The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Vera Cruz Incident (4/22/1914) - Sep. 28th, 2003

exwar.org ^

[SAMWolf]

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1914 - U.S. landing at Vera Cruz

In 1914, a group led by General Victoriano Huerta had seized power by murdering Mexico's first revolutionary president, Francisco Madero. Enraged by Huerta's bloody coup, the general's removal became a central tenet of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson's hemispheric policy. Wilson refused to recognize the new Mexican government and removed a previously imposed arms embargo on the Mexican combatants, which allowed weapons to flow to Huerta's constitutionalist foes. He also waited for a pretext for U.S. intervention.

President Woodrow Wilson

That came in early April 1914, when Mexican soldiers temporarily detained a small group of U.S. sailors in the eastern oil port of Tampico, where U.S. and European warships had gathered to guard their nation's interests and citizens in the city. Mexican officials ordered the sailors released and offered their apologies to the U.S. government and Rear Admiral Henry Mayo, commander of the U.S. Navy forces in the area. Wilson and Mayo would have none of it, however, and demanded that the city's garrison hoist the U.S. flag and fire a 21-gun salute to atone for the "insult" to U.S. honor. Huerta, seeing such a move as political suicide, refused.

This gave Wilson the opening to intervene for which he had been waiting. In the following days and weeks, widely scattered American naval forces converged on both coasts of Mexico, with an emphasis on the Gulf ports of Tampico and Vera Cruz. This deployment included the largest concentration of Marine Corps units to date - approximately half of the service's active strength of 10,000 men would ultimately take part.

Marine involvement predated the Tampico incident. As early as January 1914, a battalion under Major Smedley Butler had been ordered to move from Panama, where they had been deployed, to support Navy forces maintaining an American presence off the coast Mexico. In March, the fixed-defense battalion from the Marine Corp's Advanced Base Force (ABF) - which had remained on the U.S. Gulf Coast after exercises on Culebra island earlier in the year - reformed as four rifle companies and also sailed for Vera Cruz. Arriving on 9 March on the transport Prairie, Lieutenant Colonel Wendell Neville's unit came under the control of the naval commander off Vera Cruz, Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletcher.

The deployment process quickened after Wilson's cabinet met on 14 April to discuss the continuing Mexican "crisis." Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Rear Admiral Charles Badger, to proceed to Mexican waters with all of his available battleships. In the ensuing three days, seven of these warships sortied from east coast ports and the Caribbean. On board were approximately 1,000 Marines serving in shipboard detachments. They were formed into a landing force under Badger's fleet Marine officer, Major Albertus Catlin. Meanwhile, the commander of the Advanced Base Force brigade, Colonel John Lejeune, was ordered to embark on board the transport Hancock with his staff and the remainder of his force and sail from New Orleans to Tampico.


General Victoriano Huerta

Wilson and his advisors originally planned to launch the U.S. intervention in Tampico. However, naval officers and Secretary Daniels pointed out that while hydrographic conditions around that city would hinder the fleet's ability to support a landing, there was no such problem at Vera Cruz. Moreover, U.S. intelligence indicated that a German steamer loaded with weapons and ammunition for General Huerta's forces was on its way to the latter port. For this reason, Badger's task force and the Marine units at or enroute to Tampico were ordered to Vera Cruz.

Secretary Daniels's intervention order reached Rear Admiral Fletcher early on the morning of 21 April. Acting quickly, Fletcher had a landing party of sailors and Marines assembled for an assault before noon. The latter included Lieutenant Colonel Neville's battalion, buttressed by Marines from the battleships Florida and Utah. The landing force, which was commanded by Florida's commanding officer, Captain William Rush, went ashore in ships' boats.

For their part, the Marines' objectives were to secure the port facilities and customs house. Neither they nor Fletcher expected much effective opposition to the operation, but local Mexican commanders did move small groups of federal soldiers, local militia, and even criminal released from jail to the waterfront area. These polyglot forces did not oppose the initial landing, but opened fire as the Marines and sailors moved off of the wharves.

Occupying rooftops and moving building to building, the Marines cleared their area of scattered snipers and irregular fighters with relative ease. By the evening of the 21st, they had seized their objectives and moved to the edge of the city. However, they were forced to pull back upon learning that Mexican defenders had stalled the bluejackets in their sector.


USS Michigan (BB-27)
Taking on coal from a Navy collier, while off Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April-June 1914.
Note ship's band atop Turret # 2, playing to encourage the crewmen at work moving coal.

