The FReeper Foxhole Studies the "Four-Deuce" Mortars - July 25th, 2003

various- listed at end of post

[snippy_about_it]

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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History of the 4.2" Chemical Mortar

The 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar History

Weapons available to American ground troops for delivering toxic agents included Livens projectors, grenades, land mines, mortars, rockets and artillery shells. If gas warfare had broken out, the burden would have fallen chiefly on the 4.2" chemical mortars of CWS mortar battalions.



The 4.2" mortar descended from the old Stokes mortar of the British Army. Britain invented the Stokes in World War I to overcome the disadvantages of gas cloud attacks. Gas clouds could be tremendously effective under the proper conditions, but they required considerable labor, were wholly dependent on the weather, could only be used with a few gases and, by their color and odor, sometimes warned the enemy. The Stokes had a smooth-bore barrel and therefore could not fire shells with pin-point accuracy. On the other hand, it had certain advantages. Troops could easily move it and fire shells at the rapid rate of twenty a minute. Each shell held more than two quarts of toxic agent. Because of these factors a mortar could suddenly overwhelm an enemy position with a large amount of poison gas.

The First Gas Regiment of the CWS obtained Stokes mortars from the British in 1918 and employed them along the western front. In July 1918, the Army contracted with American firms for the manufacture of these mortars. More than 400 were turned out but they did not reach France in time for battle.



The CWS found the Stokes mortar a versatile, useful weapon, and in the early 1920s set out to lengthen its range. The objective, as laid down by Maj Gen Fries [then the Chief Chemical Officer of the U.S. Army], was to double the WWI range of 1100 yards. Early experimentation showed that heavy powder charges could hurl the shell only a few hundred yards beyond the normal range. This was dangerous since the higher pressure within the mortar at the instant of explosion could burst the barrel. The designers attached fins to the shell, enabling it to fly through the air like a dart, and shot it 2,600 yards. But the shock from the exploding propellant generally damaged the fins, and the shell's flight was short and erratic. In 1924, Captain McBride and Dr G.S. Maxwell rifled several barrels with varying pitches and numbers of grooves. During machining operations, metal was gouged out of the bore, increasing its diameter from four to four and two-tenths inches between lands. This marked the end of the old smooth-bore Stokes mortar and the beginning of the new 4.2" chemical mortar. On 7 June 1924, one of the experimental barrels sent three shells through the air on accurate, spin-stabilized flights of almost 2300 yards.



Adoption of a rifled barrel made it necessary for engineers to redesign each component of the mortar, from baseplate to shell fuze. WWI shells had an all-ways fuze to make certain that the tumbling shell would explode no matter whether it landed on its base, side or nose. Fuzes of this type could not be used on a spinning shell since centrifugal force would activate the fuze and cause the shell to burst as it left the muzzle of the mortar. After considerable experimentation, engineers developed a safe, dependable fuze that could be set for impact or time.

Something had to be done to prevent liquid fillings, such as mustard or phosgene, from surging around inside the shell, unbalancing it and causing it to tumble and yaw in flight. This characteristic had not mattered with the Stokes mortar since its shells had tumbled anyway, but it affected the accuracy and range of the rifled mortar. Technicians solved this problem by fastening vanes inside the shell to swirl the fillings as the shell spin through the air.



To seal the bore against loss of explosion gases, and to force the shell to rotate as it sped up the barrel, the men had to devise a driving mechanism for the base of the projectile. This consisted of two round plates, one of brass and one of steel, the brass disk designed so that its edge could be forced outward by pressure. When the powder exploded, gas pressure rammed the steel plate up against the softer brass plate, forcing its edge out and into the grooves, sealing gases in and forcing the shell to spiral out of the barrel.

For the baseplate of the Stokes mortar it had been feasible to have a steel cup, bolted to an oak plank. But recoil from the new 4.2" barrel soon pounded this type of baseplate into splinters, and a forged steel baseplate had to be produced. Finally, in 1928, after several years of experimentation, model M1 of the 4.2" chemical mortar was ready for service.

