USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Dear Soldier: You don't know me, but... ~ October 6 2003

Canteen Co-Captain LindaSOG and A Grateful American

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom?
Support The United States Armed Forces Today!

Dear Soldier:

You don’t know me, but I know you.  You were the boy next door, the kid who delivered my paper, the skinny girl in my daughter’s gymnastics class.  You played ball with my son and worked summers at my favorite burger joint.  We have probably never met, but I know you.

	You are a brother, sister, favorite niece or nephew, and someone’s best friend.  You are the child of parents who love you more than they can explain, feel pride words can’t carry, and bear a weight of worry they never dreamed possible.

There are probably a thousand things you’d rather be doing than what is before you now or what may be asked of you soon.  Combat is always possible when one wears the uniform, yet you donned it with full knowledge of the risks.  Not everyone would do it; I, for instance, did not.  Perhaps I’d make a different choice today but this time the decision was yours.  You chose to serve.

The type of people we consider heroes is kind of odd when you think about it:  athletes chasing records, movie stars and musicians, some of whom likely adorn posters in your old room back home.  Yet these folks rarely sacrifice more than time and effort, pursuing ambitions that profit only themselves.    There’s nothing wrong with that in itself; it’s what most of us do in some form or another.  It’s just not the stuff of heroes.   You, on the other hand, hazard your life for a wage that has many military families on food stamps.  You wager it for an ideal and a way of life, not wealth or fame.  If the chips fall wrong, the price you pay is for others.

Who’s the hero?  We’ll probably never know your name; I suspect you don’t care.  My own children are just short of military age but I have raised them to do what is right because it is right, not for gain, glory, or even gratitude.  If these things come, so much the better.  If not, your success is no less because personal reward wasn’t the object in the first place.

	Despite a few noisy voices, history shows the price of freedom is nothing less than blood.  It is not bought so much as leased, a fact some have forgotten after years of relative peace and the increasingly unrestrained license that has come to pass for liberty.  I admit some of us thought your generation might be the first to lose sight of that altogether.  We were wrong, and I’m glad.

I’d have written sooner but I’ve been pretty busy. If that sounds shallow, I suppose it is.  At least it finally occurred to me I have the luxury of busyness with career and family because you and hundreds of thousands like you are willing suit up, ship out, and take your chances.  Seeing your young face on television, a face I have seen at the playground and on the high school volleyball team and in the grocery store, drives home how very much you have on the line.  The least I can do is drop a note to say thanks.

	I do know you, and I know your family.  I know how anxious they are and how much they want for your future.  I understand how tremendously proud they are.  The rest of us are too, even if we’re too wrapped up enjoying the freedoms you protect to remember to say it.

Please look after yourself and be as careful as you can.  I will be praying for you and your family.  We all want you home safe.    A Grateful American

 

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good morning to everyone at the Freeper Canmteen and to all of our military personal at home and abroad. Thanks for your continued service to our country.

This is a big sports week for us. It's the week of the O.U. Texas game at Dallas on Saturday. How's everyody else doing?

[The Mayor]

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Oregon (BB-3)

Indiana class battleship
displacement. 11,688
length. 351'2"
beam. 69'3"
draft. 24'0"
speed. 16 k.
complement. 473
armament. 4 13", 8 8", 4 6", 20 6-pdr., 6 1-pdr., 6 18" tt.

USS Oregon (Battleship No. 3) was laid down 19 November 1891 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif.; launched 26 October 1893; sponsored by Miss Daisy Ainsworth; and commissioned 15 July 1896, Capt. Henry L. Howison in command.

After commissioning, Oregon was fitted out for duty on the Pacific Station, where she served for a short time. Leaving drydock on 16 February 1898, she received news that Maine had blown up in Havana harbor the previous day. As tensions with Spain grew, on 9 March Oregon arrived in San Francisco and loaded ammunition. Three days later she was ordered on what was to become one of the most historic voyages ever undertaken by a Navy ship.

Oregon departed San Francisco on 19 March for Callao, Peru, the first coaling stop on her trip around South America to the East Coast for action in the impending war with Spain. Arriving at Callao 4 April and departing several days later, her commanding officer, Capt. Charles E. Clark, elected not to stop at Valparaiso, Chile, for coal but to continue on through the Straits of Magellan. On 16 April Oregon entered the Straits and ran into a terrific gale which obscured the perilously close rocky coastline. For a time she was in great danger, but just after dark she let go her anchors on a rocky shelf fringed by islets and reefs, and safely weathered the night. Before dawn on the 17th, the gale moderated and Oregon proceeded around Cape Forward to Punta Arenas, where she was joined by gunboat Marietta, also sailing to the East Coast.