The fighting in and around the port continued into the next day. Casualties among the Navy landing force climbed when sailors stumbled into an ambush. Naval gunfire was called into play to deal with some particularly stubborn Mexican positions. U.S. reinforcements continued to go ashore, until the size of the landing force grew to more than 6,000 men.

The rapid-fire arrival of Marine reinforcements were particularly important in buttressing the landing force during the early days of the expedition. The earliest arrivals included Butler's battalion, which deployed on the night of the 21st from the cruiser Chester. Once ashore, it was absorbed into Neville's command, in time to engage in sporadic night-time street fighting. Catlin's battalion, which arrived at dawn on the 22nd on Admiral Badger's battleships, also fell under Neville's command after landing. The transport Hancock discharged the Advanced Base Force leadership and the ABF's mobile-defense battalion later that morning, at which point all the Marine Corps units in Vera Cruz were consolidated into a provisional brigade under Colonel Lejeune.

Back in the United States, the Marines also formed another battalion using troops drawn from ten different barracks at east coast naval bases. These Marines and their gear began loading on the chartered steamship Morro Castle on the 21st, and sailed from Philadelphia Naval Base on 23 April. Six days later, they too joined Lejeune's command, although by that time serious Mexican resistance was over.


The USS Utah's battalion being towed ashore under small arms fire, early in the afternoon of 21 April 1914, during the U.S. intervention at Vera Cruz.
The fort of San Juan de Ulua is in the background, with a possible Mexican Government steamer moored nearby

The Navy also added to the overwhelming strength of its supporting forces off Vera Cruz. Eight additional battleships joined Badger's original force, along with several key auxiliary ships, including a hospital ship. The Navy also conducted a show of force off Mexico's west coast. Eight cruisers, later joined by two battleships, operated off the ports of Acapulco, Mazatlan, and Guymas. Marines were also part of this naval effort - Colonel Joseph Pendleton had formed a Marine battalion from west coast barracks that deployed on the battleships and a collier.

The possibility existed that the Vera Cruz foray would turn into a larger-scale, longer-term campaign. Consequently, the Army also prepared a brigade of its troops for deployment from Galveston, Texas on board three of the service's own transports. However, the cabinet did not give the Army permission to deploy until after Rear Admiral Badger requested more troops. Moreover, much to his chagrin, the Army commander, Brigadier General Frederic Funston, found that he could not move all his equipment on the three ships, and thus had to charter two additional steamers. Consequently, his troops did not disembark at Vera Cruz until 29 April.

Once there, however, Brigadier General Funston became the senior U.S. officer ashore. He requested that a unified Army-Marine Corps command be formed under his command, which caused consternation in both the Marine and Navy ranks. The Navy, which also had forces on the ground, argued that its commanders should retain control of the Marines. Eventually, Funston, Lejeune, and the Navy reached agreement - seconded by the White House - that the sailors and Marines attached to ships' companies would return to the warships, and the remaining Marines - who on 4 May would come under the command of yet another officer, Colonel L.W.T. Waller - would operate under Army control.

This arrangement would stand for the next eight months as the Wilson administration continued to pressure the Mexican government. The president did achieve one of his key goals when General Huerta resigned office and fled in July 1914. Once Huerta was gone, Wilson's interest in continuing the expedition gradually waned. Overall, the Vera Cruz landing had gone relatively smoothly for the Navy and Marine Corps. Nevertheless, it had exposed several shortcomings. For example, the operation had highlighted a lack of sophisticated combat skills among the Navy landing parties. The sailors had been particularly unprepared for urban combat - a fact that led to a gradual reduction in the use of large naval landing parties.


Men of the USS Michigan (BB-27) Battalion on the outskirts of Vera Cruz, circa late April 1914.
They are wearing dyed "Whites" and are armed with a Colt M1895 machine gun and M1903 rifles. Note the colorful bandannas worn by two of these men..

For their part, the Marines found that their success at Vera Cruz had occurred despite some well-known, continuing problems. For one thing, their lift - both strategic and tactical - was still heavily constrained. Beyond Prairie and Hancock, which left much to be desired as transports, the Marines had no dedicated sealift. Unable to move units as a coherent whole, Marine commanders instead were forced to create provisional units "on the fly" from detachments on Navy warships who had not trained, planned, or even come ashore together. Once on the ground in Mexico, the Marines also found themselves with little tactical mobility, which would have been a serious impediment had the campaign progressed inland. In preparing for a possible move out of Vera Cruz, Lejeune had been forced to order his quartermasters to requisition animals and carts from the civilian population in city.

