The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Will Rogers Jr. & the Battle for St.Vith (Dec/1944) - Oct. 1st, 2003

www.military.com ^ | Calvin C. Boykin, Jr.

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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

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

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

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday"
Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

"Get me Lieutenant Rogers!"

Son of a famous American entertainer,
Lieutenant Will Rogers, Jr.,
distinguished himself on the battlefields of Europe.

Will Rogers was a man for all seasons -- a Cherokee Indian and a cowboy, a champion roper, a leading master of ceremonies and raconteur, a top box office draw and the writer of a daily newspaper column. Born in the Cherokee Nation in 1879, he traveled far and earned the affection of audiences worldwide before his untimely death in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska, in 1935. To this day, he remains a household name.

Following in the footsteps of his famous humorist father proved challenging for Will Rogers, Jr. Nonetheless, the young Rogers strove mightily to match his father's accomplishments. The eldest of four children, he was born in 1911 in New York City while his father was performing with the Ziegfeld Follies.

After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, Rogers attended Stanford University, where he edited an off-campus newspaper, captained the polo team, served on the debating team and set a backstroke swimming record. At college graduation in 1935, Rogers was commissioned a second lieutenant of field artillery. Letting his commission lapse, he purchased The Beverly Hill Citizen newspaper and covered the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent during 1936 and 1937.

Patriotic Duty

Rogers' response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor was twofold. First, as a Democrat he filed for a seat in the 78th Congress, representing the 16th Congressional District of California. Second, he enlisted as a private in the Army. After Officer Candidate School training at Camp Roberts, Calif., Rogers was again commissioned a second lieutenant of field artillery. He was posted to Camp Hood, Texas, where tank-destroying weapons were being developed and units trained.


Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., ca. 1943-1944

Election to Congress required Rogers to leave active service. While in Congress he served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, visited England during the Blitz and helped write the Soldier Voting Bill. Once again seeking military service, however, he resigned from Congress in May 1944 and received reinstatement to active duty and his third commissioning as a second lieutenant. Pressing for combat duty, Rogers was attached to the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, which had reached England in mid-February 1944.

Mr. Rogers Goes To England

Activated on May 22, 1942, at Camp Polk, La., under the command of Colonel Severen T. Wallace, the battalion had moved to Camp Bowie, Texas, then to Camp Hood, where specialized individual and unit training prepared the soldiers to "seek, strike and destroy." At Camp Hood the 750-man battalion came under the command of Lt. Col. Robert Bruce Jones, a Georgia attorney and reserve officer. The 814th completed maneuvers in Louisiana in late 1943.

When it reached England, the 814th, equipped with 36 M10 tank destroyers, constituted a powerful anti-tank force. The M10 was diesel-powered and thinly armored, with an open-topped turret based on a standard Sherman M4A3 medium tank chassis. It was highly mobile and sported a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. The Reconnaissance Company's main weapon was the Greyhound M8 light armored car, equipped with a 37mm gun and a coaxially mounted .30-caliber machine gun, while Headquarters Company had the M20 armored car, equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun.


M10 with 3" Gun
3in GMC M10 - Over 6000 were built in the USA. The British version was called the Wolverine. The basis was the M2A3/4 tank chasis. The hull was sloped and the turrent was partially counter-balanced. The M7 gun had a flat trajectory and was extremely accurate. This exceptional fighting vehicle saw action throughout the ETO.

Second Lieutenant Will Rogers, Jr., arrived shortly before the 814th moved from the English Midlands to a marshaling area on England's southern coast. Word spread that Will Rogers' son had joined the battalion, and many of the 814th gathered to watch him take command of 1st Platoon, Reconnaissance Company. The troops had a deep respect for Will Rogers, although they wondered whether his son could handle a combat leadership role.