Both ships coaled and departed on the 21st for Rio de Janeiro, keeping their guns manned all the while for a Spanish torpedo boat rumored to be in the area. Head seas and winds delayed them, and they did not reach Rio until 30 April. There Oregon received news of the declaration of war against Spain, and on 4 May she left on the next leg of her remarkable journey. With a brief stop in Bahia, Brazil, she arrived at Barbados for coal on 18 May, and, on the 24th, anchored off Jupiter Inlet, Fla., reporting ready for battle. Altogether, Oregon had sailed over 14,000 miles since leaving San Francisco 66 days earlier. On one hand the feat had demonstrated the many capabilities of a heavy battleship in all conditions of wind and sea. On the other it swept away all opposition for the construction of the Panama Canal, for it was then made clear that the country could not afford to take two months to send warships from one coast to the other each time an emergency arose.

On 26 May Oregon proceeded to the Navy Base at Key West, joined Admiral Sampson's fleet two days later, and on 1 June arrived off Santiago, Cuba, to shell military installations and to help in the destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet on 3 July. Oregon then went to the New York Navy Yard for a refit., and in October sailed for the Asiatic station.

She arrived at Manila on 18 March 1899 and remained in the area until the following February. In cooperating with the Army during the Philippine insurrection, the battleship performed blockade duty in Manila Bay and off Lingayen Gulf, served as a station ship, and aided in the capture of Vigan.

Departing Cavite 13 February 1900, Oregon cruised in Japanese waters until May when she went to Hong Kong. Under orders then to proceed to Taku on account of the Boxer Rebellion, she departed 23 June for that northern port; and, on the 28th, while steaming through the Straits of Pechili, she grounded on an uncharted rock. Suffering some damage and taking on water, the battleship was in a precarious situation for a week. On 5 July Oregon refloated and the following day was towed to Hope Sound for temporary repair. Arriving Kure, Japan, on 17 July she was placed in dry dock at the naval station there for final repairs.

On 29 August 1900 the battleship departed again for the coast of China and cruised off the Yangtze River and served as station ship at Woosung. On 5 May 1901 she got underway for the United States. Sailing via Yokohama and Honolulu, she arrived at San Francisco 12 June and entered Puget Sound Navy Yard on 6 July for overhaul.

Remaining in the Puget Sound area for well over a year, it was not until 18 March 1903 that Oregon returned to Asiatic waters, and arrived in Hong Kong on that day. Visiting various Chinese, Japanese, and Philippine ports, the battleship remained in the Far East until returning to the West Coast in February 1906. She decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard 27 April that year.

Oregon recommissioned 29 August 1911, but remained in reserve until October, when she sailed to San Diego. The following years were ones of relative inactivity for the aging veteran, as she operated out of West Coast ports. On 9 April 1913 she was placed in ordinary at Bremerton, Wash., and on 16 September 1914 went into a reserve status, although she remained in commission. On 2 January 1915 she was again in full commission and sailed to San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. From 11 February 1916 to 7 April 1917 she was placed in commission in reserve, this time at San Francisco. Returned to full commission again on the latter date, Oregon remained first on the West Coast, then acted as one of the escorts for transports of the Siberian expedition. With World War I over, on 12 June 1919 she decommissioned at Bremerton. From 21 August to 4 October of that year she recommissioned briefly and was the reviewing ship for President Woodrow Wilson during the arrival of the Pacific Fleet at Seattle.

With the adoption of ship classification symbols on 17 July 1920, Oregon was redesignated BB-3. In 1921 a movement was begun to preserve the battleship as an object of historic and sentimental interest, and to lay her up permanently at some port in Oregon.

In accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty, Oregon was rendered incapable of further warlike service on 4 January 1924, and was retained on the Navy List as a naval relic with a classification of "unclassified." In June 1925 she was loaned to t he State of Oregon, restored, and moored at Portland as a floating monument and museum, to be visited by thousands in the ensuing years.

On 17 February 1941, when identifying numbers were assigned to unclassified vessels, Oregon was redesignated IX-22. With the outbreak of World War II, it was deemed that the scrap value of the old veteran was vital and necessary to the war effort of the nation. Accordingly, she was struck from the Navy List on 2 November 1942 and sold on 7 December. Towed to Kalima, Wash., the following March for dismantling the Navy requested that the scrapping process be halted when progress reached the main deck and after the ship's interior had been cleared out. She was returned to the Navy to be use as a storage hulk or breakwater in connection with the reconquest of Guam, and by July 1944 she had been loaded with dynamite and other types of ammunition and towed to that island.

