This Date in Military History:

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16 June

1745 – English fleet occupied Cape Breton on St. Lawrence River.

1755 – British captured Fort Beausejour and expelled the Acadians. The Accadians of Nova Scotia were uprooted by an English governor and forced to leave. Some 10,000 people moved to destinations like Maine and Louisiana. Some moved to Iles-de-la-Madeleine off Quebec. The Longfellow story “Evangeline” is based on this displacement.

1775 – American Col. William Prescott led 1200 men from Cambridge to dig in at Bunker’s Hill but arrived at night and dug in at Breed’s Hill. A siege on Boston by Colonial militia generals John Stark and Israel Putnam prompted the British to attack.

1775 – The post of Adjutant General was established June 16, 1775, and has been continuously in operation since that time. The Adjutant General’s Department, by that name, was established by the act of March 3, 1813, and was re-designated the Adjutant General’s Corps in 1950.

1775 – Continental Congress authority for a “Chief Engineer for the Army” was passed. A corps of Engineers for the United States was authorized by the Congress on March 11, 1779. The Corps of Engineers as it is known today came into being on March 16, 1802, when the President was authorized to “organize and establish a Corps of Engineers … that the said Corps … shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a Military Academy.” A Corps of Topographical Engineers, authorized on July 4, 1838, was merged with the Corps of Engineers on March 1863.

1775 – The Finance Corps is the successor to the old Pay Department, which was created in June 1775. The Finance Department was created by law on July 1, 1920. It became the Finance Corps in 1950.

1775 – The Quartermaster Corps, originally designated the Quartermaster Department, was established on June 16, 1775. While numerous additions, deletions, and changes of function have occurred, its basic supply and service support functions have continued in existence.

1779 – Spain, in support of the US, declared war on England.

1856 – James Strang, king of Big Beaver Island, Mich., was ambushed by Thomas Bedford and Alexander Wentworth. They shot him three times and then pistol-whipped him and fled to Mackinac on the USS Michigan. Bedfrod and Wentworth were brought before a justice of the peace and after a brief hearing were fined $1.25 for court costs and released as public heroes. Soon after, 75 vigilantes sailed to Beaver Island and cleared out the Strangite adherents.

1861 – A Union attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, is thwarted when the Confederates turn back an attack at Secessionville, just south of the city on James Island. In November 1861, Union ships captured Port Royal, which lay about halfway between Charleston and Savannah. This gave the Federals an important base from which to mount operations along the southern coast. Before dawn on June 16, Yankee General Henry W. Benham led 9,000 troops onto James Island. Benham had a checkered career as a commander. He helped clear western Virginia of Confederates in the summer of 1861 but was ordered arrested by General William Rosecrans for “unofficer-like neglect of duty” because he was headstrong and critical of leadership.

Eventually, he and Rosecrans made amends, and in the spring of 1862 Benham was sent to Port Royal to command the northern district of General David Hunter’s Department of the South. Benham decided to attack the strong fortifications that protected Confederates under the command of General Nathan “Shanks” Evans. But the Rebels’ fortifications were nearly impenetrable. The approach to the fort was across a strip of firm ground bracketed by marshes, which narrowed the ground that the Confederate artillery needed to cover. Only 500 Confederates were inside, but another 1,500 rushed in from Charleston. Benham staged three attacks against the fort, but each failed. The Federals lost nearly 800 men, while the Southerners suffered only 200 losses.

After the disastrous battle, Union officials began pointing fingers, and Benham was arrested three days later. His superior, Hunter, had ordered no assault without permission. There was disagreement between Benham and his three subordinates over plans to attack. The three later said they had presented objections on the eve of the battle, but an aide to Benham said there had been no such discussion. Benham blamed one of his commanders, Isaac Stephens, for the botched charge. The Judge Advocate General’s Office recommended revocation of Benham’s commission. But the aggressiveness he possessed was in short supply among Union generals in 1862, and the Lincoln administration rescinded the revocation. Benham joined Ulysses S. Grant for the Vicksburg campaign, and he commanded the Army of the Potomac’s engineering brigade during Grant’s Virginia campaign against Robert E. Lee in 1864.

