Today in Military History 1 Oct - 31 Dec

21 Nov

1942 ALCAN (Alaska-Canada) Highway is officially opened
1943 Operation Galvanic: Marines in heavy fighting on Tarawa, National Guardsmen advance on Makin, while Marines land on Abemama, 75 mi SE of Tarawa.
1970 Operation Ivory Coast: A joint Army-Air Force commando raid on the Son Tây prisoner-of-war camp finds all Americans have been moved elsewere
1985 US Navy intelligence specialist Jonathan Pollard is arrested on charges of spying for Israel; convicted, he is released in 2015

BORN

1817 Richard B Garnett, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia, July 3, 1863
1828 William McComb, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1918
1831 John Franklin Miller, Brig Gen, U.S., d.1886
1834 Joseph Jackson Bartlett, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1893
1834 Hetty Green, America's most miserable millionaire miser, d. 1916.


DIED

1916 Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, etc. (1848-1916), 86
1917 Lt. Rudolph von Eschwege, German ace with 20 confirmed kills, kia at 22 -- Learn More
1942 Leopold Graf Berchtold von und zu Ungarschitz, 79, inept Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister who helped start the Great War
1945 Alexander Patch, who commanded the Seventh Army in France, at 55
2005 Alfred Anderson, 109, veteran of the Black Watch, the last survivor of the Christmas Truce of 1914, the last Scottish veteran of the Great War, and the oldest man in Scotland -- Learn More

 

22 NOV

1812 Battle of Wild Cat Creek: US troops and militiamen defeated by the Kickapoo, Winnebago, & Shawnee in Indiana
1906 Enlisted men of USS 'Louisiana' (BB-19) host "Comrade and Shipmate" Theodore Roosevelt
1940 First meeting between Adolf Hitler and Romanian Dictator Ion Antonescu
1943 The Cairo Conference: FDR, Churchill, & Chiang meet to discuss ways to defeat Japan -- Learn More
1943 Operation Galvanic: on Makin, 27th Div advances slowly, while on Tarawa, the USMC defeat a Japanese "Banzai" charge
1990 Pres. George H. W. Bush visits US troops in Saudi Arabia

BORN

1805 Benjamin Huger, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877
1818 Samuel Gibbs French, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910
1823 Nathan Kimball, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1898
1832 George Henry Chapman, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1835 Frank Crawford Armstrong, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1909
1890 Charles de Gaulle, leader of "Free France", Founder of the Fifth Republic, President of France (1959-1969), d 1970
1930 Owen K Garriott, astronaut (Skylab 3, STS-9)
1932 Robert Vaughn, sometime soldier and actor ("The Man From Uncle", etc.)
1942 Guion S Bluford, Jr., USAF, astronaut

DIED

1718 Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, c. 38, pirate lord, having been wounded 25 times during a battle with the Royal Navy
1963 John F. Kennedy, sailor, President (1961-1963), assassinated at 46
2011 Lana Peters, formerly Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Stalin, who defected to the US in 1967, at 85

 

23 NOV

1783 Benjamin Franklin has a congenial conversation with Giacomo Casanova in Paris
1863 Battles of Chattanooga & Orchard Knob: Forces under U.S. Grant breakthrough of the Confederate investment of the city
1939 Nazis compel Polish Jews to wear a yellow star
1942 SS 'Ben Lomond' is torpedoed in the S Atlantic; Poon Lim (1917-1991) begins 133 days adrift
1943 Operation Galvanic: US forces secure Tarawa & Makin
1944 Gen Patch's Seventh Army liberates Strassbourg
1945 Meat & butter rationing ends in US
1983 USSR leaves disarmament talks
1985 Egyptian commandos storm hijacked EgyptAir jet in Malta, 58 die

BORN

1740 Edward Rutledge, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1800
1804 Franklin Pierce, militiaman, volunteer, President (1853-1857), d. 1869 - Learn More
1809 Horatio Phillips Van Cleve, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891
1819 Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1901
1859 Henry "Billy the Kid" McCarty (aka Henry Antrim, William Boney), in New York, k. 1881
1878 Ernest J. King, later COMINCH, CNO, Fleet Admiral, d. 1956 -- Learn More
1942 The Coast Guard Women's Auxiliary (SPARS)

