16th Parliament of Ontario
The Liberals led by Wellington Hay were recognized as the Official Opposition following the 1923 election by the governing Conservatives, despite the fact that the United Farmers of Ontario had more seats. According to historian Peter Oliver, this was an arbitrary decision without basis in precedent or law. Conservative Premier G. Howard Ferguson used as justification an announcement by UFO general secretary James J. Morrison that the UFO would be withdrawing from party politics, though Oliver argues that this was facetious logic. UFO parliamentary leader Manning Doherty protested the decision, but to no avail. In the course of the parliament, most UFO MLAs reorganized themselves as the Progressive Party under the leadership of first Manning Doherty and then William Ranery with a rump of three continuing as UFO MLAs under the leadership of Leslie Warner Oke.


16th Parliament of Sri Lanka
The 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka is the current Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary election held on 5 August 2020. The parliament is yet to meet. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 5 years from the first meeting.


16th Parliament of Sri Lanka, Election
The 16th Parliamentary Election was held on 5 August 2020. The incumbent party Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance claimed a landslide victory in the election claiming the majority winning 145 seats, while Samagi Jana Balawegaya won a total of 54 seats and National People's Power won 3 seats. The main opposition United National Party suffered their worst ever landslide defeat in the history as they claimed only one seat and was placed at fourth position in the elections.


16th Parliament of Sri Lanka, Election, Results
The first official results were released on 6 August 2020 in the afternoon starting with the postal votes in the Galle District.


16th Parliament of Sri Lanka, Election, Results
The SLPFA became the largest group in Parliament after securing 59.09% of votes and 145 seats whilst the SJB won 23.90% of votes and 54 seats. SLPFA managed to exceed the majority cutoff of 113 with obtaining 128 seats from election votes and 17 seats from the national list.


16th Parliament of Turkey
The 16th Grand National Assembly of Turkey existed from 5 June 1977 to 12 September 1980. There were 450 MPs in the lower house . Republican People's Party (CHP) held the plurality. Justice Party (AP) was the next  party. National Salvation Party (MSP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Republican Reliance Party and Democratic Party (DP) were the other parties.


16th Parliament of Turkey, Main parliamentary milestones
Some of the important events in the history of the parliament are the following:


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment
The 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry (161st Volunteers) was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Service
The 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry was organized at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania beginning in September 1862 as the "161st Volunteers" and mustered in for three years service under the command of Colonel John Irvin Gregg.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Service
The regiment was attached to Defenses of Washington to January 1863. Averill's Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Potomac, to February 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, to August 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May 1865. Department of Virginia to August 1865.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
The regiment left Pennsylvania for Washington, D.C. on November 23, 1862. It was then stationed at Camp Casey, near Bladensburg, Maryland, until January 3, 1863.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
Its first moved in 1863 was to Falmouth, Virginia on January 3. The regiment then took up duty on the line of the Rappahannock River until April 1863. It was involved in operations at Rappahannock Bridge and Grove Church February 5-7. Hartwood Church February 25. Kelly's Ford March 17. Operations about Bealeton Station April 13-27. Elk Run April 13. Next it was involved in the Chancellorsville Campaign from April 26-May 8. Specifically it participated in Stoneman's Raid April 29-May 8. Kelly's Ford April 29. Ely's Ford May 2. Brandy Station, Stevensburg, and Beverly Ford June 9. Aldie June 17.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
Near Middleburg June 18. Middleburg June 19. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-3. Steven's Furnace July 5. Shepherdstown, West Virginia, July 14-16. Little Washington August 27. Advance to the Rapidan September 13-17. Culpeper Court House September 13. Crooked Run September 18. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Warrenton or White Sulphur Springs October 12-13. Auburn and Bristoe October 14. St. Stephen's Church October 14. Catlett's Station October 14. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. New Hope Church November 27. Parker's Store November 29. Expedition to Luray December 21-23. Amissville, Gaines Cross Roads, and Sperryville December 22.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
The regiment started 1864 off by participating in Kilpatrick's Raid on Richmond February 28-March 4, 1864. Beaver Dam Station February 29. Fortifications of Richmond March 1. Rapidan Campaign May-June. Todd's Tavern, Wilderness, May 5-8. Sheridan's Raid to James River May 9-24. North Anna River May 9-10. Ground Squirrel Church and Yellow Tavern May 11. Brook Church, Fortifications of Richmond, May 12. Milford Station May 21. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Haw's Shop May 28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor May 31-June 1. Sumner's Upper Bridge June 2. Sheridan's Trevilian Raid June 7-24. Trevilian Station June 11-12.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
White House or St. Peter's Church June 21. Black Creek or Tunstall Station June 21. St. Mary's Church June 24. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond July 1864 to April 1865. Warwick Swamp July 12, 1864. Demonstration on north side of the James at Deep Bottom July 27-29. Deep Bottom July 28-29. Malvern Hill July 28. Warwick Swamp July 30. Demonstration on north side of James River at Deep Bottom August 13-20. Gravel Hill August 14. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Charles City Cross Roads August 16. Dinwiddie Road, near Ream's Station, August 23. Ream's Station August 25.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Detailed service
Reconnaissance to Poplar Springs Church September 13. Reconnaissance toward Dinwiddie Court House September 15. Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2. Arthur's Swamp September 30-October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Reconnaissance to Stony Creek November 7. Near Lee's Mills November 16 (detachment). Stony Creek Station December 1. Hicksford Raid December 7-12. Bellefield December 8. Disputantia Station January 9, 1865. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5-7. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Dinwiddie Court House March 30-31. Five Forks April 1. Paine's Cross Roads and Amelia Springs April 5. Sailor's Creek April 6. Farmville April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Expedition to Danville April 23-29. Moved to Lynchburg, Va., and duty there and in the Department of Virginia until August.


16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Casualties
The regiment lost a total of 302 men during service; 5 officers and 100 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 3 officers and 194 enlisted men died of disease.


16th People's Choice Awards
The 16th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 1989, were held on March 11, 1990, at Universal Studios Hollywood, in Universal City, California. They were hosted by various hosts including Barbara Mandrell and Valerie Harper. It was broadcast on CBS.


16th Photographic Squadron
The 16th Photographic Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 55th Reconnaissance Group at MacDill Field, Florida, where it was inactivated on 16 December 1947. It served as a mapping unit during World War II and the initial years of Strategic Air Command


16th Photographic Squadron, History
Initially activated in March 1942 at Bolling Field as a laboratory for processing photographic products produced by the 1st Mapping Group. During World War II, the squadron was engaged in photographic mapping of areas of the United States with a variety of aircraft.


16th Photographic Squadron, History
The squadron moved to Buckley Field in late 1944, where it was assigned to the 311th Photographic Wing, which became the major reconnaissance organization of Strategic Air Command (SAC). It moved to with the wing to MacDill Field, Florida in April 1946 and was assigned to the 55th Reconnaissance Group in 1947. The squadron was engaged in SAC's strategic mapping mission. The 16th was inactivated in December and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (Special), which was simultaneously activated.


16th Photographic Squadron, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


16th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
The 16th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on November 15, 2002. It was nominally preceded by the 15th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. This was the main vanguard executive committee functioning within the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formally superseded by the 17th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.


16th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 16th Emmy Awards, later known as the 16th Primetime Emmy Awards, were presented on May 25, 1964. The ceremony was hosted by Joey Bishop and E. G. Marshall. Winners are listed in bold and series' networks are in parentheses.


16th Primetime Emmy Awards
The top shows of the night were repeat winners. The Defenders, won its third consecutive Drama Emmy, while The Dick Van Dyke Show won its second straight Comedy Emmy. The Dick Van Dyke Show tied the record (since broken) for most major category wins, with five.


16th Producers Guild of America Awards
The 16th Producers Guild of America Awards (also known as 2005 Producers Guild Awards), honoring the best film and television producers of 2004, were held on January 22, 2005. The ceremony at Culver Studios in Los Angeles, California was hosted by Wayne Brady. The nominees were announced on January 5, 2005.


16th Punjab Regiment
The 16th Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamated with the 1st, 14th and 15th Punjab regiments to form the Punjab Regiment, an existing infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army.


16th Punjab Regiment, Early history
The 16th Punjab Regiment was formed in 1922 by amalgamation of the 30th, 31st, 33rd and 46th Punjabis, and 9th Bhopal Infantry. Except for the 46th Punjabis, who were raised in 1900, the rest were raised during the upheaval of the Indian Mutiny in 1857-59. The 30th and 31st Punjabis were raised in 1857, as the 22nd Regiment of Punjab Infantry and Van Cortlandt's Levy respectively.


16th Punjab Regiment, Early history
The 33rd Punjabis were also raised in 1857, as the Allahabad Levy, while the 9th Bhopal Infantry was raised in 1859, as the Bhopal Levy from the remnants of loyal elements of the Bhopal Contingent. The 30th and 31st Punjabis served in the Bhutan War of 1864-66 and all the battalions saw service on the North West Frontier of India. The 30th and 31st Punjabis along with the 9th Bhopal took part in the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, while the 33rd Punjabis served in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885-87.