During the next decade CWS engineers put considerable thought into improving the standard model. The practice of digging an emplacement, which took time and reduced the mobility of the mortar, was abandoned and the base was placed directly on the ground. The two-legged support inherited from the Stokes mortar was improved and retained for a time, but it proved to be so awkward that it gave way to a single leg. Engineers then found it necessary to place connecting rods between the baseplate and barrel support to keep the recoil from forcing base and support apart. The barrels, hitherto obtained from the old Stokes mortars, were made specifically for the new model from seamless drawn-nickel steel tubing. A spring shock absorber was placed on the barrel to prevent the force of recoil from breaking the connection between support and the barrel. At last, after seven years of work, the CWS completed a greatly improved mortar, model M1A1, with a range of 2400 yards. This mortar was in the hands of chemical troops at the time of Pearl Harbor.



Increasing the Range in World War II

The next step in the development of the mortar came about as a result of an addition to the mission of CWS troops. Up to the time of America's entrance into the war, the mortar had been considered as a weapon for firing toxic agents, smoke and incendiaries at the enemy. In April 1942, General Porter [then the Chief Chemical Officer] asked the Services of Supply for permission to use high explosive ammunition in the mortar. Chemical troops had fired HE in WWI and, if allowed to do the same in WWII, it would broaden their usefulness in the theaters of operation. The SOS gave its consent, thereby giving the CWS impetus in lengthening the range.

The mortar had been developed under the pre-war doctrine that chemical shells would be employed only within a range of 2400 yards. This concept did not apply to HE, and the CWS set about increasing this distance before the mortars saw action. Engineers could have lengthened the range by redesigning parts of the mortar, but such a step would have taken time. When tests demonstrated that 50% more powder hurled the projectile an additional 800 yards, bringing the total distance up to 3200 yards, a larger charge was adopted. The higher explosion pressure imposed more strain on the barrel and baseplate than they had been designed for. To prevent accidents, the service adopted a tougher barrel and baseplate. To prevent mortar squads from using the old barrel and perhaps blowing themselves up the CWS designated all mortars with the new barrel as model M2. The CWS carried the M2 into all theaters and some were still in action at the end of the war.

The 4.2" mortar first saw action [with the 2nd and 3rd Chemical Mortar Battalions] in the taking of Sicily in the summer of 1943. Mortar squads were among the first waves of troops to hit the beach, and they went into action a few minutes after landing. During the 38-day campaign, they shot 35,000 rounds of ammunition in crash concentration, harassing, interdictory and counter-battery fire, and in tactical smoke screening missions. The mortar made an excellent impression on commanders of infantry, ranger, armored and airborne units. Thereafter there was no question that the CWS had taken the right course in turning the chemical mortar into a HE-delivering weapon.



After troops tried out mortars in Europe, they began calling for a longer range. Back in the U.S., the CWS had already anticipated the demand and had succeeded in adding another thousand yards to the flight of mortar shells. It had achieved the increase by changing the form of the propellant so that it burned slowly, gave off gas more evenly, and thereby became more efficient. Lt. Arthur Denues had experimented with the propellant, trying different shapes, arrangements and types, and had finally found out that with disks of powder of a certain thickness, the range depended upon the number of disks.

The minimum charge, which lobbed the shell only 340 yards, could be lengthened to 4400 yards simply by adding more disks. The maximum gas pressure did not become excessive and there was no disturbance in the ballistics of liquid-filled shells. The disks were cut square, with a hole in the center to allow the disk to slip on the cartridge container. Sufficient disks, sewn together in bundles of different thickness, were placed on each shell before shipment to give a range of 4397 yards. Before the shell was fired, the mortar squad could remove one or more disks to shorten the range.