Big Shoes To Fill

The 814th acted as service troops in England during the Normandy invasion in June 1944, but their time came in August, when they loaded up on LSTs (landing ships, tank). On August 8, 1944, the 814th landed at Utah Beach, and on August 11 the battalion was attached to the 7th Armored Division, part of General George Patton's Third Army. Major General Lindsay MacDonald Silvester, commander of the 7th Armored, split the 814th among his three combat commands, and the division began its advance across France. On numerous occasions, Rogers' 1st Platoon was assigned to lead the armor in the breakout from the hedgerows of Normandy


The M8 light armored car was the only armored car used by the US Army in combat during World War II. Originally developed for the Tank Destroyer force. Approx. 420 M8 armored cars were used primarily by Bn Recon Co.
A command and utility version of the M8, the M20 armored utility car, also saw extensive use during the war.

When the artillery of the 7th Armored fired on the city of Chartres, the order was passed down to spare its historic sites. Many former members of the 814th believe that the word to spare the Chartres cathedral came from none other than Lieutenant Rogers.

Touring Historic France

After reaching the World War I battlefields of Château-Thierry and Verdun, Patton's Third Army ran out of fuel. Members of the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion later related how, encouraged by Rogers, some soldiers took advantage of this interlude to tour the historic site. They first visited the American Cemetery at St. Mihiel, then moved on to La Tranchée des Batonettes, where a trench cave-in during the Battle of Verdun had left no trace of the French soldiers in it save for their bayonets. Leading his reconnaissance platoon on patrol over a road through the World War I battlefield, replete with shell-pocks, trenches and barbed wire, Rogers conducted an impromptu history lesson over his radio. As he was explaining how a million men fell in the conflict between the French and the Germans, the sharp bark of his task force commander interrupted him: "Lieutenant Rogers -- let's fight one war at a time!"


Lieutenant Rogers and one of his noncommissioned officers, Sergeant Dwayne Deutcher, survey the French countryside. (Courtesy of Michael Deutcher)

When it was once again able to advance, the 7th Armored Division, including the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, suffered heavy losses in its attempts to take the fortress city of Metz on the Moselle River. Relieved by the 5th Infantry Division, the 7th Armored was attached to the First Army and, on September 25, began convoying to an assembly area near Maastricht, Holland.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning. I've printed out today's thread so I can read it during my meeting. LOL!

[Darksheare]

Uh oh..

[Valin]