16th Punjab Regiment, First World War
The 30th Punjabis served with distinction in the German East Africa, while their 2nd Battalion served in the Palestine Campaign. The regiment raised a total of three new battalions during the war. Another regiment that raised three battalions was the 9th Bhopal Infantry, who were dispatched to the killing fields of France and Flanders in 1914. The regiment suffered heavy losses at the Battles of Neuve Chapelle, Festubert, Givenchy and the Second Ypres. In 1915, they arrived in Mesopotamia, where Sepoy Chatta Singh was awarded the Victoria Cross for exceptional valour. By the time they returned home, only fifteen men remained of those who had sailed for France in 1914.


16th Punjab Regiment, First World War
All war-raised battalions were disbanded after the war. In 1921-22, a major reorganization was undertaken in the British Indian Army leading to the formation of large infantry groups of four to six battalions. Among these was the 16th Punjab Regiment. The line-up of battalions for Solah Punjab was:


16th Punjab Regiment, First World War
The class composition of the new regiment was Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs and Dogras. The new regimental badge consisted of a Maltese cross with a Muslim crescent and a Sikh quoit, surmounted by a Tudor crown with a scroll below. The uniform was scarlet with white facings. Multan in the Punjab was chosen as the permanent station for the Training Battalion.


16th Punjab Regiment, Second World War
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were captured by the Japanese at Singapore. The 1st, 5th and 7th Battalions fought in Burma, and the 4th Battalion's fought in Africa and Italy. Lance Naik Sher Shah of the 7th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross in Burma. During the war, the 16th Punjab Regiment suffered a total of 2744 casualties including 990 killed or died of wounds.


16th Punjab Regiment, Post-independence history
On the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the 16th Punjab Regiment was allotted to Pakistan Army. At the time, the active battalions were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th. Jats, Sikhs and Dogras were transferred to the Indian Army and the regiment's new class composition was fixed as Punjabis and Pathans. In 1948, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalions fought in the war with India in Kashmir. In 1956, a major reorganization was undertaken in the Pakistan Army and larger infantry groups were created by amalgamating the existing infantry regiments. As a result, the 16th Punjab Regiment was amalgamated with the 1st, 14th and 15th Punjab Regiments to form one large Punjab Regiment. The four regimental centres were also merged and the combined centre moved to Mardan. The line-up of the new regiment was:


16th Punjab Regiment, Battle honours
Afghanistan 1879-80, Burma 1885-87, Chitral, Tirah, Malakand, Punjab Frontier, La Bassee 1914, Messines 1914, Armentieres 1914, Festubert 1914, Givenchy 1914, Ypres 1915, St Julien, Aubers, Loos, France and Flanders 1914-15, Macedonia 1918, Suez Canal, Egypt 1915-16, Megiddo, Nablus, Palestine 1918, Aden, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-18, NW Frontier India, 1915, 1916–17, Behobeho, Narungombe, Nyangao, East Africa 1917-18, Afghanistan 1919, Mescelit Pass, Mt Engiahat, Massawa, Abyssinia 1940-41, Sidi Barrani, Omars, Benghazi, El Alamein, Mareth, Akarit, Djebel Garci, Tunis, North Africa 1940-43, Cassino I, Italy 1943-45, Kroh, Jitra, Gurun, Ipoh, Kampar, The Muar, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-42, Fort White, North Arakan, Kaladan, Maungdaw, Ngakyedauk Pass, Imphal, Tamu Road, Litan, Arakan Beaches, Burma 1942-45, Kashmir 1948.


16th Quebec Legislature
The 16th Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the provincial legislature in Quebec, Canada that existed from February 5, 1923, to May 16, 1927. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Louis-Alexandre Taschereau was the governing party.


16th Quebec Legislature, Member list
This was the list of members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec that were elected in the 1923 election:


16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment)
The  16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment) was an infantry regiment of the Bengal Army and later of the united British Indian Army. It can trace its origins to 1857, during the Indian Mutiny when it was formed from men of the 13th, 48th and 71st Bengal Native Infantry regiments that remained loyal to the British. Named The Lucknow Regiment they were responsible for guarding the Bailey Gate in the Lucknow Residency.


16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment)
Over the years they were known by a number of different titles the 16th Bengal Native Infantry in 1861, the 16th (The Lucknow) Bengal Native Infantry 1864, the 16th (The Lucknow) Bengal Infantry 1885, the 16th (The Lucknow) Rajput Bengal Infantry 1897, the 16th Rajput Infantry (The Lucknow Regiment) 1901 and finally after the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army the 16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment).


16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment)
During this time the regiment took part in the Duffla Hill Expedition, the Second Afghan War, the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the Siege of Malakand and the Campaign against the Bunerwals. During World War I they served in the Mesopotamia Campaign with the Jubbulpore Brigade 5th (Mhow) Division.


16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment)
After World War I the Indian government reformed the Indian Army again moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The 6th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment) now became the 10th Training Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment. After Independence this was one of the regiments allocated to the new Indian Army.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery
16 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the air defence role, and is equipped with the Rapier FSC Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) missile system and the Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP) system. One of its Rapier Batteries is always deployed to the Falkland Islands. As of 2021, the Sky Sabre air defence missile system had started to replace Rapier.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
The regiment was established in 1947 when 2nd Coast Regiment Royal Artillery was retitled 16 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery. As 16 Light Air Defence Regiment it was deployed to Borneo in 1965. It undertook tours in Northern Ireland during the Troubles in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1988 and 1993 and 14 Battery took part in the Falklands War in 1982.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
The regiment was renamed 16th Regiment RA in 1993 whilst stationed in Napier barracks in Dortmund having been there since 1992


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
In 1995 the regiment was relocated back to England from Germany, having previously been stationed in Kirton in Lindsey (85-92). They arrived in Woolwich and were stationed at Royal Artillery barracks. 14 Battery deployed to the Maze prison and West Belfast at the end of the summer in 96. The Rapier FSC was bought into action in 1997 replacing tracked rapier FSB throughout the regiment. The working garages at Centaur barracks were replaced with Napier Lines which were sited alongside the main hub RA barracks in 1998.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
The regiment then deployed to South Armagh to start its final tour of Northern Ireland before the peace process was carried out. The next deployment was to America (Texas) in 99 to take part in a huge multi national air defense exercise in White Sands whilst based on Fort Bliss. A UN tour to Cyprus marked the start of the new millennium for the regiment based in Nicosia with overall control of sector 2 and the UN commanders reaction force roles were occupied.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
In August 2007, the Regiment relocated to St George's Barracks in Rutland from Woolwich. Its departure from the Royal Artillery Barracks, where the Royal Regiment of Artillery had been based since 1716, was marked with a ceremony on 25 July 2007. In July 2014 the Regiment moved to Baker Barracks, Thorney Island.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, History
The Regiment was part of the 2012 London Olympics Air Security Force, deploying Rapier FSC Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) systems as part of Exercise Olympic Guardian.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, Role
The regiment is equipped with the Rapier Field Standard C SHORAD missile system providing local area air defence to land formations and airfields. It also provides a Land Environment Air Picture Provision capability to land formation HQs which provides a local Recognised Air Picture. Previously it also provided the now out of service Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar C-RAM and Automated Sense & Warn (AS&W) Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) capabilities on Operation TELIC (Iraq) and Operation HERRICK (Afghanistan) respectively.


