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Attacking The Bombers

The Japanese bombers were the Americans' real targets. Bettys, with their 20mm tail cannon, were typically attacked from above and to the side, leaving the Wildcat with enough energy to zoom-climb back up for another pass. Missing on one attempt, Foss dove right through a Betty formation. "A thousand feet below," Foss recalled, "I suddenly turned back up and headed toward the belly of the last plane on the left wing of the V echelon. Directly under the bomber, nose pointed straight up, I waited until my plane had lost almost all of its speed and I was on the verge of stalling before pulling the trigger." Not just for its streamlined hull did the Japanese call the Betty the "Flying Cigar"; its fuel tanks hit, this one exploded right on top of Foss -- his fifth kill.

DeBlanc's first victory was a G4M just 50 feet above the water, making a torpedo run against U.S. ships. "I flew through the [anti-aircraft] barrage from the fleet and locked onto the tail of a Betty and opened fire, killing the rear gunner and watching my tracers strike the engines," DeBlanc said. Target-fixated, he nearly collided with the flaming bomber, but he recovered to nail two more -- three kills in one mission. (At the end of January, in a wild dogfight over Vella Gulf, DeBlanc shot down three Japanese floatplanes and two Zekes before being shot down himself. He bailed out, was rescued by a coastwatcher and eventually was flown back to the Canal. Credited with nine kills, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.)

The Navy fighters' radio frequency, meant for communication over the uninterrupted expanses of the sea, was susceptible to interference from intervening land masses. Henderson's Japanese tranceiver could only transmit to the fighters out to about 20 miles but could receive their radios from 100 miles. The controllers in the Pagoda often could only sit helplessly and listen as the battle played out, unable to help direct the action.

Back To Base

"The ground crews would count [the survivors] as they landed," said the 67th's historian. "The ambulance would stand, engine running, ready for those who crashed, landed dead stick, or hit the bomb craters in the runway. Then the work of patching and repairing the battered fighters would start again."

Probably the Americans' greatest advantage was simply their proximity to the base. Pilots had a very good chance of making it back to Henderson Field -- if they could survive being shot down.

After downing three other Zeros during a dogfight on October 25,1st Lt. Jack E. Conger of VMF-212 went into the drink after he rammed a fourth Zero -- since he had no ammunition left. The Japanese pilot also parachuted and insisted the Marine rescue boat pick up Conger first. Conger had to convince the Marines not to shoot the chivalrous enemy pilot and was the first to reach down to pull him aboard. Taking umbrage at the dishonorable prospect of capture, the Japanese pilot, 19-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Shiro Ishikawa of the 2nd Kokutai, thrust his 8mm Nambu pistol out of the water into Conger's face and pulled the trigger. The wet ammo misfired and then misfired again when Ishikawa tried to shoot himself. Having had enough, Conger (who would finish with 10 1/2 kills) brained his recent aerial adversary with a five-gallon gas can and hauled him into the boat.

Bombardment

Nighttime brought a new set of annoyances: Tokyo Rose propaganda on the radio; nuisance bombers ("Louie the Louse" and "Washing Machine Charlie," named for the chugging sound of his unsynchronized propellers), mixing the occasional bomb with whistling bottles dropped just to rattle nerves; and troop convoys (the "Cactus Express," later redubbed "Tokyo Express") coming down the Solomons' central channel ("the Slot") to offload troops at Cape Esperance under cover of naval bombardment.

"Throughout most of my first night on Guadalcanal," recalled Foss, "shells streamed above our tents in both directions as Japanese ships in the channel targeted our artillerymen on the island, who returned the fire. The veterans...assured us that the night's shelling was 'light.'" By the end of his first week, Foss believed them. On October 13, Japanese 105mm and 150mm artillery pieces, dubbed "Pistol Pete" and "Millimeter Mike" by the Marines, began lobbing random shells from the surrounding hills, beyond the range of the Marines' 105mm and 5-inch fieldpieces. A heavily escorted Japanese bomber raid arrived over Henderson at noon, cratering the airfield and setting 5,000 gallons of aviation fuel ablaze. That night, in what was to be known ever after as "the Bombardment," the Japanese battleships Haruna and Kongo dropped more than 900 14-inch shells onto Henderson.

Come dawn, Henderson was a scene of staggering destruction, the steel-matted main runway a twisted ruin and the Pagoda damaged. (Geiger ordered the Pagoda demolished to deny the Japanese a target in the future). More than three-quarters of the SBDs and all of the TBFs were destroyed. Forty-one Americans were dead.

But the Americans had a surprise up their sleeves -- an auxiliary airstrip, Fighter One, carved out of the coconut grove southeast of the main field. From there, the Cactus Air Force launched strikes against incoming air raids and the Tokyo Express. On the night of October 14, however, heavy cruisers Chokai and Kinugasa paid a follow-up visit, pelting Henderson with 752 8-inch rounds.

Taking Out Transports

The morning of October 15 found Japanese transports calmly offloading at Tassafaronga, just 10 miles from Lunga.

Mortally stricken by aircraft from Henderson on November 14, Kinugawa Maru, one of "Tenacious Tanaka's" troop ships, lies close to the mouth of the Bonegi River, near Tassafaronga, after being deliberately run ashore. (National Archives)

But the Japanese were to rediscover a truth that has blessed and bedeviled air forces since the dawn of military aviation -- runways, though easily cratered, are easily repaired. Henderson put every available plane in the air to bomb and strafe the ships as well as the troops and supplies already ashore. Flying General Geiger's personal Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina amphibian, Blue Goose, Major Jack R. Cram torpedoed one of the transports, Sasago Maru, for which he would receive the Navy Cross.

The accompanying destroyers riddled the PBY, and three Zeros of the Tainan Kokutai chased it back to Lunga. Haberman, attempting to put his smoking F4F down, pulled off from his approach to Fighter One and shot the last Zeke off Cram's tail (killing Petty Officer 2nd Class Chuji Sakurai). During the action, three transport ships were set afire and beached; one was sunk by more Boeing B-17s sent up from Espíritu Santo.

Trading Blows

Again, before dawn on October 16, the cruisers Myoko and Maya came down the Slot to hammer Henderson, this time firing 1,500 8-inch shells. By dawn Geiger put his total losses at 23 Dauntlesses, six Wildcats, eight Avengers and four Airacobras. Even including those planes that the ground crews cobbled up from cannibalized parts, the Cactus Air Force had only 34 planes left, including just nine Wildcats.