Notwithstanding that the range of the mortar had almost doubled by 1944, troops in the field were still not satisfied. They wanted the weapon to hit targets 5000 or more yards away. One means of accomplishing this was to devise a jet accelerator that would fit on the base of a shell and give it a boost after it left the barrel. The CWS started work on such a device but soon canceled the project after a survey showed that development would take too long, and men with the know-how could not be spared from other mortar projects.


Infantrymen of the Heavy Mortar Co., 1st Platoon, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th U.S. Infantry Division, fire the 4.2-inch Heavy mortar on Communist hill positions in the Mung Dung-ni Valley. 10 August 1952. Korea.

Two other courses lay open to the CWS, a long-term project to completely redesign the mortar from baseplate to standard, and a short-term project, which might not work, of again modifying the propellant. Experiments with the propellant began after calculations and preliminary experiments indicated that the velocity of the shell could be increased 100 feet per second and the range jumped to more than 5000 yards if the chamber volume of the mortar and the weight of powder were doubled.

Engineers set up an experimental mortar and made test firings, but to their surprise the shells had an unexpectedly short range. They carefully checked all possible sources of error and at last discovered that the high pressure from the explosion had deformed the rotating disk on the base of the shell and this had increased air resistance. Development of a new rotating mechanism proved to be the major task in extending the range, but when the job was finished the mortar shell carried distances of 5600 yards in firings at Edgewood in June 1945. These results obtained in the shop and on the test field occurred too late in the war to be transmitted to the battlefield.

Regardless of demands for longer ranges, a complete redesign of the mortar was necessary by 1944. By this time, both the M1A1 and M2 had been used extensively, particularly in mountainous regions where artillery found it difficult or impossible to operate. The terrain in which mortars operated in Italy and the Southwest Pacific was at times so rugged that standard mortar carts or jeeps could not be used, and the CWS had to devise a mule pack.



This constant use of mortars took its toll in worn and damaged parts, much harm being caused by attempts to get more service out of the mortar than it had been designed to deliver. The CWS Technical Division set out to produce an entirely new mortar that would be free from the limitations inherent in the basic design of the M2 model which had been intended originally to fire a range of 2400 yards. By the end of the war, an experimental model, E37, had been constructed and test fired at Edgewood. After the war, the service continued development until 1949 when the War Department, feeling that the mortar was now a legitimate weapon of the infantry, transferred the responsibility for development to the Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Department made a few final modifications and standardized the mortar as model M30 in 1951.

American troops who saw the chemical mortar in action in the Pacific and in Europe had a high opinion of the weapon. German and Japanese troops respected its fire power and accuracy. Generalleutenant Ochsner of the chemical warfare branch of the German Army stated that "from the technical point of view the American 4.2" chemical projector is very good; the construction is simple, it is a very handy weapon in battle and its firing efficiency is high."


A 4.2-inch mortar crew of the Heavy Mortar Company, 179th Regiment, 45th U.S. Infantry Division, fires on Communist positions, west of Chorwon, Korea. 5 May 1952. Korea

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[snippy_about_it]

The Mortar: A Short Definition

A mortar is essentially a short, stumpy tube designed to fire a projectile at a steep angle (by definition higher than 45 degrees) so that it falls straight down on the enemy.

The chief advantage of the mortar was that it could be fired from the (relative) safety of the trench, avoiding exposure of the mortar crews to the enemy. Furthermore, it was notably lighter and more mobile than other, larger artillery pieces. And, of course, the very fact that the mortar bomb fell almost straight down meant that it would (with luck) land smack in the enemy trench.

The Stokes Mortar



A Mr. F.W.C. Stokes - later Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE designed a mortar of brilliant simplicity. It became the standard issue for the British army. Indeed, most mortars in use today are direct descendants of the Stokes mortar.

Stokes' design was simple but highly effective. It consisted chiefly of a smooth metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a light bi- pod mount. When a bomb was dropped into the tube an impact sensitive cartridge at the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube, thereby ejecting the bomb.