16th Regiment Royal Artillery, Role
In January 2021, the regiment began training with the new Sky Sabre air defence missile system which would be replacing Rapier.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
The 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery is the Australian Army's only ground-based air defence (GBAD) unit. It also provides sense, warn and locate, ground liaison, and joint terminal attack control capabilities. Part of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery (RAA), the regiment is responsible for protecting a wide range of military assets during wartime, ranging from Army units in the field to providing point defence to the Royal Australian Navy's support ships and air defence to Royal Australian Air Force air bases.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
Prior to being equipped with the currently in-service RBS-70 surface-to-air missile system, the regiment was equipped with the Rapier systems for 25 years. The regiment is based at Woodside, South Australia, but frequently deploys with other Australian and allied units on operations and defence exercises. It is part of the 6th Brigade.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
The regiment has its genesis in the amalgamation of two previously independent batteries at Woodside Barracks in South Australia. On 2 June 1969, the 111th LAA Battery and 110th LAA Battery were grouped together to become the 16th Light Anti- Aircraft Regiment. The 111th had been raised in 1957 and had served in Malaysia during Confrontation during 1964–1966, while the 110th had been raised in 1965 and replaced the 111th in Malaysia in June 1966, but returned to Australia shortly afterwards after the conflict came to an end.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
Upon formation, the regiment was initially equipped with the QF 40 mm Mark XII anti-aircraft gun and was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel D.J. Ashmore. During this time, the regiment deployed small numbers of personnel to operate the Bofors guns upon the landing craft of the Royal Australian Engineers' 32nd Small Ships Squadron during the Vietnam War.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
During 1971, the regiment experienced a manning shortage which resulted in the 110th Battery being placed in "suspended animation", as the regiment was only able to staff one battery. In 1973, the Bofors gun was replaced by the Redeye surface-to-air missile system. The following year the regiment was redesignated as the 16th Air Defence Regiment. The 110th was re-raised in 1978 as the Army moved towards the purchase of a new surface-to-air missile system called the Rapier. At the same time the 111th was re-allocated to the 1st Division as a divisional air defence battery, although it remained under the regiment's command for administrative purposes. On 1 July 1978, the regiment was redesignated the 16th Air Defence Regiment.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
In 1979–1980, the 110th Air Defence Battery also received the Rapier surface-to-air missile system. The following year, the regiment deployed the new capability in August during an exercise at Cultana with the first regimental firing taking place the following November at Beercroft. In 1984, the regiment undertook its largest exercise to that point, deploying to Darwin on 76 flat-bed trucks. The 111th Air Defence Battery replaced the Redeye with the RBS-70 surface-to-air missile system in 1987.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
Four years later, in 1991, the regiment deployed detachments aboard HMAS Success and Westralia as part of Australia's contribution to the Persian Gulf War. After the September 11 attacks, A Troop, 111th Air Defence Battery was deployed at short notice to embark on HMAS Kanimbla to provide air and surface defence of her operations in the Persian Gulf. In May 2003, the regiment again deployed a detachment in support of the Royal Australian Navy when a detachment was sent on board Kanimbla during the invasion of Iraq. In 2005, the 110th Air Defence Battery replaced Rapier with the RBS-70.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
The regiment committed air defence batteries to serve as infantry on Operation Astute on two occasions. In 2006, the regiment deployed the 111th Air Defence Battery to Timor Leste as Golf Company of the ANZAC Battle Group returning to Australia in mid 2007. Again in October 2008, the 110th Air Defence Battery was deployed as Golf Company, Timor Leste Battle Group Five, led by the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment returning to Australia in June 2009. On 9 December 2011, the 16th Air Defence Regiment was amalgamated with the 1st Ground Liaison Group to form the 16th Air Land Regiment.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
On 1 March 2010, the 16th Air Defence Regiment became part of the re-raised 6th Brigade. Later in December 2010 the unit deployed a contingent on Operation Slipper in Afghanistan, to man a Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar system at the Multi National Base, Tarin Kot, once Australian forces assumed this responsibility from the Dutch. In 2012, GIRAFFE radars were also deployed. The majority of Australian forces withdrew from the Multi National Base Tarin Kot in December 2013. In July 2016, it was announced that C-RAM would be deployed to support Task Group Taji in Iraq. In July 2018, the regiment participated in Exercise Pitch Black alongside Royal Australian Air Force assets and personnel.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
The regiment has regularly provided personnel to Operation Mazurka, where they are deployed in a peacekeeping role with the Multinational Force and Observers monitoring the border between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai. Under project Land 19 Phase 7B, the regiment will receive the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, which is scheduled for introduction in 2022–2023.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, History
On 2 June 2019, the 16th Air Land Regiment was renamed the 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Structure
Both the 110th and 111th Air Land Batteries are equipped with the RBS-70 surface-to-air missile system, the Portable Search and Target Acquisition Radar – Extended Range (PSTAR-ER) as well as the G-AMB GIRAFFE Full Operational Capability Radar and  Light-weight Counter Mortar Radar (LCMR) for detection of rockets and mortars. The 1st Air Ground Ops Battery is responsible for "the coordination and allocation of friendly air assets in support of the land force in the joint war fighting environment" and includes a troop of Joint Terminal Attack Controllers.


16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Structure
The regiment houses a training centre equipped with an Advanced Air Defence Simulator. This consists of high definition projectors inside a dome structure allowing a single RBS-70 detachment to simulate a realistic 360-degree training environment. The simulator is maintained by BAE Systems and was upgraded in 2011.


16th Reserve Division (German Empire)
The 16th Reserve Division (16. Reserve-Division) was a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I. The division was formed on mobilization of the German Army in August 1914 as part of VIII Reserve Corps. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. The division was recruited primarily in the Prussian Rhine Province. At the beginning of the war, it formed the VIII Reserve Corps with the 15th Reserve Division.


16th Reserve Division (German Empire), Combat chronicle
The 16th Reserve Division fought on the Western Front, participating in the opening German offensive which led to the Allied Great Retreat, fighting at Sedan in late August 1914. It fought in the First Battle of the Marne. Thereafter, it remained in the line in the Champagne region and fought in the Second Battle of Champagne in September–October 1915. It fought on the Aisne until October 1916, and then joined the Battle of the Somme.


16th Reserve Division (German Empire), Combat chronicle
Its next major engagement was the Second Battle of the Aisne, also called the Third Battle of Champagne (and by the Germans, the Double Battle on the Aisne and in the Champagne). In July 1917, the division was transferred to the Eastern Front. It remained on the Eastern Front until November 1917, and then returned to the Western Front. The division fought in the 1918 German spring offensive, and remained in the Flanders and Artois regions until the end of the war. Allied intelligence rated the division as second class in 1918.


16th Reserve Division (German Empire), Order of battle on mobilization
The order of battle of the 16th Reserve Division on mobilization was as follows:


16th Reserve Division (German Empire), Order of battle on April 10, 1918
The 16th Reserve Division was triangularized in late September 1916. Over the course of the war, other changes took place, including the formation of artillery and signals commands and a pioneer battalion. The order of battle on April 10, 1918, was as follows:


16th Rifle Corps
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Pamrel (talk | contribs) at 13:50, 19 November 2019. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


16th Rifle Corps
The 16th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army, formed twice.


16th Rifle Corps
It took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 and destroyed in the Baltic Operation during Operation Barbarossa. Reformed in 1942, the corps fought through the rest of the war on the Eastern Front, and was disbanded immediately postwar.


16th Rifle Corps, History, First formation
The corps was formed in November 1922 at Saratov, part of the Volga Military District. It was relocated to Orsha in October 1923 and Bryansk in November, becoming part of the Western Military District. In January 1924, the corps received the honorific "named for the Bryansk Proletariat", but on 19 November was renamed the 16th Belorussian Territorial Rifle Corps and became a territorial unit after relocating to Mogilev in October. In 1929, the corps was converted back into a regular unit. The 16th Corps fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, occupying what became western Belarus. It became part of the 11th Army by 22 June 1941, under the command of Major General Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov. The corps fought against Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, from 22 June 1941, and was disbanded in August.


16th Rifle Corps, History, Second formation
The second formation became part of the 18th Army, 56th Army and 33rd Army. In 1945 it consisted of the 323rd Rifle Division, 339th Rifle Division, and 383rd Rifle Division as part of the 33rd Army. It was disbanded in July 1945.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 16th Rifle Division (Russian: 16-я 'Литовская' стрелковая дивизия, Lithuanian: 16-oji 'Lietuviškoji' divizija) was a formation in the Red Army created during World War II. The division was formed twice, and was given the title 'Lithuanian' during its second formation. It was originally established at Tambov in May 1918. It was wiped out at Mga in July 1941. Reformed and given the title 'Lithuanian', the division participated in several battles against Nazi Germany, including Kursk, Belarus, and the Baltic. The division became a brigade postwar but became a division again in 1950. It was disbanded in 1956.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), First formation, Operation Barbarossa
At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the 16th Rifle Division (I Formation) was part of North-Western Front's 27th Army, reporting directly to Army headquarters along with the 67th Rifle Division and 3rd Rifle Brigade. It was destroyed at Mga amid the first German drive on Leningrad.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Background
When the 16th Division was reformed after its destruction, it was named 'Lithuanian' for political purposes.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Background
After Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, the Lithuanian Army was reorganized into the Red Army's 29th Rifle Corps. At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Lithuanians massively deserted, joined anti-Soviet June Uprising, or surrendered to the Germans. The corps was officially disbanded in August 1941.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Background
Despite this disaster, Lithuanian communists, including Antanas Sniečkus and Mečislovas Gedvilas, sought to establish a new Lithuanian unit. Similar national military units were created by Estonians (8th Estonian Rifle Corps) and Latvians (130th Latvian Rifle Corps).


