The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Bombing of Dresden (Feb.13-15,1945) - May 15th, 2003

wikipedia.org ^

[SAMWolf]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

.

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

.

.................................................................................................................................

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The Bombing of Dresden in World War II

The Bombing of Dresden in World War II by the Allies remains controversial after more than 50 years. Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, was fire-bombed by Allied air forces (the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) over three days (February 13-15, 1945) near the end of World War II. Air Marshall Arthur Harris, inventor of area bombing, ordered the action. He was never held accountable for breaches of Geneva convention or war crimes.

Dresden was widely considered a city of little war-related industrial or strategic importance. Dresden itself was most noted as a cultural centre, with noted architecture in the Zwinger Palace, the Dresden State Opera House and its historic churches. It has been claimed that the bombing was at the request of Russia, to attack a German armoured division in transit through the city. However, RAF briefing notes indicate that one of the motives was to show "the Russians when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do" (that is, to intimidate the Russians).

At the time, town was full of refugees fleeing from the advancing Red Army. Bomber Command was ordered to attack Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and other east German cities to "cause confusion in the evacuation from the east" and "hamper the movements of troops from the west". This directive led to the raid on Dresden and marked the erosion of one last moral restriction in the bombing war: the term "evacuation from the east" did not refer to retreating troops but to the civilian refugees fleeing from the advancing Russians. Although these refugees clearly did not contribute to the German war effort, they were considered legitimate targets simply because the chaos caused by attacks on them might obstruct German troop reinforcements to the Eastern Front. There are reports that even civilians fleeing the firestorm engulfing Dresden in February 1945 were strafed by British and American aircraft.



The fire-bombing consisted of dropping large amounts of high-explosive to expose the timbers within buildings, followed by incendiary devices (fire-sticks) to ignite them and then more high-explosives to hamper the efforts of the fire services. This eventually created a self-sustaining 'fire storm' with temperatures peaking at over 1500 degrees C. After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area, become extremely hot and rose rapidly. Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire.

3,900 tonnes of bombs were dropped. Out of 28,410 houses in the inner city of Dresden, 24,866 were destroyed. An area of 15 square kilometers was totally destroyed, among that: 14,000 homes, 72 schools, 22 hospitals, 19 churches, 5 theaters, 50 bank and insurance companies, 31 department stores, 31 large hotels, and 62 administration buildings.

The precise number of dead is difficult to ascertain and is not known. Numbers vary from 35,000 to 135,000 dead. There have been larger estimates for the number of dead, ranging as high as a quarter of a million, but they are from disputed sources, primarily the Nazi Propaganda Ministry and holocaust denier David Irving. The Nazis made use of Dresden in their propaganda and promised swift retaliation.



The Dresden bombing is a strongly debated decision, and the action is still widely perceived as lacking military justification, even within the context of the controversial area bombing policy pursued against Germany by Britain's Bomber Command in 1942-1945. The city has never regained its pre-war population of 630,000.

There are anecdotes of the pilots and crew having problems years later. Some had nightmares, some thought they would go to hell as war criminals, some had unshakable visions of the fires and the burning cities.



Author Kurt Vonnegut had been captured during the Battle of the Bulge and was a prisoner of war near Dresden during the bombing. He later wrote about his experiences and feelings in his novel Slaughterhouse Five.

[SAMWolf]

Aerial slaughter in Europe reached a climax on 13-14 February 1945 at Dresden. The briefing for air crews misrepresented Dresden as "an industrial city of first-class importance." Dresden had always been a center of art and artists, one of Europe's most magnificent cities, itself a work of art; Dresden's "heavy" industry was the manufacture of porcelain shepherds and shepherdesses. Other industries, according to Kurt Vonnegut, held as a POW near Dresden, consisted largely of hospitals and cigarette and clarinet factories. Harris gave the city and its civilians an all-out scourging with 1,400 bombers carrying high explosives and incendiaries. The following day, 1,350 USAAF heavy bombers attacked the marshaling yards with high explosives. USAAF tactical fighters flew over in daylight and strafed survivors who had sought refuge along the river banks. Estimates of the dead vary from 35,000 to 135,000.



Hastings claims that the impetus for the Dresden raid came from Churchill who had a February meeting scheduled with Stalin and Roosevelt at Yalta. He was anxious to show the Soviet leader that the Allies had been supporting Soviet land offensives for years. The "former naval person," as Churchill called himself, wanted to know what plans Bomber Command had for "basting" the retreating Germans. Stalin, of course, knew all about Allied support. A better reason for the Dresden bombing is needed. RAF briefing notes suggest one: among the objectives was to show "the Russians when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do."

Hastings claims that "area bombing was a three- year period of deceit practiced upon the British public and on world opinion"; the areas most heavily bombed were "either city centers or densely populated residential areas which rarely contained any industry." Nothing comparable to the firestorms of Hamburg and Dresden occurred in Britain, according to Harris' Bomber Offensive; Germany built "no strategic bombers at all," he says. The Luftwaffe built 1,000 two-engined bombers which they used for attacks on cities only when they were "not required to support the German army." At the height of the air war in 1944, Germany produced only 172 strategic bombers compared to the Allies' total of 7,283. Luftwaffe raids on Guernica, Barcelona, Warsaw, and Rotterdam usually supported land operations. German strategic bombing began and ended with V-2 rocket attacks in 1944 and 1945; the V-2 was designed to avenge Allied bombings, but pathetically inadequate to the task.

In the aftermath of Dresden, Britain began to rethink area bombing. Military and politicians realized that history might judge it with somewhat less enthusiasm than had RAF Target Intelligence analysts. The "estimated" 135,000 who died in Dresden amounted to "more than double the number of civilians killed in Britain by German air action in all six years of the war." Not even Churchill was immune from misgivings: "the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing," he wrote in a critical 1945 memorandum to Air Staff that, under pressure, he subsequently withdrew. Churchill declined to award a peerage to Harris after the war, although he gave them to many lesser generals and officials. The RAF had no more work for him, and in 1945 he moved back to South Africa.

At 10:10 PM on February 13th, the first wave of the attack, consisting of the British Number 5 Bomber Group, began. The attacking force consisted of about 2,000 bombers with additional support craft, which dropped over 3,000 high explosive and 650,000 incendiary bombs (more commonly known as firebombs) on the center of the city. Incendiary bombs are not known for their efficiency per pound in destroying heavy equipment such as military hardware or railroad tracks, but are extremely effective in producing maximum loss of human life. The loads carried by the bombers were over 75 per cent incendiaries. In fact, the goal of the first wave of the attack was, according to British air commander Sir Arthur Bomber Harris, to set the city well on fire. That he did.

The lack of any effective anti-aircraft defenses allowed the bombers to drop to very low altitudes and thus a relatively high degree of precision and visual identification of targets was achieved. Despite the fact that they could clearly see that the marked target area contained hospitals and sports stadia and residential areas of center city Dresden, the bombers nevertheless obeyed orders and rained down a fiery death upon the unlucky inhabitants of that city on a scale which had never before been seen on planet Earth. Hundreds of thousands of innocents were literally consumed by fire, an actual holocaust by the true definition of the word: complete consumption by fire.