Birthdates which occurred on October 01:
1207 Henry III king of England (1216-72)
1685 Charles VI Holy Roman emperor (1711-40)
1746 John Muhlenberg Lutheran pastor/general/congressman
1760 William Beckford British writer (Epsiodes of Vathek)
1781 James Lawrence naval hero (War of 1812-"Don't give up the ship!")
1791 Sergey Aksakov Russia, novelist (Chronicles of a Russian Family)
1799 Rufus Choate US, lawyer (Hall of Fame)
1832 Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison 1st wife of Benjamin Harrison
1835 William H "Red" Jackson Brig Gen (7th Tennessee Cavalry)
1837 Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during America's Civil War.
1847 Annie Besant [Wood], England, philosopher/thesophist
1865 Paul Dukas Paris France, composer (Vell‚da)
1881 William Edward Boeing founded aircraft co (Boeing)
1885 Louis Untermeyer NYC, poet/critic (Immortal Poems, Story Poems)
1890 Stanley Holloway London England, actor (Higgins-Our Man Higgins)
1893 Faith Baldwin New Rochelle NY, author/novelist (They Who Love)
1903 "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom NYC, light-heavyweight box champ (1932-34)
1904 Vladimir Horowitz Kiev Ukraine, pianist (Carmen)
1907 Hiram Fong (Sen-Cal)
1909 Sam Yorty (Mayor-LA)
1911 Edward P Boland (Rep-D-Mass)
1911 Irwin Kostal Chicago Ill, orchestra leader (Garry Moore Show)
1911 Richard Torriani Switzerland, took 1948 Olympic oath
1914 Daniel Boorstin author (1974 Pulitzer Prize)
1920 Lonny Chapman Tulsa Okla, actor (Investigator, For the People)
1920 Walter Matthau NYC, actor (Odd Couple, Bad News Bears)
1921 James Whitmore White Plains NY, actor (Give 'em Hell Harry)
1924 Jimmy Earl Carter (D) 39th Pres (1977-1981)
1924 William Rehnquist Ws, Supreme Court (1972-86)/chief justice (1987- )
1927 Tom Bosley Chicago, actor (Howard-Happy Days, Murder She Wrote)
1928 George Peppard Detroit Mich, actor (Banacek, A-Team, Blue Max)
1928 Laurence Harvey actor (Alamo, Romeo & Juliet)
1930 Richard Harris actor (A Man Called Horse), singer (MacArthur Park)
1935 Julie Andrews England, actress/singer (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins)
1936 Charles G Fullerton Rochester, NY, astronaut (STS-3, 51F)
1936 Edward Villella US, ballet dancer (NYC Ballet)
1936 Stella Stevens Yazoo City Miss, actress (Girls! Girls!, Manitou)
1945 Donny Hathaway Chicago, singer/songwriter (Where is the Love)
1945 Rod Carew baseball slugger (AL Rookie of the Year 1967)
1946 Eva Klobukowska Poland, relay (Olympic-gold-1964)
1947 Stephen Collins Des Moines Iowa, actor (Star Trek I, Tattingers)
1948 Ellen McIlwaine Nashville, blues singer (Honky Tonky Angel)
1949 Annie Leibovitz photographer (Rolling Stones)
1950 Randy Quaid Houston Tx, actor (Midnight Express, Vacation, SNL)
1953 Greta Waitz Norway, marathon runner (NYC)
1960 Elizabeth Dennehy actress (Guiding Light)
1962 Trevor Baxter record holder for high jumping with a skateboard
1963 Beth Chamberlin Danville Vt, actress (Beth Spaulding-Guiding Light)
1963 Mark McGwire Oakland A's (AL rookie of year 1988)
1968 Jay Underwood actor (The Boy Who Could Fly)

---

Deaths which occurred on October 01:
0290 [Christian] Bacchus, Roman soldier/martyred saint, killed
0540 Vedastus St Vaast, 1st bishop of Atrecht/saint, dies
0976 Al-Hakam II, Moors kalief of Cordoba, dies
1404 Boniface IX, [Pietro Tomacelli], Pope (1389-1404), dies
1578 Don Juan d'Austria, Spanish land guardian of Netherlands, dies at 31
1807 John Muhlenberg Lutheran pastor, dies on his 61st birthday
1961 Donald Cook actor (Too Young To Go Steady), dies at 60
1965 Edward E "Doc" Smith, US, sci-fi writer (Subspace encounter), dies
1968 - Marcel Duchamp, French painter (Descending an Escalator), dies
1972 Louis Leakey anthropologist, dies at 68
1973 Joe Devlin actor (Sam-Dick Tracy), dies at 74
1985 Charlotte White, US author (New Yorker, Charlotte's Web), dies at 86
1990 Curtis E LeMay USAF General, dies at 83

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 MASSUCCI MARTIN J. ROYAL OAK MI.
1965 OFFUTT GARY PHELPS STEWARTVILLE MO.
[REMAINS RETURNED 03/97]
1965 SCHARF CHARLES J. SAN DIEGO CA.
1966 NIX COWAN GLENN TAMPA FL.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]