DIED

1902 Walter Reed, 51, US Army bacteriologist, who confirmed the cause of Yellow Fever
1973 Sessue Hayakawa, 84, Japanese-born actor (Col. Saito in "Bridge Over the RIver Kwai", etc), French Resistance worker
1974 Cornelius Ryan, war correspondent, historian ("A Bridge too Far"), at 54
1976 Andre Malraux, resistance fighter, author ("The Conquerors"), at 75

 

24 NOV

1859 Publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"


1874 Joseph F Glidden receives a patent for barbed wire
1914 Benito Mussolini leaves Italy's Socialist Party
1917 Anarchists bombed a police station in Milwaukee; 9 officers died, the greatest loss of life by leo in a terrorist attack prior to Sep. 11,
1922 Italian parliament gives Mussolini dictatorial powers "for one year"
1936 Polliwog-in-Chief FDR became a Shellback, USS 'Indianapolis' (CA-35), at 00º 00' N, 37º 00' W
1941 CNO warns fleet "surprise aggressive movement" by Japan imminent
1944 First B-29 raid from Saipan; 111 bombers hit Tokyo.
1991 US 75th manned space mission, Atlantis 10

BORN

1784 Zachary Taylor, Maj Gen, U.S., and President (1849-1850) -- Learn More
1829 William Passmore Carlin, Brig Gen, U.S., diarist, d. 1903
1835 The Texas Rangers, formed by the Provisional Govt of Tx to enforce laws and collect stray cattle to help feed the Provisional Army
1871 National Rifle Association, in New York City
1921 John V. Lindsay, naval officer, Mayor of NY (1965-1973), d. 2000

DIED

1801 Franz Moritz von Lacy, 75, Austrian field marshal
1807 Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant, 64, Mohawk political and military leader, noted orator
1963 Lee Harvey Oswald, 24, former marine, assassin of JFK, shot by Jack Ruby

 

25 NOV

2348 BC The "Great Flood" of Noah begins according to the estimate of the Episcopal Bishop John Ussher
571 BC First triumph of the Roman King Servius Tullius, for the defeat of the Etruscans


1775 Congress begins issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal
1864 The Confederate attempt to burn New York, causing minor damage & interrupting a performance of 'Julius Caesar' starring the Booth brothers, the only occasion on which they appeared on the stage together
1867 Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
1876 Battle of Crazy Woman Fork/Dull Knife: the Army disperses a Sioux-Cheyenne encampment
1943 Battle of Cape St. George: 5 US destroyers sink 3 Japanese destroyers
1961 USS 'Enterprise' (CVN 65), the first nuclear-powered carrier, is commissioned, to commence 51 years of service;


BORN

1790 The Veteran Corps of Artillery of the State of New York was formed at the City Arms Tavern, Broadway & Thames St -- Learn More
1823 Joseph Alexander Cooper, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910
1825 Edward Augustus Wild, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891
1920 Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, Mexican-American actor (Rodriguez in "Battle Ground," Khan in "Star Trek"), d. 2009

DIED

1885 King Alfonso XII of Spain (1874-85), at 27
1949 Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, master dancer, veteran of the 369th Infantry, at 71 -- Learn More
1957 Adm William Veazie Pratt (CNO, 1930-1933), 88 -- Learn More
2015 Adm. John Jeremy Black, 83, commanded carrier 'Invincible' in the Falklands, and rose to Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command, with his flag on 'Victory'

 

26 Nov

1835 The Grass Fight: Texians defeat Mexicans outside San Antonio
1862 Lincoln meets ". . . the little lady who started this big war," Harriet Beecher Stowe
1863 Union Gen. George Meade initiates the abortive Mine Run Campaign, VA (ends Dec 2)
1940 Nazis force 500,000 Warsaw Jews to live in walled ghetto
1941 Japanese First Air Fleet sorties from Tankan Bay, bound for Pearl Harbor
1942 "Casablanca" premiers at the Hollywood Theatre, NYC
1990 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev tells Iraq to get out of Kuwait