3-inches in size the cast-iron mortar bomb itself weighed around 4.5 kg. It was fitted with a modified hand grenade fuse on the front, with a perforated tube (with minor propellant charge) and impact-sensitive cap at the back. The Stokes mortar could fire as many as 22 bombs per minute and had a maximum range of 1,200 yards. In addition to the light Stokes mortar the British also produced a 2-inch medium mortar and a 9.45-inch heavy mortar (bizarrely nicknamed 'Flying Pigs' by the British soldier) among other models.

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The 4.2 inch M30 mortar was a rifled muzzle-loading weapon designed for high-angle fire.

The Ordnance Department made a few final modifications and standardized the mortar as model M30 in 1951.

Weight (with base plate, base ring, and sighting equipment): 626 lb.
Barrel assembly: 158 lb
Standard assembly: 58 lb
Bridge assembly: 151 lb
Rotator assembly: 57 lb
Base plate: 108 lb
Base ring: 100 lb
Sighting equipment: 4 lb


Range: 6,500 yards



Figure 6-1. Positions of squad members

Ammunition: Ammunition for the M30 (T104) was issued as complete rounds, similar to those for the 4.2 inch M2, but had extended length of cartridge container and larger propelling charge. The round consisted of shell, fuze, propelling charge, and ignition cartridge. When fired, the shell was stabilized in flight by rotation transmitted to the shell by means of the pressure plate expanding the rotating disk on the base of the shell thus forcing the disk to engage the rifling in the bore. The shell, which had a deep cavity and suplementary charge, was fitted with a point detonating fuze.

The ignition cartridge was housed in the cartridge container extension and was held in place by the striker nut which contained the striker. The propelling charge consisted of a number of increments of propellent powder in the form of square sheets assembled on the cartridge container. When the round was inserted into the bore and released, it slid to the bottom where the firing pin drove the striker into the primer of the ignition cartridge. Flame from the ignition cartridge flashed through vents in the cartridge container extension to ignite the propellant, thus firing the round.

Because of its size and weight, the weapon was used as Regimental artillery, often vehicle mounted, and is included in this site only because of its invaluable support for infantry actions, as for the Infantry regiments of 1stMarDiv in the Chosin Reservoir.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggested further reading:

Army Office of Military History; Chemicals in Combat;Chapter VI of Volume II
www.army.mil/
www.4point2.org/
www.adtdl.army.mil/
www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/
www.fas.org/
www.100thww2.org/
www.riv.co.nz/rnza/hist

[snippy_about_it]

Our very own SAMWolf with the "Four-Deuce" while in the Oregon National Guard!

[snippy_about_it]

Mortar Gunboats

The CWS, in 1942, experimented with mortars mounted on landing craft, including the LCIs and LCTs. It took the view that mortars could support an amphibious assault in the crucial period of an invasion, after the naval and air bombardment let up so that troops could land. Mortars could not be placed directly on the bottom of landing craft since there was no way to keep the recoil from kicking mortars backward when the piece was fired. In addition, the terrific pounding might damage the bottom of the vessel.

Technicians rigged an oblong wooden frame, filled with a mixture of sand and sawdust, on the floor of the craft. A thick slab of wood, grooved to take the bottom of the baseplate, sat on top of the sand-sawdust filling. The Amphibious Training Command, Carabelle, Florida, to which the CWS sent the firing platform, saw the utility of the device and asked the service to design a standard model.

In July 1943, a chemical mortar battalion [the 3rd] with weapons mounted in landing craft took part in the seaborne assault on Sicily. The battalion was ready to fire from its offshore positions but the need did not arise. Mortar gunboats first saw action in the Pacific where amphibious warfare was more common. On 15 Sep 1944, 4.2" mortars mounted on landing craft, infantry (LCI), supported the 1st Marine Div in its assault on Peleliu. Two days later, at Angaur Island, mortar gunboats fired on the beach area as troops of the 81st Div swarmed ashore. Offshore LCIs afterwards lobbed mortar shells into Angaur to support infantry attacks.

