a Serbian hospital at the PW camp - and I still had on my equipment with the exception of the pistol, map, compass and everything else. When I got to the hospital, I found some thirty-five of the men who were wounded in my operation and recaptured. A German surgeon gave an American and Serbian complete control over all these wounded and left us alone.

The American doctor, Captain Brubacker, put me in a room off in a corner and I was just a patient. The Germans didn't know who I was or anything about me. The following day the General of the camp came back with more guards after marching some 500 or 600 prisoners to NUERNBERG. They started to evacuate American wounded to BAD KISSINGEN which was declared an open city due to the fact that it had some thirty to forty Kraut hospitals. They had no Americans in the town and wanted to put an American flag up because they were afraid of trouble when the Americans came. In this town was either Goebbel's or Goering's family - I couldn't swear to which. Within the next four days, German ambulances came and evacuated some sixteen or eighteen Americans to this town. All during these days spent in the hospital, the Serbs had hid American PW's that came back in their barracks. The enlisted men's camp had no guards whatsoever, but we gave them instructions they were to stay in camp and not wander out. Only the French and Russians took off for the villages to get food. A batch had taken to the woods in the vicinity of the camp and they were in such a position to Krauts couldn't handle them to evacuate them - that's the way we wanted to keep them.

On 6 April 1945 the 14th Armored Division rolled in with a combat command reinforced and freed the place. Immediate evacuation of our medical patients was made. The enlisted men and sixty-five or seventy officers that remained at that camp were taken care of through proper channels. These officers I refer to are exprisoners who had sneaked into the Serbian hospital - they knew the ropes. When we saw the difficulty we were going to have these sixty-five remained and the balance went back to stockade. Quite a few of those sixty-five were killed or wounded, but they were fighters. Regarding operations, that's what transpired going from the beginning to the end.

[SAMWolf]

Additional remarks and corrections:

Three messages were sent by the task force. The first message was sent the morning of 27 March 1945 from Rieneck requesting air support against an enemy division marshalling area at Gemuenden. On the afternoon of 27 March 1945, Captain Baum called Lt Dahmen, who was in a plane, on the FM and gave his location which was on high ground between Rieneck and Graefendorf. A message was sent the morning of 28 March 1945 stating the mission was completed and that two attempts had been made to break out but losses had been heavy. It was also stated one more attempt would be made and if it was unsuccessful, the force would "hole up". The first and third messages were acknowledged by a "Roger" on the G-4 net.

Approximately 700 Russian prisoners were freed near the town of Graefendorf. There were approximately 1.400 American officers and 200 NCO's in the stockade south of Hammelburg. A LTC was the highest ranking officer in the group.

The force had four light tanks left when they were fighting on Hill 427. Three of these were from a platoon of the 37th Tank Bn and the other was from his command section. There was no tank fight at Obereschenbach. One medium tank of the force was knocked out by bazooka fire between Gemuenden and Obereschenbach. A light tank was lost near Gemuenden due to a thrown track. The order of march at the beginning of the mission was as follows: medium tanks with infantry riding, infantry in half-tracks, light tank, and assault guns. When no resistance was expected, the light tanks were sent to the head of the column.

Subordinate commanders in the task force were as follows:

Cpt Lange            Infantry 
Lt Nutto             Medium Tanks 
Lt Weaver            Light Tank Platoon 
T/Sgt Graham         Assault Gun Platoon 
Lt Hoffner           Reconnaissance Section 

There was a total of eleven officers in the force. The only briefing prior to the mission was the actual telling of the men the purpose of the mission. Fifteen maps with the route marked were issued. The men who comprised the force had slept only one night in the four days prior to the mission.

The column reached Gemuenden the morning of 27 March 1945 and found that 12 troop trains had just unloaded and crews were servicing the engines. All of the engines were destroyed by the force. Three medium tanks were knocked out by bazooka fire in going through the town. An enemy division was billeted in the town and the fighting soon became heavy. A platoon of infantry was dismounted and sent to secure a bridge over the river but the bridge was blown while two of the infantrymen were standing on it.

Because of increasing opposition, Captain Baum decided to withdraw from the town and follow another route. Captain Baum, Lt Nutto, and an infantry platoon leader were wounded in Gemuenden. The force then proceeded north and went 15 miles out of the way to find a crossing over the river. The enemy destroyed six bridges after the force had already crossed them and set up road block behind them.

The air mission arrived at Gemuenden there was no opportunity to use it as the force quickly from the town. The assault guns were all knocked out near Hammelburg. One was knocked out on the edge of town and the other two were destroyed on Hill 427 southwest of Hammelburg. The force did not enter Hammelburg.

[SAMWolf]

'I can say this - that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except of failing to send a Combat Command to Hammelburg.'

-- Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.
WAR AS I KNEW IT

[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

Thanks, Doughty!

[SAMWolf]

[Soaring Feather]

bump for a later read.