Just as nine Aichi D4Y1 "Val" dive bombers plunged down to finish off the Cactus Air Force, Lt. Col. Harold W. "Indian Joe" Bauer arrived from New Hebrides with 19 Wildcats and seven Dauntlesses. His fuel tanks almost empty, Bauer nevertheless shot down four Vals.

Both sides needed time to recover from the shock. Because Fighter One was too frequently flooded, another strip, called Fighter Two, was smoothed out across the Lunga River. Geiger, 57, who at one point had personally taken an SBD up to drop a 1,000-pound bomb on Japanese troops, finally was transferred out with combat fatigue.

Sinking The Hiei

Meanwhile, Japanese cruisers and destroyers landed more troops on the island, and on November 13 the battleships Hiei and Kirishima came down the Slot to smash Henderson once and for all. Alerted to their approach, American cruisers and destroyers ambushed them. Dawn found Hiei, hit 85 times, almost dead in the water just 10 miles north of Savo Island and less than 40 miles from Henderson. It was payback time.

All day Hiei lay prostrate while SBDs and TBFs punched bombs and torpedoes into her. The Wildcat fighter escort, finding no Zeros, went down to strafe as well. That night the Japanese scuttled Hiei. An American report noted, "It should be recorded that the first battleship to be sunk by Americans in the Second World War was sunk because of a handful of Marine and Navy aircraft."

Turning Point

On November 14, a cruiser force under Vice Adm. Gunichi Mikawa tried to achieve what the battleships had failed to do, shelling Henderson Field once more while an 11-ship troop convoy under Rear Adm. Raizo Tanaka headed for Guadalcanal. Both Japanese forces soon found themselves under attack by every available Cactus Air Force plane and the entire air group off the American carrier USS Enterprise, which had flown in to reinforce Henderson. In the ensuing fight, Indian Joe Bauer, by now an 11 victory ace, went into the water; he was seen swimming but disappeared before he could be rescued. (Bauer was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.) Mikawa lost the heavy cruiser Kinugasa to Enterprise's dive bombers, which also succeeded in damaging the heavy cruiser Maya. Seven transports went down; the others, beached, were destroyed the next day. Only 40 percent of the 10,000 Japanese troops made it onto Guadalcanal, with just five tons of supplies.

It was a turning point. After mid-November the Japanese, although they continued trying to destroy Henderson, gave up trying to recapture it. Instead, they secretly built their own airfield, at Munda on New Georgia, stretching a wire net over the construction to conceal the runway and leaving the tops of palm trees on it as camouflage.

Foss Returns

Foss, with a Distinguished Flying Cross and severe malaria to show for his stint on Guadalcanal, had been rotated rearward but returned to Henderson on New Year's Day 1943. Placed in command of VMF-121, he soon shot down three of the new, square-winged A6M3 Type 32 Zekes to raise his score to 26 -- tied with American World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker. The bet was that Foss would be first to break Rickenbacker's record.

Foss' chance came on January 25, when Japan sent a last-ditch aerial armada down the Slot -- 30 army bombers and fighters, recently moved to Rabaul from Malaya to assist the depleted naval units. Against them Foss had only his eight-plane Wildcat flight -- the "Flying Circus" -- and four Lockheed P-38F Lightning fighters of the 339th Fighter Squadron.

The bombers stayed out of range until their Nakajima Ki-43 fighter escorts could deal with the Americans. But the Ki-43 pilots feared a trap. "By refusing to run away when the odds were clearly and overwhelmingly against us, we instilled [in the Japanese] the deep suspicion that we had many more planes in the air," said Foss. The P-38s were more than capable of handling the few Ki-43s that ran the gantlet, two of which were shot down by Lieutenants Ray W. Bezner and Besby F. Holmes.

With the Wildcats still blocking the way -- and accounting for two more Japanese fighters -- the bombers soon gave up and went home. For turning back that air raid without firing a shot -- and for giving Henderson's safety higher priority than his personal score -- Foss received the Medal of Honor; a few days later he transferred out for good. His 26 kills would make him the highest scoring Marine fighter pilot of the war except for Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (who technically scored six of his 28 kills over China as one of the "Flying Tigers"). Foss retired a brigadier general, later serving as governor of his native South Dakota.

Role In History

The Japanese military saved face by evacuating their remaining ground forces in early February, literally under the Americans' noses. The campaign for Guadalcanal was over; Henderson's role in history, however, was not. It was from Fighter Two that 16 P-38s of the 339th Squadron took off on April 18, 1943, to intercept and shoot down a Betty bomber carrying the mastermind of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, as it approached Bougainville. But one of the returning Lightnings landed at a new forward airstrip in the Russell Islands. The war was leaving Henderson behind.

Through January 1943 the Cactus Air Force had lost 148 aircraft shot down and 94 airmen killed or missing. In addition, between August and November 1942, 43 planes were destroyed on Henderson Field, and 86 were lost operationally. During that same period, the U.S. Navy carriers supporting the Guadalcanal campaign lost a total of 49 planes in combat, 72 destroyed on their ships and 184 operational losses. Estimates of total Japanese losses ranged as high as 900 aircraft and more than 2,400 aircrew members. The latter statistic reflected the beginning of a talent drain that would ultimately prove fatal to the Japanese land and naval air forces.

"None realized more the importance of the field that they had so obligingly begun, and so precipitantly abandoned, than the Japanese," wrote one historian. "For they never regained their strategic airfield, and for the lack of it they lost Guadalcanal, the Solomons, and ultimately New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and their bases to the north. Probably never in history have a few acres of cleared ground cost so much in ships, men and treasure as...Henderson Field."

PING to the FReeper Foxhole!

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Today's classic warship, USS Virginia (BB-13)

Virginia class battleship
Displacement. 14,980
Length. 441'3"
Beam. 76'2 1/2"
Draft. 23'9"
Speed. 19 k.
Complement. 916
Armament. 4 12", 8 8", 12 6", 12 6", 24 1-pdrs., 4 .30-cal. Colt mg., 4 21 " tt.

The USS Virginia (Battleship No. 13) was laid down on 21 May 1902 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.; launched on 6 April 1904; sponsored by Miss Gay Montague, daughter of the Governor of Virginia; and com missioned on 7 May 1906, Capt. Seaton Schroeder in command.