Even with these problems, the Vera Cruz operation showcased the ability of integrated naval forces to rapidly concentrate combat power, on short notice, from dispersed locations. As a small intervention against minor opposition, however, it did not lead to any major improvements in amphibious warfare techniques. It would take World War I, which began four months after the landing, to demonstrate the real challenges facing amphibious practitioners in the Industrial Age.

Thanks to the Foxhole Foxette, Snippy for suggesting this Thread

[SAMWolf]

Woodrow Wilson: The Tampico Affair

Despite the sentiments expressed in the Mobile address, Wilson proved more than willing to use force--as in Tampico, when he used an excuse (the accidental arrest of several drunken American sailors) to occupy Veracruz, in the hope of destabilizing the Huerta government. This message was presented to Congress as Marines were landing on shore.

It is my duty to call your attention to a situation which has arisen in our dealings with General Victoriano Huerta at Mexico City which calls for action, and to ask your advice and cooperation in acting upon it.

On the 9th of April a paymaster of the U.S.S. Dolphin landed at the Iturbide Bridge landing at Tampico with a whaleboat and boat's crew to take off certain supplies needed by his ship, and while engaged in loading the boat was arrested by an officer and squad of men of the army of General Huerta. Neither the paymaster nor anyone of the boat's crew was armed. Two of the men were in the boat when the arrest took place and were obliged to leave it and submit to be taken into custody, notwithstanding the fact that the boat carried, both at her bow and at her stern, the flag of the United States.

The officer who made the arrest was proceeding up one of the streets of the town with his prisoners when met by an officer of higher authority, who ordered him to return to the landing and await orders; and within an hour and a half from the time of the arrest, orders were received from the commander of the Huertista forces at Tampico for the release of the paymaster and his men. The release was followed by apologies from the commander and later by an expression of regret by General Huerta himself.

General Huerta urged that martial law obtained at the time at Tampico; that orders had been issued that no one should be allowed to land at the Iturbide Bridge; and that our sailors had no right to land there. Our naval commanders at the port had not been notified of any such prohibition; and. even if they had been, the only justifiable course open to the local authorities would have been to request the paymaster and his crew to withdraw and to lodge a protest with the commanding officer of the flee, Admiral Mayo regarded the arrest as so serious an affront that he was not satisfied with the apologies offered, but demanded that the flag of the United States be saluted with special ceremony by the military commander of the port.

The incident cannot be regarded as a trivial one, especially as two of the men arrested were taken from the boat itself -- that is to say, from the territory of the United States -- but had it stood by itself it might have been attributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer. Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case. A series of incidents have recently occurred which cannot but create the impression that the representatives of General Huerta were willing to go out of their way to show disregard for the dignity and rights of this government and felt perfectly safe in doing what they pleased, making free to show in many ways their irritation and contempt.

A few days after the incident at Tampico, an orderly from the U.S.S. Minnesota was arrested at Vera Cruz while ashore in uniform to obtain the ship's mail and was for a time thrown into jail. An official dispatch from this government to its embassy at Mexico City was withheld by the authorities of the telegraphic service until peremptorily demanded by our chargé d'affaires in person. So far as I can learn, such wrongs and annoyances have been suffered to occur only against representatives of the United States. I have heard of no complaints from other governments of similar treatment.

U.S. Navy Landing Party. Photographed on board ship, probably at the time of the Vera Cruz incident, circa April 1914. These sailors are wearing Marine Corps flannel shirts and khaki trousers, with dyed "white hats". They are posing with M1903 "Springfield" rifles and at least one man is wearing an ammunition belt. The ship may be USS South Carolina (BB-26).

Subsequent explanations and formal apologies did not and could not alter the popular impression, which it is possible it had been the object of the Huertista authorities to create, that the government of the United States was being singled out, and might be singled out with impunity, for slights and affronts in retaliation for its refusal to recognize the pretensions of General Huerta to be regarded as the constitutional provisional president of the Republic of Mexico.

The manifest danger of such a situation was that such offenses might grow from bad to worse until something happened of so gross and intolerable a sort as to lead directly and inevitably to armed conflict. It was necessary that the apologies of General Huerta and his representatives should go much further, that they should be such as to attract the attention of the whole population to their significance, and such as to impress upon General Huerta himself the necessity of seeing to it that no further occasion for explanations and professed regrets should arise.

I, therefore, felt it my duty to sustain Admiral Mayo in the whole of his demand and to insist that the flag of the United States should be saluted in such a way as to indicate a new spirit and attitude on the part of the Huertistas. Such a salute General Huerta has refused, and I have come to ask your approval and support in the course I now purpose to pursue.

