Today in Military History 1 Apr - 30 Jun

31 May

1782 Samuel Smith was rejected for service in the Continental Army, he being a she, Anne Smith -- Learn More
1862 Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks, Va
1866 The Fenians invade Canada from the US on two fronts, across the Niagara and into New Brunswick
1889 The Johnstown Flood: A country club dam bursts, destroying much of the town and killing over 2,000 people
1898 Santiago: US ships and Spanish batteries exchange fire
1934 From USS 'Indianapolis' (CA-35) FDR reviews the US Fleet as it enters NY harbor
1947 Communists seize power in Hungary
1961 Apartheidist South Africa declares itself a republic outside the British Commonwealth (See 1910)

BORN
1819 Walt Whitman, war poet ("Beat Drums, Beat!"), d. 1892 -- Learn More
1837 Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d/w 1864
1837 William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
1910 Union of South Africa

DIED
1962 Adolf Eichmann, war criminal, hanged in Israel at 55
2009 Millvina Dean, at 97, last survivor of the RMS 'Titanic', 1912
2014 Mary, Lady Soames, 90, formerly Mary Spencer-Churchill, sometime anti-aircraft officer, aide-de-camp to her father

 

1 Jun
1774 British close the Port of Boston in punishment for the "Tea Party"
1813 USS 'Chesapeake' is taken by HMS 'Shannon'
1861 Skirmish at Arlington Mills, Va
1861 Skirmish at Fairfax Courthouse, Va
1862 Battle of Seven Pines: Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston is wounded, and relinquishes command, which will go to Robert E. Lee
1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Day 1
1866 Fenians attack Fort Erie, Ontario, from US soil
1871 US Sailors & Marines land in Korea, to protect U.S. citizens
1877 US troops authorized to pursue bandits & Indians into Mexico
1914 SecNav Josephus D G.O. 99 bars alcohol in the fleet -- Learn More
1943 Tanker 'Montana' rams & sinks SS 'John Morgan' off Norfolk, 86 die
1944 Allied forces begin covering much of Britain with smoke screens, as troops crowd assembly areas for D-Day
1947 The US dissolves the 'Office of Price Administration", America's WW II rationing agency
1991 Philippines: Mt Pinatubo, erupts and closes Clark AFB

BORN
1801 Brigham Young, Mormon leader, d. 1877
1806 John B. Floyd, crooked US SecWar, inept Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
1825 John Hunt Morgan, Brig Gen, C.S.A., irregular cavalryman, kia 1864
1831 John Bell Hood, Gen, C.S.A., promoted above his level of competence, d. 1879
1844 Galusha Pennypacker, a Brig Gen, U.S., before he was 21, d. 1916
1876 Arthur MacArthur III, naval officer, son of Gen. Arthur MacArthur, elder brother of Douglas, d. 1923 -- Learn More
1878 John Masefield, poet, sailor ("Sea Fever"), volunteer frontline medic in WW I, d. 1967
1938 Superman debuts in Action Comics

DIED
1668 Mary Barrett Dyer, c. 50, hanged in Boston for Quakerism
1868 James Buchanan, veteran, President (1857-1861), at 77 -- Learn More
1925 Thomas R. Marshall, Veep of the U.S. (1913-1920),at 71 -- Learn More
1927 Lizzie Borden, 66, who may have given 'her mother forty whacks . . ..'
1981 Carl Vinson, father of the "Two Ocean Navy," at 97
2004 William Manchester, marine, historian ("Goodbye Darkness"), at 82

 

2 Jun
1784 Congress disbands the last elements of the Continental Army, save for c. 100 troops guarding supplies at West Point and Ft. Pitt
1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Day 2
1865 The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrenders to Union forces
1866 Battle of Ridgeway (Ontario): the Canadians defeat invading Fenians , who retrat back to the US, and are arrested
1910 C.S. Rolls made the first round trip flight across the English Channel
1914 Glenn Curtiss flies his 'Langley Aerodrome'
1924 Congress grants citizenship to Native Americans [very white of them]
1928 Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek captures Peking
1941 'Long Island' (CVE-1), the first escort carrier, is completed, 88 days after conversion began
1942 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese carrier a/c raid Dutch Harbor
1943 The 99th Pursuit Sqn, flies its 1st combat mission, over Italy
1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey
1969 South China Sea: Australian CV 'Melbourne' rams USS 'Frank E Evans' (DD-754), 74 die
1989 Pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing
1995 USAF Capt Scott O'Grady's F-16C shot down over Bosnia
2015 Pres. Obama awarded belated Medals of Honor to William Shemin (47th Inf.) and Henry Johnson (369th Inf.) for heroism in WW I -- Learn More