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

---

On this day...
2016 BC Origin of Era of Abraham
331BC Alexander the Great decisively shatters King Darius III's Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a tactical masterstroke that leaves him master of the Persian Empire.
110 -BC- Origin of Sidonian Era
366 St Damasus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1529 Meeting between Martin Luther & Huldrych Zwingli
1588 The feeble Sultan Mohammed Shah of Persia, hands over power to his 17-year old son Abbas.
1661 Yachting begins in England; King Charles II beats his brother James
1688 Prince William III accept invitation of English crown
1791 1st session of the new French legislative assembly
1800 Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty
1837 "Racer's" Hurricane (Gulf of Mexico)
1837 Treaty with Winnebago Indians
1847 Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet
1851 1st Hawaiian stamps issued
1869 1st postcards are issued (Vienna)
1878 General Lew Wallace is sworn in as governor of New Mexico Territory. He went on to deal with the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid and write Ben-Hur. His Civil War heroics earned him the moniker Savior of Cincinnati.
1879 Cincinnati Enquirer publishes 1st report on baseball reserve clause
1885 Special delivery mail service begins in US
1886 US mint at Carson City, Nevada closes
1889 Washington voters adopt state constitution in referendum
1890 Yosemite National Park established
1893 3rd worst hurricane in US history kills 1,800 (Mississippi)
1894 Civic organization, Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben founded in Omaha, Nebraska
1896 Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Veiled Lodger" takes place (BG)
1898 Henry Huntington buys the LA Railway
1898 Jews are expelled from Kiev Russia
1903 The first World Series opened in Boston. The Boston Pilgrims of the American League vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates won, 7-3. However, Boston would go on to win the series, five games to three.
1908 - Henry Ford introduced the Model T automobile to the market. The Model-T came in many colors --all of them black. (costs $825)
1908 Jack Chesbro's final Yankee victory, beats Walter Johnson 2-1
1910 Berkshire Cattle Fair held in Pittsfield Mass (1st state fair)
1912 Yanks lose game #100 en route to a 50-102 season
1919 World Series #16 begins as a best of 9 affair, White Sox intentionally throw this series to satisfy gamblers (The Black Sox Scandal)
1921 1st all NY series to be played entirely in 1 stadium (the Polo Grounds) & 1st NY Yankee World Series begins (World Series #18)
1922 Former Chicago Staleys play 1st NFL game as Chicago Bears, win 6-0
1928 Leon Vanderstuyft of Belgium bicycled 76 miles 504 yards in 1 hour
1932 Babe Ruth's points & hits a HR there, off of Cubs Charlie Root
1932 NHL readmits Ottawa & drops Pittsburgh
1932 Oswald Mosley forms British Union of Fascists
1933 Packers make 5 1st downs, the Giants make 0, but still win 10-7
1933 Wash Senator coach Nick Altrock plays in a game at age 57
1936 Gen Francisco Franco establishes the state of Spain
1937 Pullman Co formally recognizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
1938 Germany annexes Sudetenland (1/3 of Czechoslovakia)
1939 Winston Chruchill refers to Soviet policy as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
1940 Pennsylvania Turnpike, pioneer toll thruway, opens
1942 Little Golden Books (children books) begins publishing
1942 Bell P-59 Airacomet fighter, 1st US jet, makes maiden flight
1943 Allied forces captured Naples during WW II
1944 Newspaper editor Alejandro C¢rdova assassinated in Guatemala
1944 St Louis Browns win their only AL pennant
1944 Experiments begin on homosexuals at Buchenwald
1945 Heavyweight champ Joe Louis is discharged from the army
1946 1st NL playoffs, Dodgers vs Cards (St Louis wins 2 games to 0)
1946 Bob Feller 348th strikeout of the season
1946 Twelve Nazi war criminals are sentenced to be hanged at Nuremberg trials---Karl Donitz, Hermann Goring, Alfred Jodl, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachin von Ribbentrop, Fritz Saukel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, and Alfred Rosenberg.
1947 1st helicopter air mail & express service, LA, Ca
1947 NHL Pension Society founded
1947 US control of Haitian customs & governmental revenue ends
1948 Calif Supreme Court voids state statute banning interracial marriages
1948 Radio Denmark begins transmitting