On D-Day at Iwo Jima, the heavy gunfire-support ships of the invading force were augmented by 18 LCIs armed with 4.2" mortars. During the night of Feb 20-21, LCIs with mortars delivered counter-battery and harassing fires in supporting the V Amphibious Corps. Since LCIs had no radar and only inadequate navigating gear, they followed the ingenious plan of steaming in an elliptical track around a reference ship that kept station by radar, firing during the time they were on the path of the ellipse and headed toward the island.

On Easter Sunday of April 1945, 42 mortar gun-boats were among craft that led the way to the landing beach at Okinawa. 126 mortars laid down 28,000 shells over a strip 5½ miles long and 1000 feet deep in less than an hour. All in all, LCI(M)s (the M for mortar), as the mortar-mounted craft came to be designated, participated in a dozen landings in the Pacific during the latter part of 1944 and the war months of 1945.

Select for continued information on amphibious employment of the 4.2 inch mortar.

[snippy_about_it]

[snippy_about_it]

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

.......Good Friday Morning Everyone!


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

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy. How are things where you are?

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC. Sun is out, generally getting afternoon storms everyday. Humid.

But it's FRIDAY!! YEAH!

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good morning, snippy!

Nothing like "incoming!" to start my day :)

You will have Freepmail shortly.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on July 25:
975 Thietmar bishop of Merseburg, German chronicler
1575 Christoph Scheiner Germany, astronomer
1775 Anna Symmes Harrison 1st lady
1840 Flora Adams Darling founded Daughters of American Revolution
1848 Arthur Earl Balfour (C), British PM (1902-05) (Balfour Declaration)
1883 Alfredo Casella Turin Italy, composer (La Giara)
1884 Davidson Black Canada, doctor of anatomy (identified Peking Man)
1894 Walter Brennan Swampscott Mass, actress (Real McCoys, At Gun Point)
1899 Ralph Dumke Indiana, actor (Movieland Quiz)
1902 Eric Hoffer longshoreman/author (True Believer)
1905 Elias Canetti Bulgarian/British novelist/essayist (Nobel 1981)
1907 Jack Gilford NYC, actor (Save the Tiger, Cocoon, Arthur 2)
1924 Estelle Getty NYC, actress (Sophia Petrillo-Golden Girls)
1924 Frank Church (Sen-D-Id)
1925 Jerry Paris SF Calif, director/actor (Jerry-Dick Van Dyke Show)
1927 Midge Decter St Paul Minn, anti woman's lib (Liberated Woman...)
1930 Maureen Forrester Montreal Canada, contralto (Ressurection Symphony)
1932 Paul J Weitz Erie Pennsylvania, astronaut (Skylab 2, STS 6)
1935 Adnan Khashoggi billionaire/arms dealer
1935 Barbara Harris actress (Plaza Suite, Family Plot)
1935 Laurent Terzieff Paris France, actor (Pharoah-Moses the Law Giver)
1940 John Pennel pole vaulter (James E Sullivan Award-1963)
1941 Nate Thurmond NBA star (Cleveland Cavaliers)
1943 Janet Margolin NYC, actress (Take the Money & Run, David & Lisa)
1943 Jim McCarty rocker (The Yardbirds-For Your Love)
1945 Donna Theodore Broadway singer (Hollywood Talent Scouts)
1948 Steve Goodman Chicago, singer/songwriter (Somebody Elses Trouble)
1954 Lynn Frederick Middlesex England, actress (Schizophrenia)
1954 Walter Payton NFL running back (Chicago Bears)
1955 Iman model/David Bowie's girlfriend/actress (Star Trek VI)
1957 Bogdan Musiol German DR, bobsled (Olympic-bronze-1980)
1961 Katherine Kelly Lang LA Calif, actress (Brooke-Bold & Beautiful)
1975 Jay R Ferguson Jr Dallas Tx, actor (Taylor Newton-Evening Shade)
1978 Louise Brown Oldham England, world's 1st `test tube baby'
1990 Evan James Springsteen son of Bruce