BORN
1732 Charles Lee, British, Polish, and American soldier, d. 1782
1761 Henry Shrapnel, inventor of "shrapnel", d. 1842
1814 Philip Kearny, Maj Gen, US, "The bravest man in the Union Army," kia 1862
1831 Benjamin Hardin Helm, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
1899 Ramón Novarro, actor (the real "Ben Hur"), d. 1968
1904 Janos "Johnny" Weissmuller, Hungarian born American Olympian and actor -- "Tarzan", d. 1984 -- Learn More
1930 Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr, USN, astronaut

DIED
1908 General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, VC, GCB, GCMG, inept commander, at 68 -- Learn More
1943 Leslie Howard, 50, sometime subaltern, Northamptonshire Yeomanry, actor (GWTW), when the Nazis down a Dutch airliner over the Bay of Biscay
2001 King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal (1972-2001), 55, and seven other royals, shot by Prince Dipendra, who mortally wounds himself in the process, but becomes king anyway

 

3 Jun

1785 Frigate 'Alliance' is sold; last Continental Navy ship
1861 Battle of Philippi: Union captures W Va (0 k, 21 w, both sides)
1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Day 3
1866 Fenians are defeated in Ontario, and retreat to the US (see May 31)
1893 The "USS 'Illinois'", a brick replica of an 'Indiana' (BB-1) Class battleship, opens at the Chicago World's Fair -- Learn More
1898 Lt.j.g., Richmond Pearson Hobson led a gallant attempt to block Santiago harbor by scuttling the steamer 'Merrimac' -- Learn More
1940 Major German air raid on Paris
1942 Midway Campaign: B-17s raid Japanese transports, scoring no hits, despite Army Air Forces press releases
1942 Negros Is. falls to Japanese: formal Fil-American resistance in the Philippines ends
1949 Wesley A. Brown - retires 1969 as LtCdr
1959 First US Air Force Academy graduation
1965 First American "space walk", Maj. Edward White, Gemini 4

BORN
1784 The "1st American Regiment," formed by Congress out of c. 100 men left over from the Continental Army, the 3rd Infantry "The Old Guard"
1808 Jefferson Finis Davis, USMA graduate, US SecWar, Confederate Pres, d. 1889
1815 Martin Edward Green, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA 1863
1824 Charles Kinnaird Graham, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
1831 Otho French Strahl, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1904 Dr Charles Drew, physician who developed blood plasma preservation, d. 1950
1905 Martin Gottfried Weiss, SS-concentration camp commandant (Neuengamme, Majdanek, Dachus), executed 1946
1906 Josephine Baker, entertainer, resistance fighter, d.1975
1916 ROTC, by act of Congress
1925 Bernard Schwartz - Tony Curtis, sailor, actor ("Operation Petticoat"), d. 2010
1943 The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), formed to help cope with war refugees and displaced persons

DIED
1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini, 86, Iranian religious despot (1979-1789)
2001 Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca -- Anthony Quinn, 86, American actor ("Back to Bataan," "Lawrence of Arabia," etc.)
2003 Gregory Peck, actor ("Captain Horatio Hornblower"), at 84
2011 James Arness, 88, Anzio veteran, actor ( "Gunsmoke")

 

4 Jun

1763 The Chippewa capture Fort Michilimackinac from the English
1783 The Montgolfier brothers launch the first unmanned hot-air balloon
1789 The Constitution of the United States goes into effect
1829 Magazine explosion destroys steam frigate USS 'Demologos', Brooklyn Navy Yard, 30 die.
1854 Anti-Catholic Riot in Brooklyn: Radical Protestant preachers incite violence against Catholics, who retaliate, requiring the intervention of the 14th Militia
1862 Confederates evacuate Ft Pillow, Tenn
1918 US & French halt the Germans at Chateau-Thierry
1918 New York City initiates 13 nights of blackout conditions due to rumors of an attack by aircraft launched from U-boats
1924 Enternal light dedicated at Madison Square to commemorate New Yorkers killed in WW I
1927 Pres Coolidge reviews the US Fleet in the Chesapeake
1934 USS 'Ranger' (CV-4) commissioned, first US purpose-built carrier
1940 "Miracle of Dunkirk" ends: over 300,000 troops evacuated, prompting Winston Churchill's "We shall fight them on the beaches . . . " speech --https://youtu.be/MkTw3_PmKtc
1942 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese aircraft bomb Dutch Harbor
1942 Battle of Midway: Japanese lose four CVs, USS 'Yorktown' badly damaged
1944 Allied forces liberate Rome
1944 The USS 'Guadalcanal' (CVE-60) ASW Group takes 'U-505'; 1st USN capture of a foreign warship taken at sea since 1815
1944 Paddlewheel training carrier 'Wolverine' sets a record of 633 aircraft landings in one day, mostly "touch and goes"
1945 Okinawa: 6th Marine Division secures the Orokoe Peninsula
1963 British Minister of War John Profumo resigns over an affair with Christine Keeler
1976 Puerto Rican nationalists detonate a bomb in the Cook County Courthouse, Chicago, sparking rioting in some areas
1982 Israel attacks targets in south Lebanon
1989 Chinese People's Liberation Army troops fire on and drive over democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square, Beijing; hundreds, possibly thousands die