[SAMWolf]

Sorry it's a long one today, but it was a hard story to make short.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 16:
1587 Alexander Adriaenssen Flemish painter
1672 Francesco Mancini composer
1697 Richard Savage poet
1728 Niccolò Piccinni Italian composer (Buona Figliuola)
1749 Vittoria A Alfieri Italian count/poet (Maria Stuarda)
1757 Samuel McIntire woodcarver/architect (architect of Salem)
1804 Karl August Krebs composer
1807 Charles Henry Davis Rear Admiral (Union Navy), died in 1877
1815 Adolph Trube composer
1815 Henry Wagner "Old Brains" Halleck Major-General (Union Army)
1834 Albert Lindley Lee Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1907
1837 James Phillip Simms Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1887
1847 Kálmán Mikszáth Hungary, writer (Wonderparaplu)
1853 André Michelin France, industrialist/tire manufacturer (Michelin)
1853 Johnston Forbes-Robertson English actor/theater director (Kathleen)
1864 Frank Bacon actor/author (Lightnin)
1868 Cyril Metodej Hrazdira composer
1870 Wilhelm Normann German chemist (hardening of oils)
1872 Edward G Craig actor/director (On the art of theatre)
1872 Henri-Paul Busser composer
1873 Boyd Alexander English explorer
1874 Robert Service England, Canadian poet (Cremation of Sam McGee)
1878 Harry [Henry Dewitt] Carey Sr Bronx NY, US actor (Informer, Aces Wild, Border Cafe, Air Force)
1878 Robert Garbe German poet (Görniek)
1885 Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz president of Poland (1939-40)
1887 John Hamilton Penn, actor (Perry White-Superman)
1890 Karl Freund Czech/Austrian cameraman/director
1890 Lloyd Bacon San Jose CA, actor (Charlie Chaplin)
1893 Henry C Rümke Dutch psychiatrist (Periods in Man's Life)
1894 Guy Chamberlin early NFL end/coach (Canton, Frankford, Cards)
1901 Fulgencio Batista President/Dictator of Cuba (1933-44, 1952-59)
1902 Eric Liddell China, English 400m runner (Olympics-gold-1924)
1902 Evelyn Levine composer
1904 Max Vredenburg composer
1905 Ernesto Halffter composer
1906 Clement Greenberg art critic
1906 Diana Winyard London, actress (Cavalcade)
1907 Alexander Knox Canada, actor (Gorky Park, 2 of a Kind)
1907 Phillip Humphrey Vellacott classicist
1908 Ethel Merman stage & screen actress (Anything Goes, Call Me Madam)
1910 David McCampbell US pilot/captain (WWII-Pacific-downed 34 Japanese planes)
1911 Eduardo Frei (Christian Democrat), President of Chile (1964-70)
1911 Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean HOF baseball pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)
1911 Gilbert Gadoffre French scholar
1912 Franz Tumler Austria, author/novelist (Cloak, Aufruf)
1914 Roger Aubert Belgium, church historian (Le Pontificat de Pie IX)
1916 Frederick Stewart British geologist
1917 Buddy Lester Chicago IL, actor (Nick-Phil Silvers Show)
1918 Stirling Silliphant screenwriter
1919 Bob Boucher Kent OH, orchestra leader (Music on Ice)
1920 Elliot Reid New York City NY, actor (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
1923 Martin Stokken Norway, nordic relay (Olympics-silver-1952)
1923 Roy Lanham rocker (Sons of the Pioneers)
1923 Willem Aantjes Dutch political leader (CDA)
1924 Katy Jurado México, actress (High Noon, Trapeze, Barabbas, AKA Pablo)
1926 John "Jack" Layden local politician
1928 Ezra Sims composer
1928 John William Fozard aircraft designer
1928 William Kennedy US writer
1929 Allard Lowenstein radical (Students for Democratic Action)
1929 Francesco Scavullo Staten Island NY, celebrity photographer
1929 Tage Nielsen composer
1930 Norman Podhoretz Brooklyn NY, author/editor (New York Post)
1931 Vladimir Skutina writer playwright/journalist
1932 Dian Fossey zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist)
1932 Jim Berry cartoonist (Berry's World)
1933 Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A, 27, T-3)
1933 Susan Sonntag writer
1934 Richard Wernick Boston MA, composer
1934 Bill Alexander (Representative-D-AR, 1969- )
1934 Marilyn Horne Bradford PA, mezzo-soprano