After fitting out, Virginia conducted her "shake down" cruise in Lynnhaven Bay, Va., off Newport, R.I., and off Long Island, N.Y. before she put into Bradford, R.I., for coal on 9 August. After running trials for the standardization of her screws off Rockland, Maine, the battleship maneuvered in Long Island Sound before anchoring off President Theodore Roosevelt's home, Oyster Bay, Long Island, from 2 to 4 September, for a Presidential review.

Virginia then continued her shakedown cruise before she coaled again at Bradford. Meanwhile, events were occurring in the Caribbean that would alter the new battleship's employment. On the island of Cuba, in August of 1906, a revolution had broken out against the government of President T. Estrada Palma. The disaffection, which had started in Pinar del Rio province, grew in the early autumn to the point where President Palma had no recourse but to appeal to the United states for intervention. By mid-September, it had become apparent that the small Cuban constabulary (8,000 rural guards) was unable to protect foreign interests, and intervention would be necessary. Accordingly, Virginia departed Newport on 15 September 1906, bound for Cuba, and reached Havana on the 21st, ready to protect the city from attack if necessary. The battleship remained at Havana until 18 October, when she sailed for Sewell's Point, Va.

Virginia disembarked General Frederick Funston at Norfolk upon her arrival there and coaled before heading north to Tompkinsville to await further orders. She shifted soon thereafter to the New York Navy Yard where she was coaled and drydocked to have her hull bottom painted before undergoing repairs and alterations at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 3 November 1906 to 18 February 1907. After installation of fire control apparatus at the New York Navy Yard between 19 February and 23 March, the battleship sailed once more for Cuban waters, joining the fleet at Guantanamo Bay on 28 March.

Virginia fired target practices in Cuban waters before she sailed for Hampton Roads on 10 April to participate in the Jamestown Tricentennial Exposition festivities. She remained in Hampton Roads for a month, from 15 April to 15 May, before she underwent repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard into early June. Subsequently reviewed in Hampton Roads by President Theodore Roosevelt between 7 and 13 June, Virginia shifted northward for target practices on the target grounds of Cape Cod Bay, evolutions that lasted from mid-June to mid-July. She later cruised with her division to Newport; the North River, New York City; and to Provincetown, Mass., before conducting day and night battle practice in Cape Cod Bay.

Returning southward early that autumn, Virginia underwent two months of repairs and alterations at the Norfolk Navy, Yard, from 24 September to 24 November, before undergoing further repairs at the New York Navy Yard later in November. She subsequently shifted southward again, reaching Hampton Roads on 6 December.

Virginia spent the next 10 days preparing for a feat never before attempted; around-the-world cruise by the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The voyage, regarded by President Roosevelt as a dramatic gesture to the Japanese, who had only recently emerged on the world stage as a power to be reckoned with-proved to be a signal success, with the ships performing so well as to confound the doom-sayers who had predicted a fiasco.

The cruise began eight days before Christmas of 1907, and ended on Washington's Birthday, 22 February 1909. During the course of the voyage, the ships called at ports along both coasts of South America; on the west coast of the United States; at Hawaii; in the Philippines; Japan; China; and in Ceylon. Virginia's division also visited Smyrna, Turkey, via Beirut, during the Mediterranean leg of the cruise. Both upon departure and upon arrival, the fleet was reviewed at Hampton Roads by President Roosevelt, whose "big stick" diplomacy and flair for the dramatic gesture had been practically personified by the cruise of the "Great White Fleet".

Following that momentous circumnavigation, Virginia underwent four months of voyage repairs and alterations at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 26 February to 26 June 1909. She spent the next year and three months operating off the eastern seaboard of the United States, ranging from the southern drill grounds, off the Virginia capes, to Newport, R.I. During that time, she conducted one brief cruise with members of the Naval Militia embarked and visited Rockport and Provincetown, Mass. For the better part of that time, she conducted battle practices with the fleet, evolutions only broken by brief periods of yard work at Norfolk and Boston.

Virginia visited Brest, France, and Gravesend, England, from 15 November to 7 December and from 8 to 29 December 1909, respectively, before she-as part of the 4th Division, Atlantic Fleet-joined the Atlantic fleet in Guantanamo Bay for drills and exercises. She subsequently operated in Cuban waters for two months, from 13 January to 13 March 1910 before she returned north for battle practices on the southern drill grounds.

Virginia departed Hampton Roads on 11 April, in company with Georgia (BB-15), and reached the Boston Navy Yard two days later. She underwent repairs there until 24 May before putting to sea for Provincetown. Over the next five days, Virginia operated with the collier Vestal, testing a "coaling-at-sea apparatus" off Provincetown and at Stellwagen's Bank, before she conducted torpedo practices. The battleship returned to the Boston Navy Yard on 18 June.

Virginia maintained her routine of operations off the eastern seaboard-occasionally ranging into Cuban waters for regularly scheduled fleet evolutions in tactics and gunnery into 1913, a routine largely uninterrupted. In 1913, however, unrest in Mexico caused the frequent dispatch of American men-of-war to those waters. Virginia became one of those ships in mid-February, when she reached Tampico on the 15th of that month; she remained there until 2 March, when she shifted to Vera Cruz for coal. She returned to Tampico on 5 March and remained there for 10 days.

After another stint of operations off the eastern seaboard, ranging from the Virginia capes to Newport-a period of maneuvers and exercises varied by a visit to New York at the end of May 1913 for the dedication of the memorial to the battleship Maine (sunk in Havana Harbor in February 1898) and one to Boston in mid-June for Flag Day and Bunker Hill exercises, Virginia returned to Mexican waters in November. She reached Vera Cruz on 4 November and remained in port until the 30th, when she shifted to Tampico. She observed conditions in those ports and operated off the Mexican coast into January of 1914.

Returning to Cuban waters for exercises and maneuvers with the fleet, Virginia sailed for the Virginia capes in mid-March 1914. She maneuvered with the fleet off Cape Henry and in Lynnhaven Roads before she conducted gunnery drills at the wreck of San Marcos (ex-Texas) in Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay. Virginia subsequently held experimental gunnery firings on the southern drill grounds before she spent much of April drydocked at Boston.

The American occupation of Vera Cruz in April 1914 resulted in the sizable deployment of American men-of-war to that port that lasted into the autumn. Virginia reached Vera Cruz on 1 May and operated with the fleet out of that port into early October, a period of time broken by target practice in Guantanamo Bay between 18 September and 3 October.