BORN
1738 King George III of Great Britain & Hanover (1760-1820)
1803 Gabriel James Rains, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1881
1815 Paul Jones Semmes, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
1816 Philippe Regis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1828 Alexander William Campbell, Brig Gen, C.S.A.
1833 Sir Garnet Wolseley, "the very model of a modern major general," d. 1913 -- Learn More
1910 Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft, d. 1999
1922 Samuel L. Gravely, Jr American admiral, d. 2002

DIED
1792 John Burgoyne, who was a better playwright than soldier, 70
1813 James "Don't give up the ship!" Lawrence, kia, USS 'Chesapeake', at 31
1942 34 of the 37 men of Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8), including those based on Midway
1942 RADM Tamon Yamaguchi, IJN, CO 2nd Carrier Division, going down with the 'Hiryu' at 49

 

5 Jun

1794 Congress bars citizens from serving in foreign armed forces
1863 Battle of Franklin's Crossing/Deep Run, VA
1864 Battle of Piedmont/Augusta City, VA
1884 Sherman says, "If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve."
1898 "John Jacob Astor’s Battery of Mountain Artillery” mustered into the U.S. Army for the war with Spain -- Learn More
1917 US began draft registration: 10 million eventually sign up -- Learn More
1942 Explosion at the Elwood Ordnance Plant, Illinois, 54 die
1942 Midway Campaign: B-17s claim great success against Japanese ships, score no hits
1942 Midway Campaign: Yamamoto orders the Combined Fleet to retire.
1943 Air Battle, Russell Is: Japanese lose 24, US 7 planes
1943 Battle of the Pribilof Is: B-17s mistake islands for a Japanese fleet, claim great success, and do massacre a lot of seals
1944 First B-29 raid over Tokyo; one lost to engine failure
1945 Typhoon: 30 major US warships and dozens of support vessels damaged.
1947 SecState George C Marshall outlines the "Marshall Plan"
1967 Six Day War begins between Israel & its Arab neighbors

BORN
1827 Beverly Holcombe Robertson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910
1831 Marcus Joseph Wright, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1922
1920 Cornelius Ryan, war correspondent, historian ("The Longest Day")

DIED
1900 Stephen Crane, war correspondent, author ("The Red Badge of Courage"), at 28
2004 Ronald Reagan, 93, cavalry, actor, President (1981-1989)

 

6 Jun
1639 Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill
1775 NY patriots prevent the Royal Governor from removing munitions from the city
1813 Battle of Stony Creek, Ont: U.S. invasion of Canada halted
1862 River Battle off Memphis: Yank gunboats defeat Rebs, with only 1 man m/w
1862 Skirmish at Harrisonburg, VA
1864 Battle of Lake Chicot/Dutch Bayou, AR
1898 Marines land at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
1898 Action at Santiago, Cuba: US ships exchange fire with Spanish batteries
1918 The US Marines secure Belleau Wood -- Learn More
1942 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese troops land on Kiska
1942 Midway Campaign: Japanese sub 'I-168' torpedoes damaged 'Yorktown' (CV-5), sinks 'Hammann' (DD-412), as American carrier a/c attack the retiring Japanese, sinking or damaging 2 CAs
1942 Use of a nylon parachute first demonstrate, by Adeline Gray, at Hartford
1943 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese decide to evacuate Kiska
1944 D-Day -- Learn More
1944 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was unable to attend his son John's graduation from West Point, having pressing business elsewhere --
1944 Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., earns a Medal of Honor on Utah Beach -- Learn More
1944 President Roosevelt leads the nation in prayer:
1944 Waffen-SS murders Canadian prisoners at Normandy
1945 Okinawa: Marines capture Naha airfield
1949 George Orwell's "1984" published
1966 James Meredith (USAF, 1951-60), civil rights worker, student at Ole Miss, is wounded by sniper