BORN

1810 William George Armstrong, 90, later 1st Baron Armstrong, industrialist, founder of Armstrong Whitworth munitions works
1816 William Henry Talbot Walker, Maj Gen, C.S.A., kia 1864
1827 Alfred Moore Scales, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892
1832 Mary Edwards Walker, feminist and physician, Civil War Army contract surgeon, awarded a Medal of Honor, d. 1919
1853 William "Bat" Masterson, gunfighter, sports writer, d. 1921
1899 Maurice Rose, later Maj Gen, kia 1945, the highest ranking American Jewish casualty in WW II

DIED

1926 John M Browning, 71, gunsmith
1970 Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the first black American general, at 93
2013 William Stevenson, 89, sometime RAF pilot, historian ("A Man Called Intrepid," "30 Minutes at Entebbe")
2016 Fidel Castro Ruiz, 90, sometime Hollywood bit player, lousy baseballer, Dictator of Cuba (1957-2008)

 

Nov 27

1789 President George Washington proclaims the last Thursday in November a day of prayer and thanksgiving
1868 Battle of the Washita: Custer defeats the Cheyenne
1895 Alfred Nobel establishes his prizes
1926 Army & Navy play to a 21 tie before 110,000 fans
1941 Joint Army-Navy signal to senior commanders in the Pacific ended with, "This dispatch is to be considered a war warning," to which the CNO added to CINCUS Kimmel "an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days" -- Learn More
1943 Teheran Conference: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin talk strategy -- StrategyPage.com - Combat Information Center analysis, facts and figures about military conflicts and leaders
1944 B-29s based in the Marianas raid Tokyo , while others based in India bomb Bangkok.
1951 First successful surface-to-air missile test, White Sands
1958 USSR abrogates Allied war-time agreements on control of Germany
1965 c. 20,000 anti-war demonstrators gather in Washington

BORN
1808 Hugh Weedon Mercer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1877
1901 The Army War College
1907 L. Sprague de Camp, naval officer, wargamer, author, d. 2000 -- Learn More
1952 James D Wetherbee, USN, astronaut (STS 32, 52)

DIED.
1868 Chief Black Kettle of the Cheyenne, c. 60, killed, Battle of the Washita

 

NOV 28
1795 US pays $800,000 & a frigate for "protection" from Algerian & Tunisian pirates
1864 Battle of Cane Hill, Ak: Union victory.
1916 First German air raid on London
1934 Churchill tells Premier Baldwin not to underestimate German air power
1939 USSR revokes the Soviet-Finnish non-aggression pact
1941 Heeding the CNO's Nov 27 signal, Rear Adm Wm Halsey issues 'Battle Order No. 1', "Enterprise is now operating under war conditions . . . ."
1942 The Coconut Grove Fire: 491 people die, and hundreds are injured when an overcrowded Boston night club burns, including many sevicemen
1943 Tehran Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, & Joseph Stalin meet to discuss strategy -- Learn More
1944 Allied troops clear the Schelde, permitting ships to reach Antwerp


BORN

1820 Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862
1887 Ernst Rohm, Nazi, murdered by his sometime buddy Hitler, allegedly for trying to take over Nazism, 1934

DIED

1859 Washington Irving, 76, sometime soldier, author ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," etc.) -- Learn More
1954 Enrico Fermi, 53, Italian-American physicist, father of the Atomic Age
1960 Max Pruss, 69, German airshipman, last captain of the ill-fated 'Hindenburg'

 

29 NOV

1776 Battle of Fort Cumberland ends: Nearly three weeks after a small Massachussetts expedition invests the post in Nova Scotia, British reinforcements break the siege

