Multi-National Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070129-14
Jan. 29, 2007

Multi-National Division - North PAO

BAQUBAH, Iraq - While conducting a route clearance mission east of Baqubah today, Soldiers from the 72nd Engineer Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, discovered an anti-tank mine after receiving tips from a local citizen within the area.

According to Sgt. 1st Class Sean Thomas, 72nd Engineer Company, the convoy was about to leave the village when a local citizen stopped them and gave them a "boom" signal. After talking with the townsperson, the Soldiers realized there was an anti-tank mine in the area.

"This means a lot to us," said Thomas. "It means they are trusting us and knowing that we are not there to bring them harm -- we are there to protect them."

"To me, they don't want the terrorists around," Thomas said. "They disrupt their business and their day-to-day lives.

The engineers conducted a controlled detonation with no damage or injuries to the forces or the local population.

"What we found today might have just saved some lives," he said.

"This is another example of the people of Diyala taking control of their lives and not allowing the terrorists' control over them," said Col. David W. Sutherland, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division commander and senior U.S. Army officer in the Diyala province.

"We're seeing more and more examples of the people participating in the security situation. They're passing out flyers telling the terrorists to leave, and reports to the Provincial Joint Coordination Center, manned by the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police, have increased 133 percent over the past 45 days," Sutherland added.

As a result of these reports, the Baqubah Police were able to foil an attempted bank robbery approximately 20 terrorists Thursday night.

"This is an example of the improvements taking place throughout the Iraqi Security Forces," Sutherland said.

Female Combat Medics Earn Respect from Afghan Army
Photo by 1st Lt. Amanda Straub
January 29, 2007
Oregon Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jo Turner (left) and Spc. Cheryl Ivanov are battle buddies who stick together and help each other cope with the emotional and mental stress of combat operations in Afghanistan.

Related:
Female Combat Medics Earn Respect from Afghan Army

An official document passing responsibility for a sector of Ar Ramadi, Iraq, to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Division of the Iraqi Army, is signed during a ceremony at Camp Ali on Jan. 23. The ceremony was held as a result of the battalion’s demonstrated ability to conduct independent security operations. Photo by: Cpl. Paul Robbins Jr. Submitting Unit: I Marine Expeditionary Force Photo Date:01/23/2007

Read the story associated with this photo

Michael Yon has to be one of the most well-respected people in the milblog community - and a lot of other places, too. His unflinching, unbiased look at what's really going on with our troops is invaluable. His pictures have been heartbreaking. His stories have been jaw-dropping. And he doesn't have to make a single thing up - unlike others reporting on our troops. He's not sugar-coating it, either - he's been critical of U.S. policy in Iraq, critical of military red tape. But one thing has remained constant - he has always supported our Heroes, and has always been a voice to shout to the rafters about just how amazing they are.

One of the things he's spoken of is the media bias we harp on frequently. It's pretty hard to argue with the MSM's bias against anything military. But Yon tells it like it is - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

He's back in Mosul now, with a keen eye for where that city is. Mosul's been synonymous with the insurgency - a place of car bombs and attacks, of strife and hotly-contested desert.

But what is Mosul really like? What do those on the ground see when they walk the streets? Yon knows.

In Desolate Roads, Part II, he takes a look at the city as it is now:

The wind hasn’t blown hard in Mosul since 2005, but there are still a lot of holes in the lumber that frames its slow but undeniable reconstruction. Only about a single battalion of American soldiers is left here. There has been indisputable progress in building ISF in Mosul. I have seen it demonstrated on missions that I have not written about. But the decision to precipitously draw down American forces in Mosul was not chiefly predicated to sync with those ISF successes. In truth, we simply do not have enough nails in Iraq—we never did—and so nails have been pulled from Mosul to pound into Baghdad and Anbar.

He also takes a look at our troops, and how little Americans really know of the Heroes half a world away:

The small contingent of American combat forces remaining in Mosul is commanded by a lieutenant colonel of limited renown. With about 700 soldiers in his battalion, he commands roughly one soldier for every 3,000 citizens. Most of the outcome of the American effort in Iraq comes down to a small number of anonymous battalions which shoulder the bulk of the combat load in places like Ramadi, Baqubah, Basra (UK), Baghdad and here in Mosul.

