Have a fantastic day today!!
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Chaplain's Reflection.
Years ago, the chaplain of the Notre Dame football team was a beloved old Irish priest. At confession one day, a football player told the priest that he had acted in an un-sportsman-like manner at a recent football game.
"I lost my temper and said some bad words to one of my opponents." "Ahhh, that's a terrible thing for a Notre Dame lad to be doin'" the priest said. He took a piece of chalk and drew a mark across the sleeve of his coat.
"That's not all, Father. I got mad and punched one of my opponents." "Saints preserve us!" the priest said, making another chalk mark.
"There's more. As I got out of a pileup, I kicked two of the other team's players right in the sensitive area." "Oh, goodness me!" the priest wailed, making two more chalk marks on his sleeve.
"Who in the world were the poor souls we were playin' when you did these awful things?"
"Southern Methodist."
"Ah, well," said the priest, wiping his sleeve clean, "boys will be boys."
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Chaplain Says So..
Two privates stationed at Fort Campbell were handed shovels and told to bury a large, dead animal. While digging they got into an argument about what they were burying.
'This here's a big mule!'
'Tain't no mule, this here's a donkey.'
'Mule!'
'Donkey!'
Well, this went on for a while until the camp Chaplain came by. 'What are you boys doing?' he asked.
'We're diggin' a grave for this mule.'
'Donkey, dammit!'
The chaplain cut in, 'Boys, you should stop your shouting. I grew up on a farm, and I know this isn't either one, it's an ass.'
An hour later, the camp commander came up and said, 'What are you men doing, digging a foxhole?'
'No sir. We're diggin' an asshole.'
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Congressional Chaplain
Summer is the season for countless tourists to visit The District of Columbia, which is just a few miles distant from Virginia. Not long ago a group arrived on the Mall, whereupon their guide began listing the attractions.
In the midst of this discourse the guide paused and pointed to a tall, benevolent gentleman, identifying him as the congressional chaplain.
One lady inquired, "What does the chaplain do? Does he pray for the Senate or the House?"
The guide reflected for a moment and then replied solemnly, "Well, he meets with and talks to the members of Congress, then goes back and prays for the country."
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Today's classic warship, by special request, USS Texas (BB-35)
New York class (New York Class!?!?!? Say it ain't so!!!!)
Displacement. 27,000
Length. 573'0"
Beam. 95'2 1/2"
Draft. 29'7"
Speed. 21.05 k.
Complement. 954
Armament. 10 14", 21 5", 4 3-pdrs., 4 21" torpedo tubes
Commissioned on 12 March 1914
Decommissioned on 21 April 1948 and turned over to the state of Texas to serve as a permanent memorial
USS Texas, a 27,000-ton New York class battleship built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned in March 1914. In May, she steamed to Vera Cruz to support the occupation of that Mexican city. Regular operations with the Atlantic Fleet began in mid-year and continued to January 1918. The battleship then crossed the ocean to join the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, where she remained to the end the First World War. Texas returned to the United States in late December 1918 and again took up her duties with the Atlantic Fleet.
Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet in mid-1919, Texas came back to the Atlantic in 1924, when she again visited Europe on a training cruise. The ship received new oil-fired boilers and many improvements to her combat systems in a major modernization that began in 1925. With her appearance transformed, Texas' operations alternated between the Atlantic and the Pacific until 1931, when her base was shifted to California. For the next six years, she served as a fleet and division flagship during regular U.S. Fleet exercises. Texas briefly revisited the Atlantic in 1936 and was sent back to that ocean in 1937 for service that would last until late in 1944.
During 1937-39, Texas kept busy training the Navy's officers and men. When the Second World War began in September 1939, she joined other Atlantic Squadron ships in maintaining a Neutrality Patrol, an activity that became increasingly warlike when the U.S. Navy began convoying western Atlantic shiping in 1941. The next year, with the Nation now formally at war, Texas escorted troops and supplies to Panama, West Africa and the British Isles. A change in mission took place in October and November 1942, when she provided heavy gunfire support during the invasion of North Africa. Texas continued her Atlantic convoy escort duties through 1943 and beyond. In April 1944 she began preparations for the Normandy landings, which began on 6 June 1944, with Texas' 14-inch and 5-inch guns firing on German positions ashore for several days.
On the morning of 26 June, Texas closed in on the vital port of Cherbourg and, with Arkansas (BB-33), opened fire upon various fortifications and batteries surrounding the town. The guns on shore returned fire immediately and, at about 1230, succeeded in straddling Texas. The battleship, however, continued her firing runs in spite of shell geysers blossoming about her. The enemy gunners were stubborn and good. At 1316 a 280-millimeter shell slammed into her fire control tower, killed the helmsman, and wounded nearly everyone on the navigation bridge. Texas' commanding officer, Capt. Baker, miraculously escaped unhurt and quickly had the bridge cleared, The warship herself continued to deliver her 14-inch shells in spite of damage and casualties. Some time later, another shell struck the battleship. That one, a 240-millimeter armor-piercing shell, crashed through the port bow, entered a compartment located below the wardroom, but failed to explode. Throughout the three-hour duel, the Germans straddled and near-missed Texas over 65 times, but she continued her mission until 1600 when, upon orders to that effect, she retired. Her heavy guns were again active in August, this time in the Mediterranean Sea in support of landings in Southern France.
After an overhaul, Texas went to the Pacific, arriving in the war zone in time to take part in the February 1945 Iwo Jima invasion. From late March to late May, she operated off Okinawa, firing her guns against Japanese positions and helping to fight off suicide plane attacks. Texas was preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended in August 1945. She left the Western Pacific in late September and spent the next three months transporting veterans home. Returning to the Atlantic coast in February 1946, Texas was inactive until April 1948, when she was placed out of commission and turned over to the State of Texas. She has been maintained as a memorial at San Jacinto ever since.
The USS Texas is the oldest surviving US Battleship.
One of the many duties of our chaplain way back then was to pass on the sad information of a death in the family to crew members when he had been notified by the Red Cross.
I received two such messages in a three month period concerning Mrs. DD's two grandmothers. He and his office would make all the necessary arrangements for emergency leave. Because these deaths were not immediate family, I wasn't allowed emergency leave, but he did help with sending a telegram back to the family. Nowdays, with the internet, the old method is probably obsolete.
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!