1863 Battle of Ft Sanders/Ft Loudon, Tn
1864 Battle of Spring Hill, Tn: Union forces elude a Confederate trap
1864 Sand Creek Massacre: Colorado militiamen kill c. 150 peaceful Cheyenne
1887 US receives basing rights at Pearl Harbor
1890 The first Army-Navy game, West Point: Navy 24, Army 0
1929 Rear Adm Richard E. Byrd, US, makes the first flight over the South Pole.
1932 France and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact
1939 USSR severs diplomatic relations with Finland
1941 Army Intel analysts in Hawaii recommended "Our forces should be placed on the alert and stay there, due to the imminent possibility of an attack." -- Learn More
1941 Navy beats Army, 14-6.
1942 Coffee rationing begins in the US
1944 USS 'Archerfish' (SS-311) scores her only sinking, the Japanese carrier 'Shinano', c. 70,000 tons, the largest submarine kill ever
1947 UN votes to partition Palestine between Jews and Arabs
1949 The Nationalist Chinese main forces retreat to Taiwan
1951 The first underground atomic explosion, Frenchman's Flat, Nevada
1951 Winston Churchill become PM of Great Britain for the second time (1951-1955)
1952 President-elect Eisenhower visits Korea to assess the war


BORN

1815 Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1882
1833 Louis Douglass Watkins, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
1834 Thomas Edward Greenfield Ransom, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
1895 Busby Berkeley, film choreographer, sometime US Army artilleryman and drill instructor, d. 1976
1922 Michael Howard, Guardsman, Military Cross, historian
1949 Kenneth D Cameron, USMC, astronaut

DIED
1825 William Hull, 72, inept American general in the War of 181

 

30 NOV

1782 Preliminary Treaty of Paris: American and British delegates sign preliminary articles to end the Revolutionary War
1803 Spain cedes Louisiana to France, in return for Tuscany; 20 days later, France sells Louisiana to the US

1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee: John Bell Hill outdoes 'Pickett's Charge,' ruining the Confederate Army of Tennessee in the process
1864 Battle of Honey Hill, SC
1943 Teheran Conference: FDR, Churchill, & Stalin agree that Operation Overlord will take place in May of 1944


BORN

1826 George Washington Deitzler, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1884
1828 Jedediah Hotchkiss, military engineer, C.S.A., d. 1899
1835 Samuel Langhorne Clemens -- Mark Twain, noted Confederate deserter, author, d.
1874 Winston Spencer Churchill, who led Britain in the Second World War, d. 1965 -- Learn More

DIED

1837 Erastus "Deaf" Smith, 50, American frontiersman, Texian revolutionary
1864 Patrick Cleburne, Irish-born Confederate Maj. Gen., kia at Franklin

 

1 DEC

1896 Armored cruiser 'Brooklyn' (CA-3) commissioned, at Philadelphia (!)
1941 USSs 'Argonaut' (SM-1) & 'Trout' (SS-202) take station off Midway, 'Triton' (SS-201) & 'Tambor' (SS-198) off Wake
1942 Gasoline rationing begins in the US
1942 Papua: Australians capture Gona Village, as Lt Gen Eichelberger is put in command of the Buna-Gona operation
2012 The world's first nuclear carrier, USS 'Enterprise' (CVN 65), is inactivated after 51 years of commissioned service.

BORN

1826 William Mahone, Maj Gen, C.S.A, d. 1895
1832 Archibald Gracie Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA, 1864
1835 Micah Jenkins, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
1923 Stansfield Turner, sometime admiral and CIA director
1941 The Civil Air Patrol
1943 The 5th Marine Div, at Camp Pendleton, California

DIED

1802 Oliver Wolcott, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, on his 76th birthday
1842 Midshipman Philip Spencer (19), Boatswain Samuel Cromwell, & Seaman Elisha Small, hanged for supposed participation in the 'Somers' Mutiny, Nov 29-30.
2002 Edward Latimer Beach, Jr., 84, American naval officer, submariner (12 war patrols), author ("Run Silent, Run Deep," etc),
2013 T.R. (Theodore Reed) Fehrenbach, Jr., 88, sometime Army officer, historian ("This Kind of War," "Lone Star," "Fire and Blood")

 