The incendiaries started thousands of fires and, aided by a stiff wind and the early-on destruction of the telephone exchanges that might have summoned firefighters from nearby towns, these fires soon coalesced into one unimaginably huge firestorm. Now such firestorms are not natural phenomena, and are seldom created by man, so few people have any idea of their nature. Basically, what happened was this: The intense heat caused by the huge column of smoke and flame, miles high and thousands of acres in area, created a terrific updraft of air in the center of the column. This created a very low pressure at the base of the column, and surrounding fresh air rushed inward at speeds estimated to be thirty times that of an ordinary tornado. An ordinary tornado wind-force is a result of temperature differences of perhaps 20 to 30 degrees centigrade. In this firestorm the temperature differences were on the order of 600 to 1,000 degrees centigrade. This inward-rushing air further fed the flames, creating a literal tornado of fire, with winds in the surrounding area of many hundreds of miles per hour--sweeping men, women, children, animals, vehicles and uprooted trees pell-mell into the glowing inferno.

But this was only the first stage of the plan.

Exactly on schedule, three hours after the first attack, a second massive armada of British bombers arrived, again loaded with high explosive and massive quantities of incendiary bombs. The residents of Dresden, their power systems destroyed by the first raid, had no warning of the second. Again the British bombers attacked the center city of Dresden, this time dividing their targets--one half of the bombs were to be dropped into the center of the conflagration, to keep it going, the other half around the edges of the firestorm. No pretense whatever was made of selecting military targets. The timing of the second armada was such as to ensure that a large quantity of the surviving civilians would have emerged from their shelters by that time, which was the case, and also in hopes that rescue and firefighting crews would have arrived from surrounding cities, which also proved to be true. The firefighters and medics thus incinerated hadn't needed the telephone exchange to know that they were needed--the firestorm was visible from a distance of 200 miles.

It is reported that body parts, pieces of clothing, tree branches, huge quantities of ashes, and miscellaneous debris from the firestorm fell for days on the surrounding countryside as far away as eighteen miles. After the attack finally subsided, rescue workers found nothing but liquefied remains of the inhabitants of some shelters, where even the metal kitchen utensils had melted from the intense heat.

The next day, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day, 1945, medical and other emergency personnel from all over central Germany had converged on Dresden. Little did they suspect that yet a third wave of bombers was on its way, this time American. This attack had been carefully coordinated with the previous raids. Four hundred fifty Flying Fortresses and a support contingent of fighters arrived to finish the job at noon. I quote from David Irving's The Destruction of Dresden:

"Just a few hours before Dresden had been a fairy-tale city of spires and cobbled streets .... now total war had put an end to all that. ...The ferocity of the US raid of 14th February had finally brought the people to their knees... but it was not the bombs which finally demoralised the people ... it was the Mustang fighters, which suddenly appeared low over the city, firing on everything that moved .... one section of the Mustangs concentrated on the river banks, where masses of bombed-out people had gathered. ... British prisoners who had been released from their burning camps were among the first to suffer the discomfort of machine-gunning attacks .... wherever columns of tramping people were marching in or out of the city they were pounced on by the fighters, and machine-gunned or raked with cannon fire."

[SAMWolf]

The Fire-bombing of Dresden
An eye-witness account

Since the facts of the combined USAF and RAF raids on Dresden became known, mostly through the novel 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut, there has been great controversy as to why this appalling raid was considered necessary.



The city had no military targets to speak of, and it was known that it was packed with civilian refugees from the east. Here is an eye-witness account by Lothar (shown here with his sister), just nine years old, who survived.

It was February. 13th, 1945. I lived with my mother and sisters (13, 5 and 5 months old twins) in Dresden and was looking forward to celebrating my 10th birthday February l6th. My father, a carpenter, had been a soldier since 1939 and we got his last letter in August 1944. My mother was very sad to receive her letters back with the note: "Not to be found." We lived in a 3 room flat on the 4th floor in a working class region of our town. I remember celebrating Shrove Tuesday (February 13th) together with other children, The activities of the war in the east came nearer and nearer. Lots of soldiers went east and lots of refugees went west through our town or stayed there, also in the air raid night February13th/14th.

About 9:30 PM the alarm was given. We children knew that sound and got up and dressed quickly, to hurry downstairs into our cellar which we used as an air raid shelter. My older sister and I carried my baby twin sisters, my mother carried a little suitcase and the bottles with milk for our babies. On the radio we heard with great horror the news: "Attention, a great air raid will corne over our town!" This news I will never forget.



Some minutes later we heard a horrible noise — the bombers. There were nonstop explosions. Our cellar was filled with fire and smoke and was damaged, the lights went out and wounded people shouted dreadfully. In great fear we struggled to leave this cellar. My mother and my older sister carried the big basket in which the twins were lain. With one hand I grasped my younger sister and with the other I grasped the coat of my mother.

We did not recognize our street any more. Fire, only fire wherever we looked. Our 4th floor did not exist anymore. The broken remains of our house were burning. On the streets there were burning vehicles and carts with refugees, people, horses, all of them screaming and shouting in fear of death. I saw hurt women, children, old people searching a way through ruins and flames.

We fled into another cellar overcrowded with injured and distraught men women and children shouting, crying and praying. No light except some electric torches. And then suddenly the second raid began. This shelter was hit too, and so we fled through cellar after cellar. Many, so many, desperate people came in from the streets. lt is not possible to describe! Explosion after explosion. It was beyond belief, worse than the blackest nightmare. So many people were horribly burnt and injured. lt became more and more difficult to breathe. lt was dark and all of us tried to leave this cellar with inconceivable panic. Dead and dying people were trampled upon, luggage was left or snatched up out of our hands by rescuers. The basket with our twins covered with wet cloths was snatched up out of my mothers hands and we were pushed upstairs by the people behind us. We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub.



We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from.

I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them.

Now my mother possessed only a little bag with our identitiy papers. The basket with the twins had disappeared and then suddenly my older sister vanished too . Although my rnother looked for her immediately it was in vain. The last hours af this night we found shelter in the cellar of a hospital nearby surrounded by crying and dying people. In the next morning we looked for our sister and the twins but without success. The house where we lived was only a burning ruin. The house where our twins were left we could not go in. Soldiers said everyone was burnt to death and we never saw my two baby sisters again.

Totally exhausted, with burnt hair and badly burnt and wounded by the fire we walked to the Loschwitz bridge where we found good people who allowed us to wash, to eat and to sleep. But only a short time because suddenly the second air raid began (February14th) and this house too was bombed and my mothers last identity papers burnt. Completely exhausted we hurried over the bridge (river Elbe) with many other homeless survivors and found another family ready to help us, because somehow their home survived this horror.



In all this tragedy I had completely forgotten my l0th birthday. But the next day rny mother surprised rne with a piece af sausage she begged from the "Red Cross". This was my birthday present.

In the next days and weeks we looked for my older Sister but in vain. We wrote our present adress an the last walls of our demaged house. In the middle of March we were evacuated to a little village near Oschatz and on March 3lst, we got a letter from my sister. She was alive! In that disastrous night she lost us and with other lost children she was taken to a nearby village. Later she found our address on the wall of our house and at the beginning of April my rnother brought her to our new home.

You can be sure that the horrible experiences of this night in Dresden led to confused dreams, sleepless nights and disturbed our souls, me and the rest of my farnily. Years later I intensively thought the matter over, the causes, the political contexts of this night. This became very important for my whole life and my further decisions.

