The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General William Westmoreland - July 19th, 2003

http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/99autm/westmor.html ^ | Craig Keeney

[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

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

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General William Childs Westmoreland
(1914- )

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Perhaps most noted for the role he played in the Vietnam War, General William Childs Westmoreland exhibited at a young age the strength of character that would one day deem him his generation's most renowned warrior. In a 1974 letter, Westmoreland reminisced about his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America and a trip he took at the age of fifteen to the World Boy Scout Jamboree in Europe. Peers looked to him for leadership and guidance from an early age.

Westmoreland was born in Spartanburg County on March 26, 1914, to Eugenia Childs and James Ripley Westmoreland. He attended The Citadel for a year, at the end of which he received an appointment to West Point upon the recommendation of South Carolina Senator James F. Byrnes. In June 1936, he graduated from West Point as first captain, the institution's highest cadet rank, and received the Pershing Sword - given each year to the most militarily proficient cadet. His colleagues noted that "Westmoreland sought, as a cadet, to achieve his leadership objectives by example . . . far more than by propriety and power of position."

These leadership qualities served Westmoreland well in his next assignments and established a pattern of steady advancement. He served with the 18th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and with the 8th Field Artillery Regiment in Hawaii. In May 1941, he became captain of the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In April 1942, he assumed command of the 34th Field Artillery Battalion. During World War II, these divisions fought the Axis powers in Northern Africa and Sicily. On June 6, 1944, Westmoreland landed with the 9th Infantry Division at Omaha Beach. He remained in Europe until 1946 as commander of the 60th Infantry Regiment occupation forces in Bavaria.

The decade following World War II brought personal fulfillment and opportunity for Westmoreland. On May 3, 1947, he married Katherine ("Kitsy") Van Deusen. Their marriage produced three children: Katherine, Margaret, and Rip. Westmoreland earned his parachute and glider badges at Fort Benning, Georgia, and went on to serve as chief of staff of the 82nd Airborne Division between August 1947 and July 1950. He also served as a faculty member at the Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for a year before becoming commander of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Korea. During the Korean War, he was promoted to brigadier general. In December 1956, he received his second star, becoming the youngest major general in the U.S. army.


Westmoreland attended the World Boy Scout Jamboree in England during the summer of 1929. While there, he acquired this kilt from a Scottish scout

In July 1960, after two years as commander of the 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Westmoreland was appointed superintendent of his alma mater, West Point. During his three years at West Point, he initiated programs to expand facilities and update the curriculum. He left West Point in July 1963, when he was promoted to lieutenant general and transferred to the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

A year later Westmoreland was designated commanding general over U.S. Army forces in Vietnam, thus commencing one of the most tumultuous periods in his life. The General's leadership in Vietnam between 1964 and 1968 drew considerable protest from antiwar activists who went so far as to burn him in effigy; however, his soldiers almost unanimously praised his convictions and his concern for their welfare. In a letter dated January 14, 1974, an assistant, Betty Reid, wrote:

I only heard you swear once during those four years and that was when you first heard that term "Body Count"-you were so furious after a briefing that you came out and told Colonel Fullman, Mr. Montgomery, and me that it just made you sick. To you, you said, those "bodies" were our men-individuals with faces and names dying out there-not "just bodies."


The Westmoreland family (left to right, Rip, Stevie, Gen. and Mrs. Westmoreland, and Margaret) at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, circa 1960.

In July 1968, Westmoreland was sworn in as Army Chief of Staff and left Vietnam. He retired from the army in July 1972 after serving thirty-six years, but he continued to serve the American public. In 1972 the Westmorelands relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, and the General was appointed chairman of the Governor's Task Force for Economic Development by Governor John West. In 1974 Westmoreland launched a campaign for the governorship of South Carolina. As a candidate without political experience, Westmoreland expressed the belief that "the privilege of service is too valuable and has too great an impact upon the lives of many people to apathetically watch the political process move with its traditional lethargy." He carried thirty-nine of forty-six counties in the South Carolina Republican Primary election of July 16th but lost to Charleston's Jim Edwards.