1949 People's Republic of China proclaimed by Mao Tse-tung (National Day)
1949 Republic of China (Taiwan) forms on the island of Formosa
1950 Phillies win NL pennant on last day of season (10th inning HR)
1951 1st treaty signed by woman ambassador-Eugenie Anderson
1951 24th Infantry Regiment, last all-black military unit, deactivated
1952 1st ultra high frequency (UHF) television station, Portland Or
1953 Indian state of Andhra Pradesh partitioned from Madras
1954 British colony of Nigeria becomes a federation
1955 "Honeymooners" premieres
1956 Johnny Heckmann rides 7 winners at Chicago Hawthorne Horse track
1957 B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of USSR attack
1958 Britain transfers Christmas Island (south of Java) to Australia
1958 Inauguration of NASA
1958 Vanguard Project transferred from military to NASA
1959 1st World Series (World Series #56) since 1948 not to feature a NY team (LA vs Chic)
1960 Nigeria gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1961 A believed extinct volcanco erupts in Tristan da Cunha
1961 East & West Cameroon merge as Federal Republic of Cameroon
1961 Roger Maris sets record of 61 HRs, last off of Tracy Stallard
1962 Barbra Streisand signs her 1st recording contract (with Columbia)
1962 Brian Epstein signs a contract to manage the Beatles through 1977
1962 James Meredith became 1st black at U of Mississippi
1962 Johnny Carson hosts his 1st Tonight Show, Joan Crawford guests
1962 The Lucy Show premiers
1962 US National Radio Astronomy Obs gets a 300' (91m) radio telescope
1963 Nigeria becomes a republic within the Commonwealth
1964 Free Speech Movement launched at U of California, Berkley
1964 SF cable cars declared a national landmark
1968 "Night of the Living Dead" premieres in Pittsburgh
1969 Guernsey & Jersey begin issuing their own postage stamps
1970 Last game at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, Phils-2 Expos-1
1971 Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opens
1972 1st games of the World Hockey Association
1973 Leo Durocher resigns as Houston Astro manager
1975 Britain grants internal self-government to Seychelles
1975 Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands, take name "Tuvalu"
1975 Reunion Island stops prints stamps, France takes over production
1975 Muhammad Ali TKOs Joe Frazier in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1977 Brazilian soccer great Pele' retires with 1,281 goals in 1,363 games
1977 Yanks win 2nd consecutive AL East title
1978 Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) gains independence from Britain
1978 Yanks lose 9-2 to Indians forcing a playoff game with Red Sox
1979 US returns Canal Zone to Panama after 75 years (but not the canal)
1980 Cosmonauts Ryumin & Popov break space endurance record of 176 days
1982 EPCOT Center opens in Orlando Florida
1982 West Germany's Parliament ousts chancellor Helmut Schmidt
1984 Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip resumes after 2-year hiatus
1984 Peter Ueberroth replaces Bowie Kuhn as 6th commissioner of baseball
1986 President Carter's presidential library/museum dedicated in Atlanta
1987 6 killed by an earthquake measuring 6.1 in LA
1988 Lowest batting avg for NL champion (Tony Gwynn .313)
1988 Robert Englund the actor who plays Freddie Kruger weds Nancy Booth
1989 Dallas Cowboy, Ed "Too Tall" Jones records his 1,000th NFL tackle
1988 Mikhail Gorbachev became president of Soviet Union
1989 Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany
1989 US issues a stamp, labeling an apatosaurus as a brontosaurus
1990 Pres Bush at the UN, condemns Iraq's takeover of Kuwait
1991 Howard Stern adds Baltimore to his radio network (WJFK-AM)
1992 A missile accidentally fired by the U.S.S. Saratoga struck a Turkish destroyer in the Aegean Sea, killing nine Turkish sailors.
1992 Dallas billionaire Ross Perot formally announced his independent candidacy for the presidency.
1995 10 Muslims were convicted of conspiring to conduct a terrorist campaign in the New York City area aimed at forcing the United States to drop its support of Egypt and Israel.
1996 A federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the 1994 mail bomb slaying of an ad executive.
2000 Israeli troops battled Palestinians as riots continued to rage through the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said peace talks were "on the shelf" and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for an emergency Arab summit as renewed violence between Israelis and Palestinians continued.

