Replies

The 7th Australian Infantry Division initiated the 1 October plan by attacking toward Kokoda. At three places Japanese rearguard units set up blocking positions along the trail, and at all three the Australians, supported by Fifth Air Force bombing and strafing runs, enveloped and overran the enemy. On 2 November Kokoda and its airfield were back in Allied hands, and on the 13th the 7th moved fifteen miles ahead to Wairopi, only twenty-seven miles from the Buna perimeter. Japanese troops scattered northward toward Sanananda, where they set up a coastal strongpoint the Allies would have to attack later. But they were off the Kokoda Trail.

"Jungle Trail" by Franklin Boggs. Thick jungles of the Southwest Pacific Area made resupply an arduous process. (Army Art Collection)

The airlift of units to and along the northeast coastal axis went smoothly. In the first week of October an Australian battalion flew to Wanigela on the east side of Cape Nelson, and two weeks later the 128th Infantry flew from Port Moresby to Wanigela. Since these units stood vulnerable to attack from enemy-held islands to the north, SWPA directed an assault on Goodenough Island, closest to New Guinea, by another Australian battalion from Milne Bay. After a firelight with a small enemy force preparing to leave, the battalion secured the island.

The Allied ground advances across Cape Nelson and up the Kapa Kapa-Jaure axis proved severe trials of endurance. Moving across the base of Cape Nelson, the 3d Battalion of the 128th Infantry soon found itself floundering through the knee-deep mud of a malarial swamp. The unit abandoned its planned route and made directly for the coast. When the battalion reached its objective of Pongani by sea on 28 October, many of its men were suffering from malaria and other fevers.

General Sir Thomas Blamey with Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger, leader of the U.S. ground troops in New Guinea, standing in front of a captured Japanese pillbox during the fight for Papua.

In a twelve-day march from Kapa Kapa to Jaure the men of the 2d Battalion of the 126th Infantry struggled against the worst conditions New Guinea could offer. The heat, the sharp kunai grass, the leeches and fever-bearing insects, and the slippery trail broke down discipline, and the troops discarded large amounts of equipment to lighten their loads. The ration—Australian bully beef, rice, and tea—made some sick, and diarrhea and dysentery claimed many. Five days of steady rain from 15 October made heating food and boiling water impossible and forced the men to wade through neck-deep water when crossing streams. At higher elevations the battalion found razor-backed ridges so steep that the men had to cling to vines to maintain progress. One group stumbled and slid 2,O00 feet downhill in forty minutes; it took eight hours to recover the distance. The terrain even forced a change of leaders. The battalion commander suffered a heart attack on the trail and was evacuated to Port Moresby. On 25 October the lead company reached Jaure, its troops starving and sickly, their clothing in tatters, and their motivation to meet the Japanese in dire need of restoration.

American and Australian casualties, with Papuan litter bearers. (DA photograph)

On hearing of the condition of the 2d Battalion after its crossing of the Owen Stanleys, the 32d Division commander, Maj. Gen. Edwin F. Harding, was determined not to allow any of his other battalions to become so debilitated by the terrain of New Guinea. He requested that the rest of his troops be airlifted to the north slope of the mountains; Blamey and MacArthur quickly approved. In an intelligence gift to the Allies, a missionary had come forward with news of an airfield near Fasari, a village about forty-two miles south of Pongani. Beginning 8 November the 126th Infantry flew to Fasari and Pongani, and then moved inland to Bofu, fourteen miles from the Buna perimeter. At the same time, the 128th Infantry moved up the coast from Pongani to Embogo, only seven miles from the enemy. Meanwhile on the Kokoda Trail, the 7th Australian Infantry Division pushed the enemy down the mountains toward the coast. The Allies were trapping the Japanese against the sea.

Retreating enemy forces set up a beachhead defense stretching some sixteen miles along the coast and seven miles inland. The Japanese held several important locations within their perimeter: Gona Village, the west anchor of the enemy beachhead; Sanananda Point in the center; Duropa Plantation, the eastern anchor of the beachhead; Buna Village; Buna Mission, the prewar Australian administrative center; and two airfields. Also inside the perimeter lay more swamps and streams than appeared on Allied maps and more enemy troops than SWPA estimated. In a major intelligence blunder, Allied staffs told frontline commanders that they faced no more than 1,500 to 2,000 enemy and could expect the Japanese to surrender about 1 December. In fact, some 6,500 enemy held the beachhead.