If Americans really wanted to know their Army, American kids would be swapping trading cards of the battalion commanders and command sergeant majors, company commanders and 1st sergeants, and those legions of unknown squad-leaders who earn three Purple Hearts and decorations for valor before they are old enough to rent cars back home.

This particular post is a must, not just for civilians like me, but for everyone who really wants to know what the boots on the ground are walking through.

Seamus sends this - written by a Sports Illustrated writer, Rick Riley, after taking a ride in a Navy F-14. It's been around for a decade or so - an oldie but a goodie - and far too amusing not to pass along. Enjoy.


Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have . John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few.

If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity...

Move to Guam.

Change your name.

Fake your own death!

Whatever you do

Do Not Go!!!

I know.

The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should've known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time. If you see this man, run the other way. Fast.

Biff King was born to fly. His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ("T-minus 15 seconds and counting ..." Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year-olds waiting for him to say, "We have a liftoff"

Biff was to fly me in an F-14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60 million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was something I should eat the next morning.

"Bananas," he said.

"For the potassium?" I asked.

"No," Biff said, "because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down."

The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast. (No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot .. But, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm, as Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, this was it.

A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would "egress" me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked unconscious.

Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy-rolled over another F-14.

Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80. It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over Hell. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, snap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us.

We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G force of 6.5, which is to say I felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Mrs. Colin Montgomerie.

And I egressed the bananas.

And I egressed the pizza from the night before.

And the lunch before that.

I egressed a box of Milk Duds from the sixth grade.

I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G's, I was egressing stuff that never thought would be egressed.

I went through not one airsick bag, but two.

Biff said I passed out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I realized I was the first person in history to throw down.

I used to know 'cool'. Cool was Elway throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know 'cool'. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and freon nerves. I wouldn't go up there again for Derek Jeter's black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand.

A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the fighters had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit.

What is it? I asked.

"Two Bags."



Atsugi, Japan (Sept. 24, 2003) -- An F-14 Tomcat from the “Black Knights” of Fighter Squadron One Five Four (VF-154) departs the Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, for the last time. VF-154 is being transferred from Atsugi and Carrier Air Wing Five to their new home in Lemoore, Calif. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Spike Call.

Exercising Falcons
An F-16 Fighting Falcon to the 20th Fighter Wing launches on a sortie in support of Operational Readiness Exercise Sea Lion 07-03 Jan. 26 at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Exercises prepare Airmen for future deployments. Shaw AFB is home to the Air Force?s largest combat F-16 wing -- the 20th FW -- whose mission is to provide, project and sustain combat-ready air forces. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nathan Bevier)

I, and a lot of other people, have been saying it for a long time. The "Anti-war" crowd, no matter how much they'll tell you they support the troops, inevitably show themselves to be anti-troop.

There are the more subtle methods - inviting speakers to events, a poorly-worded headline. And then there are the not-so-subtle methods - a nasty email, a nasty blog comment, efforts to kick recruiters off of campuses, spitting, and assault.

The anti-war crowd will tell you that the spitting incidents never happened following Vietnam - that spitting on troops was a myth. They'll tell you that they've never documented it happening. Of course not - they've never talked with anyone that got spit on. But I've heard from vets who say it absolutely did happen - to them.

It's happening now.

There have been precious few incidents reported in the MSM - not surprising. There was the airport incident, the mat incident, and now a hero who ran into their hospitality at weekend's anti-war rally in D.C. What makes this even more disgusting is that this particular hero was already privy to the anti-war crowd's method of supporting the troops.

Joshua Sparling. The name should be familiar to readers of this and other milblogs. Joshua Sparling is the Hero who got a little love note from the anti-war crowd some time ago, as he was recovering in Walter Reed:

Dear soldier,
Have a great time in the war and have a great time dieing(sic) in the war.

Miguel
P.S. - DIE

In the aftermath, Sparling received thousands of cards from well-wishers.

The sender? Well, Michael Crook of Forsake the Troops fame claimed responsibility. His reprehensible website was subsequently taken down by the very people crook derided. Ah, sweet justice. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving dirtbag. The site that URL now takes you to is much more pleasant. He allegedly put up new sites - opposethetroops.com, citizensagainstthetroops.org, and disownthetroops.com, but as of this posting, I didn't find any of them up and running. If there is any justice in this world, those were nuked too - and so will anything else the worm puts up.