---

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

Burma : Bank Holiday
Cameroon : Unification Day (1961)
Cyprus & Tuvalu-1978 : National Day
Nigeria : Independence Day (1960, 1963)
Omaha, Nebraska : Ak-Sar-Ben Day (1894)
South Korea : Armed Forces Day
Spain : Day of Caudillo (1936)
US : Agricultural Fair Day (1810)
World : Vegetarian Day
Massachusetts : Grandparents Day (Sunday)
Missouri : Missouri Day (Monday)
World : Child Health Day, Universal Children's Day (1928) (Monday)
China PR : Liberation Day (1949)
Vegetarian Day.
(it's not no much that I love animals but I hate plants)
International Day for the Elderly
Family History Awareness Month
Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month

---

Religious Observances
Ang, RC : St Remigius, bishop of Rheims, confessor
RC : Memorial of St Th‚rŠse of the Child Jesus-Little Flower
Jewish : Erev Rosh Hashanah-New Year's Eve (last day of the year)

---

Religious History
1883 American churchman A. B. Simpson founded the first school in America to train missionaries, in New York City. Called the Missionary Training Institute in 1894, its name was changed to Nyack College in 1972.
1889 Birth of Ralph W. Sockman, American scholar and devotional writer. His best-remembered poem begins: "I met God in the morning, when my day was at its best...."
1921 The Latin American Mission was incorporated in Philadelphia by founders Harry and Susan Strachan. Today, over 125 staff work with LAM in eight Central and South American countries.
1946 World Literature Crusade was founded in Saskatchewan, Canada, by Rev. Jack McAlister (president 1946-79). This mission is engaged primarily in Bible distribution, church planting and Bible correspondence courses.
1957 Representatives from 49 churches met in Roseville, MI, to begin organizing the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. The organization officially came into being the following month.

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

---

Thought for the day :
"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside"

---

You might be a bad cook if...
the dog goes to the neighbors' to eat.

---

Murphys Law of the day...
Schmidt's Law:
Never eat prunes when you're hungry
(think about it)

---

It's a little known fact that...
Hostess Twinkies were invented in 1931 by James Dewar, manager of Continental Bakeries' Chicago factory. He envisioned the product as a way of using the company's thousands of shortcake pans which were otherwise employed only during the strawberry season. Originally called Little Shortcake Fingers, they were renamed Twinkie Fingers, and finally "Twinkies."

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you SAM. I learned a lot today.

Interesting read on Will Rogers Jr. I didn't know he committed suicide, that's a shame he chose that way to go.

I also now know what an M8 Greyhound is, (I believe I was firing those in SP, no wonder the Germans were destroying them). LOL.

Leading his reconnaissance platoon on patrol over a road through the World War I battlefield, replete with shell-pocks, trenches and barbed wire, Rogers conducted an impromptu history lesson over his radio.

Sounds like something you'd do!

[Valin]

An hour later they reached the main highway running west from Vielsalm. There they found a lone soldier digging a foxhole. Armed with bazooka and rifle, unshaven and filthy, he went about his business with a stoic nonchalance. They pulled up to him and stopped. He didn't seem to care about the refugees. "If yer lookin for a safe place," he said, "just pull that vehicle behind me. I'm the 82nd Airborne. This is as far as the bastards are going."

It ain't bragging if you can back it up.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Valin.

You might be a bad cook if...
the dog goes to the neighbors' to eat.

Mine would go anyway, they always act like they are starving!

[Johnny Gage]

Air Power
Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt"

For 8 full pages of a detailed history about this remarkable aircraft please visit: The P-47 Thunderbolt

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt originated from the drawing board of Alexander Kartveli of the Seversky Aircraft Corporation (later renamed Republic Aviation). The Thunderbolt is consistently rated as one of the three outstanding USAAF fighters of World War II-- rated right up there along with the North American P-51 Mustang and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The P-47 was built in larger numbers than any other American fighter, 15,683 examples rolling off the assembly line before production finally ended.