Lothar Metzger
Berlin, May 1999

Additional Sources:

www.natvan.com
bostonreview.mit.edu
timewitnesses.org
news.bbc.co.uk
www.brooksart.com
timewitnesses.org
home.hccnet.nl
www.multied.com
www.informationwar.org
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
www.photooikoumene.org
www.fpp.co.uk

[SAMWolf]

'Wer das Weinen verlernt hatte, der lernte es wieder beim Untergang Dresdens'
(They who had lost the ability to weep, learned it again at the destruction of Dresden)

-- Gerhart Hauptmann

[SAMWolf]

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[SAMWolf]

[Soaring Feather]

GOOD MORNING SAM, SNIPPY
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[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 15:
1565 Henrick de Keyser architect/master builder of Amsterdam
1567 Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi Cremona Italy, composer (L'Orfeo)
1754 Pierre Dutillieu composer
1759 Maria Theresia von Paradis composer
1764 Johann Nepomuk Kalcher composer
1773 Clemens L Metternich Austrian prince
1791 Baron Floris A van Hall Dutch minister of Justice/Finance
1795 Adolf B Marx German music theorist
1802 Isaac Ridgeway Trimble Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1888
1807 Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata composer
1808 Gottfried Herrmann composer
1808 Michael William Balfe composer
1810 Jacob Thompson (Confederacy), died in 1885
1813 Stephen Heller composer
1819 Thomas Leonidas Crittenden Major General (Union volunteers)
1830 Laurence Simmons Baker Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1907
1830 Martinus W van der Aa author/Dutch head-editor (The Time)
1841 Giovanni Bolzoni composer
1845 Ilja [Elias] Metsjnikov USSR, zoologist/bacteriologist (Nobel 1908)
1855 Eduard earl of Keyserling German writer (Dritte Stiege)
1856 Lyman Frank Baum Chittenango NY, children's book author (Wizard of Oz)
1859 Pierre Curie France, physicist (Nobel 1903)
1860 Ellen Louise Axson Wilson 1st wife of Woodrow Wilson
1862 Arthur Schnitzler Austria, playwright/novelist (La Ronde)
1865 Albert Verwey Dutch poet/literature historian (Motion)
1873 Nikolay N Tcherepnin St Petersburg, composer of ballets, songs
1878 Francisco Pujol composer
1880 Otto Dibelius German theologist/bishop (Confessional Church)
1883 Stanley Robert Marchant composer
1888 Jean Wahl French philosopher
1889 Bessie Hillman founder (Almalgamated Clothing Workers of America)
1890 Katherine Anne Porter US, novelist (Ship of Fools)
1891 Chief Nipo T Strongheart Yakima WA, US Indian actor (Pony Soldier)
1891 David Vogel Ukraine, author (Huwelijksleven)
1891 Fritz Feigl Austria, chemist (spot tests)
1891 Mikhail Bulgakov Russia, playwright/novelist (Black Snow)
1893 Michel Gusikoff composer
1893 Stanley Lupino English comic (Cheer Up, Over She Goes)
1894 Jean Renoir French director (La Béte Humane) [or Sept 15]
1895 Charles Lamont San Fransisco CA, director (Abbott & Costello Go to Mars)
1897 Casper Höweler Dutch music critic
1898 Arlette-Leonie Arletty [Bathiat], Courbevoie France, actress (Maxime)
19-- Jim Phipps rock drummer (Every Mother's Nightmare-Hard to Hold)
1902 Richard J Daley (Mayor-D-Chicago)
1903 Anny Ondra Czechoslovakia, actress (Blackmail, Manxman)
1904 Clifton Fadiman Brooklyn NY, TV host (Information Please, Quiz Kids)
1904 Gustav-Adolf Boltenstein Sweden, equest dressage (Olympics-gold-1952, 56)
1905 Joseph Cotten Petersburg VA, actor (3rd Man, Airport 77, Hearse)
1907 Josef Alexander composer
1907 Phillip Piratin communist
1908 Lars-Eric Vilner Larsson Akarp Sweden, composer (Linden)
1909 James Mason England, actor (Lolita, Bloodline, Boys From Brazil)
1909 Rodolfo Cornejo composer
1910 Constance [Halverstadt] Cummings Seattle WA, actress (John & Julie, 7 Sinners, Glamour)
1910 Robert F Wagner (Mayor-D-NYC, 1949-65)
1911 Leo Fuchs Polish/US Yiddish actor (Galitzianer Cowboy)
1911 Max Frisch Swiss architect/writer (Stiller, Biedermann)
1912 Alexis Kagame Rwanda, priest/writer
1912 Alexis Nihon Bahamas, wrestler (Olympics-1968)
1912 Arthur Victor Berger New York NY, composer (Ideas of Order)
1914 Jack Pepys immunologist
1914 Pierre Froidebise composer
1915 Maurice B Latey commentator (BBC World Service)
1915 Paul A Samuelson economist (1970 Nobel, 1947 John Bates Clark Medal)
1916 Bill Williams Brooklyn NY, actor (Starlit Time, Date With the Angels)
1917 Hugh Edward Lance Falkus filmmaker/naturalist
1918 Eddy Arnold Henderson TN, country singer (Cattle Call, Anytime)
1918 Joseph Wiseman Montréal, actor (Dr No, Viva Zapata, Les Miserables)
1919 Charles Palmer cricketer (one Test 1955, later MCC president)
1920 Hugh Henry Home Popham aviator/writer/poet
1921 Erroll Garner Pittsburgh PA, jazz pianist (Misty)
1922 Enrico Berlinguer Italian communist/secretary-general (CPI)
1923 Richard Avedon US, photographer (1957 ASMP award)
1924 Andrea Gyarmati Hungary water polo player (Olympics, 1948-60)
1924 Don Kenyon cricketer (England batsman in 8 Tests 1951-55)
1924 Jaime Garcia Terre poet/essayist
1924 Ursula Thiess Hamburg, actress (Monsoon, Bengal Brigade, Americano)
1925 Andrey Yakoulevich Eshpay composer
1925 Emmanuel Ghent composer
1925 Jos Jacobs Flemish director (Madonna of Nedermunster)
1926 Anthony Shaffer twin brother playwright (Sleuth)
1926 Clermont Pepin composer
1926 Peter Shaffer twin brother playwright (5 Finger Exercise, Equus)
1929 Jack Flavell cricketer (England pace bowler in 4 Tests 1961-64)
1929 Peggy Pope Montclair NJ, actress (Billy, Mrs David-Soap)
1930 Jasper Johns Augusta GA, painter/sculptor (Green Target)
1931 David Healy actor (Supergirl, Doomsday Gun, Patton, Be My Guest)
1931 F Korthals Altes Dutch minister of Justice (VVD)
1932 John Glen Thames England, actor (Spy Who Loves Me, Backfire)
1934 David Robin Francis Guy Greville 8th Duke of Warwick
1935 Ted Dexter cricketer (in Milan Superb England batsman of 60's)
1936 Anna Maria Alberghetti Italy, actress/singer (Cinderfella)
1936 Donald [Anthony] Moffitt US, sci-fi author (Jupiter Theft)
1936 Jean Balissat composer
1936 Paul Zindel playwright (Effects of Gamma Rays on Marigolds)
1937 Trini Lopez Trinidad, singer/guitarist (If I Had a Hammer)
1938 Lenny Welch Asbury Park NJ, (Breaking up is Hard to Do)
1939 Brian Hartley mathematician
1940 Beth Stone LPGA golfer
1940 Mireille Darc Toulon France, actor (Week End, Hurried Man)
1940 Paul Rudd Boston MA, actor (Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)
1941 Cyril Cooray cricketer (Sri Lankan Test umpire on international panel)
1941 K T Oslin Crossett AR, country singer (80's Ladies)
1941 Lainie Kazan Brooklyn NY, singer/actress (Lust in the Dust, Beaches)
1941 Richard Edward Wilson composer
1942 Anthony Wayne England Indianapolis IN, PhD/astronaut (STS 51-F)
1943 Harve Brosten comedy writer/producer/director (All in the Family)
1944 Gunilla Hutton Goteborg Sweden, actress (Petticoat Junction)
1944 Miruts Yifter Ethiopia, 5K/10K runner (Olympics-gold-1980)
1944 Tich rocker
1946 Chazz Palminteri Bronx NY, actor (Jade, Diabolique, Bronx Tale)
1947 Graham Goble Adelaide Australia, rock guitarist (Little River Band)
1948 Brian Eno Woodbridge England, rock keyboardist/singer (On Land)
1949 Eric J Beekes actor/singer (Hunk)
1949 Frank L Culbertson Jr Charleston SC, Commander USN/astronaut (STS-38)
1949 Wendy Pritchard Australian women's field hockey team manager (Olympics-96)
1951 Dennis Frederiksen rocker (Toto-Roseanna, Africa)
1952 Rick Waits baseball pitcher (Rangers, Indians, Twins)
1953 George Brett Wheeling WV, Kansas City Royal 3rd baseman (1980 American League MVP)
1953 Mike Oldfield England, composer (Tubular Bells)
1954 Andrea Gyarmati Hungary, water polo player (Olympics-1948-60)
1954 Bob Beauchemin Winnipeg Canada, golfer (West Coast Open-1982, 83)
1955 Lee Horsley Muleshoe TX, actor (Nero Wolfe, Matt Houston)
1956 Alice Miller Marysville CA, LPGA golfer (1985 Nabisco Dinah Shore)
1959 Andrew Eldritch rocker (Sisters of Mercy-Walk Away, Black Planet)
1961 Anne Kelly LPGA golfer
1963 George Heidweiler Suriname, Dutch painter
1963 Grant Herslov Los Angeles CA, actor (Wayne-Spencer, Under One Roof)
1964 Pamela Dukes Bronx NY, discus thrower
1964 Pierre Trentin France, 1K time trials (Olympics-gold-1968)
1965 Dan Stryzinski NFL punter (Atlanta Falcons)
1965 Glen Hnatiuk Selkirk Manitoba, Nike golfer (1992 Mississippi Gulf)
1965 Jeff Rochlin Brooklyn NY, actor (Cutting Class, Splitz, Taps)
1966 Paul Ysebaert Sarnia, NHL left wing (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1967 John Smoltz Detroit MI, pitcher (Atlanta Braves, 1996 Cy Young)
1967 Omar Vizquel Caracas Venezuela, shortstop (Seattle Mariners, Indians)
1968 James "Jim" Neil Buffalo NY, rower (Olympics-1996)
1968 Leroy Hoard NFL running back (Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings)
1968 Todd Porter Montclair NJ, actor (Hamilton-Whiz Kids)
1969 Emmitt Smith running back (Dallas Cowboys, 3-time NFL rushing leader)
1969 Holly McPeak Manhattan Beach CA, beach volleyballer (Olympics-96)
1970 Artie Smith NFL defensive end (Cincinnati Bengals)
1970 Cory Philpot CFL running back (British Columbia Lions)
1970 Desmond Howard NFL receiver (Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders)
1970 Frank de Boer Dutch soccer star (Ajax)
1970 Keith Tower NBA center (Los Angeles Clippers)
1970 Prince Be rapper (PM Dawn)
1970 Rod Smith NFL wide reciever (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1970 Ronald de Boer Dutch soccer player (Ajax)
1970 Tony Brown NFL cornerback (Seattle Seahawks)
1971 Scott Shipley Bremerton WA, slalom single kayak (Olympics-96)
1972 David Charvet actor (Melrose Place)
1972 Patrick Pothuizen soccer player (Vitesse)
1972 Tirrell Greene WLAF guard (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1972 Troy Drake NFL tackle (Philadelphia Eagles)
1973 Suzannah Bianco San Jose CA, synchronized swimmer (alternate-Olympics-96)
1973 Vic"Tori"a Davey Spelling Los Angeles CA, actress (Donna-Beverly Hills 90210)
1974 A J Hinch Wavely IA, baseball catcher (Olympics-bronze-96)
1974 Addilson dos Santos soccer player (Sparta)
1974 Ahmet Rodan Zappa son of Frank/rocker (Z, 2 Hip 4 TV)
1975 Ray Lewis linebacker (Baltimore Ravens)
1976 Eric DuBose Bradenton FL, baseball pitcher (Olympics-bronze-96)
1978 Amy Chow San Jose CA, gymnast (Olympics-gold/silver-96)
1978 David Krumholtz New York NY, actor (Billy Kulchak-Chicago Sons)
1978 Krissy Taylor model
1981 Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips daughter of Princess Anne-10th in succession to British throne