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Formation
The decision to re-form the division was made by the State Defense Committee on 18 December 1941. It was decided that it would be formed in the Moscow Military District, in the city of Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. The division was officially labelled "Lithuanian" to encourage enlistment of Lithuanians. Personnel were assembled from:


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Formation
Lithuanians born in Russia and Russians born in Lithuania were drafted into the division, because there was insufficient numbers of Lithuanians to form a division.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Formation
The officers of the division were mostly graduates from the Vilnius infantry academy, who had been evacuated after the invasion to Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1943
Formation and training of the division came to an end by February 1943 and the division entered the war on 21 February 1943 at Alekseyevka, 50 km southeast of Oryol. This brought the division into the path of the Wehrmacht's Operation Citadel or Battle of Kursk, where it served with the 42nd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army, Soviet Central Front. In the first days of the battle, the 16th Rifle Division withstood the attack of the German 383rd Infantry and 18th Panzer Divisions, that were accompanied by 120 planes. After suffering serious losses, the Soviet armies eventually emerged victorious. Between 20 February and 24 March 1943, the division lost 1,169 dead and 3,275 injured men. During this battle a private named Viktoras Jacenevičius, was wounded, taken prisoner and then tortured to death by the Germans. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1943
Following the victory at Kursk, the division was assigned to the 1st Baltic Front.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1944
On 1 June 1944, the division was directly subordinate to the Front, along with 47th Rifle Division. Along with the 3rd Belarussian Front, they invaded Belarus and much of Lithuania. On 2 August 1944, division had arrived at the suburbs of Šiauliai, which was home to their commander, Vladas Karvelis. The division was stationed there for one month, to receive reinforcements from Lithuanian forced-volunteers.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1944
In mid-August the city of Šiauliai was hit by the German Šiauliai Offensive. The Wehrmacht divisions were armed with 900 armoured vehicles and artillery pieces. For three days the 16th Division stood its ground, and in the end as the German attack ran out of steam the Division emerged victorious. On 31 October the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for "courage and valor" in breaking through German defenses west of Šiauliai.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1945
On 31 January 1945, the Lithuanian division received orders to join the fight against the Germans in the Courland Pocket. The German resistance was strong and elements of Army Group Courland did not surrender to the Soviets until 8–9 May at the end of World War II in Europe.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1945
The division was part of 22nd Guards Rifle Corps, 6th Guards Army towards the end of the war on 1 May 1945.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, 1945
After the war, many former soldiers of the division's went to Palestine.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Ethnic composition
According to various sources, 50%, up to 80% and even 85% of the division was Jewish. Due to this, the division was nicknamed "The division with the sixteen Lithuanians". As the Soviet military wanted to preserve the Lithuanian character of the division,   there was a policy of sending Jews to fight and keeping Lithuanians behind the front. As a result, 90% of the division's casualties were Jews and the division was only about 20% Jewish when it reached Lithuania. As of 1 January 1943, of the 10,250 soldiers and officers of the division, 7,000 of them were ethnic Lithuanians and/or inhabitants of the Lithuanian SSR. The total ethnic make-up of the division was:


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Ethnic composition
Although other sources cite figures of 2378 Jews (23.2%) in the division, it is still the highest number of ethnic Jews amongst all divisions of the Red Army. Jews made 13% (136 persons) of all officers in the division and 34.2% of all soldiers in the infantry regiments. 12 soldiers of a division have been awarded the title, Hero of the Soviet Union, of them, four were Jews:


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Ethnic composition
Originally, commands and orders were given in the Lithuanian language. However over a third of all soldiers in the division did not speak Lithuanian. More problems arose when officers from other divisions were sent to train and transfer their fighting experience to the soldiers of the 16th. Most of them had never heard a word of Lithuanian in their lives, and were mainly Russophone. For these reasons, the language of commands, orders and even conversation, became Russian and also Yiddish.


16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second formation, Cold War
In 1947, it became the 44th Rifle Brigade at Vilnius, now with the 2nd Guards Rifle Corps. In December 1950, it became a division again. It was disbanded on 7 July 1956.


16th Robert Awards
The 16th Robert Awards ceremony was held in 1999 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Organized by the Danish Film Academy, the awards honoured the best in Danish and foreign film of 1998.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS
The 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Reichsführer-SS" (German: 16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer SS") was a motorised formation in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS
The division, during its time in Italy, committed a number of war crimes, and, together with the 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, was dis-proportionally involved in massacres of the civilian population. One possible reason for the division's increased involvement in war crimes has been identified by the fact that much of its leadership originally came from the SS-Totenkopfverbände.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, History
Formed in November 1943 when Volksdeutsche recruits were added to the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS, which was used as the cadre in the formation of the new division. A Kampfgruppe ("combat group") from the division fought at the Anzio beachhead, while the rest of the division took part in the occupation of Hungary. It fought in Italy as a division from May 1944, until being transferred to Hungary in February 1945.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, History
On June 27, 1944, the 16th SS-Panzergrenadiers command post in San Vincenzo, Italy was overrun by the U.S. 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, 34th Infantry Division (Red Bulls). The command post was a town centre apartment which had been commandeered; when the owners returned to their apartment they found a signed large leather-bound Stielers Handatlas which had been left behind.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, History
In late summer 1944, a part of this division, SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 (Reconnaissance Battalion 16), commanded by Major Walter Reder, was withdrawn from engagement with the American 5th Army then advancing on the Gothic Line to deal with an Italian Communist partisan unit, the Red Star Brigade (Brigata Stella Rossa). Operating out of a mountain complex centered on Monte Sole, just southeast of the town of Marzabotto, and sitting astride communications to Bologna, the Red Star was seen as a significant threat to the German rear, both in terms of cutting communications and obstructing a possible route of retreat. Major Reder completed his assignment and destroyed this guerrilla force.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, History
A Kampfgruppe of the 16th Training and Replacement Battalion was based in Arnhem and took part in Operation Market Garden. The division surrendered to British forces near Klagenfurt, Austria, at the end of the war.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, War crimes
The division was involved in many war crimes while stationed in Italy during World War II. Together with the 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring the 16th SS Panzergrenadier is estimated to be responsible for about one third of all civilians killed in massacres in Italy during the war. In regards to these war crimes the 16th SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion and its commander, Walter Reder, have been identified as one of the main culprits. The division is estimated to have killed up to 2,000 Italian civilians during its time there.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, War crimes
In August 1944 alone, in the Versilia and Lunigiana areas of Tuscany, there were three large massacres. 560 civilians were massacred at Sant'Anna di Stazzema on August 12, 1944, 159 civilians executed at San Terenzo Monti on August 17 and 173 civilians murdered at Vinca starting August 24. The division was also responsible for the Marzabotto massacre, where at least 770 Italian civilians were executed, the worst massacre committed by the German Army on Italian civilians during World War II.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, War crimes
Major Walter Reder, the SS commander who signed the order to execute the civilians at San Terenzo, was extradited to Italy in 1948 and tried in Bologna in 1951 for war crimes in Tuscany and at Marzabotto in Emilia-Romagna, where 770 people were massacred, making it the worst massacre of civilians committed by the Waffen-SS in Western Europe during the war. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. However, he was released in 1985, and he returned unrepentant to his native Austria, where he was received with full military honors. He died in 1991.


16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, War crimes
In a case filed decades late due to misplaced evidence, ten SS officers of the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division were convicted of murder in absentia in 2005 at La Spezia for the slaughter at Sant'Anna di Stazzema. German prosecutors declined to proceed on the grounds that there was a lack of evidence tying specific murders to specific defendants.


16th SS Police Regiment
The 16th SS Police Regiment (German: SS-Polizei-Regiment 16) was initially named the 16th Police Regiment (Polizei-Regiment 16) when it was formed in 1942 from existing Order Police units (Ordnungspolizei) for security duties on the Eastern Front. It was redesignated as an SS unit in early 1943.


16th SS Police Regiment, Formation and organization
The regiment was ordered formed on 9 July 1942 in northern Russia. Police Battalion 56 (Polizei-Batallion 56), Police Battalion 102, I Battalion of the 15th Police Regiment, formerly Police Battalion 305, and Police Battalion 121 were redesignated as the regiment's first through fourth battalions, respectively. I Battalion was transferred to Tilsit, East Prussia (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast), and was converted into a training unit on 5 February 1943. It eventually became I Battalion of the 3rd SS Police Regiment and was replaced by a newly formed battalion in July 1944. All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS police units on 24 February 1943, but this was strictly honorary. IV Battalion was disbanded in 1943 and the remnants of the 9th SS Police Regiment were absorbed into III Battalion in mid-1944.


16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly
The 16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly is the current term of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, the legislative branch of the Government of Sabah in Sabah, Malaysia. The 16th Assembly consists of 79 members that 73 members were elected in the 2020 Sabah election and 6 members were nominated by the Government and is serving from 26 October 2020 until the next state election.


16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Background
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition won the election with a simple majority of 38 seats. The coalition consists of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (14) and Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) (11) with support from United Sabah Party (PBS) (7) and Homeland Solidarity Party (STAR) (6). Hajiji Noor from BERSATU was sworn in as Chief Minister 3 days later. For the first time since 2003 in which the rotation system was scrapped, the Chief Minister position was offered to a non-majority party.