Westmoreland suffered a mild heart attack in January 1975, but this setback slowed him only temporarily. If anything, the fall of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese and American perceptions that the U.S. military forces failed in Vietnam put the General on a new offensive. The 1970s and 1980s saw a flurry of activity by Westmoreland to counteract public apathy and misunderstanding of military policies. He defended the performance of Vietnam veterans, and he withdrew from the 9th Infantry Division Association when it refused to admit Vietnam veterans. He composed editorials and delivered speeches concerning Vietnam, the draft, the Panama Canal treaties, and unstable foreign governments. In 1976 Westmoreland wrote his memoir, A Soldier Reports, wherein he discussed the limitations he faced while acting as commander of forces in Vietnam.


General William Westmoreland, then commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, shows his soldiers the proper method of rigging a rifle, 1963.

Westmoreland's relationship with the media was an ambivalent one. He needed the media to broadcast his views, but he was often appalled by what he perceived as biased and inaccurate reporting. He was angered when CBS anchorman Mike Wallace - in the 1982 television documentary The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception - accused him of deliberately falsifying information to his superiors. Later that year, Westmoreland sued CBS in protest of their libelous and unfounded accusations. In 1985 he agreed to drop the suit in return for a statement affirming his loyalty. A year later, Westmoreland noted with some satisfaction: "Ten years ago, I was kind of just the bad guy with horns.…Now it's all different. They [audiences] don't look on me as a curiosity. They think of me as a retired officer who performed to the utmost of his ability."

The collection speaks volumes about Westmoreland and the twentieth century through its documents and artifacts. Water-stained items from 1989 testify to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Hugo. Caricatures, photographs, news clippings, scrapbooks, reel-to-reel film, original artwork, and correspondence with celebrities, civilians, and veterans alike are all represented. Collectively, these artifacts illustrate a changing nation and one of its most respected defenders and servants.

[SAMWolf]

The New York Times
November 16, 1984

Commander of an American Defeat
William Childs Westmoreland

After one of the most promising early careers in American military annals, William Childs Westmoreland became the commander who presided in Vietnam over one of the worst defeats in United States history. In the view of those who know him well he has never fully recovered from the experience.

The now retired four-star, or full, general took the witness stand yesterday in a Manhattan court in his $120 million libel suit against CBS. He contends that the television network defamed him in saying he conspired to conceal from his superiors estimates of high enemy strength in Vietnam in 1967. Now 70 years old, General Westmoreland retains some of soldierly bearing of two decades ago, although his hair is now totally white and he is noticeably older. Until testifying yesterday, he sat quietly, day after day, in a third-floor Federal courtroom in New York, displaying no emotion as lengthy testimony droned on.

GENERAL WESTMORELAND AND GENERAL HAY

Since retiring from the Army in 1972, he has spent some of his time giving speeches to a variety of academic and social-service groups. As the years passed, some of these speeches tended more and and more to suggest that the Vietnam War was not lost militarily, but in a political sense. On the other hand, he has seldom, if ever, been shrill or emotional and is courteous to those who disagree with his views.

More and more, he has devoted his retirement years to an attempt to vindicate his conduct of the war from 1965 to 1968. Unlike many senior officers, he has appeared at public gatherings of Vietnam veterans in recent years, and has been warmly received.

Tet Offensive

From 1964 until 1968, General Westmoreland acted as the chief of the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, the American establishment formed to help South Vietnam in its battle against Communist forces. In that year, a large Communist force fell upon South Vietnamese and upon American troops under General Westmoreland's command during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year known as Tet. Though the Communists suffered major casualties, the offensive had the effect in the United States of seeming to undermine both public and official will to pursue the war.

On the whole, General Westmoreland pursued a conservative course militarily durng his four years of command in Vietnam, where he spent most of his time - in starched green fatigues - in the MACV headquarters in Saigon, known as Pentagon East. After United States combat units began to arrive in 1965, at his urging, he is said by fellow officers to have preferred to employ those units and to relegate Vietnamese Army forces to secondary roles in maintaining local security.

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and General Westmoreland, Vietnam Assistance Command Commander, talks with General Tee on condition of the war in Vietnam. General Tee is (I) Corp Commander in Danang Area. Photo taken 08/1965.

General Westmoreland's strategy was one of a "war of attrition," in which he sought to kill infiltrated and indigenous Vietnamese Communist soldiers more rapidly than they could be replaced.