This government can, I earnestly hope, in no circumstances be forced into war with the people of Mexico. Mexico is torn by civil strife. If we are to accept the tests of its own constitution, it has no government. General Huerta has set his power up in the City of Mexico, such as it is, without right and by methods for which there can be no justification. Only part of the country is under his control. If armed conflict should unhappily come as a result of his attitude of personal resentment toward this government, we should be fighting only General Huerta and those who adhere to him and give him their support, and our object would be only to restore to the people of the distracted republic the opportunity to set up again their own laws and their own government.

The USS Utah battalion marches along the Vera Cruz waterfront while returning to their ship, circa April-June 1914.
Battleship in the center distance is USS Minnesota (BB- 22). Ship in the left distance is either USS Dixie (1898-1922) or USS Prairie (1898-1923).
Photographed by Hadsell.

But I earnestly hope that war is not now in question. I believe that I speak for the American people when I say that we do not desire to control in any degree the affairs of our sister republic. Our feeling for the people of Mexico is one of deep and genuine friendship, and everything that we have so far done or refrained from doing has proceeded from our desire to help them, not to hinder or embarrass them. We would not wish even to exercise the good offices of friendship without their welcome and consent. The people of Mexico are entitled to settle their own domestic affairs in their own way, and we sincerely desire to respect their right. The present situation need have none of the grave implications of interference if we deal with it promptly, firmly, and wisely.

No doubt I could do what is necessary in the circumstances to enforce respect for our government without recourse to the Congress and yet not exceed my constitutional powers as President; but I do not wish to act in a matter possibly of so grave consequence except in close conference and cooperation with both the Senate and House. I, therefore, come to ask your approval that I should use the armed forces of the United States in such ways and to such an extent as may be necessary to obtain from General Huerta and his adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and dignity of the United States, even amidst the distressing conditions now unhappily obtaining in Mexico.

There can in what we do be no thought of aggression or of selfish aggrandizement. We seek to maintain the dignity and authority of the United States only because we wish always to keep our great influence unimpaired for the uses of liberty, both in the United States and wherever else it may be employed for the benefit of mankind.

[SAMWolf]

In 1914 the UTAH played an important role in the American landings at Veracruz, Mexico. Mexico, torn by civil war and revolution, was the scene of considerable American intervention, much of it centered at Veracruz and Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing's forays into northern Mexico.

The UTAH was deployed twice at Veracruz, first from February to April 1914, when it anchored off Veracruz and transferred refugees to nearby Tampico, and again in late April to June 1913 when it joined other American ships in an atempt to contravene the landing of arms shipped from Germany to Mexican president Victoriano Huerta, who had succeeded the assassinated legal president, Francisco I. Madero. President Woodrow Wilson, eager to support Madero backers and anti-Huerta revolutionaries as part of his international campaign for human rights, and seeking the means to stabilize war-torn neighboring Mexico, sent in troops.


Crewmen parading before the New York Public Library, circa June or July 1914, following their ship's return from Vera Cruz.
Note Navy Battalion flags carried before the first rank.

UTAH received orders to search for the ship and put to sea and reached Vera Cruz on the 16th. When it appeared that the shipment might be landed, the Navy took steps to take the customs house at Vera Cruz and stop the delivery. Accordingly, plans were drawn up for a landing at Vera Cruz, to commence on 21 April 1914.

Marines and sailors landed from the U.S. Naval vessels, including UTAH, took Veracruz on April 21, 1914, seized the customhouse and prevented the landing of the arms.

UTAH consequently landed her "battalion"-17 officers and 367 sailors under the command of Lt. Guy W. S. Castle-as well as her Marine detachment, which formed part of the improvised "First Marine Brigade," made up of detachments of marines from the other ships that had arrived to show American determination. In the ensuing fighting, in which the men of UTAH's bluejacket battalion distinguished themselves, seven won medals of honor. Those seven included Lt. Castle, the battalion commander; company commanders Ens. Oscar C. Badger and Ens. Paul F. Foster; section leaders, Chief Turret Captains Niels Drustrup and Abraham Desomer; Chief Gunner George Bradley; and Boatswain's Mate Henry N. Nickerson.


Marines of Vera Cruz. Left to right: Captain F.H. Delano, Sergeant-Major John H. Quick, Lieutenant W.C. Neville, Colonel J.A. Lejeune, and Major S.D. Butler.
U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Corps University Archives.