BORN
1755 Nathan Hale, hanged by the British, 1776
1756 John Trumbull, soldier, artist ("The Signing of the Declaration of Independence"), d. 1843
1778 George "Beau" Brummel, soldier, full time dandy, d. 1840
1829 John Baillie McIntosh, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1840 William Francis Bartlett, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1876
1916 Robert S McNamara, sometime SecDef, engineer of a disastrous military policy, d. 2009

DIED
1762 Admiral George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, at 64
1862 Turner Ashby, Brig Gen, CSA, cavalryman, kia near Harrisonburg, VA, at 33
1865 William Quantrill, 27, Rebel raider, shot in the back escaping a Union patrol
1968 Robert F Kennedy, 42, sailor, politician, assassinated
1968 Sir Miles Dempsey, Commander, Canadian First Army, on D-Day + 24 years, at 69

 

7 Jun

1498 Columbus begins his third voyage
1775 The "United Colonies" change their name to the "United States"
1776 British defeat the Americans at Trois Rivers, Canada
1776 Richard Lee moves the adoption of a Declaration of Independence in Congress
1862 Skirmish at Union Church, VA
1863 Battle of Milliken's Bend: Black recruits beat off Rebel veterans
1866 Battle of Pigeon Hill, Que: Canadians defeat Fenians, who retreat to the US (see May 31)
1898 Battle of Camp McCalla: Marines and Spanish troops skirmish at Guantanamo Bay -- Learn More
1912 US Army Air Service tests an airplane-mounted machine gun
1917 The first American troops to reach Europe in W.W. I landed at Liverpool
1942 Aleutians Campaign: Japanese troops land on Attu.
1942 Battle of Midway: The USS 'Yorktown' (CV-5) goes down, after a desperate fight to save the ship -- Learn More
1943 Guadalcanal: Japanese air raid, lose 23 a/c vs 9 Allied.
1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph Walker takes X-15 to 31,580 m
2013 Maniac in Santa Monica kills six by arson and gunfire, injures many others, before being slain

BORN
1812 Theophilus Toulmin Garrard, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902
1894 Alexander P. de Seversky, aviator, author, aeronautical engineer, d. 1974

DIED
1862 James J. Andrews, c. 32, civilian US Army scout, who hijacked the locomotive "The General," hanged at Atlanta by the Confederates
1862 William Mumford, hanged at New Orleans by Ben Butler for desecrating the American flag
1942 B-17s from Midway reported sinking a Japanese cruiser -- Learn More

 

8 Jun
1830 USS 'Vincennes' becomes the first U.S. warship to circle the globe
1853 Commo Matthew C Perry arrives in Japan
1861 Lincoln approves formation of the US Sanitary Commission
1862 Valley Campaign: Battle of Cross Keys, Virginia
1904 Marines land at Tangiers to protect U.S. citizens.
1915 SecState William Jennings Bryan resigns to protest "excessive" US response to the 'Lusitania' sinking
1924 Mexican President Alvaro Obregon reviewed a joint parade of the U.S. 25th Infantry and the Mexican 64th Cavalry, at Nogales, Mexico -- Learn More
1942 MacArthur urges an offensive in the Solomons
1959 The X-15 makes its first unpowered flight, from a B-52 at 11,500 m
1965 US troops ordered to fight offensively in Vietnam
1967 Israeli air and naval forces attack USS 'Liberty' (AGTR-5), 34 Americans die
1986 Kurt Waldheim, former Nazi, and former UN SecGen (1972-1982), elected Pres of Austria (1986-1992)
1995 Marines rescue downed USAF Capt Scott O'Grady in Bosnia

BORN
1806 Gideon Pillow, Maj Gen, USV, in Mexico, Brig Gen, CSA, inept in either service, d. 1878 -- Learn More
1813 David Dixon Porter, America's second Admiral, d. 1891
1821 John Dunlap Stevenson, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897
1824 William Montgomery Gardner, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1880 Office of Judge Advocate General of the Navy
1937 Bruce McCandless II, USN, astronaut (STS 41B, STS-31)

DIED
1809 Thomas Paine, Patriot, 68
1845 Andrew Jackson, soldier and President (1828-37), at 78 -- Learn More
1953 Col. René Paul Fonck, 59, Allied WW I "Ace of Aces" (74 confirmed kills, 30+ possibles)

 