1935 A J Foyt Houston TX, auto race driver (Indy 500 1961, 64, 67, 77)
1936 Michael White theater/film producer (From Russia With Love)
1937 Bob Bogle Portland, rock bassist/guitarist (Ventures-Batman Theme)
1937 Conny Vandenbos Dutch singer (My rose, my little rose)
1938 Michael Pataki Youngstown OH, actor (Get Christie Love)
1939 Cliff Thorburn English snooker player
1941 Christine Janes tennis player
1941 Richard Bohringer Paris France, actor (Diva, I Married a Shadow)
1941 Tÿmen G J "Tim" Beekman actor (Nosferatu)
1942 Barbara Lynn rocker
1942 Bill Francis Mobile AL rocker (Dr Hook)
1942 Tony P Hall (Representative-D-OH, 1979- )
1943 Brian Ferneyhough composer
1943 Gavin Bryars composer
1944 Jim Stafford Eloise FL, singer (Spiders & Snakes, My Girl Bill)
1944 Chris de Marigny painter/designer
1944 Ronnie Milsap Robbinsville NC, country singer (Any Day Now, Legend in My Time)
1945 Kabir Bedi actor (Thief of Baghdad, Terminal Entry)
1946 Michael L Coats Sacramento CA, Captain USN/astronaut (STS 41-D, 29, 39)
1947 Dr. Laura Schlessinger Brooklyn, NY, TV/radio host/author (Go take on the day)
1947 Georgette Mosbacher CEO (La Prairie cosmetics)
1947 Juliet Berto Grenoble France, actress (Le Sex Shop)
1948 Cliff Thorburn Victoria BC, champion snooker player
1948 Anatoli Yakovlevich Solovyov Riga, cosmonaut (TM-5,9,15,26, STS 71)
1948 Christopher Moran English financier/multi-millionaire
1948 John Carpenter Carthage NY, director (Halloween, The Thing)
1950 Caroline Munro Windsor England, actress (Spy Who Loves Me)
1950 Debbie Allen Houston TX, dancer/actress (3 Girls 3, Lydia-Fame)
1950 Jesse Dizon Oceanside CA
1951 Richard Thompson rocker (BT Express-Here Comes the Express)
1952 Lloyd Blaine Hammond Jr Savannah GA, Major USAF/astronaut (STS 39, 64)
1952 Roberta Baskin NY, correspondent (48 Hours)
1955 Jerry M Linenger Mt Clemens MI, PhD/Commander USN/astronaut (STS 81/84)
1956 Wayne Daniel cricketer (West Indies fast bowler 1976-84)
1958 Anatoli Boukreev mountaineer
1959 Sadé [Helen Folsade Ady] Ibadan Nigeria, rocker (Smooth Operator, Sweetest Taboo; Grammy 1986-Best new singer)
1962 Jan Koster Dutch drummer (Sleeze Beez-Powertool)
1962 Kevin Ross NFL safety (Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs)
1962 Paul Webb rocker (TalkTalk)
1964 Gail Graham Vanderhoof BC, LPGA golfer (1995 Fieldcrest Cannon)
1964 Mark Collins NFL cornerback/safety (New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers)
1964 Trevor Barsby cricketer (Queensland opening batsman since 1984-85)
1966 Anthony Washington Glasgow Montana, discus thrower (Olympics-4th-96)
1966 Jack McDowell Van Nuys CA, pitcher (New York Yankees, White Sox, Indians)
1967 Jeff Branson Waynesboro MI, infielder (Cincinnati Reds)
1967 Maxine Waters Jones rocker (En Vogue)
1968 David Chokachi actor (Baywatch)
1969 Chelan Kozak Revelstoke BC, equestrian (Olympics-96)
1969 Roy Jones Pensacola FL, Light-middleweight boxer (Olympics-silver-1988)
1970 Don MacLean NBA forward (New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets)
1970 Ron Villone Englewood NJ, pitcher (San Diego Padres)
1971 Josh Evans actor (Ricochet, The Doors)
1971 Jukka-Pekka Nummi WLAF cornerback (Scottish Claymores)
1971 Junior Bryant NFL defensive end (San Francisco 49ers)
1971 Michel Kreek Dutch soccer player (Ajax)
1971 Scott Williams Orange CA, field hockey defender (Olympics-96)
1971 Sergei Bruguera Spain, tennis star
1971 Ulrich van Gobbel Suriname/Dutch soccer player (Feyenoord)
1972 Desiree Leipham Spokane WA, WPVA volleyballer (Nationals-17th-1995)
1972 Joe Horn wide receiver (Kansas City Chiefs)
1972 Lee McIntyre Peak Hill Australia, golfer (T3 1995 New South Wales Trainee Champ)
1973 Josie Davis Los Angeles CA, actress (Sarah-Charles in Charge)
1973 Mario Bates NFL-running back (New Orleans Saints)
1973 Willie Whitehead CFL defensive end (Hamilton Tiger Cats)
1974 Kate Moss Addiscomb Surrey England, model (Calvin Klein)
1976 Trisha Stillwell Miss Oklahoma-USA (1997, top 10)
1986 Mason Gamble actor (Dennis the Menace)