But I digress. Joshua Sparling attended the rally this weekend. He's made quite a recovery, despite losing a leg to the wounds that put him in Walter Reed. And how does the "we support the troops but not the war" riffraff greet him?

Michelle Malkin has the answer - By spitting on him.

Sure, the blogosphere will be ablaze today. People will again send messages of support to Sparling, and for a few days the anti-war crowd will be persona non grata.

But what about after that?

The American hoi polloi seems to have a collective case of ADD. We can't even remember back to September 11. We can't remember the President's speech, telling us that Iraq would be a long fight. That the War on Terror would span generations. We sure can't take the time to remember back a few decades, to the death of Robert Dean Stethem, to hijacked airplanes, to PanAm Flight 103, to Americans held hostage in an embassy for over a year.

It is not enough to just react to the more flagrant incidents. It's not enough to send cards to one Hero being spit on. The anti-war crowd does this every single day. They don't stop. And but for a now-shrinking crowd of people who understand why we're in Iraq - why we have to be in Iraq - support for the troops is often relegated to a magnet on a car. Don't get me wrong - the magnets are, at the very least, a reminder. But just having the magnet isn't enough.

We cannot stop at just reacting to the boldest of the moonbats. Every single time I come across someone bashing the troops, I say something. Every single time. It doesn't matter where it happens. At work, at the store, at family events - everywhere, every time. I force myself to when it's inconvenient or uncomfortable. I do it because the people they're bashing are willing to die for me. The absolute least I can do is open my mouth when someone's insulting them.

I'm not perfect. I'm not the icon of troop support. But I do something. I don't just say I support them - I live like I support them. It should be a no-brainer. But it isn't.

And let's face it - the anti-war crowd is largely composed of cowards. My husband, during Desert Storm, faced down a crowd of anti-war protesters at the college we attended (I wasn't there, unfortunately). How? By just opening his mouth. He called them morons, and a few other things, and they skulked away.

I faced down one at the store once. It took one sentence.

When the anti-war crowd visits this blog, the most frequent posts are drive-bys. One nasty comment, and they never come back to face the music.

In a recent discussion, someone told me that "none of the troops believe they should be over there."

"Not true," I said. "Many of them understand exactly why they're over there."

"Well, some of them don't. And people don't support them."

"True. Maybe they'd all understand why they're over there if people over here did."

It became a discussion of how "nothing good" was happening over there.

Funny thing, though - when I fired off a list of what had been done, I was told that my ill-armed opponent "didn't know that."

What a surprise.

The point is, the anti-war crowd gains momentum when people allow them to. At the beginning of all this, the anti-war crowd could gain no purchase. We simply wouldn't tolerate it. Remember, they tried to oppose Enduring Freedom, too - they were given the clear message that it wasn't acceptable.

There are some very real dangers in the anti-war movement. For starters, it's heavily populated by socialists and communists. If you don't think that those two philosophies are still a danger in the world, you've been living under a rock. Those ideologies are very real threats today - the only problem is, the threat isn't coming from outside - it's coming from our own country.

The other danger is that the anti-war crowd again has control of the media, and has the ear of legislators. Want a similarity to Vietnam? Well, there it is.

If you support the troops, I ask you to make a promise to yourself. If you don't send one letter of thanks, or care package, to our troops; if you don't send one dime to organizations that do; if you do nothing else - promise to speak up.

Do not remain silent. Do not abet with apathy. What these people do is NOT okay. It is NOT acceptable. The solution is not to accept unacceptable behavior - when you see it, say something.

Because if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. And if you're part of the problem, you are abetting the enemy.



UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has an update on what the dirtbag moonbats did during their "peaceful" demonstration. Funny, I never thought of vandalism as "peaceful." I'm telling you, South Park's Eric Cartman has it right.