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Deaths which occurred on July 25:
1570 Ivan Viskovati, chancellor of Russia, executed
1616 Andreas Libavius German alchemist, dies
1934 Engelbert Dollfuss Austrian chancellor assassinated by nazis
1959 Dr Isaac Halevi Herzog chief rabbi of Israel (1936-59), dies at 71
1966 Montgomery Clift, movie actor (From Here to Eternity), dies
1981 Ian Martin actor (Uncle Bill-O'Neills), dies at 69
1986 Vincente Minnelli movie director, dies in LA at 76
1987 Malcolm Baldrige Secretary of Commerce, dies of internal injuries
1997 Ben Hogan, golfer (Masters, Brit Open, US Open-1953), dies at 84

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 DAVIS DONALD V. SALISBURY NC. [REMAINS RETURNED 1997 IDENTIFIED 04/01/98]
1967 JARVIS JEREMY M. WARREN MI.
1967 LUNSFORD HERBERT L. LAUDERDALE MS.
1968 BROWN PAUL G. NEWTON MA.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 FANT ROBERT ANDERSON SC.
[03/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 PARISH CHARLES C. LEXINGTON VA.
[PROB DIED IN ACFT WRECKAGE]
1970 GREGORY PAUL ANTHONY VIRGINIA BEACH VA.