Military Strategy

The general followed a plan of "search and destroy" missions in which well-trained and armed American Units would try to find and bloody so-called main-force Communist forces. However, General Westmoreland was under constant pressure from Washington to avoid the kind of disaster that befell the French Army during the 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 that ended the French effort in Indochina.

For this reason, he normally forbade any military operations by units smaller than a battalion of about 750 men. He also developed a somewhat unusual method of operation in which artillery guns were airlifted into fire bases and troops were, for the most part, forbidden to proceed past the 11,000- to 20,000-yard "fan" of the artillery.

However, several objections were raised to this plan. One was that Communist units could avoid the artillery fan and continue to fight. Another was that the war of attrition did not work and that North Vietnam was able to infiltrate Communist soldiers faster than General Westmoreland's soldiers could kill them, Gen. Creighton Abrams, the notable World War II tank commander who replaced General Westmoreland, but who has since died of lung cancer, overturned his policy.

General Abrams encouraged company-sized operations involving 150 men of fewer and pulled United States troops back, closer to cities and inhabited areas, to enforce what he called "population control."

By that time, General Westmoreland was in a new position as Army Chief of Staff, in which he played only a minor role in the prosecution of the Vietnam War. General Westmoreland complained that President Johnson bullied him into enlisting publice support for the war. The General gave several news conferences at the instigation of the President and one address to a joint meeting of Congress.

Standout at West Point

General Westmoreland was born March 26, 1914, in Spartanburg Country, S.C., into the family of a prosperous textile manufacturer. At West Point, where he was a member of the class of 1936, he ranked very high in leadership and other achievements, becoming both captain of cadets and winner of a Pershing Award for leadership.

He began his career as an artillery-man and during World War II served in North Africa and Sicily as a battalion commander of artillery. He subsequently became a staff office in the Ninth Division and served in that capacity after the invasion of France. He subsequently became parachute-qualified and commanded an airborned brigade for part of the Korean War. He later commanded the 101st Airborne Division and the 19th Airborne Corps.

Youngest Major General

At the age of 42, he became what was then the youngest major general in the Army. At 46, he became the second-youngest superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, older than only Gen. Douglass McArthur. General MacArthur once warned General Westmoreland that his new post in Southeast Asia was full of promise, but also of peril. General Westmoreland married Katherine Van Deusen, the daughter of an Army officer, and they have two daughters and a son.

General Westmoreland, who retired from the Army in 1972 and has served on the boards of a number of corporations, ran unsuccessfully in 1974 for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina, where he had built a home in the historic old section of Charleston.

Charles Moher

[SAMWolf]

As commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, Gen. William Westmoreland oversaw the introduction of ground troops in Vietnam in 1965 and the subsequent buildup of U.S. forces there. He was a key architect of the U.S. military strategy and a consistent advocate for a greater commitment from Washington. In 1968, after asking for more ground troops in response to the Tet Offensive, President Johnson recalled him to Washington to become U.S. Army chief of staff. After support for the war collapsed in Washington, he retired in 1972. He was interviewed for the COLD WAR series in June 1996.

On the introduction of U.S. ground troops in Vietnam in 1965:

The United States moved into Saigon as the French were moving out. And frankly, I don't believe there was a great appreciation in our country that resulted in a commitment. It was going to be quite costly. ...



At the time, things were quite quiet. We had advisers [in South Vietnam] -- we had in fact replaced the French in that regard -- and we had advisers down to battalion level within the Vietnamese military structure. The problem at that time was not an invasion of the area by the North Vietnamese, but it was the erosion of the effectiveness of government brought about by the so-called "VC" -- the Viet Cong. It was not open warfare, but, as we referred to it at the time, insurgency. And we were involved in the counter-insurgency operations.

The political structure of South Vietnam was rather shaky at the time, because nobody knew from day to day who was running the country. ... Our mission at that time was to try to bolster the Vietnamese government, the morale of which was in disarray. We were dealing in a geographical area where we'd had very little experience in the past. We were dealing with a political-military situation. It was really quite complex. So what I'm really saying is, as we moved in to help the Vietnamese defend their country and confront the Viet Cong (the Vietnamese communists, controlled from Hanoi), we were in the process of getting acquainted with the terrain, the Vietnamese political apparatus and the Vietnamese army. And it was quite an interesting but challenging time. ...