16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Current composition, Membership changes
On 25 February 2021, Sebatik assemblyman exit Warisan. The reason he left because the party is no longer prioritizing the well-being of the people and only focusing on politics. On 6 April 2021, he join Bersatu.


16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Current composition, Membership changes
On 10 March 2021, Pitas assemblyman, Ruddy Awah join Bersatu.


16th Santosham Film Awards
The 16th Santosham Film Awards is an awards ceremony held at Hyderabad, India on 26 August 2018 recognized the best films and performances from the Tollywood films and music released in 2017, along with special honors for lifetime contributions and a few special awards. The awards are annually presented by Santosham magazine. The ceremony was announced on 3 August 2018 with Srikanth being the chief guest.


16th Sarasaviya Awards
The 16th Sarasaviya Awards festival (Sinhala: 16වැනි සරසවිය සම්මාන උලෙළ), presented by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, was held to honor the best films of 1987 Sinhala cinema on July 23, 1988, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. Minister of National Defense, Trade and Shipping Lalith Athulathmudali was the chief guest at the awards night.


16th Sarasaviya Awards
The film Viragaya won most number of awards with twelve awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.


16th Saskatchewan Legislature
The 16th Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan was elected in the Saskatchewan general election held in October 1967. The assembly sat from February 15, 1968, to May 25, 1971. The Liberal Party led by Ross Thatcher formed the government. The New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Woodrow Lloyd formed the official opposition. Allan Blakeney succeeded Lloyd as party leader in 1970.


16th Saskatchewan Legislature, Members of the Assembly
The following members were elected to the assembly in 1967:


16th Satellite Awards
The 16th Satellite Awards is an award ceremony honoring the year's outstanding performers, films, television shows, home videos and interactive media, presented by the International Press Academy at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, Los Angeles.


16th Satellite Awards
The nominations were announced on December 1, 2011. The winners were announced on December 18, 2011.


16th Satellite Awards
The categories for motion picture were pared down from 22 to 19 classifications; the change reflected the merger of comedy and drama under a general Best Picture heading.


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Auteur Award (for his body of film work, as well as his books on the inner workings of filmmaking and filmmakers) – Peter Bogdanovich


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Humanitarian Award (for community involvement and work on social causes) – Tim Hetherington


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Mary Pickford Award (for outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry) – Mitzi Gaynor


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Nikola Tesla Award (for his work as film preservationist and historian) – Douglas Trumbull


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Best Educational Motion Picture – The First Grader (Sam Feuer, Richard Harding, David Thompson - Producers)


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Career of Outstanding Service in the Entertainment Industry – Brian Edwards


16th Satellite Awards, Special achievement awards
Outstanding Performance in a TV Series – Jessica Lange (American Horror Story)


16th Satellite Awards, Motion picture winners and nominees
The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash


16th Satellite Awards, Television winners and nominees
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones (TIE)  Ryan Hurst – Sons of Anarchy (TIE)


16th Saturn Awards
The 16th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television in 1988, were held on January 21, 1990.


16th Saturn Awards, Winners and nominees
Below is a complete list of nominees and winners. Winners are highlighted in bold.


16th Screen Actors Guild Awards
The 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2009, were presented on January 23, 2010 at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California for the fourteenth consecutive year. It was broadcast live simultaneously by TNT and TBS.


16th Screen Actors Guild Awards
The nominees were announced on December 17, 2009 by Michelle Monaghan and Chris O'Donnell at Los Angeles' Pacific Design Center's Silver Screen Theater.


16th Scripps National Spelling Bee
The 16th National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. on May 28, 1940. Scripps-Howard would not sponsor the Bee until 1941.


16th Scripps National Spelling Bee
The winner was 14-year-old girl Laurel Kuykendall, correctly spelling the word therapy. Elizabeth O'Keefe, a 13-year-old girl from New Jersey, took second place after failing to correctly spell "plantain", followed by Eleanor Shea of Nebraska in third.


16th Scripps National Spelling Bee
There were 22 spellers this year, and the prizes were $500 for first, $200 for second, and $100 for third.


16th Scripps National Spelling Bee
Harold F. Harding of George Washington University was the pronouncer. He earned a round of applause when he slipped and spelled the word "fore" himself, instead of waiting for the speller to do so.


16th September (painting)
16th September is a painting by René Magritte, probably produced in 1956. It is now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, which bought it directly from the artist. This painting of a tree sounded by empty space with rocks, and at the top of the tree you can see the moon.


16th Space Control Squadron
The 16th Space Control Squadron is an active United States Space Force unit, stationed at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado as part of the Space Delta 3. The squadron protects critical satellite communication links to detect, characterize, geolocate and report sources of electromagnetic interference on US military and commercial satellites. The squadron also provides combat-ready crews to deploy and employ defensive space control capabilities for theater combatant commanders. The squadron is Air Force Space Command's first defensive counterspace unit.


16th Space Control Squadron
From 1967 through 1994, the squadron, originally the 16th Surveillance Squadron, operated the Cobra Dane space detection system at Eareckson Air Force Base, Alaska.


16th Space Control Squadron, Mission
The 16th Space Control Squadron operates space control capabilities to achieve space superiority in support of theater campaigns and United States Strategic Command's space superiority mission. To achieve this, 16th operates the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS) central operating location and up to six RAIDRS fixed ground stations and three deployable ground segments. The unit detects, characterizes, geolocation and electromagnetic interference for satellite communications systems, supporting combatant commanders. 16th SPCS operators can remotely control and task the fixed and deployable antenna suites from Peterson Air Force Base. Additionally, the three deployable systems are capable of sustained autonomous operations if connectivity is lost.


16th Space Control Squadron, History, Cobra Dane operation
The squadron was first organized at Shemya Air Force Station, Alaska as the 16th Surveillance Squadron and assigned to the 73d Aerospace Surveillance Wing of Air Defense Command. The unit's mission was to operate the Cobra Dane long-range early warning radar system, used to track Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile launches. In April 1967, the 73d Wing was inactivated and the 16th was assigned directly to Fourteenth Aerospace Force.


16th Space Control Squadron, History, Cobra Dane operation
The 16th continued its mission under Air (later Aerospace) Defense Command until the command was disestablished in December 1979. Strategic Air Command assumed responsibility for strategic space defense assets and assigned the squadron to its 47th Air Division. The unit was again reassigned in 1983, when the Air Force brought its space defense and communications units under Air Force Space Command, which assigned the squadron to the 1st Space Wing. In 1991, it was reassigned to the 73rd Space Surveillance Group. In 1992, the unit was designated the 16th Space Surveillance Squadron. It was inactivated in 1994.


16th Space Control Squadron, History, Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System
The unit was reactivated at Peterson Air Force Base., Colorado in May 2007 under the 21st Space Wing to operate the Air Force's Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS).


16th Space Control Squadron, History, Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System
The RAIDRS prototype, designated the "Satellite Interference Response System" (SIRS), was initially deployed to United States Central Command (USCENTCOM)'s area of responsibility for a 120-day proof of concept. When the proof of concept proved to be a success, SIRS was redesignated RAIDRS Deployable Ground Segment-0 and has been continually deployed to USCENTCOM since then. In 2011, the Bounty Hunter system was delivered to USCENTCOM for added capability and the two comprise Operation Silent Sentry. Airmen from the 16th and its reserve associate, the 380th Space Control Squadron provide the preponderance of the required manpower for this mission.


16th Space Control Squadron, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


16th Special Operations Squadron
The 16th Special Operations Squadron is part of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. It operates the AC-130W Stinger II aircraft in support of special operations.