9 Jun
1775 Continental Congress enacts the first American "Articles of War"
1778 British evacuate Philadelphia
1862 Valley Campaign: Battle of Port Republic
1863 Battle of Brandy Station; largest cavalry fight of the Civil War
1864 Skirmish at Roswell, Ga: Caught by a Confederate patrol while bathing in the Chattahoochie River, the men of the US 1st Tenn Cav mount a charge while buck naked
1893 Ford's Theatre, housing War Department offices, collapses, 22 die, 65 injured
1898 Battle of Cuzco Well, Guantanamo: Marines defeat Spanish
1939 King George VI lays a wreath at the tomb of George Washington, in Mt. Vernon
1944 Normandy: U.S. VII & V Corps link up to form a continuous beachhead
1963 JFK declares Winston Churchill an US honorary citizen

BORN
1833 John Rogers Cooke, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
1843 Gräfin Bertha Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, later Baroness Bertha von Suttner, first woman Peace Nobelist, 1905, d. 21 June 1914, just before the disaster
1851 Charles J. Bonaparte, Imperial grand-nephew, US SecNav, d. 1921

DIED
1863 Confederate Col. William Orton Williams and his cousin Lt. Walter G. Peter, kinsmen of Mary Custis Lee, hanged after being arrested the previous day in U.S Army uniforms behind Union lines near Franklin, Tennessee, their court martial sentences having been confirmed by Brigadier General James A. Garfield.
1870 Charles Dickens, 58, author ('David Copperfield', 'A Christmas Carol', etc.)
1921 Jennie Jerome Churchill, mother to Winston Churchill, at 67
1973 Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski-Manstein, 83, brilliant German soldier and field marshal, Nazi until they started losing

 

10 Jun
1772 Rhode I. Patriots burn HM Revenue Cutter 'Gaspe'
1776 Congress appoints a committee to write a Declaration of Independence
1801 Tripoli declares war on the US, for refusing to pay protection, initiating the First Barbary War (1801-1805)
1805 The Pasha of Tripoli agrees to release American prisoners and cease attacks on U.S. shipping in return for $60,000 and an end to American efforts to unseat him, concluding the First Barbary War (1801-1805)
1861 Big Bethel, the "first battle" of the Civil War
1863 Brice's Crossroads: Bedford Forrest's most notable victory
1898 Inconclusive US-Spanish naval skirmish off Havana
1920 League of Nations convenes for the first time
1943 USS 'Trigger' (SS-237) torpedoes the Japanese CV 'Hiyo' off Japan.
1945 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower
1991 Ticker tape parade up Broadway to honor Gulf War veterans

BORN
1735 John Morgan, physician-in-chief of Continental Army, co-founder of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, d. 1789
1840 Thomas Fentress Toon, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1902
1908 Aeronautical Society of New York, the world's first flying club
1929 James McDivitt, USAF, astronaut (Gemini 4, Apollo 9)

DIEDe
1860 Thomas Sidney Jessup, QM General of the US Army (1818-1860), at 71
1861 Lt. J. T. Greble, 2nd Art, the first US regular officer killed in the Civil War, Big Bethel

2009 Stephen T. Johns, security guard at the National Holocaust Museum, shot by an anti-Semitic white supremacist

 

11 Jun
1861 Battle of Romney, WVa: Union victory
1861 Maj. R. B. Hayes, Pvt. Wm.McKinely, and the 23rd Ohio mustered into federal service -- Learn More and Learn More
1864 Battle of Trevillian Station/Central Railroad, VA
1898 US naval raid on Fisher's Point, Cuba
1902 USMA 4th Class Cadet Calvin A. Titus is awarded the Medal of Honor by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, for heroism rurning the China Relief Expedition in 1900, while a corproal in the 14th Infantry
1906 Police foil an anarchist terrorist bombing of the NYC subway
1927 Charles A. Lindbergh becomes the first man awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, at City Hall, NY, after his ticker tape parade up Broadway
1934 Disarmament conference in Geneva fails
1939 FDR serves hot dogs & beer to George and Elizabeth Windsor in the White House garden
1943 Allies land on Pantelleria, Italy
1943 Kiska: Japanese submarine 'I-9' sunk by USS 'Frazier' (DD-607)
1944 US carrier raids on the Marianas: 200 Japanese a/c destroyed
1970 US leaves Wheelus AFB Libya in wake of Qadaffi coup
1977 Dutch Marines rescue hostages on a train held by Moluccan terrorists

BORN
1807 James Findlay Schenck, naval officer, U.S., d. 1882
1808 Charles Henry Poor, naval officer, U.S., d. 1882
1816 Robert Huston Milroy, inept Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1822 Samuel Davis Sturgis, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
1823 James Lawson Kemper, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1910 Jacques Cousteau, naval officer, explorer, Vichyite, d. 1997
1919 Richard Todd, Pegasus Bridge veteran, actor ('John Howard', at Pegasus Bridge, in "The Longest Day," in which he himself was portrayed by another actor), d. 2012
1930 Charles B Rangel, Bronze Star, US Army, Korea, Member of Congress