I would say the main problem was [with] the Vietnamese society. It didn't seem to be a cohesive operation. There were factions that were fighting within the South Vietnamese society. ... And it became very clear that Hanoi was in effect strategically running the [Viet Cong] operation. ... This was a type of war that we'd had no experience with before and we were on the learning curve. And some of our policies were kind of trial and error in character. So, I suppose to sum up what I've said, we members of the United States military moved into an arena that was foreign to us, not only with respect to nationality and language, but the type of challenge that we met.

On fighting a limited war:

Well, that was a major problem. At the outset, the president made the statement that he would not geographically broaden the war, and that meant that military actions were confined to the territory of South Vietnam. The enemy was not operating under such restraints, and therefore over the years the border area of Cambodia and Laos were used freely by the enemy. But by virtue of the policy of my government, we could not fight the overt war or deploy military troops overtly into those countries. And that was a major problem. A major problem. That gave the enemy a sanctuary that was of benefit to him. I mean, when he moved into the South Vietnamese soil, he was defeated, he took great casualties; but then he moved across into Cambodia or to Laos, licked his wounds, and restored his military capability. And that is why the war lasted so long. It was a frustrating experience for us. ...



We were winning on the battlefield, but whether we were winning strategically is another matter. But the strategy came from Hanoi and there was little that we could do about it. And the people in Washington -- the Secretary of Defense and [the people in] the White House -- understood [that] from a military standpoint, [our policies involved] a restraint that was inevitably going to prolong the war. I mean, I think this was well-understood, but nevertheless, it was [our] policy, based on the fact that we were not the aggressors. We were not going to be party to enlarging the war.

On the Tet Offensive:

We saw the Tet Offensive coming and we were prepared for it. And the enemy took tremendous casualties there; and we felt that the magnitude of those casualties would result in the enemy coming up with some sort of diplomatic solution. But that never took place. ...

The American public were caught by surprise. We were making military progress at the time -- which [is] a statement of fact. And when the Tet Offensive took place, the American people were not prepared for that, and I assume some significant responsibility for that. and I've made this statement many times. If I would have to do it over again, I would have made known the forthcoming Tet Offensive. At that time, I didn't want the enemy to know that I knew what was going to happen. I did know. I made a mistake in not making that known to the American public, because they were caught by surprise and that was a very much of a negative factor.

On the impact of television journalism on the war:


Evacuation of U.S. military and civilian dependents from Vietnam in compliance with a directive by President L.B. Johnson. U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Maxwell D. Taylor, chats with General William C. Westmoreland, Commanding General, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam at Tan Son Nhut Airport, Saigon. They were at the Airport to see part of the dependents prior to their departure to CONUS. Photo taken 02/11/1965.

Well, it's the first war that we've ever fought on the television screen and it was the first war that our country ever fought where the media had full reign, [where] they had no restraint. We provided no restraint over the media. I mean, that was a policy by the president, and the enemy exploited it. It was something that plagued me from the very beginning. On the other hand, when I knew the Tet Offensive was coming, I should have made a public statement and maybe gone in front of the TV cameras and made known to the American people that a major offensive action was to take place. I didn't do that because I didn't want the enemy to know that I had access to his plans. ... And in retrospect -- and I've made this statement many times -- that was bad judgment on my part.

On the war in general:

We were succeeding. I mean, when you looked at specifics, this became a war of attrition, [and] we were winning the war of attrition. The price that the enemy was prone to pay greatly exceeded our expectations. ...

I think one has to understand what our objective was. The objective in Washington was to raise the cost of the war from the standpoint of the enemy, to the point that he would come to some negotiated settlement. The attitude of the enemy was not comparable to what our attitude would have been under the circumstances. He was ready, willing and able to pay a far greater price than I would say we Caucasians would. ...



I wouldn't say that such a war was necessary, but it took place. And I'm reminded of Mr. Kennedy's inaugural address: "We'll pay any price, bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe for the survival and success of liberty." That was ... in Kennedy's inaugural address when he became president. And that being policy, when the situation presented itself in Washington that had prevailed in Southeast Asia, those words came back to us.