---

Deaths which occurred on January 16:
0308 Marcellus I Catholic Pope (-308), dies
0429 Honoratius of Arles bishop/saint, dies
1343 Robert of Anjou king (Naples), dies
1595 Murad III sultan of Turkey (1574-95), dies
1697 Richard Savage poet, dies
1703 Matteo Coferati composer, dies at 64
1794 Edward Gibbon historian (Decline & Fall), dies in London at 56
1817 Antonin Josef Alois Volanek composer, dies at 55
1838 Aleksandr I Polezjajev Russian poet (Sasjka), dies at 33
1842 Thomas Freanby Norwegian landscape painter, dies
1849 Wilhelm M L de Wette German theologist, dies at 69
1864 Anton Schindler German violinist/biographer (Beethoven), dies at 68
1886 Amilcare Ponchielli Italian composer (La Gioconda), dies at 51
1891 Clement-Philibert-Leo Delibes composer, dies at 54
1891 Leo Delibes French ballet composer (Lakmé), dies at 54
1892 Imakita Kosen Zen teacher/abbot of Engagkuji monastery, dies
1893 Johan Philip Koelman painter/sculptor/architect, dies at 74
1901 Hiram Revels dies at 73
1901 Arnold Böcklin Swiss painter, dies at 73
1907 Alfred Shaw cricketer (seven Tests for England 1877-82), dies
1912 Georg Heym writer, dies at 24
1916 Arnold Aletrino Dutch physician-criminologist (From Death), dies at 57
1919 Jaroslav Jeremias composer, dies at 19
1920 Reginald De Koven composer, dies at 60
1934 Annie Patterson composer, dies at 65
1935 Richard Wetz composer, dies at 59
1938 William Pickering pioneer US stellar spectroscopist, dies
1939 Albert Fish mass murderer, executed
1942 Barbara Lynn [Ozen], US singer (You'll Lose a Good Thing), dies
1942 Carole Lombard actress, (Bolero), killed in plane crash (along with her mother & 20 others) at 32
1943 Franz Courtens Flemish painter (Sunny Lane), dies at 88
1945 Dennis Donnini British rifleman (Victoria Cross), dies in battle at 19
1946 Johanna HC Albregt actress/wife of Henri Dons (Paradise), dies at 71
1954 Michail M Prishvin Russian writer, dies
1955 Jonkheer Reneke de Marees van Swinderen Dutch minister (1908-13), dies at 94
1957 Arturo Toscanini Italy, American conductor, dies in New York City NY at 89
1957 Alexander Cambridge Governor-General (South Africa 1923-31/Canada 1940-5), dies at 82
1961 Janos Viski composer, dies at 54
1962 Emanuel Stickelberger Swiss writer (Holbein in England), dies at 77
1963 Gilardo Gilardi composer, dies at 73
1966 Margarete Susman writer, dies at 91
1967 Dirk Vansina Flemish playwright (Sage of Kai-Roi), dies at 72
1967 Robert J Van De Graaff US nuclear physicist, dies at 65
1968 Robert R "Bob" Jones founder (Bob Jones University), dies at 84
1969 Jan Palach protesting Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, self immolates at 20
1969 Vernon Duke composer, dies at 65
1970 Armijn Pane Indonesian writer (Djinak-djinak merpati), dies at 61
1971 Kermit Maynard cowboy actor (Saturday Roundup), dies at 68
1972 David Seville [Ross Bagdasarian] (Alvin & Chipmunks), dies at 52
1973 Ray Barrett sportscaster (Gillette Summer Sports Reel), dies at 65
1979 Ted Cassidy Pittsburgh PA, actor (Lurch-Addams Family), dies at 46
1979 Fred Elizalde composer, dies at 71
1980 Anna van Wageningen-Salomons Dutch author (Unspoilt Dream), dies at 94
1981 Bernard Lee actor (M in James Bond Movies), dies at 73
1987 Earl Wilson Broadway columnist (Midnight Earl), dies in Yonkers at 79
1987 Joyce Jameson comedienne (Spike Jones Show), dies at 54
1987 Ilse Langen writer, dies at 87
1989 Pierre Boileau screenwriter (Vertigo), dies at 82
1989 Romo Vincent actor (Naked Jungle), dies
1989 Trey Wilson actor (Bull Durham, Twins, Raising Arizona), dies
1992 Roselle Novelle silent film actress, dies at 95
1993 Florence Desmond [Dawson], actress (Sally in Our Alley), dies at 87
1993 Glenn Corbett US actor (Shenandoah, Chisum, Midway), dies at 63
1993 Sathasivam Krishnakumar Sri Lanka commander, commits suicide
1994 Martin Kosleck German/US actor (Hitler Gang), dies at 86
1994 Noël Foré Belgian cyclist (Paris-Roubaix 1959), dies at 61
1994 Stephen Kritsick veterinarian (Good Morning America), dies at 42
1995 William Dillard trumpeter/singer, dies at 83
1996 Harry Potts footballer/manager, dies at 75
1996 Kaye Webb publisher, dies at 81
1997 Charlie Alfred Galbraith jazz trombonist, dies at 76
1997 Innis Cosby son of Bill Cosby, murdered on Los Angeles highway at 29
1997 Jim Kensil NFL president (New York Jets), dies of heart failure at 66
1997 Stephen Fitz-Simon entrepreneur, dies at 59
1998 David "Junior" Kimbrough blues musician, dies at 67
1998 Peter Diamand artistic administrator, dies at 84