16th Special Operations Squadron, Mission
Train and maintain its combat-ready force to provide highly accurate firepower in support of both conventional and unconventional forces.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, World War II
The 16th ferried aircraft from factories to units in US and Canada and conducted pilot training from April 1942 – April 1944. It flew combat aerial transportation missions from India into Burma and China from December 1944 – October 1945.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Vietnam War
The 16th flew combat missions in Southeast Asia where it was charged with attacking convoys on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the defense of hamlets and fire bases, providing close air support to troops in contact with the enemy, providing convoy escort, and battlefield illumination, November 1968 – July 1974. As the war drew to a close the squadron supported Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon and figured prominently in the rescue of the Mayagüez. In all 53 members of the 16 SOS were killed in action during the Vietnam War.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
In November 1979 the 16th set a flight endurance record of 29.7 hours, flying non-stop from Hurlburt Field, Florida to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
The 16th supported the multi-national assault on Grenada on 25 October 1983. It provided last-second surveillance and intelligence to the air assault forces, silencing anti-aircraft artillery emplacements, knocking out enemy armored personnel carriers, defending political dignitaries surrounded by enemy troops, and relieving troops in combat.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
From late December 1989 to 14 January 1990, the squadron participated in the invasion of Panama during Operation Just Cause. 16 SOS aircrews received the MacKay Trophy and the 1989 Military Airlift Command Aircrew of the Year, for their actions destroying the headquarters for the Panamanian Defense Force, and providing fire support for the Army Ranger assault on Rio Hato Air Base.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
On 12 September 1990 The 16th arrived in Saudi Arabia to support Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the protection of Saudi Arabia and liberation of Kuwait. The squadron flew 50 combat missions in Desert Storm and lost one aircraft and 14 airmen on 31 January 1991, while supporting coalition forces engaged in the Battle of Khafji.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
During 1993 and 1994, the 16th deployed to Africa in support of Operation Continue Hope, the United Nations relief effort in Somalia. Squadron crews based out of Djibouti struck targets in Mogadishu, and later deployed to Kenya to ensure security for UN forces. During this deployment, a gunship was destroyed due to an in-borne detonation of the 105mm gun while airborne. Eight of the 14 aircrew members lost their lives in this accident.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
The 16 SOS deployed to Italy in support of Operation Deny Flight periodically from July 1993 until its termination on 28 August 1995. 16 SOS aircraft actively patrolled the skies over Bosnia and Herzegovina, providing protective air cover and close air support to UN protection forces.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
While maintaining the Operation Deny Flight mission, the 16 SOS also deployed to other parts of the world for 184 days. From 18 September-19 October 1994, it deployed to Cuba in support of Operation Uphold Democracy and provided air support to coalition forces during the ouster of General Raoul Cédras and restoration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. Additionally, from 30 January −2 March 1995, the 16th SOS returned to Africa in support of Operation United Shield, the withdrawal of UN forces from Mogadishu, Somalia. On the final night of this operation, the gunships provided real-time intelligence to ground commanders via armed reconnaissance and surveillance during the U.S. Marine amphibious withdrawal from Mogadishu.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
Operation Deliberate Force began on 19 August 1995. It was the largest NATO air operation in history. The 16 SOS flew multiple combat search and rescue sorties from 6–8 September in support of the rescue attempt of a French Mirage aircrew downed by a surface-to-air missile near Pale. During the operation, which lasted until 15 September, the 16th expended 268 rounds of 105MM and 125 rounds of 40MM against early warning radar sites and command and control facilities. The 16th also participated in Operations Decisive Endeavor, Joint Endeavor, Assured Response, Deliberate Guard, Joint Guard, Goal Keeper, and Wintering Over.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
Following the 11 September terrorist attacks the 16th deployed on 11 November 2001 to an undisclosed location near Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The day after arriving in Afghanistan, the 16th attacked Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces near the city of Konduz in support of Northern Alliance forces, and was directly responsible for the city's surrender the next day. On 26 November the squadron supported the suppression of a rebellion at the prison fort of Qala-i-Jangi While supporting the beleaguered U.S. CIA and allied British forces throughout the night with withering 40mm and 105mm fire, Spectre succeeded in ending the rebellion of Taliban and Al-Qaeda POWs.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
The 16th also flew missions over Mazār-e Sharīf, Kunduz, Kandahar, Shkin, Asadabad, Bagram, Baghran, Tora Bora, and nearly every other part of Afghanistan. The squadron has participated in a number of operations within Afghanistan including Operations Full Throttle, Roll Tide, and Eagle Fury. It also performed on-call close air support and armed reconnaissance over Kandahar after an assassination attempt against Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
In March 2002, the 16th flew 39 combat missions in support of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. With only 3 aircraft and 3 crews, the squadron amassed 322 combat hours over 12 days, resulting in 45 enemies killed in action, nine vehicles destroyed, 11 damaged vehicles, and 12 destroyed and 25 damaged buildings. During the intense fighting, the squadron expended more than 1,300 40MM and 1,200 105MM rounds. Their actions earned them the 2002 Mackay Trophy, and 2002 Air Force aviator valor awards. In addition, in 2002 the 16th SOS was the third most deployed unit in the Air Force.


16th Special Operations Squadron, History, Hurlburt Field
27 May 2015, retired the final AC-130H Spectre Gunship in service, tail number #69-6569 "Excalibur". Converted to AC-130W Stinger IIs during 2015.


16th Special Operations Squadron, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


16th Special Troops Battalion
The 16th Special Troops Battalion is a subordinate battalion of the 16th Sustainment Brigade, and is based in Baumholder, Germany. On 16 July 2007, the 16th Special Troops Battalion was activated in Warner Barracks, U.S. Army Garrison, Bamberg, Germany.


16th Special Troops Battalion
In July 2008, the Battalion deployed to Iraq, where it provided sustainment, combat support, and force protection operations in support of Multi-National Division-North through expert life support and logistical operations.


16th Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
The 16th Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 16th CCDI and then endorsed by the 1st Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee on 15 November 2002.


16th Street Baptist Church
The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Progressive National Baptist Convention. In 1963, the church was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. The bombing killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is still in operation and is a central landmark in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Since 2008, it has also been on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites.


16th Street Baptist Church, Beginnings
The 16th Street Baptist Church was organized as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham in 1873. It was the first black church to organize in Birmingham, which was founded just two years before. The first meetings were held in a small building at 12th Street and Fourth Avenue North. A site was soon acquired on 3rd Avenue North between 19th and 20th Street for a dedicated building. In 1880, the church sold that property and built a new church on the present site on 16th Street and 6th Avenue North. The new brick building was completed in 1884 under the supervision of its pastor, William R. Pettiford, but in 1908, the city condemned the structure and ordered it to be demolished. Pettiford was pastor from 1883 to 1904.


16th Street Baptist Church, Beginnings
The present building, a "modified Romanesque and Byzantine design" by the prominent black architect Wallace Rayfield, was constructed in 1911 by the local black contractor T.C. Windham. The cost of construction was $26,000. In addition to the main sanctuary, the building houses a basement auditorium, used for meetings and lectures, and several ancillary rooms used for Sunday school and smaller groups.


16th Street Baptist Church, Beginnings
As one of the primary institutions in the black community, the 16th Street Baptist Church has hosted prominent visitors throughout its history. W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson and Ralph Bunche all spoke at the church during the first part of the 20th century.


16th Street Baptist Church, Civil rights era and the 1963 bombing
During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as an organizational headquarters, site of mass meetings and rallying point for African Americans protesting widespread institutionalized racism in Birmingham, Alabama, and the South. The reverends Fred Shuttlesworth, who was the chief local organizer, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)) leader Martin Luther King Jr., and SCLC leader James Bevel, who initiated the Children's Crusade and taught the students nonviolence, were frequent speakers at the church and led the movement.


16th Street Baptist Church, Civil rights era and the 1963 bombing
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10:22 a.m., they exploded, killing four young girls - Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. Twenty-two other victims suffered injuries. They were there preparing for the church's "Youth Day". A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, white and black, but no city officials.


16th Street Baptist Church, Civil rights era and the 1963 bombing
This was one of a string of more than 45 bombings within the decade. The neighborhood of Dynamite Hill was the most-frequently targeted area during this time. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church increased Federal involvement in Alabama. President Johnson passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act the following year; and in 1965 the Voting Rights Act was passed, making literacy tests and poll taxes illegal.


16th Street Baptist Church, Civil rights era and the 1963 bombing
Following the bombing, more than $300,000 in unsolicited gifts were received by the church and repairs were begun immediately. The church reopened on June 7, 1964. A stained glass window depicting a black Jesus, designed by John Petts, was donated by citizens of Wales and installed in the front window, facing south.


16th Street Baptist Church, Current status
The church was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on June 16, 1976. On September 17, 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1993, a team of surveyors for the Historic American Buildings Survey executed archival quality measured drawings of the church for the Library of Congress. Because of its historic value on a national level in the moral crusade of civil rights, the church was officially designated a National Historic Landmark on February 20, 2006 by the United States Department of the Interior. On January 1, 2008 the US Government submitted it to UNESCO as part of an envisaged future World Heritage nomination and as such it is on the so-called UNESCO 'Tentative List of World Heritage Sites'. In 2017, the church became part of the newly-created Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.


16th Street Baptist Church, Current status
As part of the Birmingham Civil Rights District, the 16th Street Baptist Church receives more than 200,000 visitors annually. Though the current membership is only around 500, it has an average weekly attendance of nearly 2,000. The church also operates a large drug counseling program. The current pastor is Reverend Arthur Price. Across from the church at Kelly Ingram Park is the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which plans events that teach and promote the history of human rights.


16th Street Baptist Church, Current status
The 16th Street Baptist Church engaged in a $3 million restoration of the building in the first decade of the 21st century. Persistent water damage problems and exterior brick facing failure were addressed. The first phase of restoration, mainly below-grade waterproofing, was completed in 2007, followed by work on the exterior masonry. Additional funds were sought to handle unexpected problems uncovered during the work and to provide for ongoing physical maintenance.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity", the explosion at the church killed four girls and injured between 14 and 22 other people.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Although the FBI had concluded in 1965 that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had been committed by four known Klansmen and segregationists: Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, no prosecutions were conducted until 1977, when Robert Chambliss was tried and convicted of the first-degree murder of one of the victims, 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing
As part of a revival of effort by states and the federal government to prosecute cold cases from the civil rights era, the state conducted trials in the early 21st century of Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. and Bobby Cherry, who were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Future United States Senator Doug Jones successfully prosecuted Blanton and Cherry. Herman Cash had died in 1994, and was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point in the United States during the civil rights movement and also contributed to support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Congress.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background
In the years leading up to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham had earned a national reputation as a tense, violent and racially segregated city, in which even tentative racial integration in any form was met with violent resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. described Birmingham as "probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States."