Labels: Anti-War protests, Left-Wingnuts, Moonbats, My Two Cents, opinion, Supporting the troops

ON PATROL — U.S. Army Spc. Quinton Green, from 1st Cavalry Division, provides security from his vehicle turret while on patrol in Kahlis, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stacy L. Pearsall

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Smoke Clears Over Najaf
300 militants believed killed in raid, officials say
Iran Reveals Plan to Expand Economic, Military Ties With Iraq

Operation Enduring Freedom
Karzai offers talks with Taliban to end bloodshed

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Bomber Murders 3 in Israeli Town
Al Qaeda inroads in sleepy S.African town?
Turkish police detain 46 al Qaeda suspects: agency
In a 1st, Sinn Fein votes to back police
Parts of Gaza City Plunged Into Darkness as Hamas, Fatah Gunbattle Rages in Streets
Homicide Bomber Kills Two in Pakistan
Palestinian infighting flares despite Saudi plea

Fallen Heroes
Navy IDs sailors killed in copter crash

Supporting Our Heroes
High-Tech Army Rehab Center Opening

Other Military News
Military aims to cut back on 'stop loss'
Military Growth May Resurrect Old Units

Religion of Peace??
Kuwaiti Paper Ordered to Close Over 'Indecent' Pics of Saddam Granddaughter

Homegrown Moonbats
Anti-War Protesters Spray Paint Capitol
Rally held for S.F. police slay suspects

Politics / Government
Cheney Blasts Hagel for 'Pingpong' Comment
First Catholic Priest in Congress Dies at 86
Cheney Nearly Breaks Reagan's 11th Commandment
White House condemns bombing in Israel's Eilat
Clinton attacks Bush's "irresponsibility" on Iraq
Top GOP senator doubts Iraq resolution
Lieberman may back Republican in 2008
Japan public TV loses court case involving PM Abe
No lock on black voters for Obama
Israeli Cabinet approves Muslim minister

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Las Vegas Cops Hunt Priest in Sex Case
Dad of Boy Found in Septic Tank 'Devastated'
Masked Men Drive Car Through Copenhagen Department Store, Keep Going
Cops Search for Missing Former Miss Brazil
Shaquille O'Neal Chases Down Alleged Hit-and-Run Driver
Global court to rule on charges for first trial
U.S. drug industry takes aim at prescription law
Press strategy still focus in Libby case
National parks case may affect access

U.N. News
Sudan under fire over Darfur at AU summit

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
NY Post Bureau Chief Orin-Eilbeck Dies

Science / Nature
Massive Pileup on Michigan Freeway
Scientist Brings Caffeine Buzz to Donuts
Researchers Find Possible Insomnia Fix
Huge mudflow "inevitable" from NZ volcano's lake
New climate report too rosy, experts say

News from My Neck of the Woods
Boat found submerged in Mass.; 4 missing

Oddities
Body Found in Wheel Well of Jet at LAX
Refrigerator-Sized Chunk of Ice Crushes Car in Florida
Duck That Survived Shooting, Refrigeration Has Third Brush With Death

Other News of Note
Barbaro Suffers Another Setback
Muslim Sexologist Spices Up Arab Television
Egypt derides 7 wonders of world contest

Fox News
Sweden Plans Virtual Embassy in 'Second Life'
Australia Shows Steve Irwin's Last Film
Tiger Woods Extends PGA Tour Streak to 7
Marcheline Bertrand, Mother of Angelina Jolie, Dies in Los Angeles
Auditioning for 'American Idol': A First-Hand Account

Reuters: Top News
Sundance closes with nods to war and family
Moore's Law seen extended in chip breakthrough
Breakthrough not seen altering microchip arms race
Internet to revolutionize TV in 5 years: Gates
Cocaine is king on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast
Japan confirms third bird flu outbreak
FDA approves Yaz for acne treatment
"Little Miss Sunshine" wins top SAG award
Cruz, "Volver" take top Spanish film awards
Hispanics in U.S. feel pull of the suburbs
Dollar scales 4-year peak against yen
Futures flat as Fed, earnings in focus - Video
European telcos battered after D.Telekom warning
Oil slips after initial rally
Gold drifts lower
Spinning profits from spinoffs
Buying into battered energy
Schering-Plough profit rises on cholesterol drugs
Sanofi, Bristol-Myers sign pre-merger deal: report
Japan carmakers to ride sales rise
US Airways willing to raise Delta bid: WSJ
Thailand allows copycat AIDS, heart disease drugs
Accenture to raise India staff to 35,000 by August

AP World News
Stock futures edge lower
'Epic Movie' wins weekend with $19M
Bears arrive in Miami
Canon quarterly profit rises 16 percent
Oil prices retreat
Indian wins 'Big Brother' after race row

Military.com
Find a Military.com Career Fair Near You
Connect With Your old Military Buddies
Six Tips for Better Money Management
Check Out Military.com's Equipment Guide