---

On this day...
0308 St Marcellus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1219 Floods in Northern Netherlands after storm, 1,000s killed
1325 Laure de Noves, beloved of Petrarch, marries Hugues de Sade
1493 Columbus returns to Spain on his 1st trip
1531 English Reformation parliament's 2nd sitting
1547 Ivan IV the Terrible (17) crowns himself 1st tsar of Russia
1556 Emperor Karel appoints his son Philip II, king of Spain
1581 English parliament passes laws against Catholicism
1756 England & Prussia sign Treaty of Westminster
1759 British Museum opens in London
1765 Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major)
1776 Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks
1777 Vermont declares independence from NY
1780 Battle at Cape St Vincent admiral Rodney beats Spanish fleet
1795 French army under Pichegru occupies Utrecht Netherlands
1819 Godert baron van der de Capellen becomes Governor of Dutch-Indies
1832 Charles Darwin lands at San Tiago, Cape Verde
1863 Cruise of CSS Florida
1864 Heavy fighting takes place near Dandridge TN
1865 General William Sherman issues Field Order #15 (land for blacks)
1865 San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle started
1865 Confederate Brigadier General John Pegram marries Hetty Cary
1865 Drunken sailor attacks munitions at Fort Fisher NC, 40 die
1868 Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit
1870 Virginia becomes 8th state re-admitted to US after Civil War
1871 Jefferson Long of Georgia sworn in as 2nd black congressman
1877 Color organ (for light shows) patented, by Bainbridge Bishop
1879 January record 13" of snow falls in New York City NY (broken Jan 7, 1996)
1883 Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system
1883 Québec Rugby Football Union forms
1887 Cliff House damaged when schooner "Parallel"'s powder cargo explodes
1889 128ºF (53ºC), Cloncurry, Queensland (Australian record)
1897 John Dewey's essay "My Pedagogic Creed" appears in School Journal
1905 Baseball outfielder Frank Huelsman traded for 6th time in 8 months
1905 Stanley Cup Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Dawson City (Yukon) in 2 games Ottawa Silver 7 beats Dawson City (Yukon) 23-2 for Stanley Cup, this is most lopsided playoff game, Frank McGee scores 14 goals
1906 Conference of Algeciras (about Morocco)
1908 Pinnacles National Monument, California established
1909 David, Mawson & Mackay reach south magnetic pole
1909 British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic south pole
1911 Pandora becomes 1st 2-man sailboat to round Cape Horn west to east
1913 British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland
1914 Writer Maksim Gorki returns to Russia
1915 Congress authorizes $1 & $50 Panama-Pacific International Expo gold coin
1919 Prohibition ratified by 3/4 of the states; Nebraska is 36th
1920 18th Amendment, prohibition, becomes the law of the land - one year after ratification; it is repealed in 1933
1920 1st assembly of League of Nations (Paris)
1920 Georgia declares independence
1925 General M Froense replaces Trotsky as People's Commissioner of Defense
1925 Leon Trotsky dismissed as CEO of Russian Revolution Military Council
1931 Bradman scores 223 Australia vs West Indies, 297 minutes, 26 fours
1933 Bert Oldfield flattened by Larwood delivery in Adelaide Test
1936 1st photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah FL
1936 Screen Actors Guild incorporates with King Vidor as president
1936 Spanish socialists/communists/anarchists form Unidad Popular
1938 Benny Goodman refuses to play Carnegie Hall when black members of his band were barred from performing
1939 Comic strip "Superman" debuts
1941 War Department forms 1st Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
1941 US vice admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor
1942 William Knudsen becomes 1st civilian appointed a General in US army
1943 -60ºF (-51ºC), Island Park Dam ID (state record)
1943 1st US air raid on Ambon
1943 German 2nd SS-Pantzer division evacuates Charkow
1943 Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad
1944 General Eisenhower took command of Allied Invasion Force in London
1945 Scottish 52nd land division/1st Commando brigade-assault at Heinsberg
1945 US 1st & 3rd army meet at Houffalise
1947 Vincent Aurial elected President of France
1948 35 Haganah members are ambushed & killed in Gush Etzyon
1949 "Rape of Lucretia" closes at Ziegfeld Theater New York City NY after 23 performances
1949 KNBH (now KNBC) TV channel 4 in Los Angeles CA (NBC) 1st broadcast
1949 WTOP (now WUSA) TV channel 9 in Washington DC (CBS) 1st broadcast
1950 Belgium, Luxembourg & Netherlands recognize Israel
1951 World's largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville TX, to 134th St, New York City NY)
1951 Viet Minh offensive against Hanoi
1952 New Dutch bible translation finished
1952 US Standard Board clears Stan Musial to get an $85,000 salary
1953 27th Australian Womens Tennis Maureen Connolly beat J Sampson (63 62)
1953 41st Australian Mens Tennis Ken Rosewall beats Mervyn Rose (60 63 64)