---

Deaths which occurred on May 15:
0392 Valentinianus II emperor of Rome (375-392), murdered at 21
0884 Marinus I [Martinus II] Pope (882-84), dies
1174 Nur ad-Din Mahmud King of Syria, dies
1470 Charles VIII Knutsson Bonde, king of Sweden (14??-70), dies
1482 Paolo Toscanelli Italian physician & mapmaker, dies
1591 Dimitri Ivanovitch Russian son of czar Ivan IV, murdered at 9
1621 Henrick de Keyser Amsterdam's master builder, dies at 56
1622 Peter Plancius Flemish vicar/cartographer, dies at about 69
1685 Henri Otto Spanish marquis of Caretto/Savona/Grana, dies
1746 Giovanni Antonio Ricieri composer, dies at 67
1761 Jacob Mossel Governor-General (Dutch East Indies), dies at 56
1785 Karel Blazej Kopriva composer, dies at 29
1801 Louis C count Barbiano de Belgioioso Austrian diplomat, dies at 73
1821 John Wall Calcott composer, dies at 54
1822 Christian Ludwig Dieter composer, dies at 64
1823 Antonio Frantisek Becvarovsky composer, dies at 69
1824 Alexander Campbell composer, dies at 60
1832 Carl Friedrich Zelter composer, dies at 73
1833 Edmund Kean English actor (Shylock), dies at 46
1842 Emanuel Count de las Cases French historian (Napoleon), dies at 76
1845 Samuel I Wiselius Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer, dies at 76
1855 Jan Mazereeuw Frisian farmer/sect leader, dies at 75
1872 Thomas Hastings composer, dies at 87
1873 Alexander J Cuza monarch of Moldavia/Romania, dies at 53
1886 Emily Dickinson US poet, dies at 55
1889 Alfred Potocki premier Austrian/Governor/Viceroy of Galicia, dies
1892 Arthur Hodister British ivory seller (Heart of Darkness), murdered
1895 Joseph Whitaker British publisher (Whitaker' Almanack), dies at 75
1899 Francisque Sarcey French writer (Le Temps), dies at 70
1924 Paul d'Estornelles de Constant French diplomat/pacifist, dies at 71
1926 Mohammed VI Vahideddin last sultan of Turkey (1918-22), dies
1932 Ki Inukai premier Japan (1931-32), murdered
1933 Ernest Torrence actor (I Cover the Waterfront), dies at 54
1940 Joseph Limburg liberal 2nd-Member of parliament (1905-19), dies at 75
1940 Willem A Bonger Dutch criminologist (Race & Crime), suicide at 63
1945 Major Courtney US medal of honor marine, dies in battle of Sugar Loaf
1952 Albert Basserman actor (Madame Curie, Rhapsody in Blue), dies at 84
1952 Italo Montemezzi composer, dies at 76
1958 Michael G the Boer historian (Harbor of Amsterdam), dies at 91
1959 Berend van den Amstel [Bernard CED Hattink], Dutch actor, dies at 56
1964 Cornelis H Edelman Dutch geologist, dies at 61
1965 Adrian Schoevers Dutch director (Schoevers Institution), dies
1967 Edward Hopper US painter (House by Railroad), dies at 84
1967 Jaromir Fiala composer, dies at 74
1972 Nigel Green actor (Skull, Tobruk, Ipcress File), dies at 47
1973 Willem H Rassers Dutch cult anthropologist (Pandji-Novel), dies at 95
1976 Samuel Eliot Morison US historian (Admiral of Ocean Sea), dies at 88
1984 Lionel Charles Robbins British economist, dies at 85
1985 Jackie Curtis playwright/actor (Underground USA), dies of a drug overdose at 38
1986 Theodore H White US journalist (Making of President, Pulitzer), dies at 71
1987 John Baur museum director, dies at 78
1987 Wynne Gibson actor (Night After Night, Aggie Appleby), dies
1988 Andrew Duggan actor (Jigsaw, Firehouse), dies of cancer at 64
1988 Greta Nissen actress (Ambassador Bill), dies
1989 John Waldo Green composer, dies at 80
1991 Bud Freeman jazz tenor saxophonist, dies of cancer at 84
1991 Freddie Paris dies
1991 Reno Brown dies
1991 Ronald Lacey actor (Raiders of Lost Ark, Next Victim), dies at 55
1992 Bruce Hopkins performer/director, dies at 44
1992 Robert Morris Page US physicist (radar), dies at 88
1994 [Henry] John Baker resistance fighter/journalist (Slogan), dies at 79
1994 Frederik baron van Pallandt Danish singer (Nina & F), murdered at 61
1994 Gilbert Roland Mexican/US actor (Armand in Camille), dies at 88
1994 Ronnie Potsdammer singer/song/text writer/programmer, dies at 71
1994 Royal Dano actor (Ghoulies 2), dies of a heart attack at 71
1995 Edouard Dermit actor (Testament of Orpheus), dies at 69
1995 Eric Richard Porter actor (Crucible, Hennessy), dies at 67
1995 Johnny Van Derrick jazz violinist, dies at 68
1995 Perry Lederman folk singer, dies at 52
1996 George M Tindley songwriter/vocalist, dies at 57

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1961 MC MORROW JOHN P.
08/17/62 RELEASED

1961 SHORE EDWARD R.JR.
08/15/62 RELEASED AIR AMERICA PILOT

1961 WOLFKILL GRANT
08/17/62 RELEASED AIR AMERICA NBC REPORTER? ALIVE 98 H34 PASSENGER ONLY

1966 BALCOM RALPH C. SEATTLE WA.
NEGATIVE SAR CONTACT

1966 JENSEN GEORGE W. SEATTLE WA.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD, REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 MADISON WILLIAM L. LEXINGTON KY.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD, REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 MC KENNEY KENNETH D. AUBURN MA.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 PRESTON JAMES A. BOWDEN GA.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD, REMAINS RETURNED - DISPUTED 12/13/99

1966 REILLY LAVERN G. ST PAUL MN.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD, REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 TAPP MARSHALL L. LOS ANGELES CA.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD, REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 THOMPSON GEORGE W. BECKLEY WV.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD,REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1966 WILLIAMS JAMES E. OXFORD MS.
NO RADIO CONTACT POSS DEAD,REMAINS RETURNED 12/13/99

1967 HEILIGER DONALD L. MADISON WI.
02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98

1967 HILL CHARLES DALE ROLLA MO.

1967 POLLARD BEN M. SHELBYVILLE KY.
03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98

1975 BENEDETT DANIEL A. AUBURN KING WA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 BLESSING LYNN LANCASTER PA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS, REMAINS ID 05/08/00

1975 BOYD WALTER NORFOLK VA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS REMAINS IDENTIFIED 05/08/00

1975 COPENHAVER GREGORY S. PORT DEPOSIT MD
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS, REMAINS IDENTIFIED 05/08/00

1975 GAUSE BERNARD JR. BIRMINGHAM AL.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS, 06/22/00

1975 GARCIA ANDRES CARLSBAD NM.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS, REMAINS IDENTIFIED 05/08/00

1975 HALL GARY L. COVINGTON KY.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 HARGROVE JOSEPH N. MT OLIVE NC.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 JACQUES JAMES J. DENVER CO.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 LONEY ASHTON N. ALBANY NY.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 MARSHALL DANNY G. WAVERLY WV.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 MANNING RONALD J. TORONTO OH.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS, REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/22/00

1975 MAXWELL JAMES R. CENTER RIDGE AR.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 RIVENBURGH RICHARD W. SAN DIEGO CA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 RUMBAUGH ELWOOD E. SPANGLER PA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS

1975 SANDOVAL ANTONIO R. SAN ANTONIO TX.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS REMAINS IDENTIFIED 05/08/00

1975 TURNER KELTON R. LOS ANGELES CA.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS REMAINS ID'D 05/17/00

1975 VAN DE GEER RICHARD COLUMBUS OH.
05/15/75 MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT LOSS REAMINS IDENTIFIED 06/22/00