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background
The city had no black police officers or firefighters. Given the state's disenfranchisement of most black people since the turn of the century, by making voter registration essentially impossible, few of the city's black residents were registered to vote. Bombings at black homes and institutions were a regular occurrence, with at least 21 separate explosions recorded at black properties and churches in the eight years before 1963, although none of these explosions had resulted in fatalities. These attacks earned the city the nickname "Bombingham".


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background, Birmingham Campaign
The three-story 16th Street Baptist Church was a rallying point for civil rights activities through the spring of 1963. When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality became involved in a campaign to register African Americans to vote in Birmingham, tensions in the city increased. The church was used as a meeting-place for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth, for organizing and educating marchers. It was the location where students were organized and trained by James Bevel to participate in the 1963 Birmingham campaign's Children's Crusade after other marches had taken place.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background, Birmingham Campaign
On Thursday, May 2, more than 1,000 students, some reportedly as young as eight, opted to leave school and gather at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Demonstrators present were given instructions to march to downtown Birmingham and discuss with the mayor their concerns about racial segregation in the city, and to integrate buildings and businesses currently segregated. Although this march was met with fierce resistance and criticism, and 600 arrests were made on the first day alone, the Birmingham campaign and its Children's Crusade continued until May 5. The intention was to fill the jail with protesters. These demonstrations led to an agreement, on May 8, between the city's business leaders and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to integrate public facilities, including schools, in the city within 90 days. (The first three schools in Birmingham to be integrated would do so on September 4.)


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background, Birmingham Campaign
These demonstrations and the concessions from city leaders to the majority of demonstrators' demands were met with fierce resistance by other whites in Birmingham. In the weeks following the September 4 integration of public schools, three additional bombs were detonated in Birmingham. Other acts of violence followed the settlement, and several staunch Klansmen were known to have expressed frustration at what they saw as a lack of effective resistance to integration.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Background, Birmingham Campaign
As a known and popular rallying point for civil rights activists, the 16th Street Baptist Church was an obvious target.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, four members of the United Klans of America—Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Robert Edward Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, and (allegedly) Herman Frank Cash—planted a minimum of 15 sticks of dynamite with a time delay under the steps of the church, close to the basement. At approximately 10:22 a.m., an anonymous man phoned the 16th Street Baptist Church. The call was answered by the acting Sunday School secretary, a 14-year-old girl named Carolyn Maull. The anonymous caller simply said the words, "Three minutes" to Maull before terminating the call.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
Less than one minute later, the bomb exploded. Five children were present within the basement at the time of the explosion, in a restroom close to the stairwell, changing into choir robes in preparation for a sermon entitled "A Rock That Will Not Roll". According to one survivor, the explosion shook the entire building and propelled the girls' bodies through the air "like rag dolls".


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
The explosion blew a hole measuring seven feet (2.1 m) in diameter in the church's rear wall, and a crater five feet (1.5 m) wide and two feet (0.61 m) deep in the ladies' basement lounge, destroying the rear steps to the church and blowing a passing motorist out of his car. Several other cars parked near the site of the blast were destroyed, and windows of properties located more than two blocks from the church were also damaged. All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. The sole stained-glass window largely undamaged in the explosion depicted Christ leading a group of young children.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
Hundreds of individuals, some of them lightly wounded, converged on the church to search the debris for survivors as police erected barricades around the church and several outraged men scuffled with police. An estimated 2,000 black people converged on the scene in the hours following the explosion. The church's pastor, the Reverend John Cross Jr., attempted to placate the crowd by loudly reciting the 23rd Psalm through a bullhorn.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
Four girls—Addie Mae Collins (age 14, born April 18, 1949), Carol Denise McNair (age 11, born November 17, 1951), Carole Rosamond Robertson (age 14, born April 24, 1949), and Cynthia Dionne Wesley (age 14, born April 30, 1949)—were killed in the attack. The explosion was so intense that one of the girls' bodies was decapitated and so badly mutilated that her body could be identified only through her clothing and a ring. Another victim was killed by a piece of mortar embedded in her skull. The pastor of the church, the Reverend John Cross, recollected in 2001 that the girls' bodies were found "stacked on top of each other, clung together". All four girls were pronounced dead on arrival at the Hillman Emergency Clinic.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
Between 14 and 22 additional people were injured in the explosion, one of whom was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins. She had 21 pieces of glass embedded in her face and was blinded in one eye. In her later recollections of the bombing, Collins would recall that in the moments immediately before the explosion, she had watched her sister, Addie, tying her dress sash.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bombing
Another sister of Addie Mae Collins, 16-year-old Junie Collins, would later recall that shortly before the explosion, she had been sitting in the basement of the church reading the Bible and had observed Addie Mae Collins tying the dress sash of Carol Denise McNair before she returned upstairs to the ground floor of the church.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
Violence escalated in Birmingham in the hours following the bombing, with reports of groups of black and white youth throwing bricks and shouting insults at each other. Police urged parents of black and white youths to keep their children indoors, as the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, ordered an additional 300 state police to assist in quelling unrest. The Birmingham City Council convened an emergency meeting to propose safety measures for the city, although proposals for a curfew were rejected. Within 24 hours of the bombing, a minimum of five businesses and properties had been firebombed and numerous cars—most of which were driven by whites—had been stoned by rioting youths.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
In response to the church bombing, described by the Mayor of Birmingham, Albert Boutwell, as "just sickening", the Attorney General dispatched 25 FBI agents, including explosives experts, to Birmingham to conduct a thorough forensic investigation.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
Although reports of the bombing and the loss of four children's lives were glorified by white supremacists, who in many instances chose to celebrate the loss as "four less niggers", as news of the church bombing and the fact that four young girls had been killed in the explosion reached the national and international press, many felt that they had not taken the civil rights struggle seriously enough. The day following the bombing, a young white lawyer named Charles Morgan Jr. addressed a meeting of businessmen, condemning the acquiescence of white people in Birmingham toward the oppression of blacks.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
In this speech, Morgan lamented: "Who did it [the bombing]? We all did it! The 'who' is every little individual who talks about the 'niggers' and spreads the seeds of his hate to his neighbor and his son ... What's it like living in Birmingham? No one ever really has known and no one will until this city becomes part of the United States." A Milwaukee Sentinel editorial opined, "For the rest of the nation, the Birmingham church bombing should serve to goad the conscience. The deaths ... in a sense, are on the hands of each of us."


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
Two more black youths, Johnny Robinson and Virgil Ware, were shot to death in Birmingham within seven hours of the Sunday morning bombing. Robinson, aged 16, was shot in the back by a policeman as he fled down an alley, after ignoring police orders to halt. The police were reportedly responding to black youths throwing rocks at cars driven by white people. Robinson died before reaching the hospital. Ware, aged 13, was shot in the cheek and chest with a revolver in a residential suburb 15 miles (24 km) north of the city.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
A 16-year-old white youth named Larry Sims fired the gun (given to him by another youth named Michael Farley) at Ware, who was sitting on the handlebars of a bicycle ridden by his brother. Sims and Farley had been riding home from an anti-integration rally which had denounced the church bombing. When he spotted Ware and his brother, Sims fired twice, reportedly with his eyes closed. (Sims and Farley were later convicted of second-degree manslaughter, although the judge suspended their sentences and imposed two years' probation upon each youth.)


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
Some civil rights activists blamed George Wallace, Governor of Alabama and an outspoken segregationist, for creating the climate that had led to the killings. One week before the bombing, Wallace granted an interview with The New York Times, in which he said he believed Alabama needed a "few first-class funerals" to stop racial integration.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Unrest and tensions
The city of Birmingham initially offered a $52,000 reward for the arrest of the bombers. Governor Wallace offered an additional $5,000 on behalf of the state of Alabama. Although this donation was accepted, Martin Luther King Jr. is known to have sent Wallace a telegram saying, "the blood of four little children ... is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder."