Considerable Mexican casualties embarrassed the United States and led to an American withdrawal, but the action was one of a series of maneuvers that led to Huerta's downfall and the installation of a new government

Additional Sources:

www.mtholyoke.edu
www.tcarden.com
www.history.navy.mil
www.arlingtoncemetery.net
www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/3136
www.navsource.org
www.pbs.org

[SAMWolf]

FLETCHER, FRANK FRIDAY
Rank and organization: Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy.
Place and date: Vera Cruz, Mexico, 21 and 22 April 1914.
Entered service at: Iowa.
Born: 23 November 1855, Oskaloosa, lowa.
G.O. No.: 177, 4 December 1915.


Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher

Citation:

For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21 and 22 April 1914. Under fire, Rear Adm. Fletcher was eminent and conspicuous in the performance of his duties; was senior officer present at Vera Cruz, and the landing and the operations of the landing force were carried out under his orders and directions. In connection with these operations, he was at times on shore and under fire.

FLETCHER, FRANK JACK
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy.
Place and date: Vera Cruz, Mexico, 21 and 22 April 1914.
Entered service at: Iowa.
Born: 29 April 1885, Marshalltown, lowa.
G.O. No.: 177, 4 December 1915.

LT. Frank Jack Fletcher
Photographed in civilian clothes in 1914, while he was serving in USS Florida (BB-30).

Citation:

For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21 and 22 April 1914. Under fire, Lt. Fletcher was eminent and conspicuous in performance of his duties. He was in charge of the Esperanze and succeeded in getting on board over 350 refugees, many of them after the conflict had commenced. Although the ship was under fire, being struck more than 30 times, he succeeded in getting all the refugees placed in safety. Lt. Fletcher was later placed in charge of the train conveying refugees under a flag of truce. This was hazardous duty, as it was believed that the track was mined, and a small error in dealing with the Mexican guard of soldiers might readily have caused a conflict, such a conflict at one time being narrowly averted. It was greatly due to his efforts in establishing friendly relations with the Mexican soldiers that so many refugees succeeded in reaching Vera Cruz from the interior.

Lt. Frank Jack Fletcher was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher. Both were Medal of Honor recipients at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1914.

[SAMWolf]

[snippy_about_it]

.......FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

.......Good Sunday Morning Everyone!


If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[The Mayor]

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone doing at the Foxhole.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning SAM.

You've delivered an interesting story today. For a little known seize you managed to find quite a bit of information, thank you.

I see you mentioned it was my idea, hmmm. I always have ideas about our Navy. ;)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor.

Thanks for the Sunday coffee and donuts.

[snippy_about_it]

Morning EGC.

I think fall has permanently arrived in Ohio. Knowing Ohio, it should be winter in just a couple weeks. LOL.

[The Mayor]

Your Welcome

See you all after Church!

[Darksheare]

I'm in.
I seem to remember being told inschool that this was a case of 'Nationlistic fervor'.
Nationalism being then the buzzword.
Even then the schools taught that it was wrong to be proud of your country.
But I digress.
The thinking back then was radically different from what it is today, and is evident with the request for rendering honor to the US flag as an apology.
On it's surface to our thinking today, this was minor and trivial.
Back then, it was extremely insulting and tantemount to an act of war. (The arrest of sailors and removal of same from a US possession, the landing boat.)
It's mind staggering to see the contrast between the thinking then, and the thinking now.
There's more thought along these lines, but I don't want to drone on.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Darksheare.

Interesting observations about today's thread. Please continue with your thoughts. We don't consider it 'droning' but rather intellegent discourse and we appreciate it.

Do drone on at your leisure. ;)