Coconut log bunker with fire trench entrance in the Buna Village area.(DA photograph)

SWPA planned a straight-ahead assault on Buna-Sanananda across a front of some twenty miles. The Girua River divided the area of operations into two roughly equal parts, with Maj. Gen. George A. Vasey's 7th Australian Infantry Division on the left, or west, and Harding's U.S. 32d Division on the right. Over General Harding's objection, the U.S.126th Infantry reinforced the Australian 7th. Since the 32d Division had only two regiments instead of three when the assault began, the transfer of the 126th meant a 50 percent loss of fighting capacity. Harding could send only one regiment, the U.S. 128th, against Buna, and he would have no division reserve.

The attack began the morning of 16 November on both sides of the Girua. On the left, the 7th Australian Infantry Division met no enemy opposition the first two days but found other problems nearly as serious. The Australians soon outran their supply line and had to go on short rations; heat exhaustion and the myriad fevers of New Guinea steadily reduced troop strength. When the first shots were exchanged on the 18th, the troops found that every approach avoiding the swamps and streams brought them into enemy machine-gun-fire lanes. Despite this formidable defense, and without artillery support, the Australians pushed ahead. In three days of fighting they lost 204 dead and wounded, and they were still in no position to take Gona. Two days later, after brief air and artillery preparations, troops of the 7th reached the innermost defenses of Gona but were quickly pushed back. On the division's right a separate thrust at Sanananda fell short, though troops managed to set a roadblock behind the enemy.

In the American sector even more trouble developed. Hoping to use the coastal waters on its right to relieve problems of supply and troop exhaustion, the 32d Division loaded its ammunition, rations, radios, and heavy weapons on luggers. After questionable planning, the heavily laden boats set out with no air cover. Japanese Zeroes soon spotted the boats and in strafing attacks sank all but one. Now the 128th had to push on without prospect of resupply, and on the 19th took its first fire from nearly invisible defensive positions. Two days later Fifth Air Force planes twice bombed the 128th Infantry troops, killing ten and wounding fourteen. Despite these setbacks, the 32d Division mounted several local and three major attacks against Japanese positions. The return of the 2d Battalion of the 126th Infantry to American control on 23 November raised hopes of success, but the 32d Division failed to dislodge the enemy.

The November attacks revealed with painful clarity a Japanese strength: tenacity in defense. This strength reflected both a selfless fanaticism in support of imperial expansion and a mastery of field engineering. The Japanese simply made better use of the local terrain. Aware of the high water table of New Guinea coastal areas, the Americans relied on the fact that the enemy could not construct below-ground defenses. The Japanese proved the fallacy of Allied thinking by cutting trees and raising berms above ground, then concealing strongpoints with kunai grass and tying them together with interlocking fields of fire. As a result, approaching troops could not see the enemy bunkers until they were only about twenty feet away, by which time the Japanese had opened fire. Without armor or heavy artillery and air support, infantrymen could only crawl up to each bunker and jam hand grenades into firing slits, a process both slow and costly in casualties.

Disabled Bren gun carriers at Duropa Plantation. (DA photograph)

The Southwest Pacific Area was deeply concerned at the failure of the 32d Division's November attacks. Two weeks of offensive operations had produced 492 American casualties, and the enemy still held its positions. Staff officers wondered how much longer the underfed and diseased troops could keep fighting the Japanese and the climate of New Guinea. The international alliance that SWPA represented also showed strain, as Australians and Americans traded disparaging comments on their respective fighting abilities.

Changes were called for, and General MacArthur set them in motion. Summoning General Eichelberger, he bluntly told the corps commander, "Take Buna or don't come back alive!" Eichelberger immediately went forward to see conditions for himself. The enemy in front of the 32d Division now held a pocket stretching some four miles from Buna Village on the left to Duropa Plantation on the right. The fighting concentrated at two points along the enemy line, Urbana front on the extreme left and Warren front on the extreme right. Observing Urbana front on 2 December, Eichelberger found that the troops were exhausted, starved, feverish, and in tatters. Even worse, they had lost spirit, with some beginning to believe that the Japanese in their heavily timbered bunkers were unbeatable. Too many troops sat in rear-echelon aid stations on "rest" status. Although the I Corps commander considered the American troops still able to mount attacks, he saw much evidence that seemed to confirm the rumor he had heard in Port Moresby: that the 32d Division was near the breaking point.