While war raged in Europe, Virginia continued her operations off the eastern seaboard of the United States, ranging from the southern drill grounds to the coast of New England and occasionally steaming to Cuban waters for winter maneuvers. She was placed in reserve on 20 March 1916, at the Boston Navy Yard, and was undergoing an extensive overhaul in the spring of 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany.

On the day America entered World War I, the United States government took steps to take over all interned German merchant vessels then in American ports. As part of that move, Virginia sent boarding parties to seize the German passenger and cargo vessels Amerika, Cincinnati, Wittekind, Koln, and Ockenfels on 6 April 1917.

Completing her overhaul at Boston on 27 August, Virginia sailed for Port Jefferson, N.Y., three days later, to join the 3d Division, Battleship Force, Atlantic Fleet. Over the ensuing 12 months, the battleship served as a gunnery training ship out of Port Jefferson and Norfolk; service interrupted briefly in early December 1917, when she became temporary flagship for Rear Admiral John A. Hoogewerff, Commander, Battleship Division 1. She subsequently became flagship for the 3d Division commander, Rear Admiral Thomas Snowden.

Overhauled at the Boston Navy Yard in the autumn of 1918, Virginia spent the remainder of hostilities engaged in convoy escort duties, taking convoys well over half-way across the Atlantic. She departed New York on 14 October 1918 on her first such mission, covering a convoy that had some 12,176 men embarked. After escorting those ships to longitude 22 degrees west, she put about and headed for home.

That proved to be her only such wartime mission, however, because the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, the day before Virginia set out with a France-bound convoy, her second escort run into the mid-Atlantic. After leaving that convoy at longitude 34 degrees west, Virginia put about and headed for Hampton Roads.

The cessation of hostilities meant the return of the many troops that had been engaged in fighting the enemy overseas. Similar in mission to the "Magic Carpet" operation that followed the end of World War II, a massive troop-lift, bringing the "doughboys" back from "over there," commenced soon after World War I ended.

With additional messing and berthing facilities installed to permit her use as a troopship, Virginia departed Norfolk eight days before Christmas of 1918. Over the ensuing months, she conducted five round-trip voyages to Brest, France, and back. Reaching Boston on Independence Day 1919, ending her last troop lift, Virginia ended her transport service, having brought some 6,037 men back from France.

Virginia remained at the Boston Navy Yard, inactive, until decommissioned there on 13 August 1920. Struck from the Navy list and placed on the sale list on 12 July 1922, the battleship, reclassified prior to her inactivation to BB-13 on 17 July 1920, was subsequently taken off the sale list and transferred to the War Department on 6 August 1923 for use as a bombing target.

Virginia and her sistership New Jersey were taken to a point three miles off the Diamond Shoals lightship, off Cape Hatteras, N.C., and anchored there on 5 September 1923. The "attacks" made by Army Air Service Martin bombers began shortly b efore 0900. On the third attack, seven Martins flying at 3,000 feet, each dropped two 1,100-pound bombs on Virginia, only one of them hit. That single bomb, however, "completely demolished the ship as such." An observer later wrote: "Both masts, the bridge; all three smokestacks, and the upperworks disappeared with the explosion and there remained, after the smoke cleared away, nothing but the bare hull, decks blown off, and covered with a mass of tangled debris from stem to stern consisting of stacks, ventilators, cage masts, and bridges."

Within one-half-hour of the cataclysmic blast that wrecked the ship, her battered hulk sank beneath the waves. Her sistership ultimately joined her shortly thereafter. Virginia's end, and New Jersey's, provided far-sighted naval officers with a dramatic demonstration of air power and impressed upon them the "urgent need of developing naval aviation with the fleet." As such, the service performed by the old pre-dreadnought may have been her most valuable.

I have this print on my wall, unsigned, unfortunately, since I received it after Joe collapsed last year.