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Funerals
Carole Rosamond Robertson was laid to rest in a private family funeral held on September 17, 1963. Reportedly, Carole's mother, Alpha, had expressly requested that her daughter be buried separately from the other victims. She was distressed about a remark made by Martin Luther King, who had said that the mindset that enabled the murder of the four girls was the "apathy and complacency" of black people in Alabama.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Funerals
The service for Carole Rosamond Robertson was held at St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church. In attendance were 1,600 people. At this service, the Reverend C. E. Thomas told the congregation: "The greatest tribute you can pay to Carole is to be calm, be lovely, be kind, be innocent." Carole Robertson was buried in a blue casket at Shadow Lawn Cemetery.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Funerals
On September 18, the funeral of the three other girls killed in the bombing was held at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. Although no city officials attended this service, an estimated 800 clergymen of all races were among the attendees. Also present was Martin Luther King Jr. In a speech conducted before the burials of the girls, King addressed an estimated 3,300 mourners—including numerous white people—with a speech saying:


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Funerals
This tragic day may cause the white side to come to terms with its conscience. In spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not become bitter ... We must not lose faith in our white brothers. Life is hard. At times as hard as crucible steel, but, today, you do not walk alone.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Reactions, Funerals
As the girls' coffins were taken to their graves, King directed that those present remain solemn and forbade any singing, shouting or demonstrations. These instructions were relayed to the crowd present by a single youth with a bullhorn.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation
Initially, investigators theorized that a bomb thrown from a passing car had caused the explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church. But by September 20, the FBI was able to confirm that the explosion had been caused by a device that was purposely planted beneath the steps to the church, close to the women's lounge. A section of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered here, which could have been part of a timing device. (The plastic remnants were later lost by investigators.)


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation
Within days of the bombing, investigators began to focus their attention upon a KKK splinter group known as the "Cahaba Boys". The Cahaba Boys had formed earlier in 1963, as they felt that the KKK was becoming restrained and impotent in response to concessions granted to black people to end racial segregation. This group had previously been linked to several bomb attacks at black-owned businesses and the homes of black community leaders throughout the spring and summer of 1963. Although the Cahaba Boys had fewer than 30 active members, among them were Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Cherry.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation
Investigators also gathered numerous witness statements attesting to a group of white men in a turquoise 1957 Chevrolet who had been seen near the church in the early hours of the morning of September 15. These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. (The physical description by witnesses of this person varied, and could have matched either Bobby Cherry or Robert Chambliss.)


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation
Chambliss was questioned by the FBI on September 26. On September 29, he was indicted upon charges of illegally purchasing and transporting dynamite on September 4, 1963. He and two acquaintances, John Hall and Charles Cagle, were each convicted in state court upon a charge of illegally possessing and transporting dynamite on October 8. Each received a $100 fine (the equivalent of $850 as of 2021) and a suspended 180-day jail sentence. At the time, no federal charges were filed against Chambliss or any of his fellow conspirators in relation to the bombing.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation, FBI closure of case
The FBI encountered difficulties in their initial investigation into the bombing. A later report stated: "By 1965, we had [four] serious suspects—namely Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, all Klan members—but witnesses were reluctant to talk and physical evidence was lacking. Also, at that time, information from our surveillance was not admissible in court. As a result, no federal charges were filed in the '60s."


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation, FBI closure of case
On May 13, 1965, local investigators and the FBI formally named Blanton, Cash, Chambliss, and Cherry as the perpetrators of the bombing, with Robert Chambliss the likely ringleader of the four. This information was relayed to the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover; however, no prosecutions of the four suspects ensued. There had been a history of mistrust between local and federal investigators. Later the same year, J. Edgar Hoover formally blocked any impending federal prosecutions against the suspects, and refused to disclose any evidence his agents had obtained with state or federal prosecutors.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Initial investigation, FBI closure of case
In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. The files were sealed by order of J. Edgar Hoover.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Resulting legislation
The Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington in August, the September bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church, and the November assassination of John F. Kennedy—an ardent supporter of the civil rights cause who had proposed a Civil Rights Act of 1963 on national television—increased worldwide awareness of and sympathy toward the civil rights cause in the United States.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Resulting legislation
Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, newly-inaugurated President Lyndon Johnson continued to press for passage of the civil rights bill sought by his predecessor.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Resulting legislation
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In attendance were major leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King Jr. This legislation prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin; to ensure full, equal rights of African Americans before the law.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation
Officially, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing remained unsolved until after William Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama in January 1971. Baxley had been a student at the University of Alabama when he heard about the bombing in 1963, and later recollected: "I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what."


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation
Within one week of being sworn into office, Baxley had researched original police files into the bombing, discovering that the original police documents were "mostly worthless". Baxley formally reopened the case in 1971. He was able to build trust with key witnesses, some of whom had been reluctant to testify in the first investigation. Other witnesses obtained identified  Chambliss as the individual who had placed the bomb beneath the church.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation
Baxley also gathered evidence proving Chambliss had purchased dynamite from a store in Jefferson County less than two weeks before the bomb was planted, upon the pretext the dynamite was to be used to clear land the KKK had purchased near Highway 101. This testimony of witnesses and evidence was used to formally construct a case against Robert Chambliss.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation
After Baxley requested access to the original FBI files on the case, he learned that evidence accumulated by the FBI against the named suspects between 1963 and 1965 had not been revealed to the local prosecutors in Birmingham. Although he met with initial resistance from the FBI, in 1976 Baxley was formally presented with some of the evidence which had been compiled by the FBI, after he publicly threatened to expose the Department of Justice for withholding evidence which could result in the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. Chambliss had been indicted by a grand jury on September 24, 1977, charged with four counts of murder, for each dead child in the 1963 church bombing. But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18, Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murder—that of Carol Denise McNair—and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
Before his trial, Chambliss remained free upon a $200,000 bond raised by family and supporters and posted October 18.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
Chambliss pleaded not guilty to the charges, insisting that although he had purchased a case of dynamite less than two weeks before the bombing, he had given the dynamite to a Klansman and FBI agent provocateur named Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
To discredit Chambliss's claims that Rowe had committed the bombing, prosecuting attorney William Baxley introduced two law enforcement officers to testify as to Chambliss's inconsistent claims of innocence. The first of these witnesses was Tom Cook, a retired Birmingham police officer, who testified on November 15 as to a conversation he had had with Chambliss in 1975. Cook testified that Chambliss had acknowledged his guilt regarding his 1963 arrest for possession of dynamite, but that he (Chambliss) was insistent he had given the dynamite to Rowe before the bombing. Following Cook's testimony, Baxley introduced police sergeant Ernie Cantrell.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
He testified that Chambliss had visited his headquarters in 1976 and that he had attempted to affix the blame for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing upon an altogether different member of the KKK. Cantrell also stated that Chambliss had boasted of his knowledge of how to construct a "drip-method bomb" using a fishing float and a leaking bucket of water. (Upon cross-examination by defense attorney Art Hanes Jr., Cantrell conceded that Chambliss had emphatically denied bombing the church.)


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
One individual who went to the scene to help search for survivors, Charles Vann, later recollected that he had observed a solitary white man whom he recognized as Robert Edward Chambliss (a known member of the Ku Klux Klan) standing alone and motionless at a barricade. According to Vann's later testimony, Chambliss was standing "looking down toward the church, like a firebug watching his fire".


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
One of the key witnesses to testify on behalf of the prosecution was the Reverend Elizabeth Cobbs, Chambliss's niece. Reverend Cobbs stated that her uncle had repeatedly informed her he had been engaged in what he referred to as a "one-man battle" against blacks since the 1940s. Moreover, Cobbs testified on November 16 that, on the day before the bombing, Chambliss had told her that he had in his possession enough dynamite to "flatten half of Birmingham".


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
Cobbs also testified that approximately one week after the bombing, she had observed Chambliss watching a news article relating to the four girls killed in the bombing. According to Cobbs, Chambliss had said: "It [the bomb] wasn't meant to hurt anybody ... it didn't go off when it was supposed to." Another witness to testify was William Jackson, who testified as to his joining the KKK in 1963 and becoming acquainted with Chambliss shortly thereafter. Jackson testified that Chambliss had expressed frustration that the Klan was "dragging its feet" on the issue of racial integration, and said he was eager to form a  splinter group more dedicated to resistance.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
In his closing argument before the jury on November 17, Baxley acknowledged that Chambliss was not the sole perpetrator of the bombing. He expressed regret that the state was unable to request the death penalty in this case, as the death penalty in effect in the state in 1963 had been repealed. The current state death penalty law applied only to crimes committed after its passage. Baxley noted that the day of the closing argument fell upon what would have been Carol Denise McNair's 26th birthday and that she would have likely been a mother by this date. He referred to testimony given by her father, Chris McNair, about the family's loss, and requested that the jury return a verdict of guilty.


16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Formal reopening of investigation, Prosecution of Robert Chambliss
In his rebuttal closing argument, defense attorney Art Hanes Jr. attacked the evidence presented by the prosecution as being purely circumstantial, adding that, despite the existence of similar circumstantial evidence, Chambliss had not been prosecuted in 1963 of the church bombing. Hanes noted conflicting testimony among several of the 12 witnesses called by the defense to testify as to Chambliss's whereabouts on the day of the bombing. A policeman and a neighbor had each testified that Chambliss was at the home of a man named Clarence Dill on that day.