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on September 28:
551 -BC- Confucius (as celebrated in Taiwan)
106 -BC- Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) Rome, warrior
1573 Caravaggio Italy, painter
1785 David Walker Wilmington NC, a black born free
1820 Fredrich Engels, socialist who collaborated with Karl Marx on The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.
1824 Francis Turner Palgrave Eng, poet (Golden Treasury)/prof (Oxford)
1839 Frances Willard founded Women's Christian Temperance Union
1841 Georges Clemenceau France, statesman/PM (defended Dreyfuss)
1849 Dudley Allen Sargent US, physician/educator (Harvard U gymnasium)
1852 Henri Moissan France, chemist; isolated fluorine (Nobel 1906)
1856 Edward Thompson US archeologist who explored Mayan ruins
1856 Kate Douglas Wiggins author (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm)
1870 Florent Schmitt Blƒmont France, composer (Fr‚d‚gonde)
1880 Ralph Edward Flanders Barnet VT, (Sen-VT)
1882 Jack Fournier 2nd baseman (1917-18 NY Yankees)
1885 Wilbur 'Lefty' Good pitcher (NY Yankees, 1905)
1887 Avery Brundage AAU & International Olympic Committee president
1895 Lawton Whitey Witt outfielder (NY Yankees, 1922-25)
1901 William S Paley founder & chairman (CBS)
1902 Ed Sullivan TV variety show host/gossip columnist (Ed Sullivan Show)
1905 Max Schmeling Germany, world heavyweight boxing champ (1930-32)
1905 William Northam Austria, yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1964)
1907 Glen (Turk) Edwards NFL tackle (Boston/Washington Redskins)
1907 Heikki Savolainen Finland, pommel horse gymnast (Olympic-gold-1948)
1909 Al Capp New Haven Ct, cartoonist (Li'l Abner)
1910 Fran Lee NYC, actress (Ms Wong-Major Dell Conway)
1911 Henry Ellsworth Vines Jr tennis (US Open 1931,32)/golf player
1913 Alice Marble tennis player (US Open 1936, 1938-40)
1913 Vivian Fine Chicago Ill, composer (Women in the Garden)
1914 Harold Taylor Canada, educator (Art & the Future)
1916 Peter Finch actor (Network, Windom's Way, Raid on Entebbe)
1917 Michael Somes England, ballet dancer (Royal Ballet in London)
1919 Thomas Harmon football player/sportscaster (Heisman winner)
1922 Joe Silver Chicago Ill, actor (Mr I Magination, Fay)
1923 Fred Robbins Balt Md, DJ (Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, Robbins Nest)
1923 William Windom NYC, actor (Farmer's Daughter, Murder She Wrote)
1924 Marcello Mastroianni actor (8«, La Dolce Vita)
1925 Arnold Stang Mass, comedian/actor (Broadside, Milton Berle, Top Cat)
1925 Seymour Cray inventor (Cray I computer)
1926 Jerry Clower Amite County Miss, country comedian (Nashville on Road)
1933 Madeleine M Kunin Switzerland (Gov-D-Vt), 1st Jewish gov of Vermont
1934 Brigitte Bardot Paris France, sex kitten (And God Created Women)
1936 Robert Hogan NYC, actor (Peyton Place, Operation Petticoat)
1938 Ben E King NC, singer (Stand by Me)
1940 Alexander S Ivanchenkov cosmonaut (Soyuz 29, T-6)
1941 Charley Taylor NFL wide receiver/running back (Wash Redskin)
1942 Grant Jackson pitcher (1972 NY Yankees)
1943 Gertrud "Traudl" Hecher Austria, downhill skier (Olympic-bronze-1960)
1943 Joel Higgins Bloomington Ill, actor (Salvage 1, Silver Spoons)
1946 Fiona Lewis Westcliff England, actress (Stunts, Lisztomania)
1946 Herbert Jefferson Jr Jersey City NJ, actor (Battlestar Galactica)
1946 Larry Breeding Winchester Ill, actor (Who's Watching the Kids?)
1948 Helen Shapiro London England, rocker (Straighten Up)
1948 Marielle Goitschel France, slalom (Olympic-gold-1968)
1948 Phil Hartman comedian (SNL)
1951 Christian Marlowe LA Calif, actor (Bram-Highcliffe Manor)
1951 Dave Rajsich pitcher (NY Yankees)
1952 Sylvia Kristel Holland, actress (Emmanuelle, Priv School for Girls)
1954 Steve Largent wide receiver (Seattle Seahawks)
1958 Lory Del Santo Verona Italy, (Miss Italy-1980)
1961 Anne White Charleston WV, tennis (Wore spandex in '85 Wimbledon)
1962 Luis Enrique spanish singer (Luces del Alma)
1967 Moon Unit Zappa rocker (Valley Girl), Frank's daughter
1968 Carr‚ Otis SF Calif, actress (Wild Orchid)