Additional Sources:

www.cnn.com
www.uwm.edu
www.army.mil
www-cgsc.army.mil
www.multied.com
www.casperplatoon.com
www.navycorpsmen.com
history.searchbeat.com
www.donutdolly.com
www.uwm.edu

[SAMWolf]

'[The enemy] believes in force, and his intensification of violence is limited only by his resources, and not by any moral inhibitions.'

-- General William C. Westmoreland
(U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., April 28, 1967)

'So sympathetic were some of the people to the VC that the only way to establish control…among the people was to remove the people and destroy the village.'

-- General William C. Westmoreland

[Support Free Republic]

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

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It isn't every day

good fortune comes me way!

I never thought the future would be fun for me!

And if I had a bugle

I would blow it to add a sort

o' how's your father's touch.

But since I left me bugle at home

I simply have to say

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[SAMWolf]

[radu]

And I'm reminded of Mr. Kennedy's inaugural address: "We'll pay any price, bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe for the survival and success of liberty."

Last weekend, The Travelling Wall was here. As I've never had the opportunity to see the original Wall in D.C., I made a point of seeing this one and went every day it was here. Very powerful, I must say, and I never left dry-eyed. I know a lot of people who served in VietNam but am one of the fortunate ones.....I don't know anyone whose name is on the wall. But many who showed up last week did know someone.

A price was paid, a very large one.

As in D.C., people go to the Travelling Wall to reflect on friends and loved ones lost in VietNam.

And also, as in D.C., they leave mementos and tributes to the Fallen.

I'm very glad this mobile version of such a moving memorial was created so that those who can't make the trip to D.C. can still experience it. And I'm thankful to the local American Legion for going all out to get it here.

[GailA]

The Memphis Belle

LINK

[Soaring Feather]

radu,

The pictures of The Traveling Wall are very stirring.

Thank you for posting the pictures.

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning everyone.

[SAMWolf]

Thank you Radu.

I've visited and stood Honor Guard at the Traveling Wall several times. I don't know which time was harder, during visiting hours and seeing the affect it has on Vets and others or at night when only the Honor Guard and the Wall stand together silently. It's a particularly eerie feeling at night, but it was always an honor to stand a watch at the Wall.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning GailA.

Thanks for picture and the link to the Memphis Belle site.

The Belle Under Attack

En route to bomb the German aircraft factory at Romilly-sur-Seine, 50 miles south-east of Paris, on December 20 1942, the 91st Bomb Group’s B-17s come under attack by Luftwaffe fighters. Skipper of the Memphis Belle, Bob Morgan, unflinchingly holds his aircraft steady for his gunners as an Fw190, 20mm cannons blazing, comes flashing through the formation at a heart-stopping 400mph.

High off the starboard wing, a second enemy fighter peels over to begin its attack. The Memphis Belle will survive today and go on to become the first 8th Air Force bomber to complete a 25-mission tour.

Return of the Belle

One aircraft perhaps more than any other came to symbolise the 8th Air Force's campaign in Europe during WWII - the Memphis Belle. Skippered by Bob Morgan, she was the first B-17 in the 91st Bomb Group to complete the prescribed tour of 25 missions, and returned home to the U.S. with a crew which had been decorated 51 times.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

Last Starbucks coffee run coming up as soon as I can get Snippy up and on her feet.