1953 Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
1953 KXLY TV channel 4 in Spokane WA (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1954 "South Pacific" closes at Majestic Theater New York City NY after 1928 performances
1955 Jackie Pung wins LPGA Sea Island Golf Open
1955 NFL Pro Bowl West beats East 26-19
1956 Egyptian President Nassar pledges to reconquer Palestine
1957 3 B-52s leave California for 1st non-stop round the world flights
1957 Cavern Club (home of Beatles' 1st appearance) opens on Mathew Street in England
1958 William Gibson's "Two for the Seesaw" premieres in New York City NY
1961 "Conquering Hero" opens at ANTA Theater New York City NY for 8 performances
1961 Russian espionage ring detected in Great Britain
1962 Suit accuses New York City NY Board of Education uses "racial quotas"
1962 Shooting begins on "Dr No"
1963 Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb
1963 Tennessee Williams' "Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" premieres
1964 "Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing, opens at St James Theater New York City NY for 2,844 performances
1964 AL owners vote 9-1 against Charlie Finley moving Kansas City A's to Louisville
1965 "Oh What a Lovely War" closes at Broadhurst New York City NY after 125 performances
1965 "Outer Limits" last airs on ABC-TV
1965 AFL Pro Bowl West beats East 38-14
1965 Searchers' "Love Potion #9" peaks at #3
1965 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakstan/Semipalatinsk USSR
1966 Harold R Perry becomes 2nd black Roman Catholic bishop in US
1966 Metropolitan Opera House opens in Lincoln Center
1967 1st black government installed in Bahamas
1967 Lucius Amerson, becomes 1st southern (Alabama) black sheriff in 20th century
1968 21st NHL All-Star Game Toronto beat All-Stars 4-3 at Toronto
1968 Jay Allen's "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" premieres in New York City NY
1969 Jan Palach immolates himself to protest Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
1969 Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 perform 1st transfer of crew in space
1970 AAU player Steve Myers makes a basketball field goal of 92'3½" from out of bounds, Tacoma-it shouldn't have counted, but was allowed
1970 NFL realigns into 3 divisions (down from 4)
1970 Colonel Kadhaffi becomes premier of Libya
1970 Curt Flood files a civil lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause
1971 Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (1 58.7)
1972 Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes European all-round lady skating champ
1972 Super Bowl VI Dallas Cowboys-24, Miami-3 in New Orleans; Super Bowl MVP Roger Staubach, Dallas, Quarterback
1973 USSR's Lunakhod 2 begins radio-controlled exploration of the Moon
1973 NBC presents 440th & final showing of "Bonanza"
1974 L A Landslide kills 9, Canyonville OR
1974 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published
1974 New York Yankees Mickey Mantle & Whitey Ford elected to Hall of Fame
1976 "Donny & Marie" [Osmond] musical variety show premieres on ABC TV
1976 Peter Frampton released platinum live album "Frampton Comes Alive"
1977 Washington Capital's H Monahan scored on 2nd penalty shot against Islanders
1978 Soyuz 27 returns to Earth
1978 5th American Music Award Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac & Conway Twitty
1979 Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran flees Iran for Egypt
1980 Paul McCartney jailed in Tokyo for 10 days on marijuana possession
1981 Ivan Lendl intentionally loses a match in the Volvo Masters in order to avoid having to play Björn Borg
1981 John Lennon's "Woman" is released in UK
1981 Protestant gunmen shoot & wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey & husband
1981 Boxer Leon Spinks is mugged, his assailants even take his gold teeth
1984 Paul & Linda McCartney arrested in Barbados-possession of cannabis
1984 11th American Music Award Michael Jackson
1985 "Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds
1986 Police arrested 3 IRA-terrorists in Amsterdam
1988 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder fired from CBS for racial remarks
1988 NFL St Louis Cardinals announce move to Phoenix
1988 4th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Live wins
1989 USSR announces plan for 2-year manned mission to Mars
1989 Police arrest writer Vaclav Havel in Prague
1990 2 Bank of Credit & Commerce members plea guilty to money laundering
1991 Operation Desert Storm begins - US & 27 allies attack Iraq for occupying Kuwait (air war begins January 17 at 2:38AM (local time) or January 16 at 6:38PM EST due to an 8 hour time difference, with an Apache helicopter attack)
1991 7th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Live wins
1992 "2 Shakespearean Actors" opens at Cort Theater New York City NY for 29 performances
1994 Scott skates world record 1000m (1 12.54)
1995 UPN (Universal-Parmount Network) begins telecasting (WWOR in New York City NY)
1997 Anthony Stuart takes ODI hat-trick, Australia vs Pakistan, MCG