---

Deaths which occurred on September 28:
0929 Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia, murdered
1833 Lemuel Haynes Revolutionary War veteran, dies at 88
1891 Herman Melville, writer (Billy Budd, Moby Dick), dies at 72
1895 Louis Pasteur, French bacteriologist (Pasteurization), dies at 72
1902 Emile Zola, French writer (Nana/Germinal/J'accuse), dies at 62
1953 Edwin P Hubble astronomer, designer of telescopes, dies at 63
1954 Bert Lytell actor (Henry-One Man's Family), dies at 69
1957 Albert Ascoli Italian developed anti-tuberculosis vaccine, dies
1961 Michael Shepley actor (Dick & the Duchess), dies at 54
1964 Harpo Marx comedian (Marx Bros), dies at 75
1966 Eric Fleming actor (Gil-Rawhide), dies at 41
1970 Nasser Egyptian Pres, dies of a heart attack at 52 replaced by Sadat
1973 Norma Crane actress (Rayola-Mr Peepers), dies at 42
1975 Sidney Fields comedian (Abbott & Costello), dies at 77
1978 Pope John Paul I 65-yr-old found dead, after only 33 days as Pope
1979 Jimmy McCulloch guitarist of Wings, dies at 26
1982 Larry Breeding (Who's Watching the Kids?), dies on 36th birthday
1982 Mabel Albertson actress, dies of Alzheimer's disease at 81
1989 Ferdinand Marcos deposed president of Phillipines, dies
1991 Miles Davis jazz musician, dies at 65 from pneumonia
1993 Peter De Vries, novelist, essayist (New Yorker), dies at 83
1994 Harry Saltzman, producer (Dr No, Nijinski), dies at 78
2000 Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau died in Montreal at age 80.

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 GARWOOD ROBERT R. GREENVILLE IN.
[03/21/79 RELEASED/EXPAT]
1966 BRASHER JIMMY M. CANYON TX.
1966 PITTMAN ROBERT E. JACKSONVILLE FL.
1966 TAYLOR DANNY G. ST LOUIS MO.
1967 GRAHAM GILBERT J. ANAHEIM CA.
1967 MUSETTI JOSEPH T. JR. HALL QUARRY ME.
1968 DIXON DAVID L. MEDFORD OR.
1968 HALPIN DAVID P. WATERTOWN NY.

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

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On this day...
48 BC On landing in Egypt, Pompey is murdered on the orders of Ptolemy
855 The Emperor Lothar dies in Gaul, and his kingdom is divided between his three sons.
1066 William the Conqueror lands in England
1238 James of Aragon retakes Valencia, Spain, from the Arabs.
1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San Diego Bay
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes "king" of Scotland
1745 "God Save the King" was sung.
1781 Siege of Yorktown begins, last battle of the Revolutionary War
1787 Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for their approval
1829 Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet, published in Boston
1850 Flogging in US Navy & on merchant vessels abolished
1858 Donati's comet becomes the 1st to be photographed
1867 Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario
1868 Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella 2 of Spain to flee to France
1868 Opelousas Massacre at St Landry Parish Louisiana (200 blacks killed)
1874 Colonel Ronald Mackenzie raids a war camp of Comanche and Kiowa at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, slaughtering 2,000 of their horses.
1879 Sydney Australia innaugurates steam motor tram route
1904 Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue, NYC
1906 US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909
1912 "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000
1914 German forces move into Antwerp Belgium (WW I)
1919 Fastest major league game (51 mins), Giants beat Phillies 6-1
1920 8 White Sox indicted, threw 1919 World Series (Black Sox scandal)
1922 Mussolini marches on Rome
1923 Yanks slaughter Red Sox 24-4
1924 2 US Army planes end around-world flight, Seattle to Seattle, 57 stops
1928 Juan de la Cierva makes 1st helicopter flight over English Channel
1928 Yanks clinch pennant #6
1928 Prussia forbids speech by Adolf Hitler
1930 Lou Gehrig's errorless streak ends at 885 consecutive games
1936 Brooklyn & Boston play a penalty free NFL game
1937 FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on Columbia River (Oregon)
1939 Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW II) & gives Lithuania to the USSR
1940 Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns
1941 Phillies lose club record 111th game
1941 Ted Williams assures his .400 avg on last day with 6 hits
1942 NY Americans NHL team folded
1944 1st TV Musical comedy (The Boys from Boise)
1944 Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in Netherlands
1948 WBAP-TV, (NBC affiliate) Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
1951 Allie Reynolds' 2nd no-hitter of 1951; Yanks clinch pennant #18
1951 Norm Van Brocklin of the Rams passes for NFL-record 554 yards
1953 "Bob & Ray Show," TV Variety; last air on NBC
1958 Guinea votes for independence from France
1959 Explorer VI reveals an intense radiation belt around the Earth
1960 Ted Williams hits his final homer #521
1961 "Purlie Victorious," a farce by Ossie Davis, opens on Broadway
1961 Syria withdraws from United Arab Republic
1961 USN Comdr Forrest S Petersen takes X-15 to 30,720 m
1963 Giuseppe Cantarella roller-skates a record 41.5 kph for 440 yds
1963 Italy's Giuseppe Camtarella skates a record 25.78 MPH
1964 Australia beats US in 1st clay court Davis Cup
1965 Jack McKay in X-15 reaches 90 km
1965 Lava flows kill at least 350 (Taal Phillipines)
1967 Walter Washington elected 1st mayor of Washington, DC
1968 Alberto Giolani of Italy roller skates record 23.133 miles in 1 hr
1968 Atlanta Chiefs beat San Diego Toros 3-0 for NASL championship
1968 Beatles' "Hey Jude," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 9 weeks
1968 Chuck Hixson (Southern Methodist) completes 37 of record 69 passes
1969 Joe Kapp (Minn Vikings) passes for 7 touchdowns vs Balt Colts (52-14)
1970 Intrepid (US) beats Gretel II (Aust) in 22nd America's Cup
1972 Japan & Communist China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations
1974 1st lady Betty Ford undergoes a radical mastectomy
1974 Calif Angel Nolan Ryan 3rd no-hitter beats Minn Twin, 4-0
1974 John Lennon appears as guest dj on WNEW-FM (NYC)
1975 Oakland A's Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Linblad & Rollie Fingers, no-hit Calif Angels 5-0
1976 Muhammad Ali retains heavyweight boxing championship in a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium
1978 Israeli Knesset endorses Camp David accord
1979 Larry Holmes (retain championship) KOs Earnie Shavers in 11 rounds
1980 Jaromir Wagner is 1st to fly the Atlantic standing on the wing
1981 Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 2 black joggers in Salt Lake City
1982 1st reports appear of death from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules
1982 NASA launches Intelsat V
1983 STS-9 vehicle moves to launch pad
1985 NASA launches Intelsat VA
1986 Record 23,000 start in a marathon (Mexico City)
1988 Bronx Museum for the Arts opens
1988 LA Dodger Orel Hershiser sets record for consecutive scoreless inns
1990 Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood's walk of fame
1991 NY Yankees set record of 75 games without a complete pitched game
1991 The quotable Former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of crack
1997 Newscaster David Brinkley, 74, retires after 54 years in broadcasting