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

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On this day...
326 Emperor Constantine refuses to carry out traditional pagan sacrifices.
1261 Byzantium Emperor Michael VIII recaptures Constantinople
1360 Jews are expelled from Breslau Silesia
1394 Charles VI of France issues a decree for the general expulsion of Jews from France.
1587 Hideyoshi bans Christianity in Japan and orders all Christians to leave.
1593 France's Protestant King Henri IV converts to Roman Catholic
1670 Jews are expelled from Vienna Austria
1729 North Carolina becomes royal colony
1759 British capture Fort Niagara from French (7 Years' War)
1775 Maryland issues currency depicting George III trampling Magna Carta
1799 French-Egyptian forces under Napolean I beat Turks at Battle of Abukir
1814 Battle of Niagara Falls (Lundy's Lane); Americans defeat British
1814 George Stephenson introduced the 1st steam locomotive
1822 Gen Agust¡n de Iturbide crowned Agust¡n I, 1st emperor of M‚xico
1832 1st railroad accident in US, Granite Railway, Quincy, Mass-1 dies
1835 Ibrahim Pasha's army attacks Jewish settlers of Hebron Palestine
1861 The Crittenden Resolution, calling for the American Civil War to be fought to preserve the Union and not for slavery, is passed by Congress.
1860 1st US intercollegiate billard match (Harvard vs Yales)
1866 US Grant named 1st general of Army
1868 Territory of Wyoming created
1871 Carrousel patented by Wilhelm Schneider, Davenport, Iowa
1898 1st US troops land & occupy Puerto Rice, at Guanica Bay
1903 Castle on top of Telegraph Hill closes
1909 French aviator Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel in a monoplane, traveling from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.
1912 Comoros proclaimed a French colonies
1913 Carl Weilman strikes out 6 times in a 15 inning game
1913 Pirates Max Carey goes hitless, but scores 5 runs against Phillies
1916 Explosion at Lake Erie & Cleveland Waterworks
1918 Annette Adams sworn in as 1st woman district attorney of US, Calif
1918 Race riot in Chester Pennsylvania (3 blacks & 2 whites killed)
1920 Red Sox turn triple-play, but Ruth's 35th HR leads Yanks to 8-2 win
1930 Phila Athletics triple steal in the 1st & 4th innings vs Cleveland
1935 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1641 Tana
1936 115 acre Orchard Beach opens in the Bronx
1936 G Neujmin discovers asteroid #3761
1939 NY Yankee Atley Donald sets AL rookie record with 12 consecutive win
1940 John Sigmund begins swimming for 89 hrs 46 mins in the Mississippi R
1941 Red Sox Lefty Grove becomes 12th to win 300 games (his last victory)
1943 Benito Mussolini dismissed as premier of Italy during WW II
1944 1st jet fighter used in combat (Messerschmitt 262)
1946 1st bikini is shown at a Paris fashion show
1946 US detonates underwater A-bomb at Bikini (5th atomic explosion)
1947 US Air Force, Navy & War Dept form US Dept of Defense
1947 US Deptartment of the Army created
1949 St Louis Cardinal Stan Musial hits for thew cycle beating Bkln 14-1
1950 Goethe Link Observatory discovers asteroids #1799 Koussevitzky,
#1822 Waterman & #2842
1951 L Boyer discovers asteroid #1714 Sy
1952 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico created (Constitution Day)
1952 Goethe Link Observatory discovers asteroid #1788 Kiess
1953 NYC transit fare rises from 10 to 15, 1st use of subway tokens
1956 Andria Doria collided with MS Stockholm & sank. (7/26?)
1956 Italian liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Stockholm
1956 Jordanians attack UN Palestine truce
1957 Monarchy in Tunisa abolished in favor of a republic
1958 "Sensational" Sherri Martel wins wrestling's WWF woman's title
1961 Maris hits home runs 37, 38, 39 & 40 in a double header
1963 US, Russia & England sign nuclear test ban treaty
1964 Beatles' "Hard Day's Night, A," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 14 weeks
1964 Race riot in Rochester NY
1965 Folk-rock begins, Dylan uses electricity at Newport Folk Festival
1966 Supremes release "You Can't Hurry Love"
1966 Yankee manager Casey Stengel elected to Hall of Fame
1967 Construction begins on SF MUNI METRO (Market Street subway)
1968 H Wroblewski discovers asteroid #1993 Guacolda
1968 Pope Paul VI encyclical On the regulation of birth
1969 70,000 attend Seattle Pop Festival
1969 Edward Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of an accident a week after the Chappaquiddick car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne
1972 NL beats AL 4-3 in 43rd All Star Game (Fulton County Stad, Atlanta)
1972 US health officials concede blacks were used as guinea pigs in
40 year syphillis experiment
1973 George Harrison pays œ1,000,000 tax on his Bangladesh concert & album
1973 USSR launches Mars 5
1974 T Smirnova discovers asteroid #2345 Fucik
1975 "A Chorus Line," longest-running Broadway show (6,137), premiers
1978 Bob Lemon replaces Billy Martin as Yankee manager
1978 Cin Red Pete Rose sets NL record hitting in 38 consecutive games
1978 The first test-tube baby, Louis Brown, is born in Oldham, England.
1981 Voyager 2 encounters Saturn
1983 1st nonhuman primate (baboon) conceived in a lab dish, San Antonio
1983 Washington Public Power Supply System defaulted $2.25 billion
1984 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became 1st woman to walk in space
1985 Spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed he had AIDS
1986 Sikhs extremist kill 16 hindus in Muhktsar India
1986 Former Navy radioman Jerry Whitworth was convicted of selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviets through the John Walker spy ring. The government called it the most damaging espionage since World War II.
1987 Sherri Martel beats Fabulous Moolah for WWF Woman's Championship Belt
1987 USSR launches Kosmos 1870, 15-ton Earth-study satellite
1990 KC Royal George Brett hits for the cycle
1990 Nadezhda Ryashkina of USSR sets 10K walk woman's record (41:56.23)
1990 Roseanne Barr sings the National Anthem at San Diego Padre game
1990 US Ambassador tells Iraq, US won't take sides in Iraq-Kuwait dispute
1991 Howard Stern adds a 4th radio market (Los Angeles)
1991 A deadline for Iraq to provide full details of its weapons of mass destruction passed, with U.S. officials indicating military action was not imminent.
1992 25th Olympic Summer games opens in Barcelona, Spain
1992 Army refuses to overturn 127 year old conviction against Dr Samuel Mudd (Lincoln plot)
1994 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries' 46-year-old formal state of war.
2000 Texas Gov. George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney to be his running mate.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Ancient Rome : Furrinalia
Costa Rica : Annexation of Guanacaste Day/Anexi¢n de Guanacaste
Luiza Puerto Rico : Fiest of Santiago Ap¢stal
Netherlands : Independence Day
Puerto Rico : Constitution Day (1952)
Tunisia : Republic Day (1957)
Virgin Islands : Hurricane Supplication Day - - - - - ( Monday )
Christmas In July.