---

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

US : Martin Luther King Jr Day (1929) - - - - - ( Monday )
Virginia : Lee-Jackson Day - - - - - ( Monday )
Florida : Arbor Day - - - - - ( Friday )

---

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Henry
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Marcellus I, 30th pope [308-09], martyr
Moslem : Night of Remembrance (Moslem feast); Sha'ban 14, 1415 AH

---

Religious History
1545 Death of Georg Spalatin, 61, German reformer and friend of Martin Luther. Spalatin's court life allowed him to give secular government a better understanding of Luther's ideas.
1604 At the Hampton Court Conference in England, John Rainolds presented to King James I the motion '...that there might bee a newe translation of the Bible.' Approved the next day, Rainolds' motion led to the 1611 publication of the Authorized (King James) version of the Bible.
1740 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'If I see a man who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity, I am not very solicitous to what...communion he belongs. The Kingdom of God, I think, does not consist in any such thing.'
1786 The Virginia Legislature adopted the Ordinance of Religious Freedom, which guaranteed that no man would be forced to attend or support any church. This mandate later became the model for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1982 Great Britain established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

---

Thought for the day :
" Fame is proof that people are gullible. "

[SAMWolf]

1965 "Outer Limits" last airs on ABC-TV

Great TV show, some of the remakes were pretty good but the originals had some great Sci-Fi stories.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Roanoke

Colorado class screw frigate
Displacement. 4,772
Lenght. 263’8 ¼"
Beam. 52’6"
Draft. 23’6"
Speed. 11k.
Complement. 674
Armament (Original). 2 10", 14 8"
Armament (After conversion to a monitor). Fore turret; 1 15", 1 150-pdr.; middle turret 1 15", 1 11"; after turret, 1 11", 1 150-pdr

The USS Roanoke was launched on 13 December 1855 at Norfolk Navy Yard; and commissioned 4 May1857, Capt. John B. Montgomery in command.

Assigned to the Home Squadron as flagship, Roanoke’s first duty was to return the American filibuster and former president of Nicaragua, William Walker, and 205 of his men to the United States. Sailing for Aspinwall, Columbia, on 30 May 1857, Roanoke returned on 4 August with Walker and his followers. Subsequently, Roanoke was sent to Boston Navy Yard where she decommissioned on 24 September 1857.

Recommissioned on 18 August 1858, Roanoke resumed her duties as flagship of the Home Squadron. Roanoke devoted the following months to cruising in the West Indies, carrying the U.S. Minister at Bogota, George W. Jones, to Aspinwall and Cartagena. For over a year she was stationed at Aspinwall awaiting the arrival of a special Japanese embassy to the United States. The Japanese delegation, travelling to Washington to exchange ratifications of the 1858 treaty, departed Yokohama on 13 February 1860 in the frigate Powhatan and reached Aspinwall by a train across the isthmus on 25 April 1860. The Roanoke embarked the delegation and reached Hampton Roads on 12 May 1860 and was decommissioned.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Roanoke recommissioned on 20 June 1861. Attached to the North Atlantic Squadron, she destroyed the schooner Mary off Lockwood’s Inlet, N.C., on 13 July 1861. The screw frigate subsequently took part in the capture of the schooners Albion and Alert and helped take the ship Thomas Watson off Charleston, S.C., on 15 October 1861.

During the C.S.S. Virginia’s (the former USS Merrimack), attack on Union warships in Hampton Roads, 8 March 1862, Roanoke’s deep draft prevented her from engaging the Confederate casement ram and kept her out of action the next day when the Virginia engaged the Union turreted ironclad, Monitor. Roanoke embarked 268 men from the Congress and Cumberland which Virginia had sunk, transported them North, and arrived at New York on 25 March, and decommissioned the same day.

While being extensively modified by Novelty Iron Works, N.Y., Roanoke was cut down to a low-freeboard ship and given three revolving centerline turrets. She kept her single funnel but landed her full ship rig, and in her new configuration was accepted by the Navy at New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1863. An ordnance report, dated 31 August 1863, listed her battery as follows: fore turret 1 15", 1 150-pdr.; middle turret 1 15", 1 11"; after turret, 1 11", 1 150-pdr.

Sea trials indicated that her heavy turrets caused her to roll dangerously in a seaway, and that her hull was not sufficiently strong to bear their weight and the concussion of the continuous firing. Recommissioned on 29 June 1863, Roanoke was assigned as harbor defense ship at Hampton Roads, Va., a duty she performed through the end of the Civil War.

Roanoke was decommissioned on 20 June 1865 at New York Navy Yard. Retained in reserve, Roanoke’s only postwar service was as flagship of the Port Admiral at New York. Roanoke was recommissioned on 13 January 1874 and remained in reduced commission until again placed in reserve on 12 June 1875. Struck from the list on 5 August 1882, Roanoke was sold for scrapping on 27 September 1883 at Chester, Pa., to E. Stannard & Co., Westbrook, Conn.