Japanese Bunker in the Duropa Plantation. Cpl. Charles Claridge of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, is looking at the entrance

Eichelberger neither hesitated nor let personal feelings stand in his way. He immediately relieved General Harding, an old friend from the West Point class of 1909, as well as the commanders of both the Urbana and the Warren fronts. Preparations for the next round of attacks then went forward with several reasons for optimism. After more than a month of operating under combat conditions, the supply situation had improved noticeably. The troops had more food and some time to rest, and as a result their morale rose. The combat support situation, too, had improved. Eichelberger could expect more bombing sorties from Fifth Air Force and more artillery preparation. Best of all, the Americans could attack behind a spearhead of five Bren gun carriers, tracked vehicles with machine guns that might at last give the infantry an effective weapon against the nearly impregnable enemy bunkers.

The attack began in both the Australian and American sectors on 5 December. It soon developed into another Allied disaster. Within twenty minutes all the Bren gun carriers had been knocked out, and attacking infantry stalled all along the line. Now Eichelberger had experienced for himself the Japanese tenacity in defense. He ordered the troops on the Warren front to maintain positions and conduct local patrols, but the Urbana front remained very active. Showing the persistence necessary to match that of the Japanese, the 2d Battalion of the 126th mounted twelve attacks against enemy bunkers during 8-11 December, but it could not break through. For the first time, however, the Americans had a fresh reserve to draw on. With the recent arrival of the 127th Infantry, the 32d Division finally had its full complement of three infantry regiments. The 3d Battalion of the 127th now took over on the Urbana front.

Interior of a Japanese Bunker in the Duropa Plantation.
Note the sand-filled oil drums used to reinforce the palm-log structure.

In the Australian sector, the 7th Infantry Division kept up the pressure, assisted by Americans from the 126th Infantry who were showing commendable tenacity themselves in holding a roadblock before Sanananda against repeated Japanese attacks. On 9 December the 7th built up enough momentum to push through the enemy defenses and take Gona Village, the western anchor of the Japanese perimeter. The Australians had given the Allies their first major victory since Milne Bay in early September. Good news soon followed from the Urbana front. On 14 December the U.S. 3d Battalion overran Buna Village, pushing the remaining enemy into Buna Mission.

After the failure of the 5 December attack, Eichelberger decided that to have any chance of success he would have to change tactics. Fortunately the supply establishment at Port Moresby supported his determination: the tanks Harding had requested in November were finally on the way forward. They would spearhead the attack over the drier terrain of Warren front. With the new tanks came two fresh Australian battalions to reinforce the U.S. 128th Infantry. Australian Brigadier George F. Wootten would command the next series of Warren front attacks.

Anticipating Allied attacks, the Japanese conducted resupply missions by sea at night. Despite the best efforts of the Fifth Air Force, the enemy managed to put ashore during December about 1,300 fresh troops with supplies at several points west of Gona. These troops then made their way at night to Sanananda and Buna Mission.

Firing Pits and Bunker Entrances, Buna Mission.

The attack from Warren front began early on 18 December. Following a ten-minute air and artillery preparation, Wootten sent his new combined arms team ahead. The tanks immediately proved their worth by allowing infantrymen to get inside the enemy perimeter where, by enveloping successive bunkers, they overcame the opposition. The Allies had finally evolved the tactic to defeat Japanese bunker complexes. Over the next ten days the Warren force swept westward along the coast and reclaimed two airfields.

On the Urbana front, where the terrain did not support tanks, the fighting remained a desperate tree-by-tree, bunker-by-bunker struggle. Extremes of heroism were called for, and the troops responded. On the day before Christmas, Company I, 127th Infantry, had just cleaned out an enemy bunker only to be pinned down by a supporting strongpoint nearby. When 1st Sgt. Elmer J. Burr saw a hand grenade land next to his company commander, he immediately threw himself on it and absorbed the explosion with his own body. For his heroism Sergeant Burr received the first Medal of Honor awarded in the campaign. Later the same day Sgt. Kenneth E. Gruennert of Company L, 127th Infantry, volunteered to knock out two enemy bunkers that were holding up his company's advance. Crawling forward alone, he killed all the enemy in the first bunker by throwing grenades through the firing slits. Although severely wounded, Gruennert bandaged himself and set out against the second bunker. Throwing his grenades with great precision, the sergeant routed the enemy from their position. But before he could call his comrades forward, he was mortally wounded by snipers. For eliminating these two bunkers Sergeant Gruennert received the second Medal of Honor of the campaign.