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Religious Observances
RC, Luth, Ang, Cong : Feast of St James the Elder, apostle
RC : Commemoration of St Christopher, patron of travelers

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Religious History
0325 The Council of Nicea closed. Regarded as the first 'ecumenical council,' its 300attending bishops drafted the Nicene Creed and fixed the formula for Easter Sunday.
1741 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Your extremity shall beGod's opportunity.'
1845 Canadian-born Catholic missionary Fran‡ois Blanchet was consecrated bishop of thePacific Northwest. He devoted 45 years to planting churches, and is remembered today as the'Apostle of Oregon.'
1899 Birth of Stuart K. Hine. While an English missionary to the Ukraine, Hine pennedthe English words to an oft-sung Swedish hymn, known today as 'How Great Thou Art.'
1968 Pope Paul VI published the encyclical 'Humanae Vitae.' It restated the Catholicposition on the family, and condemned all artificial methods of birth control.

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

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Thought for the day :
"Obscenity is the sign of a weak mind trying to express itself."

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Today's 'You Might Be A Redneck If' Joke...
The Home Shopping operator recognizes your voice.

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Murphy's Law of the Day...
The greater the value of the rug, the greater the probability that the cat will throw up on it.

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Cliff Clavin says, It's a little known fact that...
There are about 30 milligrams of caffeine in the average chocolate bar, while a cup of coffee contains around 100 to 150 milligrams.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL.

"Incoming!"

I should have used that as the title for today's thread. ha ha.

I have your freepmail. Many thanks. :)

[Darksheare]

Nothing tells the guys in the different uniform you care more than sending a few HE rounds their way artillery express.

Sam, "We Blow S**t Up!"

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. You and SAM both had a lot of fun with mortars didn't you? :)

Love to hear things go boom!

[Darksheare]

Well, Sam was in mortars, and I was on a howitzer crew.
(Both can do high angle shots. Just one is considerably larger than the other. And definately not man portable;-/)

And yes, there's just something about all artillery types that we like to hear things go boom.
During the Fourth of July we're usually standing around saying: "Were's my howitzer/mortar/Paladin/MLRS? I can make a bigger and louder fireworks display than this. It's not loud enough! and there's no 'splosions!"

That, and I swear that powder smoke was addictive.

[snippy_about_it]

oooh. Howitzer's...big boom, different sound. Perhaps I'll do a thread on howitzers soon so I can learn more.

LOL. I've heard SAM talk about fireworks and the 4th and you're right!

[snippy_about_it]

mmmm, coffee vs. chocolate. I choose coffee. More caffeine, less calories.

[Darksheare]

Helped out some with a small local town's fireworks display, carried rolls of tape and held some wires for the guys setting it up mostly.
The one guy tried to impress me with how loud "This was gonna be."
I told him I had been in field artillery.
At that point his face drooped.
I hope I cheered him up by telling him that the 1812 overture goes well with four howitzers firing on cue to the tune.

(But the blank rounds for the howitzers are guncotton short casings, and they smell different. *pouts some*)

[Valin]

OR...Chocolate in your Coffee!

[SCDogPapa]

Mornin' Snippy!! HEY!! It's Friday!!! Looks like we made it! Have a good weekend. :))

[snippy_about_it]

Woo-hoo for Friday.

Mornin' SC, Good to 'see' you.

[Fiddlstix]

Good Morning Everybody.

You Know The Drill
Click the Pics J

Coffee & Donuts J