Didi, his widow, is one wonderful woman. I expect great things from her as she continues the work of their charitable foundations.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on February 04:
1465 French van Brederode leader of Hoeksen
1549 Eustache du Caurroy composer
1575 Pierre de Bérulle French cardinal
1581 Daniel Selich composer
1646 Hans A Freiherr von Abschatz Silesian poet
1688 Pierre De Marivaux Paris France, writer (Marianne)
1693 George Lillo bourgeois English dramatist (The London Merchant)
1698 Heinrich A Fouqué Prussian General
1747 Tadeusz Kosciusko Poland, patriot, (New York Bridge)
1751 Blas de Laserna composer
1758 Pierre-Gabriel Gardel French ballet dancer/choreographer
1764 Carel H Verhuell Dutch/French Vice-Admiral/minister of Navy
1767 Johann Franz Volkert composer
1768 Maurits C van Hall Dutch ruler of Heicop & Boeicop, lawyer/politician
1769 Samuel I Wiselius Dutch lawyer/businessman/writer
1778 Augustin P de Candolle Swiss botanist (Théorie élémentaire)
1799 Joao Batista da Silva Leitao de Almeida Garret Portuguese playwright
1802 Mark Hopkins US, educator/philosopher (Williams College)
1805 Georg Andreas Henkel composer
1805 William H Ainsworth English writer (Old St Paul's, Rookwood)
1819 Joshua Norton San Francisco CA, Norton I, emperor of USA
1820 Bozena Nemcová [Barnora Panklová], Czechoslovakian author (Babicka)
1826 Halbert Eleazer Paine Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1841 Clément Ader French inventor (1st to fly a heavier-than-air craft)
1842 Georg Brandes [Morris Cohen], Danish literary-historian/critic
1842 Vasili O Klyutshevski Russian historian
1848 [François-Victor-]Jean Aicard French playwright/poet (Jeune Croyances)
1849 Jean Richepin French poet/writer (Les Chansons de Gueux)
1865 Charles Bally Swiss linguist (Le langage et la vie)
1868 Constance Gore-booth Markiewicy Irish patriot/playwright/MP
1874 Robert Liefmann German economist (Unternehmersverbände)
1875 Ludwig Prandtl German Federal Republic, physicist (father of aerodynamics)
1875 Raymond Moulaert composer
1876 Victor Jean Leonard Vreuls composer
1881 Fernand Léger France, painter/ceramist/cubist (The City)
1881 Kliment J Woroshilov Marshal/President USSR (1953-60)
1884 Julius Callewaert Flemish Dominican/bringing up children
1884 Rolland Beaumont cricketer (South African batsman in 5 tests 1912-14)
1885 Cairine Ray Wilson Montréal, 1st female Canadian senator (appointed)
1888 Paul Althaus German theologist (The Christian Truth)
1889 Walter Catlett San Francisco CA, actor (Front Page, Tale of 2 Cities)
1891 Yuri Losmann Estonia, marathon runner (Olympics-silver 1920)
1892 Ugo Betti Italian playwright
1892 Yrlö Henrik Kilpinen Finnish composer
1893 Bernard Rogers New York NY, composer (Warrior, Marriage of Aude, Passion)
1893 Raymond Dart Australian paleoanthropologist (Australopithecus)
1895 Annie [Anna HM] Romein-Verschoor Dutch historian (Erflaters)
1895 Hanns [Johann] Rauter German SS-Lieutenant-General/SS police chief in Netherlands
1896 Friedrich Glauser writer
1897 Ludwig Erhard chancellor of Germany (CDU)
19-- Stephanie Williams actress (Young & Restless, Simone-General Hospital)
1900 Jacques Prévert France, poet/screenwriter (Paroles)
1902 Charles A Lindbergh Detroit MI, pilot (1st fly solo across Atlantic)
1903 Edwin Denby Tientsin China, US dance critic/poet (Snoring in N)
1903 Frank Howley Hampton NY, Brigadier General (Answers for Americans)
1903 Alexander Oppenheim mathematician
1903 Berend van den Amstel [Bernard CED Hattink], actor (Beatrice)
1903 Siro Cisilino composer
1904 MacKinlay Kantor Webster City IA, novelist (Andersonville)
1904 Herman B Wiardi Beckman Dutch politician (SDAP)/resistance fighter
1904 Predrag Milosevic composer
1905 Eddie Foy Jr New Rochelle NY, actor (Eddie-Fair Exchange)
1906 Clyde William Tombaugh US, astronomer (discovered Pluto)
1906 Dietrich Bonhoeffer German theologist (Confessing Church)
1906 Primo Carnera Italian boxer (champion-1933)
1908 Gordon Fraser Lawrence MA, newscaster (All Star News)
1908 Emmanuel "Manny" Klein trumpeter
1909 Robert Coote London, actor (Timmy-Rogues, Theodore-Nero Wolfe)
1909 Kenneth W Howell English Anglican bishop (Chile/Bolivia/Peru)
1910 Uys Krige South African playwright/novelist (Orphan of the Desert)
1910 Alfred Mendelsohn composer
1912 Byron Nelson Fort Worth TX, PGA golfer (won 19 tournaments in 1945)
1912 Erich Leinsdorf Vienna Austria, available conductor & banana eater
1912 James Craig Nashville TN, actor (Devil & Daniel Webster, Cyclops)
1913 Rosa Lee Parks civil rights activist (bus protester)
1913 Woody Hayes [Wayne], college football coach (Ohio, 1968 coach of year)
1914 Ida Lupino London England, actress (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Jennifer)
1914 Alfred Andersch German writer (Red Head)
1915 William Talman Detroit MI, actor (Crashout, Hamilton-Perry Mason)
1916 Basil Hembry farmer/campaigner
1916 Colin Morris playwright/documentary filmmaker
1916 David Vassall Cox composer
1916 Gavin Buchanan Ewart English poet (Pleasures of the Flesh)
1917 Aga Yahya Khan Pakistan military/politician
1918 Norman Wisdom London England, comedian (Kraft Music Hall)
1919 Frank van Klingeren Dutch architect (De Meerpaal, Dronten)
1920 Derek Worlock English Roman Catholic archbishop (Liverpool)
1921 Betty Friedan Peoria IL, feminist writer (Feminine Mystique)
1923 Conrad Bain Alberta Canada, actor (Maude, Diff'rent Strokes)
1925 Russell Hoban US children's book author (Riddley Walker/Pilgermann)
1926 John Edward Caulwell Hearne writer
1928 Dave Ketchum Quincy IL, actor (Agent 13-Get Smart)
1929 Mary Joan Nielubowicz Rear Admiral/nurse
1929 Paul Burlison rocker
1931 Argentina Rioja
1931 Isabel Perón [Maria Martinez], dancer/president Argentina
1932 Ivan Davis Electra TX, pianist/writer (Hunger, Corn is Green)
1934 Gil Rogers Lexington KY, actor (Hawk-Guiding Light, Doctors)
1934 Jouko Sakari Linjama composer
1935 Martti Talvela Hiitola Karelia Finland, operatic basso
1935 Wallis Mathias cricketer (1st non-Muslim to play for Pakistan)
1936 Gary Conway Boston MA, actor (Burke's Law, Land of the Giants)
1936 Daan van Golden Dutch sculptor
1937 Collin Wilcox Highlands NC, actor (To Kill a Mocking Bird)
1937 John Devitt Australia, 100 meter freestyle swimmer (Olympics-gold-1960)
1937 Magnar Solberg Norway, 20K biathalete (Olympics-gold-1968, 72)
1938 Donald W Riegle Jr (Senator-D-MI, 1976- )
1939 John Schuck Boston MA, actor/comedian (McMillan & Wife, Holmes & Yo-Yo)
1939 Jacques Charlier Belgian sculptor
1939 Jane Bryant Quinn newspaper & television reporter
1939 Stan Lundine (Representative-D-NY, 1976-86)
1940 George A Romero actor/director (Creepshow, Martin, 2 Evil Eyes)
1941 John Steel rock drummer (Animals-House of the Rising Sun)
1941 Marie Masters Cincinatti OH, actress (Susan-As the World Turns)
1942 Johnny Gamble rocker (Classics)
1943 Cheryl Miller Sherman Oaks CA, actress (Paula-Daktari, Born Free)
1944 Florence LaRue Gordon Pennsylvania, rocker (5th Dimension-One Less Bell)
1944 Daniel A Mica (Representative-D-FL, 1979- )
1945 David Brenner Philadelphia PA, comedian/TV talk show host (Nightlife)
1946 Mary Meyer US, 500 meter speed skater (Olympics-silver-1968)
1946 Roy Yeager Doraville GA, rocker (Atlanta Rhythm Section)
1947 Dan Quayle (Senator-R-IN)/(44th Vice-President-R 1989-93)
1947 Jeannie Wilson Memphis TN, actress (Simon & Simon, Stir Crazy)
1947 Sanford Bishop (Representative-D-GA)
1948 Alice Cooper [Vincent Furnier], Detroit MI, rocker (School's Out)
1948 Robert Coover novelist (Pricksongs & Descants)
1948 Rakesh Shukla cricket leg-spinner (1 Test India vs Sri Lanka 1982)
1948 Rod Grams (Representative-R-MN)
1949 Michael Beck Memphis TN, actor (Hans Helms-Holocaust)
1950 Pamela Franklin Tokyo Japan, actress (Satan's School for Girls)
1950 James Dunn US vocalist (Stylistics-You make me feel Brand New)
1950 Philip Ehart rock drummer (Kansas)
1950 Robert-John Stips rock keyboardist/singer (The Nits)
1952 Jerry Shirley rock drummer (Humble Pie-Hot N Nasty, Eat It)
1952 Lisa Eichhorn Reading PA, actress (Cutter's Way, Yanks)
1953 Svetlana Ulmasova USSR, 3K (world title 1978)
1958 Mary Ann Pascal actress (Samantha-Brothers)
1958 Werner Schwab writer
1959 Lawrence Taylor [LT], NFL's greatest linebacker (New York Giants)
1959 Zenani Mandela daughter of Nelson & Winnie Mandela
1960 Pamelyn Ferdin actress (Happy Birthday Wanda June, Tool Box Murders)
1961 Denis Savard Pointe Gatineau CA, NHL center (Chicago Blackhawks)
1961 Vern Fleming Long Island City NY, basketball player (Olympics-gold-1984)
1962 Clint Black Long Branch NJ, country vocalist (A Better Man)
1962 Dan Plesac Gary IN, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1962 Vern Fleming NBA guard (New Jersey Nets)
1963 Pirmin Zurbriggen Swiss alpine skier (Olympics-gold-1988)
1963 Jane Leary Sydney Australia, golfer (1992 Australian Amateur Champion)
1963 Tracie Ruiz-Conforto Hawaii, synchronized swimmer (Olympics-2 gold/silver-84, 88)
1965 John van Loen Dutch soccer player (Feyenoord, San Frecce)
1966 Marissa Laakso Boston MA, Miss Massachusetts-America (1990)
1966 Barry Klein Grand Rapids MI, rower (Olympics-1996)
1966 Spike rocker
1967 Sergei Grinkov Soviet ice skater (Olympics-gold 1988, 1994)
1968 Kristen Marie actress (Cheryl McKinnon-Another World)
1969 Brad Cornett US baseball pitcher (Toronto Blue Jays)
1969 Chastity Bono Los Angeles CA, daughter/actress (Sonny & Cher Show)
1969 Chris Crooms WLAF safety (Barcelona Dragons)
1969 Dallas Drake Trail, NHL center (Winnipeg Jets)
1969 Joe Sacco Medford MA, NHL right wing (Anaheim Mighty Ducks)
1970 Alisa Marie Kimble Miss California-USA (1997)
1970 Gabrielle Anwar Laleham England, actress (Body Snatchers)
1970 John Frascatore US baseball pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)
1970 Nicole Wood Canton OH, playmate (April 1993)
1970 Todd Peterson NFL kicker (Seattle Seahawks)
1971 Kevin Farkas NFL tackle (Carolina Panthers)
1971 Maarten Atmodikoro soccer player (Dordrecht '90, NAC)
1971 Pete Pierson NFL tackle (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1971 Sterling Palmer NFL defensive end (Washington Redskins)
1972 Kelvin Anderson CFL running back (Calgary Stampeders)
1973 Michael Goorjian actor (Party Of Five)
1973 Oscar De La Hoya Los Angeles CA, boxer (Olympics-gold-92)
1974 Brandon Convery Kingston, NHL center (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1974 Chris Ward defensive end (Baltimore Ravens)
1975 Elana Eve Chomiszak Providence RI, Miss Rhode Island-America (1996)
1975 Miriam Ruppert Miss Germany-Universe (1996)
1978 Laurence Borremans Miss Belgium-Universe (1997)
1980 Kelly Marie Sodan Miss Kentucky Teen-USA (1996)