By 28 December the Warren force closed with the Urbana force and accomplished a complete envelopment of the enemy. In coordinated attacks from 31 December to 2 January, the two forces met and flushed the Japanese from the jungle. As the Japanese swam toward remaining enemy enclaves to the west, machine guns fired on them from the beach, and aircraft came in for strafing runs.

Native Stretcher Bearers with Wounded American.
On the trail from the Buna Front to Simemi.

Now only Sanananda remained in Japanese hands. This lone enemy bastion consisted of one prepared position on the coast and several pockets of troops who had retreated from Gona and Buna. Units participating in the final offensive were now augmented by the U.S. 163d Infantry, the first regiment of the 41st Division to see action in the Pacific. Over the next twenty days the Allies overcame Japanese resistance with repeated artillery barrages, tank assaults, and infantry envelopments. The only slowdown in the Allied advance occurred when the enemy knocked out three tanks with special ammunition—ammunition that intelligence officers had reported as totally expended. The poor state of the enemy contributed as much to their defeat as did the Allies' gradually improving tactics. Without resupply for weeks, Japanese troops had only a few cartridges per man, and their rice ration ran out during the second week of January. When Allied troops broke through the last enemy defense line, they found evidence of cannibalism. Japanese resistance at Sanananda came to an end on 22 January, six months to the day after the Papua Campaign began.

Additional Sources:

home.st.net.au/~dunn/ozatwar

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on November 30:
538 St Gregory of Tours chronicler/bishop
1466 Andrea Doria Genoese statesman/admiral
1554 Philip Sidney England, poet/statesman/soldier (Arcadia)
1667 Jonathan Swift Engl, satirist (Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal)
1793 Johann Lukas Schonlein helped establish scientific medicine
1810 Oliver Fisher Winchester rifle maker (Winchester)
1817 Theodor Mommsen Germany, historian/writer (Nobel 1902)
1835 Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], author (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn)
1863 Andres Bonifacio leader of 1896 Philippine revolt against Spain
1874 Sir Winston Churchill (C) British PM (1940-45, 1951-55, Nobel 1953)
1894 Ture Rangstrom Stockholm Sweden, composer/critic (Kronbruden)
1898 Roy (Link) Lyman NFL tackle (Chicago Bears)
1907 Jacques Barzun France, author (The House of Interlect)
1912 Gordon Parks film director/writer (Learning Tree)
1913 John K.M. McCaffery Moscow Idaho, TV host (One Minute Please)
1915 Angier Biddle Duke NYC, US Ambassador (Spain)
1915 Henry Taube chemist (Nobel 1983)
1920 Virginia Mayo St Louis MO, actress (Out of the Blue, White Heat)
1923 Efrem Zimbalist Jr actor (77 Sunset Strip, FBI, Scruples)
1924 Allan Sherman parody singer/songwriter (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah)
1924 Shirley Chisholm (D-Rep-NY), 1st black congresswoman/presidential candidate
1926 Richard Crenna Los Angeles CA, actor (Rambo, Summer Rental, Sand Pebbles)
1927 Robert Guillaume St Louis MO, actor (Benson, Soap)
1928 Chic Hecht (Sen-R-NV)
1928 Rex Reason Berlin Germany, actor (This Island Earth)
1929 Joan Ganz Cooney Phoenix AZ, TV exec (Children's TV Workshop)
1930 G Gordon Liddy Watergate felon, radio talk-show host
1931 Gunther Herbig Usti-nad-Labem Czech, conductor (East Berlin Orchestra)
1931 Jack Ging Alva Ok, actor (11th Hour, Ripcord, Tales of Wells Fargo)
1031 Davey Jones rocker (Monkees-Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarksville, I'm A Believer)
1931 Jack Sheldon Jacksonville FL, actor (Run Buddy Run, Merv Griffin)
1933 Linwood C Ivey NC, (Mayor-Garysburg NC)
1936 Abbie Hoffman aka Free, Yippie/activist/author (Steal this Book)
1937 Paul Stookey Baltimore MD, singer (Peter, Paul & Mary-Wedding Song)
1937 Richard Threlkeld newscaster (ABC-TV)
1939 Walter Weller Vienna Austria, conductor (Vienna Tonkusteler Orchestra)
1947 David Mamet US playwright/director (Speed the Plow, House of Games)
1949 Arthur Lee Washington Jr one of FBI's most wanted
1950 Kathryn Witt Miami FL, actress (Pam-Flying High, Lenny)
1950 Margaret Whitton Philadelphia PA, actress (Barbara-Hometown, Major League)
1950 Paul Westphal NBA guard (Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns)
1951 Dian Parkinson TV model (Price is Right)
1952 Mandy Patinkin actor/singer (Yentl, Alien Nation)
1953 Shuggie (Johnny) Otis, Jr. (musician)
1954 June Pointer singer (Pointer Sisters-I'm So excited)
1955 Billy Idol [William Broad], rocker (White Wedding)
1959 Sylvia Hanika Munich West Germany, tennis player (Avon-1982)
1962 Bo Jackson baseball/football player (Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Raiders)
1969 Carrie Jean Yazel Huntington Beach CA, playmate (May, 1991)