2 Dec

1775 The First American Flag: The "Grand Union Flag" is hoisted for the first time, at Philadelphia aboard John Paul Jones' ship 'Alfred' [or the 3rd]
1777 British Gen William Howe plots attack on Washington's army for Dec 4
1823 President Monroe announces his Doctrine.
1914 Hitler is awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class --"The happiest day of my life."
1941 Hawaii: Recon aircraft are ordered to search to 400 miles, in an arc from northwest to south
1941 Japanese First Air Fleet at 43 N, 158 30' E, c. 2,500 miles from Pearl Harbor
1941 Roosevelt asks Japan to clarify its intentions regarding French Indochina
1942 Papua: Eichelberger relieves cdrs of 32nd Div and several subordinate units
1942 Papua: Japanese at Buna beat off another American attack, as reinforcements arrive
1944 Chiang Kai-shek rejects proposals to arm the Communists against Japan
1954 The Senate votes overwhelmingly to censure Sen Joseph McCarthy

BORN

1738 Richard Montgomery, Continental Brig Gen, kia, Quebec, 1775
1802 Melancthon Smith Wade, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
1821 Rufus Barringer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1837 Charles Garrison Harker, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
1924 Alexander Haig, Jr, General, National Security Advisor, d. 2010

DIED

1859 John Brown, radical abolitionist hanged, at 59 in Virginia
1923 Capt. Arthur MacArthur III, U.S.N. (elder brother of Douglas), appendicitis at 49 -- Learn More
1949 George Fleming Moore, 62, Maj. Gen., US, Defender of Corregidor -- Learn More
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3 DEC

1863 Gen James Longstreet abandons the siege of Knoxville, TN
1941 Japanese Air Fleet refuels at 45 N, 170 E, 2,100 nautical miles of Pearl Harbor
1942 Munda: U.S. aerial recon finds Japanese building an air strip
1943 Sextant Conference: US and British delegates meet at Cairo -- Learn More
1956 England & France pull troops out of Egypt

BORN

1755 Gilbert Stuart, soldier, artist ("George Washington"), d. 1828
1806 Henry Alexander Wise, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1876
1809 Thomas Alfred Davies, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
1822 Charles Adam Heckman, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896
1826 George Brinton McClellan, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1885
1829 Green Berry Raum, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1909
1902 Mitsuo Fuchida, who would someday say "Tora! Tora! Tora!", d. 1976

DIED

1894 Robert Louis Stevenson, 44, Scottish author ("Treasure Island," "Kidnapped," and "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", etc., d. 1894.
2009 Richard Todd, 90, actor, formerly an officer in the 7th Para, who helped relieve the Paras at Pegasus Bridge, commanded by Maj John Howard, whom Todd portrayed in "The Longest Day," in which he was played by another actor

 

4 Dec
1783 Washington bids his officers farewell, Fraunces' Tavern, New York
1862 Great Snowball fight in the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
1864 Battle of Waynesborough, GA
1899 Presidential son Webb Hayes earns a Medal of Honor in the Philippines -- Learn More
1918 Pres. Wilson sails for Europe aboard the former German liner 'George Washington', to attend the Versailles Peace Conferecne
1941 Carrier 'Enterprise' (CV-6) flys-off reinforcements for Wake Island
1941 Navy Department orders Guam to destroy all codes and secret documents
1942 Guadalcanal: the USMC's Carlson's Raiders end a 30-day "Long Patrol" behind Japanese lines
1942 US air raids on the Italian mainland from North Africa
1943 Japanese aerial torpedo hits carrier 'Lexington' (CV-16) in the Marshalls
1983 US airstrikes on Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon

BORN

1812 Elias Smith Dennis, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
1818 William Wing "Old Blizzards" Loring, Maj Gen, C.S.A. & Egyptian Army, d.1886
1824 Crazy Horse, Oglala cavalryman, victor at the Little Big Horne, murdered by the US Army 1877
1912 Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, leader of the USMC "Black Sheep" squadron, MoH, d. 1988

DIED

1950 Jesse LeRoy Brown, 24, naval aviator, kia, Korea
2009 Vyacheslav Tikhonov, 81, actor (Andrei Bolkonshy in "War & Peace")

 