CENTCOM: News Releases
COALITION FORCES DESTROY SUSPECTED INSURGENT TRAINING SITE
15 IRAQIS KILLED IN NEW BAGHDAD
INSURGENTS ATTACK SUNNI MOSQUE
DETAINEE RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENTS
AL-QAIDA COURIER, IED FACILITATOR, 19 OTHERS CAPTURED
FIVE ARRESTED NEAR KHOST
MND-B SOLDIERS EVACUATE YOUNG GIRL FOLLOWING ATTACK IN AL-DOURA

USJFCOM
USJFCOM begins Integrated Battle Command Experiment Series - podcast
USJFCOM, others evaluate individual augmentee process - podcast
Training comes to a close in exercise for Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa - podcast
Liveblogging: Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise 07-1
USJFCOM hosts first-responder focused modeling and simulation demonstration event

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
14 Enemy Fighters Killed in Iraq - Story
Stability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Progress Quietly Proceeds in Afghanistan - Story
Marine Helicopter Squadron Gets Ready to Deploy
OKINAWA, Japan, Jan. 26, 2007 -- Story
Medics Administer Aid to Nearby Villages - Story
Iraqi-Led Team Finds Torture House, Weapons - Story
Transition Team Braves Attacks to Train Police - Story

IN IRAQ
Combined Effort Provides Aid to Baghdad
Insurgents and Weapons Found, Captives Freed
Army Engineers Help Develop Port Capacity
Iraqi Soldiers Lead Cordon and Search
Marines Clear Insurgents From River Valley
Army Engineers Help Develop Port Capacity
Marines Provide Combat Roadside Service
U.S. Soldiers Help Open Schools in Mushahidah
Iraqi Soldiers Receive Leadership Training
Dark Horse Keeps Watchful Eye Over Base
Stryker Force Ready to Respond to Threat
Mobile Surgical Unit Exercises Muscles
School Supplies Bring Smiles to Children

IN DJIBOUTI
Camp Lemonier Expansion Creates New Jobs
Marine Trains U.S. Embassy Troops in Djibouti

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Philippines
Baler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site Manila

South Korea
Cheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'o
Osan Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar Site Ulsan Yosu

* If you're deployed, and want to see your location's weather listed here, please email me!

Today in History
1574 - Sea battle of Reimerswaal - Admiral Boisot beats Spanish fleet
1587 - Deventer & Zutphen surrender to Spain
1613 - Galileo observes Neptune but fails to recognize what he sees
1676 - Fjodor Aleksejevitsj becomes czar of Russia
1802 - John Beckley of Virginia appointed 1st Librarian of Congress
1834 - President Jackson orders 1st use of US troops to suppress a labor dispute
1845 - Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" 1st published (New York City NY)
1848 - Sicily accepts new Constitution (choose parliament/freedom of press)
1850 - Henry Clay introduces a comprise bill on slavery to US Senate
1856 Victoria Cross established to acknowledge bravery
1860 - American College established in Rome by Pope Pius IX
1861 - Kansas becomes 34th state
1863 - Battle at Bear River WA - US Army vs Indians
1864 - Battle of Moorefield, WV (Rosser's Raid)
1879 - Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana established
1886 - 1st successful gasoline-driven car patented, Karl Benz, Karlsruhe
1895 - King Koko's Kopermannen assault on Akassa Niger, 100's killed
1896 - Emile Grubbe is 1st doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
1900 - Boers under Joubert beat English at Spionkop Natal, 2,000 killed
1912 - Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence MA
1916 - 1st bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins takes place
1917 - English submarine K13 leaves Gaire Loch
1919 - Secretary of state proclaims the 18th amendment (prohibition)
1920 - Walt Disney starts 1st job as an artist; $40 week with Kansas City Slide Co
1922 - Union of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras & El Salvador dissolved
1923 - 1st flight of the autogiro (Juan de la Cierva, Madrid Spain)
1927 - 4th German government of Marx forms
1929 - Seeing Eye Guide Dog Organization forms
1942 - German & Italian troops occupy Benghazi
1943 - New Zealand's Kiwi cruiser collides with Japanese sub I-1 at Guadalcanal
1944 - 285 German bombers attack London
1949 - Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand & Switzerland recognize Israel
1953 - 1st movie in Cinemascope (The Robe) premieres
1958 - Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming
1964 - Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
1966 - Snow storm in north east US kills 165
1968 - Nauru adopts constitution
1969 - Jimi Hendrix & Peter Townshend wage a battle of guitars
1976 - Zeiss planetarium in Hague destroyed by fire
1979 - President Carter commuted Patricia Hearst's 7 year sentence to 2 years; Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping visits Washington DC
1980 - 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of the Canadians
1984 - President Reagan formally announces he will seek a 2nd term; Space Shuttle 41-B (STS-11) Challenger launched
1986 - Yoweri Museveni sworn in as President of Uganda
1987 - William J. Casey ends term as 13th director of CIA
1988 - Talks break down between Sandinistas and Contras; United Airlines Boeing 747SP, circles world in 36 hours 54 minutes 15 seconds
1989 - Episcopal church appoints 1st female bishop
1989 - USSR's Phobos II enters Martian orbit
1990 - Exxon Valdez captain Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial due to oil spill
1991 - Battle for Khafji in Saudi Arabia begins; Nelson Mandela & Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi meet in Durban after 28 years
1998 - Soyuz TM-27 launches to MIR; Woman's Clinic in Birmingham AL bombed, 1 killed