It's really been enjoyable meeting Snippy. We did our best to spend as much time together as we could and I think we're both gonna be paying for it by sleeping for 24 hours straight this weekend. I still owe her a trip to the Coast since the trip was postponed so we could just hang out together. As much fun as I had dragging her up and down mountains I think the last two days just "hanging" was the best.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on July 19:
1814 Samuel Colt inventor (colt revolver)
1817 Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke US, army nurse (union)
1834 Edgar Degas France, impressionist painter (Bouquet)
1846 Charles Edward Pickering pioneered American spectroscopist
1860 Lizzie Borden murderer, gave her mother forty whacks
1865 Charles Horace Mayo surgeon, cofounded Mayo Clinic
1896 A.J. Cronin England, author (Citadel, Shining Victory)
1898 Herbert Marcuse Berlin, communist philosopher (One-Dimensional Man)
1905 Boyd Neel Blackheath, Kent England, conductor (Story of an Orch)
1906 Klaus Egge Gransherad, Telemark Norway, composer (Noregsonger)
1916 Phillip Cavaretta baseball player (NL MVP 1945)
1917 William W Scranton (Gov-R-Pa)
1919 Patricia Medina Liverpool England, actress (High-Low)
1920 Robert Mann Portland Oregon, violinist (String Quartet 1952)
1922 George McGovern (Sen-D-SD), pres candidate (D-1972)
1923 Pat Hingle Denver Colo, actor (Baby Boom, Norma Rae, Bloody Mama)
1926 Helen Gallagher Bkln, actress (Ryan's Hope, Strangers When We Meet)
1929 Sofia Muratova USSR, gymnist,(Olympic-6 gold/3 silv/4 bronze-1952-60)
1937 George Hamilton IV NC, actor (Evel Knievel, Love at 1st Bite)
1937 Larry Boxx founded Land B Computer Serv
1938 Richard Jordan NYC, actor (Dune, Old Boyfriends, Interiors)
1938 Vikki Carr El Paso Tx, singer (Let it Please Be Him)
1940 Dennis Cole Detroit, actor (Felony Squad, Brackens's World)
1941 Natalya Bessmertnova Moscow, dancer (Bolshoi, Lenin Prize 1970)
1943 Roy D Bridges Jr Atlanta Ga, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 51F, STS 61F)
1946 Ilie Nastase Bucharest Romania, tennis player (US Open 1972)
1947 Bernie Leadon guitarist/vocalist (Eagles-Take it Easy)
1947 Brian May guitarist (Queen-We are the Champions)
1947 Gerard Schwarz Weehawken NJ, trumpeter/conductor (LA Chamber Orch)
1948 Beverly Archer Oak Park Ill, actress (Iola-Mama's Family)
1948 Keith Godchaux keyboardist (Grateful Dead)
1952 Alan Collins guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1952 Howard Donald Saunders Danbury Ct, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1954 Kathleen Turner actress (Accidental Tourist, Jewel of Nile)
1956 Peter Barton Valley Stream LI, actor (Powers of Matthew Star)
1959 Terri Treas KC Kansas, actress (Hannah-7 Brides for 7 Brothers)
1961 Suzi Schott Springfield Ill, playmate (August, 1984)
1963 Sandor Wladar Hungary, 200m backstroke swimmer (Olympic-gold-1980)
1968 Carolie DeVonne Howe Chugwater Wyoming, Miss Wyoming-America (1991)
1976 RJ Williams actor (General Hospital, Full House)

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Deaths which occurred on July 19:
1545 Roger Grenville, English captain of Mary Rose, drowns
1940 Samuel H Chang American newspaper magnate murdered in Shanghai
1958 Robert Earl Hughes weighed 1,041 lbs (473 kg), dies at 32
1964 Carol Veazie actress (Maude-Norby), dies at 69
1965 Syngman Rhee, president of South-Korea (1948-60), dies at 90
1969 Mary Jo Kopechne dies at 28, in Ted Kennedy's car
1970 Barry Wood singer (Your Hit Parade), dies at 61
1974 Joe Flynn actor (McHale's Navy), dies at 59
1974 Earl Warren, gov of Calif/Supreme court justice (1953-68), dies at 83
1984 Carol Eberts Veazie actor, dies at 89
1990 Herbert Nelson actor (Guilding Light), dies at 76 of a stroke
1990 Johnny Wayne comedian (Wayne & Shuster), dies at 72 of cancer
1992 Paolo Borsellino, Italian anti-mafia judge, murdered by mafia

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 DIAMOND STEPHEN WHITMAN ROSLYN HEIGHTS NY.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 DENNISON TERRY A. COSMOPOLIS WA.
[03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED]
1966 WINTERS DARRYL G. SAN FRANCISCO CA.
1967 FRYE DONALD P. LOS ANGELES CA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 10/14/82]
1967 JACKSON WILLIAM B. STOCKDALE TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED 10/14/82]
1967 MC GRANE DONALD P. WAVERLY IA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 10/14/82]
1967 PETERSON DENNIS W. HUNTINGTON PARK CA.
["CRASH, NO SURV OBS"]
1969 MARTIN AUBREY GRADY BEEVILLE TX.
[07/74 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1969 SIKKINK ROY DEAN TULSA OK.
[07/69 REMAINS RECOVERED]