The hulk of the old battleship remained at Guam for several years; during a typhoon on 14-15 November 1948, she broke her moorings and drifted to sea. Finally, on 8 December, the old warrior was located by search planes some 500 miles south east of Guam and towed back. She was sold on 15 March 1956 to the Massey Supply Corp.; resold to the Iwai Sanggo Co.; towed to Kawasaki, Japan; and scrapped.

USS Oregon (IX-22) at Guam in 1945.

[minor49er]

Good Morning everyone!!! Good Morning troops!!! Here is today's humor attempt.

A young naval student was being put through the paces by an old sea captain.

"What would you do if a sudden storm sprang up on the starboard?"

"Throw out an anchor, sir," the student replied.

"What would you do if another storm sprang up aft?"

"Throw out another anchor, sir."

"And if another terrific storm sprang up forward, what would you do then?" asked the captain.

"Throw out another anchor, sir."

"Hold on," said the captain. "Where are you getting all those anchors from?"

"From the same place you're getting your storms, sir."

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on October 06:
1552 Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (China)
1820 Jenny Lind Sweden, soprano/nightingale (Agathe-Der Freischultz)
1824 Henry Chadwick baseball pioneer, developed 1st rule book
1831 Richard Dedekind mathematician (Nature & Meaning of Numbers)
1846 George Westinghouse, prolific inventor, held over 100 patents on creations including air brakes for trains.
1849 Sir Basil Zaharoff arms dealer, "merchant of death"
1862 Albert Jeremiah Beveridge US, politician/author (Progressive)
1866 Reginald Aubrey Fessenden broadcast 1st program of voice & music
1882 Karol Szymanowski Timoshovka Ukraine, composer (Stabatmater)
1884 Lloyd Spooner US, marksman (Olympic-4 gold/1 silver/2 bronze-1920)
1887 Le Corbusier Switzerland, architect/city planner/artist (Urbanisme)
1887 Mart¡n Luis Guzm n Mexico, novelist (The Eagle & the Serpent)
1888 Li Ta-chao cofounder with Mao Tse-tung of Chinese Communist Party
1895 Caroline Gordon Kentucky, writer (Green Centuries)
1897 Jerome Cowan NYC, actor (Mr Dithers-Blondie, Tab Hunter Show)
1905 Helen N Moody tennis pro (8 Wimbledon titles 1927-1938)
1906 Janet Gaynor Philadelphia, actress (Sunrise, A Star Is Born)
1909 Carol Lombard actress (My Man Godfrey, In Name Only)
1914 Thor Heyerdahl Norway, anthropologist/explorer (Kon Tiki, Aku-Aku)
1925 Shana Alexander NYC, journalist (60 Minutes)
1926 Alan Copeland LA Calif, orch leader/singer (Your Hit Parade)
1927 Paul Badura-Skoda Vienna Austria, pianist (Mozart Interpretation)
1930 Hafez al Assad president (Syria)
1936 Anna Quayle actress (Mistress Pamela)
1940 Ellen Travolta Englewood NJ, actress (Louise-Joanie Loves Chachi)
1942 Britt Ekland Stockholm Sweden, actress (Wicker Man, Asylum)
1942 Fred Travalena NYC, comedian/impressionist (Buy & Cell)
1943 Michael Durrell Brooklyn NY, actor (Shannon, V, Alice, Chiefs)
1946 Gary Gentry baseball player (NY Mets)
1947 Klaus Dibiasi Italy, platform diver (Olympic-gold-1968, 72, 76)
1960 Jeffrey Trachta Staten Island NY, actor (Thorne-Bold & Beautiful)
1960 Richard Jobson British TV person/rocker (Skids-Scared to Dance)

---

Deaths which occurred on October 06:
0877 Charles II the Kale, King of France/Roman emperor (875-77), dies at 54
1072 Sancho II, king of Castilia (1065-72), murdered
1891 Charles Stewart Parnell leader of the Irish party, dies
1892 Alfred Tennyson, writer/poet laureate, dies at 83
1951 Henry Gurney British high commissioner to Malaya assassinated
1956 Walter Herlihy announcer (Music at Meadowbrook), dies at 42
1969 Walter Hagen PGA golfer (US Open 1914, 19), dies at 76
1975 Henry Calvin actor (Sgt Garcia-Zorro), dies at 57
1981 Anwar Sadat assassinated Hosnai Mubarak becomes Egytian president
1983 Terence Cooke NY's Cardinal, dies at 62
1989 Bette Davis dies at 81