DIED
1936 Robert E. Howard, author ("Conan"), suicide at 30
1960 Commo Dudley W. Knox, 82, naval officer, historian, & theoretician
1963 Quang Duc, c. 66, Buddhist monk, self-immolation in Saigon
1979 Marion Mitchell Morrison - John Wayne, 72, dubiously IV-F actor ("Sands of Iwo Jima", "Fighting SeaBees")
2001 Timothy McVeigh, 33, executed for the Murrah Federal Building bombing

 

12 Jun

1665 Nieuw Amsterdam is incorporated under English law as "New York"
1701 Act of Settlement: Parliament limits the succession of the English crown to Protestant members of the House of Hanover
1775 USS 'Unity' takes British 'Margaretta': 1st naval victory of the Revolutionary War
1839 Abner Doubleday invents baseball, in bogus tradition
1897 Carl Elsener patents the "Swiss Army Knife"
1918 First air raid by an American aviation unit, France
1921 Pres Warren Harding urges all young men to voluntarily take military training
1924 Turret explosion in USS 'Mississippi' (BB 41), 48 die
1942 Anne Frank begins her diary, on her 13th birthday
1944 US troops liberate Carentan and Chaumont, Normandy
1945 Okinawa: 7th Inf Div breaks the SE end of Jap front, as the 7th Marines attack Kunishi Ridge
1962 USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 56,270 m
1982 750,000 anti-nuclear demonstrators rally in Central Park
1987 Ronald Reagan says, "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall."

BORN
1795 John Marston Jr, naval officer, U.S., d. 1885
1798 Samuel Cooper, Gen, C.S.A., virtually unknown seniormost Confederate officer, d. 1876
1806 John Augustus Roebling, who would design the Brooklyn Bridge, d. 1869
1821 Henry Moses Judah, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1866
1825 John Cook, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910
1877 Thomas C Hart, Admiral, who knew what "war warning" meant, d. 1970
1924 George Herbert Walker Bush, naval aviator, President (1989-1993)
1929 Anne Frank, d. 1945

DIED
1878 Brig. Gen. Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville, 82, French-born American soldier, explorer (Lake Bonneville, Oregon, etc.)
2002 Bill Blass, ETO deception specialist, fashion designer, at 79

 

13 Jun
1777 Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de La Fayette (19) and other French volunteers for the American Revolution land at Charleston
1813 Thomas Jefferson proposed instituting universal military training -- Learn More
1863 Gettysburg Campaign: Battle of Winchester, Va
1871 US marines and bluejackets land on Formosa to punish the Botansha tribe for depredations against shipwreck sailors.
1881 USS 'Jeannette' crushed in Arctic ice
1898 Action at Havana: US ships and Spanish batteries exchange fire
1912 First successful parachute jump from a plane, Capt Albert Berry, Jefferson, Ms
1927 Ticker tape parade up Broadway for Charles Lindbergh.
1951 UN forces reach Pyongyang, Korea

BORN
1786 Winfield "Old Fuss and Feathers" Scott, Bvt. Lt. Gen., US, d. 1866 -- greatest American soldier of the nineteenth century
1809 Philip St George Cooke, Brig. Gen., U.S., d. 1895
1821 Gustavus Vasa Fox, greatest Asst SecNavy, d. 1883
1823 Gustave Paul Cluseret, Brig. Gen., U.S., d. 1900
1825 Benjamin Jefferson Hill, Brig. Gen., C.S.A., d. 1880
1892 Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, sometime captain, Liverpool Scottish (MC), Anglo-American actor (Sherlock Holmes, etc.), d. 1967

DIED
1993 Donald "Deke" K Slayton, astronaut (Apollo 13 & Apollo-Soyuz missions), at 69

 