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

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On this day...
2781 -BC- Presumed start of Egyptian calendar
0064 Circus Maximus in Rome catches fire
514 St Symmachus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
532 Start of Dionysian Pascal Cycle
1321 -BC- origin of Era of Menophres
1510 38 Jews are burned at the stake in Berlin Prussia
1525 The Catholic princes of Germany form the Dessau League to fight against the Reformation.
1545 King Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose is launch at Portsmouth; It sinks immediately. 73 die
1553 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey deposed as England's Queen after 9 days
1799 Soldiers of the French General Napoleon Bonaparte's during the Egyptian Campaign discovered a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta; the stone was inscribed by priests of Ptolemy V with a translation of the Egyptian hieroglyphic into both demotic and Greek
1816 Survivors of French frigate Medusa rescued off Senegal after 17 days
1848 1st women's rights convention (Seneca Falls, NY)
1860 1st railroad reaches Kansas
1862 Forrest's 1st raid
1867 Reconstruction enacted
1870 France declares war on Prussia; the Franco-Prussian war begins
1875 Emma Abbott, a floating hospital for sick kids, makes trial trip, NYC
1877 1st Wimbledon tennis championships held
1880 SF Public Library starts lending books
1882 J Palisa discovers asteroid #226 Weringia
1907 K Lohnert discovers asteroid #639 Latona
1909 1st baseman Neil Ball turns unassisted triple-play
1913 Billboard publishes earliest known "Last Week's 10 Best Sellers among Popular Songs" Malinda's Wedding Day is #1
1914 Boston Braves begin drive from last to 1st place in the NL
1918 German armies retreat across Marne River in France (WW I)
1923 WRC-AM in Washington DC begins radio transmissions
1925 V Albitzkij discovers asteroid #1059 Mussorgskia
1927 Ty Cobb gets his 4,000th hit
1928 H E Wood discovers asteroid #1305 Pongola
1939 1st use of fiberglass sutures, R.P. Scholz, St Louis, Mo
1941 1st US Army flying school for black cadets dedicted (Tuskegee Ala)
1941 British PM Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign
1941 President Roosevelt appointed FEP Committee
1943 Allied air forces raid Rome during WW II
1944 A faction of German officers plotted to kill Nazi leader Adolf Hitler whom they felt was leading Germany to ruin.
1944 Count Claus von Stauffenberg visits RC church in Berlin-Dahlem
1944 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg 1st meets SS obersturmbannfuhrer Adolf Eichmann
1949 Laos becomes associated state within French Union
1952 15th modern Olympic games opens in Helsinki
1955 Balclutha ties up at Pier 43 & becomes a floating museum
1957 1st rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flat, Nevada
1957 Don Bowden becomes 1st American to break 4 minute mile (3m58s7)
1960 SF Giants Juan Marichal debuts, with a 1 hitter against Phillies
1961 1st in-flight movie shown (TWA)
1962 The Twins score 11 first inning runs against the Indians with help of two grand slams hit by Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison.
1963 NASA civilian test pilot Joe Walker in X-15 reaches 105 km
1963 Phila Phillies Roy Siever hits HR # 300
1965 Shooting begins on Star Trek 2nd pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
1966 Gov James Rhodes declares state of emergency in Cleveland (race riot)
1967 Race riots in Durham NC
1967 US launches Explorer 35 for lunar orbit (800/7400 km)
1969 Apollo 11 goes into Moon orbit
1971 B Burnasheva discovers asteroid #2259 Sofievka
1973 Willie Mays named to NL all star team for 24th time (ties Musial)
1974 Cleve Indian Dick Bosman no-hits Oakland A's, 4-0
1974 David Bowie's Diamond Dog tour ends in NYC
1974 Felix Aguilar Observatory discovers asteroid #3118
1975 Apollo & Soyuz linked in orbit for 2 days, separate
1976 Rock group Deep Purple disbands
1977 N Chernykh discovers asteroid #2228 Soyuz-Apollo
1977 NL beats AL 7-5 in 48th All Star Game (Yankee Stadium, NY)
1978 Yanks start 14« game comeback with 2-0 win
1979 2 supertankers collide off Tobago-260,000 TONS of oil spill
1979 Nicaragua Liberation Day; Sandinistas take over from Somoza
1979 Patricia Harris, becomes sect of HEW
1980 22nd modern Olympic games opens in Moscow; US & others boycott
1980 David Bowie appears in role of Elephant Man in Denver
1980 Moscow Summer Olympics begin, US & others boycott
1982 David S Dodge becomes the 1st American hostage in Lebanon
1984 1st female to captain a 747 across the Atlantic (Lynn Rippelmeyer)
1984 Geraldine A Ferraro, (Rep-D-NY), won Democratic VP nomination
In 1985, George Bell of Durham, NC, claimed the distinction of being "Big Foot" with his size 28-1/2 shoe. George won first place in a biggest feet contest. Bell, 26, stood 7 feet, 10 inches tall.
1985 Christa McAuliffe chosen 1st schoolteacher to fly the space shuttle
1986 Caroline Kennedy weds Edwin A Schlossberg in Centerville, Mass
1986 Indian pitcher Phil Niekro wins his 307th game tying him with Mickey Welch for 14th place on all time win list
1987 Don Mattingly sets AL record of extra base hits in 10 cons games
1989 United flight 232 crashes in Iowa
1990 BASF plant in Cincinnatti explodes in flames, 1 dies
1990 Cincinnati Red Pete Rose is sentence to 5 months for tax evasion
1990 Richard Nixon library opens in Yorba Linda, Calif
1991 Miss Black America contestant accuses Mike Tyson of rape
1991 With NY Yankee victory, 10 of 14 AL teams are at .500 or better
1995 A pair of House subcommittees held a joint hearing on the federal government's raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
1996 A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended, with some conditions, that the abortion-inducing drug RU-486 be approved.