1862 – Union naval squadron under Commander S.P. Lee in U.S.S. Oneida, advancing up the Mississippi River toward Vicksburg, shelled Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

1863 – Acting Master John C. Bunner, U.S.S. New Era, obtained a report that Confederate troops “meditated an attack on either Columbus, Hickman, Island 10, or New Madrid. . . “ Bunner at once proceeded above Island No. 10, found and destroyed nine boats and flats. He reported: “I do not think the enemy can procure transportation enough to attack the island with any hope of success, but am careful that none at all shall remain at his service in this vicinity.”

1864 – Siege of Petersburg and Richmond began after a moonlight skirmish.

1864 – Battle of Lynchburg, Virginia.

1864 – U.S.S. Commodore Perry, Acting Lieutenant A. P. Foster, shelled Fort Clifton, Virginia, at the request of Major General Butler. Bombardment by the ship’s heavy guns was almost a daily part of continuing naval support of Army operations along the James River.

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1890 – Because of ailments he contracted during an arduous exploration of the Alaskan frontier, Fred Fickett retires from the military to become a civilian lawyer. A native of Maine, Fickett enlisted as a private in the Army Signal Corps in 1882. By chance, he was assigned to duty in Alaska, a massive and largely unexplored territory the U.S. had bought from Russia in 1867. After two years stationed at Sitka, Alaska, where he learned the science of meteorology, Fickett was reassigned to Portland, Oregon, the headquarters of the Army’s Department of the Columbia, which included the territory of Alaska. In 1885, the leaders of the Department of the Columbia ordered Lieutenant Henry T. Allen to mount an expedition into the little-known interior of Alaska. Learning of Fickett’s experience in Alaska and skill as a meteorologist, Allen had the private assigned to the expedition. With one more enlisted man and two prospectors, Allen’s small band headed into the Copper River basin of Alaska in March 1885.

Fickett’s scientific duties were challenging from the start. Harsh weather often made it difficult for him to make meteorological observations. Indians eventually stole his hygrometer, and his barometer was “rendered useless by the natives who were curious to understand the nature of its interior construction.” The rugged country and monotonous provisions sapped his energy and caused sickness. After a few months of “indescribable hardships and privations,” all of the men came down with scurvy. Despite the difficulties, Fickett continued to make scientific observations of the Alaskan environment. He later concluded that despite the harsh conditions, vegetables might be successfully grown in the region during the short but sunny Alaskan summer. By June, the other members of the party had returned to civilization, but Allen and Fickett continued onward. The two men traveled overland to the headwaters of the Koyukuk River and then descended the river in canoes.

Still suffering from illness, they reached the town of St. Michael on the coast in late August. In one short summer, they had charted three major river systems covering about 1,500 miles of wilderness. Fickett returned to the United States by steamboat. He stayed in the Army Signal Corps for five more years before requesting and receiving an honorable discharge on this day in 1890. That same year, he published an account of his adventure, Narratives of Explorations in Alaska. His health had been permanently weakened by the ailments he contracted in Alaska, so Fickett moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he practiced law and managed mining operations. He died in 1928 at the age of 70.

1897 – The US government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.

1898 – U.S. squadron bombards Santiago, Cuba.

1922 – Henry Berliner demonstrated his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics.

1933 – The National Industrial Recovery Act became law. It was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

1941 – President Roosevelt orders that all German and Italian consulates in the country should be closed, along with the offices of other German agencies.

1941 – The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was activated for duty in Iceland.

1943 – US fighters from Henderson Field claim to have shot down 93 Japanese aircraft from a force attacking shipping assembled for operations against New Georgia Island.

1943 – Operation Husky. The first convoys bound for the invasion of Sicily leave port.

1944 – Forces of the US 5th Army take Grosseto, Italy.