1979 RAPP JEFF
07/79 RELEASED ALGERNON S/V

1979 SMITH EMMETT Q.
07/79 RELEASED ALGERNON S/V

1979 SMITH KAREN
07/79 RELEASED ALGERNON S/V


POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

---

On this day...
0756 Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova Spain
0884 Marinus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1004 Henry II the Saint crowned king of Italy
1213 English king John names Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury
1248 Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden lays cornerstone for Köln cathedral
1492 Cheese & Bread rebellion: German mercenaries kills 232 Alkmaarse
1525 German boer army surrounded/slaughters 5,000; ends Boer war
1536 Anna Boleyn & Lord Rochford accused of adultery/incest
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
1572 Louis van Nassau & huguenots occupy Valenciennes
1602 Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold
1610 Parliament of Paris appoints Louis XIII (8) as French king
1618 Johannes Kepler discovers harmonics law
1625 16 rebellious farmers hanged in Vöcklamarkt Upper-Austria
1648 Treaty of Münster: Spain & Netherlands ratified
1665 Pope Alexander VII convicts Jansenisme
1672 1st copyright law enacted by Massachusetts
1702 War of Spanish Succession, 1st American conflict between England & France
1718 James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents world's 1st machine gun
1730 Robert Walpole becomes England 1st prime minister (was chief minister)
1796 France & Sardinia sign Peace treaty of Paris
1796 French troops occupy Milan
1800 King George III survives a 2nd assassination attempt
1800 Pope Pius VII calls on French bishops to return to Gospel principles
1817 Ambonese uprising against Dutch authority, under T Matulesia
1829 Joseph Smith ordained by John the Baptist according to Joseph Smith
1836 Francis Baily observes "Baily's Beads" during annular solar eclipse
1849 Philadelphia Turngemeinde founded
1851 Rama IV, [Phra Chomklao Chaoyuhua], king of Thai (1851-68), crowned
1856 2nd San Fransisco Vigilance Committee organized
1858 Royal Italian Opera opens in Covent Garden London
1862 Battle of Drewry's Bluff (Fort Darling) VA
1862 Battle of Princeton WV
1862 Confederate cruiser The Alabama runs aground near London
1862 Department of Agriculture created
1862 General Benjamin F Butler issues "Woman's Order" - women of New Orleans to be treated as whores as a result of their treatment of Union soldiers
1862 Union Grounds, Brooklyn NY, 1st baseball enclosure, opens
1864 Battle of New Market VA
1864 Battle of Resaca GA (3rd day)
1864 Skirmish at Marksville (Avoyelles) (Red River Campaign)
1868 Dutch Government of Zuylen van Nijevelt falls
1869 National Woman Suffrage Association forms
1876 2nd Kentucky Derby: Bobby Swim aboard Vagrant wins in 2:38¼
1882 May Laws-Czar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania
1883 Italy signs military treaty with Austria-Hungary & Germany
1885 Canadian Méti insurgent Louis Riel captured, Saskatchewan
1891 British Central African Protectorate (now Malawi) is established
1891 Jules Massenets opera "Griselde" premieres in Paris France
1891 Operations begin at Philips & Company in Holland
1891 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Rerum novarum
1894 20th Kentucky Derby: Frank Goodale aboard Chant wins in 2:41
1896 Tornado kills 78 in Texas
1902 Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft
1902 Portugal bankrupt by revolt in Angola
1905 Las Vegas NV founded
1905 Pierre de Brazza reaches Leopoldville
1906 New York Giants' Hooks Wiltse strikes out 4 batters in 1 inning
1911 British house of commons accept Parliament Bill
1911 Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Indiana University, incorporates
1911 Supreme Court dissolves Standard Oil (Sherman Antitrust Act)
1912 37th Preakness: Clarnence Turner on Colonel Holloway wins in 1:56.6
1912 Ty Cobb rushes a heckler at a New York Highlander game & is suspended
1914 Henri Rabauds opera "Marouf, Savetier de Caire" premieres in Paris France
1916 Asiago Italy falls when Austrian troops attack the Italian front
1918 1st regular airmail service (between New York, Philadelphia & Washington DC) inaugurated
1918 43rd Preakness (1st Division): Johnny Loftus aboard War Cloud wins in 1:53.6
1918 44th Preakness (2nd Dividion): Charles Peak aboard Jack Hare Jr wins in 1:53.4
1918 Greek troops lands at Smyrna
1918 Washington Senator Walter Johnson pitches 1-0, 18 inning game
1919 Brooklyn Dodgers score 10 runs in 13th to beat Reds 10-0
1920 Soccer team ADO '20 forms in Heemskerk
1923 Cooperation of Dutch Molen forms
1926 52nd Kentucky Derby: Albert Johnson on Bubbling Over wins in 2:03.8
1926 British general strike ends, but mine workers go on strike
1928 Mickey Mouse made his 1st appearance
1929 Fire in X-ray film stock kills 125 at Crile Clinic (Cleveland OH)
1930 Ellen Church becomes 1st airline stewardess, United (San Fransisco to Cheyenne)
1931 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno
1933 1st voice amplification system to be used in US Senate
1934 Department of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive
1934 Karlis Ulmanis names himself fascist dictator of Latvia
1935 Pirates beat Phillies 20-5
1936 Amy Johnson arrives in Croydon England from South Africa in record 4 days 16 hours
1937 63rd Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 1:58.4
1938 Paul-Henri Spak forms red coalition of Belgium
1940 1st successful helicopter flight in US: Vought-Sikorsky US-300
1940 German armour division moves into Northern France
1940 German troops occupy Amsterdam, General Winkelman surrenders
1940 Nazis capture General Dutch Persbureau (ANP)
1940 Nylon stockings go on sale for 1st time (US)
1940 Winston Churchill flies to Paris France
1941 1st British turbojet flies
1941 British attack Halfaya-pass & Fort Capuzzo in Egypt & Libya
1941 Joe DiMaggio starts 56-game hitting streak; Yankees win 13-1
1941 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands forbid Jewish music
1942 Gasoline 1st rationed in US (17 Eastern States)
1942 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands arrests 2,000 Dutch officers
1943 Halifax bombers sinks U-463
1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising ends, in it's destruction
1944 14,000 Jews of Munkacs Hungary deported to Auschwitz
1944 Cincinnati Reds' Clyde Shoun no-hits Boston Braves, 1-0
1944 Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill & George VI discuss D-Day plan
1944 Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of Patriarch Throne
1948 28 year old British Mandate over Palestine ends
1948 74th Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Citation wins in 2:02.4
1948 Australia scores 721 runs in one day vs Essex, world record
1948 Bradman scores 187 Australia vs Essex, 124 minutes, 33 fours 1 five
1948 Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq & Saudi-Arabia troops attack Israel
1951 AT&T becomes 1st corporation to have one million stockholders
1952 Detroit Tiger Virgil Trucks no-hits Washington Senators, 1-0
1952 Johnny Longden becomes 2nd jockey to ride 4,000 winners