[Fiddlstix]

Good Morning Everybody.

You Know The Drill
Click the Pics J

Coffee & Donuts J

[SAMWolf]

IMHO she looked better as an ironclad, but then I never was into sailing ships. Give me cold steel and turrets.

[SAMWolf]

Good morning fiddlstix. Best coffee on FR comes from you.

[Fiddlstix]

Good morning fiddlstix. Best coffee on FR comes from you.

Thank you J
I am running a tad late today......
How about some biscuits....
Good Morning Everybody
Breakfast Is Ready

You Know The Drill
Click the Pics

Come on Y'all
Sit by the Fire
Get yourselves some
Fresh Coffee
Biscuits & Gravy

Enjoy

[SAMWolf]

[GailA]

Today's graphic

[SAMWolf]

Good one today GailA, Good afternoon.

[larryjohnson]

   
       Jane Fonda Lives In Maine
  
Tony Aman wrote this OpEd In the Bangor Daily News today. This VietNam Veteran feels very violent today.

March to end all wars in capital?

More than 400 Maine citizens are going to Washington, D.C., Saturday for an anti-war demonstration. If reports are accurate, this might be the largest protest rally in American history. For those of us who are opposed to the war on Iraq the big question for this weekend is, "Will it make a difference?"
According to Alexander Cockburn, who writes for The Nation, his enthusiastic response is, Yes! In his article, "No to War! Is Anyone Listening?" (Jan. 9): "... protests count, just as they did in the very earliest days of organizing against the war in Vietnam."
We stopped that war.
We most solemnly hope that this weekend's protests will stop this
war on Iraq too.
Cockburn's article was certainly meant as a message of encouragement on the eve of the march to prevent this war. He quotes Lawrence Reichard, an organizer from the 1960s:
"Reichard ended thus, 'The anti-war movement has much to be proud of. To the absolute fury of the right wing, the anti-war movement of yesterday and today still, to this day, shackles this country's ability to wage unfettered war. Right off the bat, they have to forget about any war that might last more than six months or cost more than a few hundred U.S. lives. For this, you can thank the peace movement and the Vietnamese, who, at tremendous cost, beat us militarily.
The entire world owes a tremendous debt to the Vietnamese.'"
I wonder, where has this led us? The Gulf War lasted less than six months. It cost few American lives. In the process we buried thousands of Iraqi soldiers alive in their bunkers. We used depleted uranium armaments that still cause cancer to Iraqi civilians. More than 20 percent of our Desert Storm troops have applied for disability benefits or died because of their exposure to conditions that kept our wartime casualties "low."
What else will we do to prevent "any war that might last more than six months or cost more than a few hundred U.S. lives"? The administration has made that answer quite clear. They have carefully and faithfully followed the advice publicly detailed by the Project for the New American Century. Their report, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," and many other articles published on their Web site (newamericancentury.org) emphasizes the use of pre-emptive military and covert force. The most horrifying advice is the use of nuclear weapons.
It seems the nuclear genie has not been asleep. He has been transformed from a Cold War monster of total world devastation to a modernday "Peacekeeper." In the old West, the sheriff would carry a Colt .45. Nicknamed the Peacekeeper, it left many an evil doer lying in the dust with a gaping hole in his malevolent belly. Today we have "usable nukes." These are battlefield (definition: anywhere but here) weapons that can obliterate enemy forces on or under the ground. As yet, we have had no opportunity to test these Peacekeepers in a live situation. Whether Saddam uses WMDs on our troops or not, experts agree this could be a deadly battle for our sons and daughters in uniform. Justification enough for Bush to use tactical nukes. If Saddam, in desperation, does use WMDs we have already promised nuclear retaliation.
What will this mean? Victory? At what cost? More contaminated U.S. troops? More Iraqi soldiers dead en mass? More cancer deaths (we are all downwind)? More condemnation
by world governments and scorn
by our allies?
Useable nukes are not weapons to end all wars. Like every weapon ever used they will be developed by other nations. Our own weapons manufacturers will sell them and the
proliferation will begin. How long will it be before such an outrage
is revenged upon us?
We will make a difference in Washington this weekend. But will this be the march to end all wars? As we board the buses we must look beyond this war to the continuing consequences of our government's policies. Playing the nuclear card is as wrong now as it was during the Cold War. It is time to put the Genie back in the bottle. It is time to turn away from using policies of violence, fear and intimidation. As Eisenhower said, "I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it."
Our message is clear. It is time to get out of the way.
Tony Aman, of Penobscot, is an insurance salesman and was the statewide coordinator for the anti-war rally
in Augusta last October.
©2002 Bangor Daily News. http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=256371&CFID=4746065&CFTOKEN=12216153