1944 – Elements of the US 1st Army, advancing westward, cross the Douvre River and capture St. Saveur in the Cotentin Peninsula.

1944 – US battleships, under the command of Admiral Ainsworth, shell Guam. The invasion of the island is deferred, however, because of the approach of the Japanese fleet. On Saipan, the elements of US 5th Amphibious Corps link the two beachheads by capturing Charan Karoa and Afetna Point. There is substantial use of artillery by the Japanese and American counter battery fire in addition to the infantry combat.

1944 – Admiral Clark leads two groups of US carrier forces raiding Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima and Haha Jima. The Japanese fleets link up and refuel. US patrols make two sightings.

1945 – On Okinawa, Mount Yuza is captured by the US 381st Infantry Regiment. Fighting continues on the south of the island. At sea, the Japanese air offensive against American ships slackens, but the Japanese still sink 1 destroyer and damage 1 escort carrier.

1947 – Pravda denounced the Marshall Plan.

1951 – The 1st Marine Division reached its objective — a line running northeast from the Hwachon Reservoir through the Punch Bowl, a gigantic volcanic crater.

1954 – China’s Chou Enlai, now negotiating for the Communists against the West, suggests that Vietminh troops withdraw from Laos and Cambodia. It is now clear that China and the Soviet Union, represented by Vyacheslav Molotov, are bringing pressure to bear on the Vietminh not to wreck the conference. Members of the Vietminh delegation will later complain that their revolution was halted on the verge of success, but without Chinese aid, they cannot be certain of expelling the French.

1955 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend Selective Service until 1959.

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1961 – Following a meeting between President John F. Kennedy and South Vietnam envoy Nguyen Dinh Thuan, an agreement is reached for direct training and combat supervision of Vietnamese troops by U.S. instructors. South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem had earlier asked Kennedy to send additional U.S. troops to train the South Vietnamese Army. U.S. advisers had been serving in Vietnam since 1955 as part of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group. There would be only 900 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam at the end of 1961, but in accordance with President Kennedy’s pledge to provide American military assistance to South Vietnam, the number of U.S. personnel rose to 3,200 by the end of 1962. The number would climb until it reached 16,000 by the time of President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963.

1965 – Navy Department schedules reactivation of hospital ship Repose (AH-16), first hospital ship activated for Vietnam Conflict.

1965 – Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces that 21,000 more U.S. troops are to be sent to Vietnam. He also claimed that it was now known that North Vietnamese regular troops had begun to infiltrate South Vietnam. The new U.S. troops were to join the U.S. Marines and paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade that had arrived earlier to secure U.S. airbases and facilities. These forces would soon transition from defensive missions to direct combat operations. As the war escalated, more and more U.S. combat troops were sent to South Vietnam. By 1969, there were over 540,000 American troops in Vietnam.

1967 – The Vietcong’s National Liberation Front Radio warns that captured Americans will be executed if ‘the US aggressors and their Saigon stooges’ execute ‘three Vietnamese patriots’ sentenced to death by a special military tribunal in Saigon.

1970 – Congress turns down end-the-war proposals as the Senate refuses twice to set a Vietnam troop withdrawal deadline and the House on 17 June also declines to set a pullout date.

1970 – North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attacks almost completely isolate Phnom Penh. The principal fighting raged in and around Kompong Thom, about 90 miles north of the capital. On June 17, Cambodia’s last working railway line, which ran to the border of Thailand, was severed when communist troops seized a freight train with 200 tons of rice and other food supplies at a station at Krang Lovea, about 40 miles northwest of Phnom Penh.

1978 – President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos exchanged instruments of ratification for the Panama Canal treaties.

1992 – President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin capped the first day of their Washington summit by announcing their countries had agreed to slash their long-range nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.

1992 – Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted on 5-count felony charges in connection with the Iran-Contra affair. He was later pardoned by Bush.

1993 – Six hours of fierce street battles are fought by UN troops backed by US helicopters, to capture Aidid’s headquarters. One American GI is slightly injured. 130 GIs of the 1/22 Infantry are rushed in to back the UN forces.