Birthdays
1584 - Frederik Hendrik, count of Nassau/Prince of Orange
1717 - Jeffrey Amherst, English Governor-General of America/field marshal
1737 - Thomas Paine, political essayist (Common Sense, Age of Reason)
1756 - Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee (Governor-VA)/General/cavalryman
1761 - Abraham AA "Albert" Gallatin, US minister of Finance (1801-14)
1803 - James Outram Bulterley Hall, General
1821 - Isaac Ferdinand Quinby, Union Brigadier General
1823 - Franklin Gardner, Confederate Major-General (Civil War-fought at Shiloh & Port Hudson)
1836 - Benjamin Franklin Potts, Union Brevet Major General; James Meech Warner, Union Brigadier General
1843 - William McKinley, 25th US President (1897-1901)
1850 - Lawrence Hargrave, inventor (box kite)
1880 - W.C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield], actor (My Little Chickadee, Bank Dick)
1908 - Adam Clayton Powell (Representative-NY, 1945-70)
1911 - George Burns, British Major-General
1915 - Halfdan Rasmussen, Danish poet/WWII resistance fighter (Skoven)
1939 - O.P. Kolomitsev, cosmonaut
1942 - Arnaldo Mendez, 1st Cuban in space (Soyuz 38); Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez Cuba, cosmonaut (Soyuz 38); Richard Needham, British MP
1945 - James Nicholson, British MP
1951 - Earl Howe England, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence

Passings
0969 - Peter, tsar of Bulgaria (927-69), dies
1559 - Sir Thomas Pope English politician, benefactor, dies at about 52
1663 - Robert Sanderson Bishop of Lincoln (1660-63), dies
1696 - Ivan V co-tsar of Russia (1682-89), dies
1820 - George III, king of Great-Britain (1760-1820), dies at 81
1906 - Christaan IX, King of Denmark (1893-1906), dies
1928 - Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig/field marshal (WWI), dies at 66
1934 - Fritz Haber, German chemist (Nobel 1918), dies at 65
1941 - Ioannis Metaxas, Greek General/dictator (1936-41), commits suicide at 69
1946 - Harry L. Hopkins, US minister of Business (Loan & Lease law), dies at 55
1955 - Hans Hedtoft, premier of Denmark (1947-55), dies at 51
1980 - Jimmy Durante, singer/comedian (Ink-a-dink-a-doo, Palooka, The Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 86
1988 - James R. Killian, Jr., MIT president (1948-59), dies at 83

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Badolati, Frank N., US Army SF (NH); likely KIA

Hodgson, Cecil J., US Army SF (TX); patrol leader, likely KIA

Terry, Ronald T., US Army SF (NY); likely KIA

1967
Silva, Claude Arnold, USAF (CO); F105F shot down

1968
Mills, James Dale, USMC (TX); A4E shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Mulleavey, Quinten Emile, US Army (NH)

White, Charles E., US Army SF (AL); fell from helicopter during extraction

1969
Campbell, William E., USAF (TX); F4D shot down (w/Holton)

Holton, Robert E., USAF (MT); F4D shot down (w/Campbell)

1971
Lineberger, Harold B., USAF (TX); OV10A shot down

Mixter, David I., US Army SF (CT); KIA, body not recovered