5 Dec

1870 Joint resolution of Congress condemns the KKK
1933 Repeal Day: The 21st Amendment is ratified, repealing the 18th and barring national prohibition
1941 'Lexington' (CV-2) steams from Pearl Harbor to deliver aircraft to Midway
1941 Japanese First Air Fleet arrived at 40 North 178 East, c. 1650 miles from Pearl Harbor
1941 US military commanders in the Pacific are informed that Japanese embassies & consulates have been ordered to destroy their codes & code machines
1942 Allies maneuver to increase pressure on the Japanese at Buna-Gona
1943 USAAF introduces drop-tanks, allowing P-47s & P-51s to escort bombers from Britain into German
1944 German troops confiscate all the silver coins in Utrecht

BORN

1782 Martin Van Buren, militiaman, 1st person born an American citizen to become POTUS (1837-1841), d. 1862
1839 George Armstrong Custer, Maj. Gen., USV, kia 1876
1859 John Jellicoe, admiral, who didn't lose the Big One in 1916, d. 1935
1902 Strom Thurmond, oldest man to jump into Normandy, politician, segregationist, d. 2003

DIED

1784 Phillis Wheatley, 31, sometime slave, Patriot poet -- Learn More
1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 35, boy genius musician and composer
1955 Glenn Luther Martin, 69, American aviation pioneer
1969 Claudius Dornier, aircraft designer, b. 1884
2007 William J. Lederer, 97, CAPT, USN (Ret), co-author of "The Ugly American"
2008 Richard Topus, US Army master pigeonman, 1942-1945, at 84

 

6 Dec
1830 US Naval Observatory established under Lt Louis Malesherbes
1846 Battle of San Pascual: Near San Diego Brig. Gen. Andres Pico's Mexican lancers defeat Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny's US troops
1865 The XIII Amendment is declared ratified, abolishing slavery
1912 First underwater submarine torpedo attack: Greeksub 'Deflin' misses Turkish cruiser 'Medjidije' at 500
1941 FDR appeals to Emperor Hirohito to help preserve peace, as the US Navy orders outlying bases to destroy codes and secret documents
1941 Husband Kimmel says, "No young man, I don't think they'd be such damned fools," when a journalist asks if the Japanese might initiate war.
1941 The Japanese First Air Fleet arrives at 31 N, 158 W toward nightfall, c. 550 miles north of Pearl Harbor
1942 Munda: U.S. bombers hit Japanese airbase site
1942 Papua: U.S. artillery employs "time on target" for the first time, at Buna
1943 Burma: Allies cancel major amphibious operation

BORN

1809 Stephen Thomas, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
1816 Henry Eustace McCulloch, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
1831 Joshua Woodrow Sill, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862
1833 Col. John Singleton Mosby, Confederate Partisan Ranger -- "The Gray Ghost,"
1886 Joyce Kilmer, soldier poet, kia with the Fighting 69th, 1918 -- Learn More
1917 Dean Hess, USAF "Flying Preacher" with 300 combat missions

DIED

1889 Jefferson F Davis, 80, sometime soldier, SecWar, Confederate President (1861-1865) -- Learn More

 

7 DEC

1914 Pope Benedict XIV calls on all powers to declare a Christmas truce
1917 US declares war on Austria-Hungary
1917 US Sixth Battle Squadron joins the Grand Fleet
1941 "Tora! Tora! Tora!" -- the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor --
1941 Japanese destroyers shell Midway
1942 Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" beaten off by a/c and PT-boats
1943 Staff Sergeant Joseph Louis Barrow, heavyweight champion of the world, put on a demonstration bout for the troops at Ft. Clark, Texas, against Pvt. Ezzard Charles, who would win the title after Louis retired
1944 US 77th Inf Div lands at Ormoc, Leyte, in the Japanese rear
1944 Anti-Fascist government formed in Romania by General Radescu
1944 U.S. a/c sink 13 Japanese transports resupplying Leyte
1949 Chang Kai-shek flees from Mainland China to Taiwan
1981 Spain becomes a member of NATO

BORN

1888 Hamilton Fish III, captain, 369th Infantry, WW I, isolationist, d. 1991
1931 Allan Calhammer, designer of 'Diplomacy', d. 2013

DIED

1985 Robert Graves, soldier, poet, novelist ("Goodbye to All That"), at 90
2011 Harry Morgan, actor (Col. Potter on "M*A*S*H"), at 86

 