14 Jun Today is Flag Day!

1777 Congress replaces the "Grand Union Flag" with the "Stars & Stripes"
1777 John Paul Jones takes command of the USS 'Ranger'
1789 Cpt Bligh & the HMS 'Bounty' loyalists reach Timor after an epic voyage in a small boat
1846 Pro-American California "Bear Flag" Republic proclaimed in Sonoma
1847 Commo Matthew C Perry makes landing at Tabasco, Mexico
1857 The New York City Police Riots began -- Learn More
1861 Flag Day first observed, Hartford, Ct.
1863 Second Battle of Winchester, Virginia
1864 Battle of Pine Mt
1864 Congress orders Black soldiers be paid the same as whites
1898 Skirmish at Santiago: US ships and Spanish batteries exchange fire
1917 Gen John J. Pershing and his staff reach Paris
1940 FDR signs the Naval Expansion Act, increasing the fleet by 11%
1942 The bazooka goes into production at Bridgeport, Ct
1943 SCOTUS rules laws compelling students to salute the flag are unconstitutional
1944 First B-29 raid on Japan; 60 bombers hit steel works on Honshu
1947 A fire at the Ft. Bliss Officers' Club destroys the original of "Custer's Last Stand" by Cassilly Adams, copies of which were once commonplace in American bars
1949 State of Vietnam is formed within the 'French Union' under the Emperor Bao Dai
1952 Keel laid for the USS 'Nautilus' (SSN-571), the first nuclear powered submarine
1982 Falkland Is: Argentines surrender to Britain, ending 74-day war -- Learn More
1985 Lebanese Shiite gunmen hijack TWA 847 after takeoff from Athens
1989 Former Pres Reagan receives an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II

BORN
1775 The Continental Army, formed from the New England forces before Boston
1805 Robert Anderson, Maj Gen, U.S., Hero of Ft. Sumter, d. 1871
1811 Harriet Beecher Stowe, author ("Uncle Tom's Cabin"), d. 1896
1836 Thomas Wilberforce Egan, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1887
1904 Margaret White, intrepid photographer, d. 1971

DIED
1801 Benedict Arnold V, American hero & traitor, in London at 60 -- Learn More
1864 C.S. Lt Gen Leonidas Polk, 58, kia, Pine Mt, too late to help the Confederate war effort
1937 Mocker, 20, last surviving decorated American pigeon from the AEF, with the DSC and the Croix de guerre, at Ft. Monmouth

 

15 Jun

1775 Moved by John Admas, Congress appoints George Washington "General and Commander-in-Chief of all the forces raised or to be raised" in the defense of American liberties -- Learn More
1775 The Rhode Island Committee of Safety charters two sloops to be outfitted as warships -- Learn More
1776 Americans burn and abandon Montreal
1779 Maj Gen "Mad" Anthony Wayne storms Stony Point, NY -- Learn More
1814 US trans-lacustrine raid on Point Dover and Long Point, Ontario
1861 Joe Johnston evacuates Harpers Ferry, which is occupied by Union forces later that afternoon
1862 JEB Stuart's Confederate cavalry completes his first "ride around the army of the Potomac"
1864 Battle of Petersburg: Grant's first assault
1864 Robert E Lee's home, Arlington, becomes a military cemetery
1877 Henry O Flipper graduate from West Point
1898 US marines & sailors land at Caimanera, Cuba
1904 Steamer 'General Slocum' burns in the East River, 1,031 die
1907 Second Hague Peace Conference; 44 nations meet
1942 US B-24s & RAF Beaufighters attack an Italian battle squadron in the Ionian Sea, lightly damaging the battleship 'Littorio'
1944 US marines land on Saipan
1955 First nationwide civil defense drill - "Duck and Cover!"
1991 Mt Pinatubo, the Philippines erupts, closes Clark Air Force Base

BORN
1927 Jay Luvaas, historian ("The Military Legacy of the Civil War: The European Inheritance"), d. 2009

DIED
1849 James K. Polk, former president (1845-1849), at 53 -- Learn More
1985 Robert D. Stethem, USN, 24, murdered by Hezbollah hijackers of Flight 847

 

16 Jun

1832 Blackhawk War: Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Ill
1858 Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand"
1861 Battle of Secessionville/James Island, SC
1864 Siege of Petersburg & Richmond begins
1898 Skirmish at Havana: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1898 Skrimish at Santiago: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1943 Japanese lose 100 a/c over Guadalcanal, but only damage three ships
1943 The U.S. Army disbands the 101st Infantry Battalion (Separate), composed of Austrian personnel -- Learn More
1953 Soviet tanks crush workers' protest in Berlin
1954 Ngo Dinh Diem elected president of Vietnam

BORN
1742 William Hooper, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1790
1829 Goyaé - Geronimo, Apache war leader, d. 1909 -- Learn More
1836 Wesley Merritt, Maj. Gen, US, Civil War & Spanish War, d. 1910
1837 Eli Long, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1914 John Hershey, war correspondent ("Hiroshima", "A Bell for Adano"), d. 1993

DIED
1939 Eugene Weidmann, 31, in the last public guillotining, Versailles
1977 Werner von Braun, Nazi rocket scientist (V1/V2), at 65
2010 Amadeo Guillot, 101, Italian Army officer, who led the only mounted cavalry charge in Africa during World War II, in Ethiopia in 1941

 