1994 – Former President Jimmy Carter, on a private visit to North Korea, reported the Communist nation’s leaders were eager to resume talks with the United States on resolving disputes about Pyongyang’s nuclear program and improving relations.

1998 – In Afghanistan the Taliban ordered the closing of over 100 private schools that had been educating girls. Schools would not be allowed to teach girls older than 8 and lessons were to be limited to the Koran.

1998 – North Korea admitted that it had sold missiles abroad and would continue to do so to generate needed income.

1998 – In Serbia Pres. Milosevic agreed to allow monitors into Kosovo and to begin talks with Kosovo Albanian leaders, but not to withdraw his military forces until “terrorist activities subside.”

1999 – Kathleen Ann Soliah, a fugitive member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, was captured in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she had made a new life under the name Sara Jane Olson.

1999 – The US decided to support a British and Dutch proposal to partially lift oil sanctions on Iraq in exchange for answers on weapons programs and a new group of UN arms inspectors. Iraq rejected the proposal.

1999 – US Marines in Kosovo disarmed 116 members of the KLA.

2001 – President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, face to face for the first time, pledged during a meeting in Slovenia to deepen their nations’ bonds and to explore the possibility of compromise on U.S. missile defense plans. Putin warned Bush against Nato expansion and “unilateral action” on missile defense, but they promoted their new friendship and planned economic cooperation.

2002 – The Bush administration revealed a secret plan to for the CIA to undermine and possibly kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

2002 – Philippine troops shot dead one Muslim rebel and wounded an unknown number in their first clash with the guerrillas since an American hostage was killed in a rescue operation more than a week ago.

2003 – Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, ( No. 4 on the wanted list ), surrendered at a private home in Tikrit following informants’ tips. Nearby US soldiers found two boxes, each counting $4 million in bundled hundred-dollar bills, along with hundreds of pieces of jewelry, a sniper rifle and two pounds of plastic explosive.

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2004 – Saboteurs blasted a southern pipeline for the 2nd time in as many days, shutting down Iraq’s oil exports. Gunmen killed a security chief for the state-run Northern Oil Co. Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Shiite militias out of Najaf and Kufa.

2004 – A Jordanian military court convicted 15 men, only one of whom was in custody, for a terror conspiracy targeting U.S. and Israeli interests.

2007 – Operation Phantom Thunder began when Multi-National Force-Iraq launched major offensive operations against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating throughout Iraq. Operation Phantom Thunder was a corps level operation, including Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala Province, Operation Marne Torch and Operation Commando Eagle in Babil Province, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon in Baghdad, Operation Alljah in Anbar Province, and continuing special forces actions against the Mahdi Army in southern Iraq and against Al-Qaeda leadership throughout the country. The operation was one of the biggest military operations in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

On 14 August, it was announced that the operation ended. Coalition and Iraqi security forces pushed into areas previously not under their control, and they also ejected insurgent groups from their strongholds in Northern Babil, eastern Anbar and Diyala provinces and on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. During the operation, Iraqi and Coalition forces conducted intelligence raids against al Qaeda in Iraq and the Iranian-backed cells nationwide, with a heavy emphasis on cells in Baghdad, Diyala, and central and northern Iraq. Operation Arrowhead Ripper continued for another five days until 19 August with more intense street fighting in Baquba. The operations continued into operation Phantom Strike.

2007 – Operation Marne Torch began in the Arab Jabour and Salman Pak area, conducted by the new Multinational Division Central. Arab Jabour, being only 20 kilometers southeast from Baghdad, is a major transit point for insurgent forces in and out of Baghdad. By 14 August, 2,500 Coalition and Iraqi forces had detained more than five dozen suspected extremists, destroyed 51 boats, killed 88 terrorists and discovered and destroyed 51 weapons caches.