8 DEC

1775 Battle of Great Bridge: Virginia Patriots defeat a small British column, causing crown supporters to flee the state
1776 Washington's army retreats across the Delaware from NJ to Penna
1794 Second Great Fire of New Orleans: 212 buildings destroyed
1830 U.S. Army Adjutant General Order No. 72 ends the daily ration of one gill of whiskey to enlisted men, substituting an issue of coffee and sugar.
1863 Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of the South
1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands: British battlecruisers annihilated von Spee's German cruiser squadron
1941 Japanese troops land in Malaya, attack Hong Kong, invade Siam and the Dutch East Indies, bomb the Philippines, and capture the USS Wake (PR 3) in Shanghai [Int'l Date Line affects these events, which occurred simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harobor dated the 7th]
1941 Japanese forces bomb Wake I. and land n Guam
1941 FDR asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan --https://youtu.be/7xd8MpR-5Ko?t=4
1942 Papua: Japanese troops withdrawing from Gona sustain heavy losses
1942 Papua: U.S. a/c defeat Japanese attempt to land troops at Buna
1943 Japanese air raids on British airfields in Assam
1943 U.S. fast battleship task force bombards Japanese positions on Nauru
1944 Iwo Jima: U.S. bombers and carrier aircraft begin a 72 day pre-invasion bombardment
1966 US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space


BORN

1822 Luther Prentice Bradley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910
1828 Clinton Bowen Fisk, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
1828 Robert Bullock, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905
1933 The Fleet Marine Force is formed

DIED

1978 Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel (1969-1974), in Jerusalem at 80
2016 John Glenn, 95, Marine airman, senator, astronaut

 

9 Dec

1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is published
1861 Battle of Bird Creek, Indian Territory
1938 Prototype radar installed on USS 'New York' (BB-34)
1941 Japanese troops from Kwajelein occupy Tarawa in the Gilberts
1943 Chiang Kai-shek requests increased US financial and air assistance
1946 The Nuremberg "Doctors' trial" begins, against physicians and officers who conduced Nazi human experimentation, euthanasia, and mass murder
1948 UN General Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide
1961 SS Col Adolf Eichmann is convicted of war crimes in Israel
1992 Operation Restore Hope begins: US Marines land in Somalia


Born

1906 Grace Hopper, naval officer, computer pioneer, d. 1992
1909 Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Knickerbocker Gray, naval officer, WW II, actor, d. 2000

DIED
l
1970 Artem Mikoyan, 65, Soviet aircraft designer -- the "Mi" in MiG, 65, brother to the diplomat
1971 Ralph Bunche, 68, American diplomat, Peace Nobelist 1950

 

10 DEC

1864 Sherman reaches Savannah, begins 12 day siege
1898 Spanish-American War ends, US gains Philippines, Puerto Rico, & Guam -- Learn More (scroll down)
1906 Theodore Roosevelt is the first American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1920 Woodrow Wilson receives the Nobel Peace Prize
1941 Guam surrenders to a Japanese landing force after a two day battle
1941 USS 'Enterprise' (CV-6) aircraft sink Japanese sub 'I-70'
1942 Hitler names Anton Mussert "Fuhrer of the Netherlands"
1948 UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1978 Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize
2010 For the first time since World War II, a German infantry battalion paraded in a French city, at Strasbourg, to mark the formation of a Franco-German combat brigade.

BORN

1665 The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, founded by Michiel de Ruyter
1794 James Wolfe Ripley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1870
1820 David Allen Russell, Brig Gen, U.S., kia, 1864
1822 Thomas Casimir Devin, Brig Gen, U.S., cavalryman who helped open the ball at Gettysburg, d. 1878


DIED

1896 Alfred Nobel, 63, inventor of dynamite, endower of prizes
1909 Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux warrior & chief (1822-1909)
1941 Adm. Sir Thomas Spencer Vaughan "Tom Thumb" Phillips, 53, kia commanding Force Z", South China Sea
2005 Clark G. Reynolds, historian ("The Fast Carriers", "On the Warpath in the Pacific "), at 65
2011 Henry Lafont, 91, French airman, the last surviving French veteran of the Battle of Britain -- Learn More