1953 Heavyweight Rocky Marciano KOs Joe Walcott in Chicago for heavyweight boxing title
1953 Osip Zadkines monument to "The destroyed city" unveiled in Rotterdam
1954 KGLO (now KIMT) TV channel 3 in Mason City IA (CBS) 1st broadcast
1955 Building of space travel center at Baikonur Kazachstan begins
1955 KPUA (now KGMD) TV channel 9 in Hilo HI (CBS) begins broadcasting
1955 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1955 Vienna Treaty: Britain, France, US & USSR restores Austria's independence
1957 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden-Billy Graham launched a crusade
1957 1st British H-bomb explosion (over Christmas Island)
1958 USSR launches Sputnik III
1959 100th anniversary of 1st college baseball game, between Amherst & Williams Teams reenact the original contest
1960 Chicago Cub Don Cardwell no-hits St Louis Cardinals, 4-0
1960 Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th String quartet, premieres in Leningrad
1960 KHVO TV channel 13 in Hilo HI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1960 Sputnik 4 launched into Earth orbit; later recovery failed
1960 Taxes took 25% of earnings in US
1961 "Bonanza" by Al Caiola Orchestra hits #19
1961 36 Unification church couples wed in Korea
1961 Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Mater et Magistra
1962 US marines arrive in Laos
1963 Last Project Mercury flight, L Gordon Cooper in Faith 7, launched
1963 Peter, Paul & Mary win their 1st Grammy (If I Had a Hammer)
1963 Tottenham Hotspur wins 3rd Europe Cup II at Rotterdam
1964 Sporting Portugal wins 4th Europe Cup II at Antwerp
1964 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1965 91st Preakness: Ron Turcotte aboard Tom Rolfe wins in 1:56.2
1965 Canadian Football Players Association organizes
1965 Igor Vodic beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champion
1966 1st day of Sunday play in County Cricket, Essex vs Somerset
1966 Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Invitational
1966 South Vietnamese army battle Buddhists, about 80 die
1967 Jo Ann Prentice wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1967 Paul McCartney meets his future wife Linda Eastman
1968 "Wonderwall" with George Harrison premieres at Cannes Film Festival
1968 1st American League game played in Milwaukee, is a 4-2 California win against Chicago
1968 A tornado strikes Jonesboro AR at 10 PM, killing 36
1968 Paul McCartney & John Lennon appear on Johnny Carson Show to promote Apple records, Joe Garagiola is the substitute host
1969 Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigns from Supreme Court
1970 Beatles' last LP, "Let It Be" is released in US
1970 Elizabeth Hoisington & Anna Mae Mays named 1st female US generals
1970 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1970 South-Africa excluded from Olympic play
1971 "70, Girls, 70" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 35 performances
1971 97th Preakness: Gustavo Avila aboard Canonero II wins in 1:54
1971 Radio Nordsee International's ship bombed
1972 "Hard Job Being God" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 6 performances
1972 Bus plunges into Nile River killing 50 pilgrims (Minia Egypt)
1972 George Wallace shot & left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer in Laurel MD
1972 Ryukyu Island & Daito Island returned to Japan after 27 years of US control
1973 California Angel Nolan Ryan's 1st no-hitter beats Kansas City Royals, 3-0
1974 Mail truck terrorists take school in Maälot, 30 killed
1974 Walter Scheel succeeds Heinemann as president
1975 11th Mayor's Trophy Game, Yankees beat Mets 9-4
1975 Emmy 2nd Daytime Award & Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1976 "Fonz Song" by Heyettes hits #91
1976 "Kentucky Moonrunner" by Cledus Maggard hits #85
1976 102nd Preakness: John Lively aboard Elocutionist wins in 1:55
1976 Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1977 Jane Blalock wins LPGA Greater Baltimore Golf Classic
1980 1st trans-US balloon crossing
1980 Flyers score 8 goals against Islanders in playoffs
1980 Shawn Weatherly, Sumter SC, crowned 29th Miss USA/Miss Universe-1980
1981 "Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" airs
1981 George Harrison releases "All Those Years Ago" in UK
1981 Len Barker of Cleveland pitches perfect game vs Toronto
1981 Leonard Barker of Cleveland pitches perfect game vs Toronto
1981 SCTV Network 90, sequel to Second City Television debut on NBC
1981 Soyuz 40 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Rumanian) to Salyut 6
1982 108th Preakness: 16-year-old Jack Kaenel aboard Aloma's Ruler wins in 1:55.4
1983 Lenore Muraoka wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1983 Madison Hotel (Boston) destroyed by implosion
1985 Everton wins 25th Europe Cup II at Rotterdam
1986 Argentine ex-President Galtieri sentenced to 12 years
1987 1st Energiya Launch (USSR)
1987 Record archery score for a pair over 24 hours, is set
1988 "Carrie" closes at Virginia Theater NYC after 5 performances
1988 "Gospel at Colonus" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 61 performances
1988 2nd American Comedy Award: Robin Williams & Tracey Ullman
1988 Moscow begins withdrawing its 115,000 troops in Afghánistán
1988 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Golf Classic
1988 Soviets begin withdrawl in Afghánistán
1989 "Chu Chem" closes at Ritz Theater NYC after 44 performances
1989 Blue Jays fire manager Jimy Williams & replace him with Cito Gaston
1989 Maxwell House coffee runs ads during "Roe vs Wade" movie despite threat of boycott by right to lifers
1989 Soviet President Gorbachev in Beijing for 1st Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years
1989 US Basketball League cancels its summer schedule
1990 "Cemetery Club" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 56 performances
1990 "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" by Vincent Van Gogh sold for $825 million
1990 Dow Jones average hits a record 2,822.45
1990 Edmonton Oiler Klima beats Boston Bruins in 6th period
1990 Mona Grudt, 19, of Norway, crowned 39th Miss Universe
1991 Defense releases docs claiming Noriega was "CIA's man in Panamá"
1991 Edith Cresson becomes France's 1st female premier
1991 Manchester United wins 31th Europe Cup II at Rotterdam
1991 Nepal premier Bhattarai resigns
1991 President Bush takes Queen Elizabeth to Oakland A's-Baltimore Oriole game
1991 Red Sox & White Sox play then slowest 9 inning game (4:11)
1992 Colombo '92 opens in Genoa Italy
1992 New York department store chain Alexanders announces closing of all 11 stores
1992 Part of Cruger Avenue in Bronx renamed Regis Philbin Avenue
1993 119th Preakness: Mike Smith aboard Prairie Bayou wins in 1:56.6
1993 Alamodome in San Antonio TX opens
1993 Jane Seymour & James Kesch marry
1993 Montréal Expos retire their 1st number, #10 for Rusty Staub
1994 40th McDonald's LPGA Championship won by Laura Davies
1995 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Rebublic of China
1997 ABC News & Starwave Corp launch ABCNEWS.com
1997 STS 84 (Atlantis 19), launches, 6th Shuttle-Mir Mission
1999 125th Preakness: Chris Antley on Charismatic wins in 1:55.2