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1962 ANDERSON THOMAS EDWARD SPENARD AK.
1966 JOHNSON WILLIAM EDWARD TALLAHASSEE FL.
[01/14/69 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1966 MAKOWSKI LOUIS FRANK WAUCHULA FL.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1966 MOSER DAVID LLOYD GEORG MCKEESPORT PA.
[01/69 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1966 PFEIFER RONALD EDWIN BELLEROSE NY.
[01/69 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1967 ARMSTRONG FRANK A. III SHREVEPORT LA.
1969 BOWER IRVIN LESTER JR. LINGLESTOWN PA.
1972 ANDERSON ROBERT D. BATTLE CREEK MI.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 10/30/98 NAME WITHHELD]
1972 BAKER VETO H.
["11/75 AWOL, RELEASED BY SVN"]
1972 BOLTZE BRUCE E. FLINT MI.
1972 LATELLA GEORGE F. NEW YORK NY.
[03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 MC CORMICK CARL O. PEORIA IL.
1973 ELM HOMER L.
[12/11/73 RELEASED]

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

---

On this day...
891 Formosus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1014 The Byzantine Emperor Basil earns the title "Slayer of Bulgers" after he orders the blinding of 15,000 Bulgerian troops
1536 William Tyndale was burned at the stake as a heretic.
1683 13 German families arrive in present day Philadelphia
1781 Americans & French begin siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown; last battle of the Revolutionary War
1783 Benjamin Hanks patents self-winding clock
1857 American Chess Assn organized; 1st major US chess tournament (NYC)
1863 Dr Charles H Sheppard opens the 1st public bath, in Brooklyn
1866 1st train robbery in US
1876 American Library Association organized in Philadelphia
1884 Naval War College established in Newport RI
1886 Start of the Sherlock Holmes adventure "The Resident Patient" (BG)
1889 Thomas Edison shows his 1st motion picture
1890 Mormon Church outlaws polygamy
1908 Austria annexes Bosnia & Herzegovina
1908 Yanks lose 100th game of the year go 51-103 for season
1910 Braves beat Phillies 20-7
1923 1st NL unassisted triple play (Ernie Padgett, Braves against Phillies)
1923 USSR adopts experimental calendar
1926 Babe Ruth hits 3 HRs in a world series game, Yanks beat Cards 10-5 (World Series #23)
1927 "Jazz Singer," 1st movie with a sound track, premieres (NYC)
1928 Chiang Kai-Shek becomes president of China
1935 Market Street Railway starts using trackless trolley coaches
1936 NY Yankees beat Giants 4 games to 2 in 33rd World Series
1939 Hitler announces he has no attention of war with Britain & France
1939 Hitler announces plans to resolve "The Jewish problem"
1940 Zoological Gardens opens on Sloat & Skyline in SF
1941 NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 1, in 38th World Series
1947 NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 3, in 44th World Series
1949 Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose) sentenced to 10 years & $10,000 fine
1949 Pres Truman signs Mutual Defense Assistance Act (for NATO)
1959 Single game World Series (World Series #56) attendance record set (92,706 in LA)
1959 Soviet Luna 3, 1st successful photographic spacecraft, impacts Moon
1963 Barbra Streisand appears on "The Judy Garland Show"
1963 LA Dodgers sweep NY Yankees, in 60th World Series
1965 Supremes release "I Hear a Symphony"
1966 Oriole Jim Palmer, 20, is youngest to pitch a World Series shutout (World Series #63)
1967 Haight-Ashbury hippies throw a funeral to mark the end of hippies
1972 22-car train carrying 2,000 pilgrims derails, kills 208 in Mexico
1973 Yom Kippur War begins as Syria & Egypt attack Israel
1976 John Hathaway completes a bicycle tour of every continent in the world & cycling 50,600 miles
1976 Pres Ford says there is "no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe"
1976 "Gang of Four" arrested in Beijing
1977 Yankees win AL pennant by rallying for 3 runs in 9th to beat KC Royals 5-3 in 5th & deciding playoff game
1978 Royals' George Brett hits 3 HRs, Yanks win championship game 3, 6-5
1979 Harry Drake set long distance footbow shot record of 2,006 yds 1'9"
1979 Pope John Paul II is 1st Pope to visit the White House
1982 Auburn's Al Del Greco kicks 6 field goals
1983 Buffalo Bill QB Joe Ferguson passes 419 yards with 5 TDs
1983 Islander's Mike Bossy's 25th career hat trick
1983 NY Jets announce they are leaving Shea for the Meadowlands
1985 Marita Koch of Germany sets 400m women's record (47.6) in Australia
1985 Yankee Phil Niekro becomes the 18th pitcher to win 300 games & also at 46 becomes the oldest to pitch a shut-out beating Toronto 8-0
1988 Oakland A's sweep Boston Red Sox in 4 games for AL pennant
1990 US 67th manned space mission STS 41 (Discovery 11) launches into orbit
1991 Elizabeth Taylor weds for the 8th time (Larry Fortensky)
1991 NY Met David Cone ties NL record by striking out 19 Phillies
1991 Anita Hill a former personal assistant to Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accuses Thomas of sexual harassment from 1981 to 1983.