17 Jun

1775 Ezekiel Polk was elected a captain of North Carolina militia -- Learn More (scroll down)
1775 Battle of Bunker Hill
1861 Battle of Boonville, Miss
1861 Lincoln witnesses Dr. Thaddeus Lowe's balloon flight over the White House
1861 Skirmish at Vienna, Va
1863 Cavalry action at Aldie, Virginia
1863 Naval Skirmish in Warsaw Sound, Ga: USS 'Weehawken' clashes with CSS 'Atlanta'
1864 Washington Arsenal: blast kills 21 women munitions workers
1864 Battle of Lynchburg Va
1870 USS 'Mohican' destroys the Mexican pirate ship 'Forward'
1876 Battle of the Rosebud: Crazy Horse fights Crook to a draw
1916 Pershing leads a Punitive Expedition into Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Pancho Villa
1944 U.S. Navy air strikes against Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands
1945 Final Japanese defensive line on Okinawa breached
1965 Vietnam: First B-52 raid, 50 km north of Saigon
1972 Watergate: Republican operatives break into Democratic Party offices at the Watergate Hotel
1998 USS 'Missouri' (BB-63) is dedicated as a war memorial, Pearl Harbor.

BORN
1817 Thomas Maley Harris, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1906
1823 John Henry Hobart Ward, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1830 Richard Montgomery Gano, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1913
1898 The U.S. Navy Hospital Corps
1921 William R. Anderson, who took the 'Nautilus' (SSN-571) to 90-North, d. 2007

DIED.
1815 Rais Hammida, decapitated by a 32-pounder shot from the USS 'Torch' while commanding the Algerian frigate 'Mashouda'
1866 Lewis Cass, 83, SecWar, SecState, Senator, Brig. Gen., -- Learn More
1989 S. David Griggs, 49, astronaut, crash of a WW II warbird

 

18 May

1812 US declares war against Britain
1861 Combat at Camp Cole, Mo
1910 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for Theodore Roosevelt, on his return from Africa.
1916 President Wilson calls up the NG to secure the Mexican Border against hostile incursions.
1918 New York's 308th Infantry relieved New York's "Fighting 69th" at the front -- Learn More
1940 Winston Churchill says "this was their finest hour" --
1942 Churchill arrives in Washington to confer with FDR
1944 US First Army isolates Cherbourg
1944 Japanese take Changsha, on the 3rd try.
1945 William "Lord Haw-Haw" Joyce is charged with treason

BORN

1839 William Henry Seward Jr, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1920
1877 James Montgomery Flagg, illustrator ("Uncle Sam wants you!"), d. 1960
1878 The US Life Saving Service, now part of the Coast Guard
1879 Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum, Jr., pioneer naval aviator, d. 1956 -- Learn More

DIED
1862 Sgt. Maj. Marion A. Ross (30), Pvt. Samuel Robertson (19), Sgt. John Morehead Scott (24), Pvt. Samuel Slavens (31), Pvt. George Davenport Wilson (32), Pvt. Charles Perry Shadrack (Phillip Gephart Shadrach) (22), and William Hunter Campbell (23), civilian, hanged at Atlanta by the Confederacy for their part in the hijacking of the locomotive "The General
1945 Lt Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr, Commander, Tenth Army, KIA, Okinawa, 58
1973 Fredrick Fraske, last veteran of the frontier army, at 101

 

19 Jun

1778 Washington's troops leave Valley Forge
1864 CSS 'Alabama' is sunk by USS 'Kearsarge' off Cherbourg
1865 Slaves in Texas are freed by Union forces
1868 Maj Gen Canby removes the anti-Reconstruction mayor of Columbia, SC
1878 Congress passes the Posse Comitatus Act, to prevent the Army from enforcing civil rights laws
1936 "Hitler's Heavyweight" Max Schmeling KOs Joe Louis in the 12th round
1942 U.S. submarine 'S-27' lost by grounding in the Aleutians.
1944 "Marianas Turkey Shoot" - Battle of the Philippine Sea: by 21st Japanese lose 3 CVs, 426 a/c, US c. 70 a/c.
1947 An F-80 becomes the first plane to exceed 600 mph
1948 USSR blocks access to West-Berlin: Berlin Blockade begins
1967 Muhammad Ali is convicted of refusing induction into the Army

BORN
1811 Henry Prince, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892

DIED
1786 Nathanael Greene, 43, Revolutionary War general who never won a battle, but was second only to Washington in helping win the war
1902 John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, Baron Acton, 68, English historian and politician, who said "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
1995 Group Captain Peter Townsend, 80, RAF ace, friend to Princess Margaret of the UK