---

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

Austria : Independence Day (1955)
US : I am an American Day - - - - - ( Sunday )
US : Armed Forces Day - - - - - ( Saturday )

---

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Dymphna, patron of the insane
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of Isidore the Farmer, patron of farmers
old Roman Catholic : Feast of St John Baptist de la Salle, confessor

---

Religious History
1455 A crusade against the Turks and for the capture of Constantinople was proclaimed by Pope Calixtus III.
1686 Rev. Robert Ratcliffe arrived in Boston from England, with orders from King Charles II to establish the Anglican Church in Massachusetts.
1816 Birth of Sylvanus Dryden Phelps, U.S. Baptist clergyman and poet. His several writings included the hymn, "Savior, Thy Dying Love."
1889 At the close of a two-day denominational conference in Cleveland, Ohio, the Epworth League of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. It became the foundation of the current United Methodist Youth (UMY) fellowship programs.
1943 German Lutheran theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'I read the Psalms every day, as I have done for years; I know them and love them more than any other book.'

---

Thought for the day :
" You can judge a man by how he keeps his golf score. "

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather. Just cream in mine, thanks.

[SAMWolf]

1981 "Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" airs

OH MAN! How'd I miss that episode?????

[Alberta's Child]

Since the facts of the combined USAF and RAF raids on Dresden became known, mostly through the novel 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut, there has been great controversy as to why this appalling raid was considered necessary.

The bombing of Dresden was undoubtedly one of the low points of our military's history. Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse Five after an extensive research effort -- he had returned to the U.S. after the war and wondered about the public reaction to the bombing, only to find that there had been no mention of it in any media sources. For a time the U.S. government denied that the bombing had even occurred at all. I may be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that it was Vonnegut himself who pressured people enough that the facts eventually came out.

[GailA]

[SAMWolf]

Hey. Hi AC!

I don't know for sure how much Vonnegut had to do with bringing out the facts on the Dresden bombing but I do remember reading about us trying to blame the Brits for it.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning GailA. Thakns for your daily Patriotic graphic.

[Johnny Gage]

Air Power
Avro Lancaster

During the 1930's few would have foreseen that Britain would be as isolated and vulnerable as it became in 1940. Indeed, few people today understand how threatened the future of the entire free world was. The situation for the beleaguered island at this point in its history was bleak indeed.