Deaths which occurred on November 30:
30 -BC- Cleopatra Egyptian queen commits suicide(made an asp of herself)
1016 Edmund II Ironsides, King of the Saxons (1016), dies at 27
1631 Rabbi Samuel Eliezer ben Judah ha-levi Edels dies
1694 Marcello Malpighi father of microscopic anatomy, dies
1900 Oscar Wilde Irish author, dies in Paris
1964 Don Redman orchestra leader (Sugar Hill Times), dies at 64
1973 Bruce Yarnell Los Angeles CA, actor (Outlaws), dies at 35
1979 Zeppo Marx dies at 78
1981 Robert H Harris actor (Jake-The Goldbergs), dies at 72
1987 Arthur H Dean lawyer/advisor to FDR, dies at 89
1990 Norman Cousins editor (Saturday Review), dies at 75
1996 Tiny Tim singer with the falsetto warble and ukulele ("Tiptoe Through the Tulips" ), dies at 64

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 RICHARDSON STEPHEN G.---SEATTLE WA.
1967 KUSHNER FLOYD H.---DANVILLE VA.
[03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1968 BADER ARTHUR E.---ATLANTIC CITY NJ.
[REMAINS RETURNED 7-31-89 ID 2/08/90]
1968 FITTS RICHARD A.---ABINGTON MA.
REMAINS RETURNED 04/89]
1968 LA BOHN GARY R.---WIXON MI.
[REMAINS RETURNED 3/08/89 ID 2/08/90]
1968 MEIN MICHAEL H.---CAPE VINCENT NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED 3/08/89 ID 2/08/90]
1968 SCHOLZ KLAUS D.---AMARILLO TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED 3/08/89 ID 2/08/90]
1968 STACKS RAYMOND C.---MEMPHIS TN.
[REMAINS RETURNED 3/08/89 ID 2/08/90]
1968 TOOMEY SAMUEL K. III---INDEPENDENCE MO.
[REMAINS RETURNED 3/08/89 ID 2/08/90]
1970 STRINGER JOHN C. II---HAZARD KY.