---

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

Egypt : Military Day
Massachusetts : Grandparents Day (Sunday)
Missouri : Missouri Day (Monday)
World : Child Health Day, Universal Children's Day (1928) (Monday)
National Chimney Sweep Week (Day 2)
Mental Illness Awareness Week (Day 2)
National Pickled Pepper Week (Day 4)
American Magazine Month
Arizona Book Month
Pizza Festival Time Month!!

---

Religious Observances
Yom Kippur
Ang : St Faith's Day
Christian : St Bruno, Blsd Marie-Rose Durocher
RC : Memorial of St Bruno, patron of the possessed CE (opt)
Ang, Luth : Commemoration of St William Tyndale, priest
RC-US : Memorial of Bl Marie-Rose Durocher, Canadian virgin (opt)

---

Religious History
1520 German reformer Martin Luther, 36, published "Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church," his famous writing which attacked the entire sacramental system of the Catholic Church.
1552 Birth of Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who was sent as a missionary to China in 1583. His complete adoption of Chinese customs raised the issue of the limits of "accommodation" to other cultures, in the preaching of the gospel.
1683 A band of religious refugees from Krefield, Germany came ashore at Philadelphia -- the first Mennonites to arrive in North America. Their pastor, F. Daniel Pastorius, was considered by many the most learned man in America at the time.
1899 B.H. Irwin began issuing "Live Coals of Fire," official publication of the Fire Baptized Holiness Association of America. Organized in 1898, the denomination was comprised of former Methodists, Quakers and River Brethren.
1982 In his daily radio broadcast, American Bible expositor Derek Prince declared: 'God accepts responsibility for the maintenance of his appointed temple -- our body.'

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

---

Thought for the day :
"Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else."

---

You might be a caffeine addict if...
You lick your coffeepot clean.

---

Murphys Law of the day...(The Pollyanna Paradox)
Every day, in every way, things get better and better; then worse again in the evening.

---

It's a little known fact that...
Martha Washington, Pocahontas, and Susan B. Anthony are the only 3 women to have been represented on US currency.

[tomkow6]

SALUTE!

 

 

[tomkow6]

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:

The following was in The Atlanta Journal. This has got to
be one of the best "singles ads" ever:

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity
unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play.
I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck,
hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying
by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of
your hand. Rub me the right way and watch me respond. I'll be
at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only
what nature gave me. Kiss me and I'm yours.

Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy.

Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta
Humane Society about an 8-week old black Labrador retriever.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the "Dear Soldier" tribute. Outstanding.

Freedom

[tomkow6]

 

Chicagoland Weather

Currently
38°

Fair

	Hi: 65

	Lo: 38

5 Day Forecast

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

Mostly Sunny

High:	76
Low:	52

Mostly Sunny

High:	77
Low:	53

Mostly Sunny

High:	78
Low:	54

Partly Cloudy

High:	76
Low:	50

Partly Cloudy

High:	71
Low:	45

 

[tomkow6]

Good morning, Tonk! Good morning, Canteen Crew! Good morning, EVERYBODY!

GOOD

MORNING

TROOPS!!

[tomkow6]

Cubs pitchers Kerry Wood and Mike Remlinger spray fans at Turner Field with champagne after winning Game 5 of the NLDS. (John Bazemore/AP)

 

[Bethbg79]

Good morning Troops!!

Good morning Canteen crew!!

[darkwing104]

Good Morning Canteen FReepers!

[Radix]

1536 William Tyndale was burned at the stake as a heretic.

 

T h e   H e r o i c   S t r u g g l e   B e h i n d
t h e   M a k i n g   o f   t h e   E n g l i s h   B i b l e

 

[E.G.C.]

(HUGS)Good morning, Beth. How's it going?

[Bethbg79]

Good morning!

(((HUGS)))

It's going great.

I've got everyone off to where to they need to be and I'm hanging out with my kitties. :-)

Have a wonderful day!

Good luck to OU next week. ;-)

[Bethbg79]

Good morning Tom!

[E.G.C.]

Good luck to U.T. also. May the best team win.:-D

[Bethbg79]

:-)

[Pippin]

GOOD MORNING TOMKOW!

GOOD MORNING CANTEENERS!

GOOD MORNING TROOPS!