Deaths which occurred on February 04:
0211 Lucius Septimus Severus emperor of Rome (193-211), dies at 64
0708 Sisinnius Greek-Syrian pope (708, 20 days), dies
0856 Hrabanus Maurus East France, archbishop of Mainz, dies
1189 Gilbert of Sempringham English monastery founder/saint, dies
1222 Willem I earl of Holland (1203-22), dies
1503 Queen Elizabeth consort of Henry VII of England, dies
1505 Joan of Valois Queen of France/saint, dies at 40
1553 Caspar Othmayr composer, dies at 37
1590 Gioseffo Zarlino composer, dies at 73
1617 Louis Elsevier Dutch publisher, dies at about 76
1640 Hendrick C Vroom Dutch seascape painter, dies
1714 Duke of Berry French King Louis XIV's grandson, dies
1746 Robert Blair Scottish poet (Grave), dies at 46
1781 Josef Myslivecek composer, dies at 43
1781 Willem Crul Admiral (West-Indies), dies in battle at 59
1815 Geert Reinders Dutch cattle breeder/inoculation proponent, dies at 77
1815 Jacob van Strij Dutch cartoonist/graphic artist, dies at 58
1816 Meingosus Gaelle composer, dies at 63
1834 Amelie Julia Candielle composer, dies at 66
1844 Willem de Clerq Dutch merchant/literary, dies at 49
1854 Carl Ludwig Cornelius Westenholz composer, dies at 66
1869 Johan M Dautzenberg Flemish author/novelist (Future), dies at 60
1894 Antoine J "Adolphe" Sax instrument maker (saxophone), dies at 79
1895 Faustina Hasse Hodges composer, dies at 71
1896 Henry David Leslie composer, dies at 73
1911 Peter A "Piet" Cronje South Africa Boer General, dies at about 75
1921 Xavier Mellery Belgian painter/illustrator, dies at 75
1927 Thomas Linnemann Laub composer, dies at 74
1928 Hendrik A Lorentz physicist (L transformation-Nobel 1902), dies at 74
1939 Edward Sapir US linguist/cultural anthropologist (Indian), dies at 55
1939 Henri W A Deterding Dutch oil magnate (Royal Oil, Shell), dies at 72
1941 Johann Peter Kirsch Luxembourg church historian, dies at 79
1943 Frank Calder 1st NHL president, dies
1946 Margarete Boie writer, dies
1953 Alexander Loudon Dutch diplomat (League of Nations), dies at 60
1954 Vaclav Vackar composer, dies at 72
1956 Leendert A Donker Dutch Social Democrat party-minister of Justice, dies at 56
1956 Peder Gram composer, dies at 74
1957 Joseph Hardaway creator of Bugs Bunny, dies at 66
1957 Miguel Covarrubias Mexican illustrator, dies
1958 Frederik de Merode Belgian prince, dies at 46
1959 Una O'Connor actress (Banjo, Invisible Man), dies at 78
1964 Siegfried T Bok neurobiologist/anatomist (Cybernetica), dies at 71
1965 U C Greyhound champion trotter (horse), dies at 33
1966 Gilbert H Grosvenor president National Geographic Society, dies at 90
1968 Ed Baker actor (Keystone Kops), dies of emphysema at 70
1968 Gerard den Brabander [Jan G Jofriet], poet (Nothing New), dies at 67
1969 Thelma Ritter actress (All About Eve, Pillow Talk), dies at 63
1974 Mihail Andricu composer, dies at 79
1976 Edward Benjamin Britten composer, dies at 62
1978 Dr Bergen Evans English professor ($64,000 Question), dies at 73
1982 Sue Carol actress (She's My Weakness), dies of a heart attack at 73
1983 Jim Ameche actor (Festival of Stars), dies at 68
1983 Karen Carpenter singer/drummer (Carpenters), dies of anorexia at 32
1983 Reginald Denham director/writer (Death at BC House), dies at 89
1987 Liberace pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), dies at 67
1989 Kenneth "Jethro" Burns country singer (Homer & Jethro), dies at 69
1991 Bob Leslie actor (Cinderella, Mako Jaws of Death), dies at 64
1992 Fred Slyter dialogue coach, dies after long illness at 56
1992 John Dehner actor (Apache, Cowboy, Boys from Brazil), dies at 76
1994 Han Jansen Dutch painter, dies at 62
1994 Harold Schneider US producer (5 Easy Pieces, War Games), dies at 55
1994 Jan Veldkamp Dutch geophysicist/director (KNMI), dies at 84
1994 Justinus Darmojuwono Indonesian archbishop/cardinal, dies at 79
1995 Betty Davis British dance teacher of Dame Margot Fonteyn, dies
1995 Patricia Highsmith [Mary Patricia Plangman], US/Swiss, dies at 74
1995 Roel Wiersma Dutch soccer star (PSV), dies at 62
1997 James Friell political cartoonist, dies at 84