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

On this day...
306 St Marcellus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1523 Amsterdam bans assembly of heretics
1554 England reconciles with Pope Julius III
1630 16,000 inhabitants of Venice die this month of plague
1648 English army captures King Charles I
1678 Roman Catholics banned from English parliament
1782 Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence
1803 Spain cedes her claims to Louisiana Territory to France
1804 Impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase begins
1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee
1866 Work begins on 1st US underwater highway tunnel, Chicago
1885 The opera "Le Cid" is produced (Paris)
1886 1st commercially successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo
1887 1st indoor softball game (Chicago)
1906 President Theodore Roosevelt publicly denounces segregation of Japanese schoolchildren in San Francisco
1907 Pike Place Market dedicated in Seattle
1924 1st photo facsimile transmitted across Atlantic by radio
1936 London's Crystal Palace (built 1851), destroyed by fire
1939 USSR invades Finland over a border dispute
1940 1st game of only 2-game Grey Cup (Ottawa 8, Toronto Balmy Beach 2)
1941 101 year old Nyack-Tarrytown (NY) ferry makes its last run
1947 Day after UN decree for Israel, Jewish settlements attacked
1948 Baseball's Negro National League disbands
1948 Soviets set up a separate municipal government in East Berlin
1949 Chinese Communists captured Chungking
1954 1st meteorite ( 8 lb ) known to strike a woman (Liz Hodges-Sylacauga AL)
1958 1st guided missile destroyer launched, Dewey, Bath, Me
1959 Joe Foss named 1st commissioner of AFL
1961 USSR vetoes Kuwait's application for UN membership
1962 U Thant of Burma elected 3rd Secretary-General of UN unanimously
1964 USSR launches Zond 2 towards Mars; no data returned
1966 Barbados gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1966 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, MD to Boulder, CO
1967 Julie Nixon & David Eisenhower announce their engagement
1967 Kuria Muria islands ceded by Britain to Oman
1967 People's Rep of South Yemen (Aden) gains independence from Britain
1970 George Harrison releases his triple album set "All Things Must Pass"
1972 BBC bans Wings "Hi, Hi, Hi"
1972 Illegal fireworks factory explodes killing 15 (Rome Italy)
1974 20th time Islanders shut-out (3-0 vs Canucks)
1975 Dahomey becomes Benin
1979 Ted Koppel becomes anchor of nightly news on Iranian Hostages (ABC)
1981 Porn star John Holmes arrested on fugitive charges
1982 STS-6 vehicle moves to launch pad
1982 US sub Thomas Edison collides with US Navy destroyer in So China Sea
1983 Denver Nugget coach Doug Moe, hopelessly behind, advise team to let Blazers break their scoring record
1983 Radio Shack announces the Tandy Model 2000 computer (80186 chip)
1988 Cyclone lashes Bangladesh, Eastern India; 317 killed
1988 NYC furrier sues Mike Tyson for $92,000 for non payment of purchase
1988 Soviets stop jamming Radio Liberty; 1st time in 38 years
1988 UN General Assembly (151-2) censures US for refusing PLO's Arafat visa
1990 Bush proposes US-Iraq meeting to avoid war
1991 93 cars & 11 truck accident near San Francisco during a dust storm, 17 die
1991 Rob Pilatus, 27, of Milli-Vanilli attempts suicide
1996 Some 150,000 people filled the streets of Belgrade to protest Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
1999 The opening of a 135-nation trade gathering in Seattle was disrupted by at least 40,000 demonstrators, some of whom clashed with police.
2000 Al Gore's lawyers battled for his political survival in the Florida and U.S. supreme courts; meanwhile, GOP lawmakers in Tallahassee moved to award the presidency to George W. Bush in case the courts did not by appointing their own slate of electors.

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

Barbados : Independence Day (1966)
Benin : National Day
Iran : Qadir Khom Festival
Philippines : Bonifacio Day/Heroes' Day (1863)
Upper Volta : Youth Day.
Yemen PDR : Independence Day (1967)
US : Travelers With Disabilities Awareness Week Begins
US : Stay Home Because You're Well Day
International Creative Child & Adult Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Advent-start of church year (4 Sundays till Christmas)
Protestant : Bible Sunday
RC, Luth, Ang-NZ : Feast of St Andrews Day, patron of Scotland

Religious History
1215 The Fourth Lateran Council closed, under Innocent III. It was this council that made first official use of the term "transubstantiation," with reference to the Eucharist (Lord's Supper).
1530 German reformer Martin Luther remarked: 'Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me.'
1554 Roman Catholicism was (briefly) restored to England, under the reign of Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. In the process, "Bloody Mary" had Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and nearly 300 other Protestant leaders burned at the stake.
1729 Birth of Samuel Seabury, first bishop of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. (Following the American Revolution, Seabury helped formulate the constitution which made the American Protestant Episcopal Church independent and autonomous from the Church of England.)
1894 In Naperville, Illinois, seven groups of the Evangelical Association withdrew from the organization to form the United Evangelical Church. (In 1922 the two denominations reunited.)

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

Thought for the day :
"Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch."

Question of the day...
What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Murphys law of the day...
Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

Little known fact #981...
Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language.