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

California : Cabrillo Day discovery of Calif (1542)
Guinea : Referendum Day (1958)
Kiwanis : Kiwanis Kid Day
Libya : Shawwal 14
Republic of China (Taiwan) : Confucius' Birthday/Teachers' Day
US : Gold Star Mother's Day (Last Sunday in September) (Sunday)
US : Good Neighbor Day (4th Sunday in September) (Sunday)
US : American Indian Day (4th Friday in September) (1916) (Friday)
Feast of Themis (Ancient Greek Titaness who personified the Law which regulates both the physical and moral order).
US : Teacher's Day.
National Chicken Month

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Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of St Wenceslas, duke, patron of Bohemia, martyr (opt)
Christian-Mexico : Feast of San Miguel

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Religious History
1704 A statute was enacted by the colony of Maryland, giving ministers the right to impose divorce on "unholy couples."
1774 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'We are always equally in danger in ourselves and always equally safe under the shadow of His wings.'
1808 Andover Theological Seminary first opened in Massachusetts, under sponsorship of the Congregational Church.
1895 At a convention in Atlanta, three Baptist groups merged to form the National Baptist Convention. It is today the largest African-American denomination in America and the world.
1934 The first issue of "The Sword of the Lord" was published. Founded by Baptist evangelist John R. Rice, 39, it became the largest independent Christian weekly for years, and was recognized by liberals as the "voice of fundamentalism."

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

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Thought for the day :
"The heart is wiser than the intellect."

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You might be a Martha Stewart junkie if...
you sew doily trims onto your toilet paper

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Murphys Law of the day...(Parkinson's Fifth Law)
If there is a way to delay an important decision the good bureaucracy will find it.

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It's a litle known fact that...
A typical American eats 28 pigs in his/her lifetime

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!!!


Just got in from church, wonderful day today!!

I hope everyone is well this day.

[SAMWolf]

HI Mayor.

Sunday morning, fresh coffee and donuts, watching the birds. One of life's little pleasures.

[SAMWolf]

HI E.G.C. Nice day today, supposed to get hot again though.

[SAMWolf]

I see you mentioned it was my idea, hmmm. I always have ideas about our Navy. ;)

LOL!

[SAMWolf]

You're right Darksheare. This was in 1914, what is really interesting is the thinking during the War between the States period.