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

Burma : Martyrs' Day
Laos : Independence Day (1949)
Bloomer Day
National Anti-Boredom Month

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Religious Observances
Old Catholic : Feast of St Vincent de Paul, confessor

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Religious History
1649 In London, Edward Winslow, governor of the Plymouth Colony, helped organize theSociety for Propagating the Gospel in New England, for the purpose of converting theAmerican Indians to Christian faith.
1692 Five Massachusetts women were hanged for witchcraft. Fifteen young girls in theSalem community charged as many as 150 citizens in the area with witchcraft during thegreater part of this year.
1825 The American Unitarian Association was founded by members of the liberal wing ofthe Congregational churches in New England.
1835 Birth of Jesse Engle, pioneer missionary. In 1898 he led the first party of fivemissionaries to Africa under sponsorship of the Brethren in Christ Missions.
1904 Construction began on the Liverpool Cathedral in England. The cathedral wascompleted 20 years later and consecrated on this same date in 1924.

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

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Thought for the day :
"Every noble work is at first impossible."

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Today's 'You Might Be A Redneck If' Joke...
Your house still has the "WIDE LOAD" sign on the back.

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Murphy's Law of the Day...
Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks SAM and Snippy for letting us take day trips with you while you vacationed.

This has been a fun week for me, I know it has been for you two, and I promise to try some Starbucks Coffee one of these days.

DarkSheare, I will, brew up apot of the sudden death coffee you recommend.

[Valin]

Now 70 years old, General Westmoreland retains some of soldierly bearing of two decades ago, although his hair is now totally white and he is noticeably older.

Mo spin here..no sir, none what so ever.

[Valin]

Yhy don't we call that NO spin?

[snippy_about_it]

.......FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

.......Good Saturday Morning Everyone!


If you would like added or removed from our ping list let me know.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you SAM for having me as your guest. Oregon is beautiful but the best thing they have is you! You have a wonderful family.

Your wife has been very generous giving us all this time and letting you skip yard work, lol. You're children are very intellegent and kind, you've both obviously done a wonderful job with them.

You are a lucky man SAMWolf and it's been great spending time with you and I am lucky to call you friend.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you radu for the pictures of the moving Wall. These memorials cannot be visited dry eyed. SAM and I went to the Vietnam Memorial here and no matter where or who's names are there you can't help but feel the hurt of it all.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you GAIL, we have a thread coming up soon on the Memphis Belle.