Offshore was an enemy held continent, and that enemy was bent on conquering the British Isles. The British army had been defeated in France, supplies from North America were being cut off by the enemy's fleet of submarines, and Britain was suffering heavy air attack. Furthermore, although Canada had declared war on Germany one week after the British declaration, the United States continued to remain neutral and showed little indication that it would become involved.

Faced with this situation during the summer of 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill threw his support behind the defensive power of the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command and the development of Bomber Command with the words: "The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the air. The Fighters are our salvation, but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory." With this decision a massive effort was begun towards the production of heavy bombers and the training of aircrew to fly them.

The Avro Lancaster evolved from Britain's concerns regarding the deteriorating international situation during the late 1930's. The Handley-Page Halifax, Short Stirling, and the twin-engined Avro Manchester were all in the planning stages as the war began in 1939. The prototype twin-engined Manchester flew in 1939 but was plagued by instability and problems with its complex, 24 cylinder Rolls Royce Vulture engines. Of the 202 Manchesters built more were lost to engine failure than enemy action.

But even before the Manchester flew on operations, the aircraft's designer, Roy Chadwick, realized that the aircraft would have serious shortcomings and made plans for its modification. He added twelve feet to the wingspan and replaced the two troublesome Vulture engines with four of the proven Rolls Royce Merlins V-12's and the result was the Lancaster which made its maiden flight in January, 1941. A colleague later wrote that Chadwick, "showed himself to be a most resourceful andcourageous designer, ultimately snatching success from failure in the most ingenious way with a superlatively successful operational aircraft."

The new bomber was immediately regarded as a success and large production orders were placed. Avro's production facilities were soon overwhelmed, and numerous other companies and contractors joined the effort to produce Lancasters. Consisting of 55 000 separate parts, it has been estimated that half a million different manufacturing operations were involved to produce just one aircraft. Peak production was achieved during August 1944 when 293 aircraft were produced.

The proven Rolls Royce Merlin engines were much in demand for many types of aircraft. For this reason a version of the aircraft was produced which made use of Bristol Hercules radial engines. Lancasters first flew operationally in March, 1942 and were well received by the RAF aircrew. It was regarded as "a pilot's airplane" which inspired confidence. Evidence of this is the story of a Lanc flight engineer who, having featheredtwo engines and facing the prospect of flying over several hundred miles of cold, unfriendly ocean, turned to his pilot and said, "I suppose this means we shall be bloody late for breakfast!"

During World War II the Lancaster was the most successful bomber used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force.The Lanc had speed, ceiling, and lifting power that no other aircraft of the day could match. Weighing 36,900 pounds empty, the Lancaster was capable of taking off with an additional 33,100 pounds of fuel and bombs; in other words it could almost carry its own weight again. The Lancaster carried 64% of the tonnage dropped by the RAF and RCAF during the war. The "Grand Slam", a 22,000 pound special purpose bomb designed to penetrate concrete and explode below the surface to create an earthquake effect, could only be delivered by the Lancaster and the Lancaster was thus chosen for special operations such as the "Dambusters" raid and the attack which sunk the German Battleship Tirpitz.

Lancasters were built to accomplish their specific purpose and crew comfort and security was clearly a secondary consideration. Generally flying under the cover of darkness, the Lancaster had virtually no defensive armour. The front, mid-upper, and rear gun turrets were hydraulically powered and carried a total of eight .303 calibre machine guns for defence against enemy aircraft.

The Lanc's massive bomb bay stretched for 33 feet and, unlike other bombers, was one continuous uninterrupted space. Partly for this reason, the Lanc had the versatility to undertake raids with large, specialized weapons. However, this meant that the main wing spars became obstacles to movement within the aircraft, particularly for airmen wearing heavy clothing and flight boots.

The crew worked in cramped conditions, particularly the air gunners who remained at their posts for the entire flight. Some had to place their flight boots into the turrets before climbing in, and then put their boots on. At night and at 20,000 feet the temperature in the turrets frequently fell to minus forty degrees and frostbite was not uncommon. Air gunners manned the rear and mid-upper gun turrets. A pilot, flight engineer, navigator, wireless operator, and bomb aimer/front gunner completed the crew of seven.

Of the total of 7377 Lancasters built, 3932 were lost in action. During the war Lancasters flew a total of 156 000 sorties and dropped 608,612 tons of bombs. 55,000 aircrew, including 10,000 Canadians, were killed serving in Bomber Command. During much of the war 5% of the bombers which set out each night failed to return making service in bombers the most dangerous field in the allied military.

Specifications:
Length: 69ft 4in (21.08m)
Wingspan: 102ft 0in (31.00m)
Height: 20ft 6in (6.23m)
Maximum Speed: 287mph (462km/h)
Cruising Speed: 200mph (322km/h)
Ceiling: 19,000ft (5,793m)
Range: 2,530 miles (4,072km) with 7,000lb (3,178kg) bomb load.
Powerplant: Four Rolls Royce Merlin XX, 22 or 24 of 1,280hp each.
Payload: Up to 22,000lb bombs carried internally. Later versions modified to carry a variety of single high explosive bombs of 8,000lb (3,632kg), 12,000lb (5,448kg) or 22,000lb (9,988kg) for special missions.
Defensive Armament: 2 x .303 Browning machine guns in nose turret, 2 x .303 Browning machine guns in mid-upper turret and 4 x .303 Browning machine guns in tail turret. Early models also had ventral turret with a single .303 machine gun. Special versions were stripped of aramament to carry increased bombloads.
Recognition: Slab-sided fuselage with heavily-framed canopy mounted well-forward on the upper fuselage. Nose, tail and upper rear fuslage contain turrets housing defensive guns. Twin tail unit with unswept horizontal surfaces. main undercarriage housed in the cowlings of the inner engines. Some aircraft had the H2S radar bulge aft of the bomb-bay while a few other carried a mid-lower gun-turret.




With thanks for photos from kougar2k3.users.btopenworld.com/lancaster.htm

[Alberta's Child]

The interesting thing is that most of the world views the U.S. and the British as one and the same anyway. If you ever see a news conference about the war in Iraq, you'll notice that a lot of foreign representatives refer to "the Anglos" when they are talking about the U.S.

[Jen]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

To be removed from this list, please send me a blank private reply with "REMOVE" in the subject line! Thanks! Jen

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Johnny. I guessed you'd profile the Lancaster today.

You found some great pictures of her.

"Dambusters"

A 617 Sqdn. Lancaster attacks the Mohne Dam, 17th. May, 1943

"Sinking the Tirpitz"

Throughout WWII Allied air and naval forces endeavoured to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. The mighty warship was a constant threat to Allied shipping even while lying at anchor in the Norwegian fjords. Her very presence demanded constant attention, and hampered all naval decision making until she was finally sunk. On Nov. 12th 1944, 31 Lancasters of No. 9 and No. 617 sqdn. attacked and sank Tirpitz using 12,000Ib. Tallboy bombs.

[E.G.C.]

Bump for the Foxhole!!!!

You folks in the Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma watch the weather very closely. It could get ugly later today.

[SAMWolf]

I've always considered Australia, England and Canada as being our only really long term friends, even though we've had our disagreememts. But over the long haul, they've been he best Allies and friends we've had.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Jen.