On this day...
0708 Sisinnius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1194 Richard I Lion Hearted pays Leopold O Fenrik VI's ransom of 100,000
1508 Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being crowned
1586 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor of Netherlands
1600 Tycho Brahe & Johannes Kepler meet for 1st time outside of Prague
1620 Prince Bethlen Gábor signs peace with emperor Ferdinand II
1657 Oliver Cromwell grants residency to Luis Caravajal
1697 3 VOC-ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
1699 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
1782 British garrison surrenders to French & Spanish fleet
1783 Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 (Calabria, Italy)
1787 1st Anglican bishops of New York & Pennsylvania consecrated in London
1787 Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
1789 1st electoral college chooses Washington & Adams as President & Vice President
1794 French National Convention proclaims abolishment of slavery
1797 Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 40,000
1803 William Dunlap, adapts French melodrama "Voice of Nature"
1822 Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
1824 J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to the public
1846 Mormons leave Nauvoo MO for settlement in the west
1847 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
1854 Alvan Bovay proposes the name "Republican Party", Ripon WI
1855 Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela
1861 Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st time, Montgomery AL, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi & South Carolina elect Jefferson Davis President of Confederacy
1864 Skirmish at Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
1865 Hawaiian Board of Education formed
1866 Mary Baker Eddy cures her injuries by opening a bible
1875 Princess Louise marries Prince Philip von Saksen-Coburg-Gotha in Belgium
1880 Steele MacKay's "Hazel Kirke" premieres in New York NY
1887 Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
1895 1st rolling lift bridge opens, Chicago
1899 Revolt against US occupation of Philippines
1903 Stanley Cup Montréal AAA beat Winnipeg Victorias, 2 games to 1 & 1 tie
1904 John Millington Synges "Well of Saints" premieres in Dublin
1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim
1913 National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
1914 US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
1915 Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Mississippi Penitentiary
1917 Belgium Council of Flanders established
1919 City of Bremen's Soviet Republic overthrown
1920 1st flight from London to South Africa takes-off (1½ months)
1922 WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
1924 1st Winter Olympics games close at Chamonix France
1924 George Kelly's "Show-Off" premieres in New York NY
1926 Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
1927 KGA-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
1929 Archie Jackson scores 164 on Test Cricket debut vs England at Adelaide
1930 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans
1931 National League adopts a deader baseball
1932 3rd Winter Olympics games open in Lake Placid NY
1932 Japanese troop occupy Harbin, Manchuria
1933 Crew of Dutch "7 Provinces" mutiny after pay cuts
1933 German President Von Hindenburg limits freedom of the press
1936 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
1937 Jim Margie, Philadelphia PA, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games
1938 Hitler seizes control of German army & puts Nazi in key posts
1938 "Our Town", by Thornton Wilder opens on Broadway
1939 Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-minute mile beyond human effort
1941 United Service Organization (USO) founded
1941 British tanks occupy Maus Libya
1941 Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
1942 Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US General wounded in action in WWII
1943 Bertolt Brecht's "Der gute Mensch von Sezuan" premieres in Zürich
1944 Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" premieres in Paris
1944 US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein
1945 FDR, Churchill & Stalin meet at Yalta
1946 Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday" premieres in New York NY
1948 Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1949 Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia
1951 US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya Klopfer
1951 US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1952 1st black executive of a major TV station (Jackie Robinson-WNBC New York)
1956 AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training
1957 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)
1958 "Oh, Captain!" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 192 performances
1958 Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since 1950
1959 Israel begins exporting copper ore
1960 BBWAA voters fail to elect a new Hall of Fame member
1960 Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park
1960 Lionel Bart's musical "Fings ain't wot they used t'be" premieres
1961 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
1962 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old Russian game
1962 "Gay Life" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 113 performances
1962 US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara Roles
1962 US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt
1964 24th Amendment abolishes Poll tax
1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City OK
1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport (Japan); kills 133
1967 US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
1967 "Wild Thing" hits #20 on the pop singles chart by Senator Bobby
1968 Bowie Kuhn replaces William Eckert as 5th commissioner of baseball
1968 "Golden Rainbow" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 355 performances
1969 41,163, then largest NBA crowd, watches doubleheader Cincinnati-Detroit, San Diego-Boston
1969 John Madden is named head coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders
1969 Beatles appoint Eastman & Eastman, as general counsel to Apple
1969 Lonnie Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" premieres in New York NY
1969 Yassar Arafat takes over as chairman of PLO
1970 "Charles Aznavour" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 23 performances
1970 "Gantry" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 1 performance
1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for blacks
1971 Government exhibit under construction collapses, kills 65 in Brazil
1971 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
1971 Apollo 14 lander Antares lands on Moon (Shepard & Mitchell)
1971 British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt
1972 Senator Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be deported
1972 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in Vienna Austria
1973 Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game
1973 Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled
1973 "No, No Nanette" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 861 performances
1973 Manfred Kokot runs world record 50 meter indoor (5.61 seconds)
1974 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
1974 Patricia Hearst (19), daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army
1974 Benzine rationing ends in Netherlands
1974 Gas rationing ends in Netherlands
1976 12th Winter Olympics games opens in Innsbruck, Austria
1976 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala & Honduras
1976 Judge Oliver upholds Seitz's decision on Andy Messersmith free agency
1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1977 Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)
1977 Wings release "Maybe I'm Amazed"
1977 30th NHL All-Star Game Wales beat Campbell 4-3 at Vancouver
1977 Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" released
1979 "Co-Ed Fever", TV Comedy, debut & cancelled that outing on CBS
1979 End of last 3+day D/N game for 15 years (WSC, SCG)
1979 Joanne Carner win LPGA Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament
1980 Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran
1980 Joanne Carner win LPGA Whirlpool Golf Championship of Deer Creek
1982 Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47 meters) Tacoma WA
1982 Musical "Pump Boys & Dinettes" premieres at Princess Theater NYC for 573 performances
1982 Suriname premier Chin A Sen flees
1983 José Happart becomes mayor of Voeren Belgium
1983 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton
1984 "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore
1984 Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168 meters) Las Vegas
1984 "9" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 739 performances
1985 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
1985 Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell New Zealand of nuclear weapons
1986 38th NHL All-Star Game Wales beat Campbell 4-3 (OT) at Hartford
1986 Israeli fighters intercept Libyan liner (passenger plane)
1987 Sacramento Kings score only 4 points 1st quarter against the Lakers; fewest in a period since introduction of 24 second shot-clock in 1954
1987 Stars & Stripes beats Australia's Kookaburra 3, sweeps America's Cup
1987 President Reagan's veto of Clean Water Act is overridden by Congress
1988 Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega indicted on drug charges
1989 Dean Jones scores 216 vs West Indies at the Adelaide Oval
1990 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo
1990 Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 meter freestyle (3 minutes 40.81 seconds)
1990 Danny Everett runs world record 400 meter indoor (45:04)
1990 Lyudmila Narozhi-Lenko runs world record 60 meter hurdles indoor (7.69)
1990 NFL Pro Bowl NFC beats AFC 27-21
1990 Pat Bradley win Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
1990 Richard Hadlee takes his 400th Test Cricket wicket (Sanjay Manjrekar)
1990 St Petersburg Pelicans beat West Palm Beach Tropics 12-4 to win 1st Senior Professional Baseball Association Championship
1991 US postage raises from 25¢ to 29¢
1991 Hall of Fame's board of directors vote 12-0 to bar Pete Rose
1991 Martin Crowe & Andrew Jones make 467 stand vs SL, world record
1993 Admiral Studeman, ends term as acting director of CIA
1993 Marge Schott suspended from baseball for 1 year due to racism
1993 Russian space agency tests a 82' wide space mirror
1994 10th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Lives wins
1994 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartum Sudan
1994 Merlene Ottey runs world record 50 meter indoor (6.00 seconds)
1994 Russian team beats ladies world record 4x800 meter indoor (8:18.71)
1995 Dean Jones completes 324 for Victoria vs South Australia
1995 Sandra Völker swims female European record 50 meter backstroke (27.77)
1995 Zimbabwe's 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by an inning
1996 NFL Pro Bowl NFC beats AFC 20-13
1997 73 Israelis die when army copters collide
1997 Mario LeMieux is 7th NHL player to score 600 goals
1997 OJ Simpson found liable in murders of Ron Goldman & Nicole Simpson
1997 Secretary of State Margaret Albright announces she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish
1998 Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels Belgium