This multi-role fighter, affectionately know as the JUG, was the largest, heaviest, most destructive, single engine aircraft used during World War II. The P-47 excelled in close ground support and aerial combat.

At one time during the heady days of 1944, there were no less than 31 front-line fighter groups flying Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts fought on all fronts in World War 2, including Alaska. Approximately two-thirds of all Thunderbolts built actually reached operational units overseas. In two and a half years of combat, from March 1943 to August 1945, these Thunderbolts flew over half a million combat missions, destroying over 12,000 enemy aircraft both in the air and on the ground, as against a total of 5222 Thunderbolts lost, only 824 of them in the heat of combat. This corresponded to 54 percent of the Thunderbolts which went overseas being eventually lost either to enemy action or to accidents, which was a fairly typical attrition rate for a wartime fighter. Losses of Thunderbolts on operational missions were 0.7 percent of those dispatched, an exceptionally low figure.

Throughout WW II, the P-47 served in nearly every active war theater as well as for the forces of numerous Allied nations.

By the end of the war, the Thunderbolt had established an overall ratio of air-to-air combat victories to losses of 4.6 to 1. Thunderbolts dropped 132,482 tons of bombs, fired 59,567 rockets, and expended 135 million belts of machine gun ammunition.

SPECIFICIATIONS:
Contractor: Republic Aviation Corp
Primary Function: Pursuit (fighter)
Crew: One
Unit Cost: $85,000 -- P-47D

Dimensions
Wing Span: 40 feet - 9 inches
Length: 36 feet - 2 inches
Gross Weight: Over 20,000 lbs
POWER PLANT: Pratt & Whitney R2800, Turbo-Supercharged, 18 cylinder air cooled radial engine rate at over 2,000 horsepower.

Performance
Speed: 433 mph (697 km/h)
Ceiling: 42,000 ft -- P-47D
Range: 1,725 miles (2,776 km)

ARMAMENT:
Eight Browning .50 caliber wing mounted machine guns
Over 2,000 lbs of other ordinance such as bombs, rockets and napalm.

DESIGNER: Alexander Kartveli
FIRST FLIGHT: May 6th, 1941
TOTAL BUILT: 15,683

WORLD WAR II COMBAT RECORD:
Enemy Vehicles Destroyed: 160,000
Enemy Aircraft Destroyed: 11,874
Enemy Trains Destroyed: 9,000

---

---

---

---

All photos Copyright of GLobalAircraft.com and Aviation-History.com

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Snip & Sam~

After connecting the wires, Rogers aimed, fired and his rocket hit the tank. When the smoke began to clear, Rogers saw the tank commander open the hatch and look around as the tank backed away...undamaged.

There has to be a one-liner somewhere in this!

[Light Speed]

They managed to load the rocket launcher, but their first attempt to fire failed. They had forgotten to attach the wires. After connecting the wires, Rogers aimed, fired and his rocket hit the tank. When the smoke began to clear, Rogers saw the tank commander open the hatch and look around as the tank backed away...undamaged.

Safer moment...souvenir time

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning in the Fox Hole!

[Light Speed]

Mig gets a hold of Do 117 over Russian front...Print by Stan Stokes

[w_over_w]

1992 Dallas billionaire Ross Perot formally announced his independent candidacy for the presidency.

And the country would go on to elect William Jefferson Clinton it's first coward, rapist, conartist and impeached President.

1928 John Mines would purchase a closed 500 acre beanfield between Irvine and Del Mar and call it "Mines Field". Which today we all know as LAX!

[Darksheare]

Morning!

[SAMWolf]

You're welcome. Have "fun" in "kindergarten" today. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Good morning E.G.C.. Overcast and cool today.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Pippin. Nice to see you drop in today.

[SAMWolf]

Morning GailA. I want one!

[SAMWolf]

Hi Mayor.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Manna.

[SAMWolf]

Morning SCDogPapa.

"Will Rogers never meet the clintons"