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

Angola : Outbreak of Fighting Against Portuguese
Sri Lanka : Independence Day (1948)
US : Kosciuszko Day
Switzerland : Homstrom-celebrates end of winter - - - - - ( Sunday )

Religious Observances
Anglican : Commemoration of Cornelius the Centurion
Feast of St Gilbert of Sempringham
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Andrew Corsini, bishop of Fiesole/confessor
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St John of Britto, Portuguese Jesuit

Religious History
1441 Pope Eugene IV published the encyclical "Cantante domino." It asserted that the biblical canon of the Roman Catholic Church contains both the 66 protocanonical books (i.e., the complete Protestant Bible) and 12 deuterocanonical (aka "apocryphal") books 78 writings in all.
1810 The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in Tennessee as an outgrowth of the Great Revival of 1800. Standing between Calvinism and Arminianism, the denomination holds a "medium theology" which affirms unlimited atonement, universal grace, conditional election, eternal security of the believer and salvation of all children dying in infancy.
1873 Birth of George Bennard, American Methodist evangelist. He penned over 300 Gospel songs during his lifetime, but is primarily remembered today for one: "The Old Rugged Cross."
1874 English poet and devotional writer Frances Ridley Havergal, 37, penned the words to the popular hymn of commitment, "Take My Life and Let It Be [Consecrated, Lord, to Thee]."
1950 American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot resolved in his journal: 'I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.'

Thought for the day :
" Put your brain in gear before starting your mouth. "

I had a brother-in-law who was on Guadalcanal(as he put it, "Part of an all expense paid tour of the pacific").

He told of a time when they were being bombed when he (from under his bunk) looked over at at a "new guy" shaking so bad that the bunk was shaking, he starts to laugh...until he looked up and saw how his bunk was shaking.

New at G. I. Memories: Glasgow AFB, Montana - were you one of the SAC STK's (if you were in SAC, you know what SKT stands for) who was stationed out in the middle of nowhere, Northeastern Montana? See what the base looks like now.