2007 – Operation Alljah was being conducted by Multi-National Forces West. In the western Al Anbar province operations attacked insurgent supply lines and weapons caches, targeting the regions of Fallujah, Karma and Thar Thar. Commanders of the operation expressed belief that Fallujah would be cleared by August and that the regions of Karma and Thar Thar would be cleared by July. On 17 June, a raid near Karma killed a known Libyan Al-Qaeda fighter and six of his aides and on 21 June six al-Qaeda members were killed and five were detained during early-morning raids also near Karma. Also on 23 June, a U.S. airstrike killed five suspects and destroyed their car bomb near Fallujah. Insurgents also struck back in Fallujah with two suicide bombings and an attack on an off-duty policeman that left four policemen dead on 22 June. On 29 June, U.S. forces killed a senior al-Qaeda leader east of Fallujah. Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Masri, an Egyptian, was a veteran of both battles of Fallujah. On 6 July a raid west of Fallujah resulted in the killing of an Al-Qaeda in Iraq battalion commander and two of his men and the captured of two more insurgents.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

GREGG, JOSEPH O.
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 133d Ohio Infantry. Place and date: Near the Richmond & Petersburg Ry., Va., 16 June 1864. Entered service at: ——. Born: 5 January 1841, Circleville, Ohio. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Voluntarily returned to the breastworks which his regiment had been forced to abandon to notify 3 missing companies that the regiment was falling back; found the enemy already in the works, refused a demand to surrender, returning to his command under a concentrated fire, several bullets passing through his hat and clothing.

JACKSON, FREDERICK R.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company F, 7th Connecticut Infantry. Place and date: At James Island, S.C., 16 June 1862. Entered service at: New Haven, Conn. Birth: New Haven, Conn. Date of issue: 1863. Citation: Having his left arm shot away in a charge on the enemy, he continued on duty, taking part in a second and a third charge until he fell exhausted from the loss of blood.

LEWIS, DEWITT CLINTON
Rank and organization: Captain, Company F, 97th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Secessionville, S.C., 16 June 1862. Entered service at: ——. Birth: West Chester, Pa. Date of issue: 23 April 1896. Citation: While retiring with his men before a heavy fire of can1ster shot at short range, returned in the face of the enemy’s fire and rescued an exhausted private of his company who but for this timely action would have lost his life by drowning in the morass through which the troops were retiring.

*McCARD, ROBERT HOWARD
Rank and organization: Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 25 November 1918, Syracuse, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as platoon sergeant of Company A, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, during the battle for enemy Japanese-held Saipan, Marianas Islands, on 16 June 1944. Cut off from the other units of his platoon when his tank was put out of action by a battery of enemy 77mm. guns, G/Sgt. McCard carried on resolutely, bringing all the tank’s weapons to bear on the enemy, until the severity of hostile fire caused him to order his crew out of the escape hatch while he courageously exposed himself to enemy guns by hurling hand grenades, in order to cover the evacuation of his men. Seriously wounded during this action and with his supply of grenades exhausted, G/Sgt. McCard then dismantled one of the tank’s machineguns and faced the Japanese for the second time to deliver vigorous fire into their positions, destroying 16 of the enemy but sacrificing himself to insure the safety of his crew. His valiant fighting spirit and supreme loyalty in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon G/Sgt. McCard and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

*SARNOSKI, JOSEPH R. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 43rd Bomber Group, Place and date: Over Buka Area, Solomon Islands, 16 June 1943. Entered service at: Simpson, Pa. Born. 30 January 1915, Simpson, Pa. G.O. No.: 85, 17 December 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 16 June 1943, 2d Lt. Sarnoski volunteered as bombardier of a crew on an important photographic mapping mission covering the heavily defended Buka area, Solomon Islands. When the mission was nearly completed, about 20 enemy fighters intercepted. At the nose guns, 2d Lt. Sarnoski fought off the first attackers, making it possible for the pilot to finish the plotted course. When a coordinated frontal attack by the enemy extensively damaged his bomber, and seriously injured 5 of the crew, 2d Lt. Sarnoski, though wounded, continued firing and shot down 2 enemy planes. A 20-millimeter shell which burst in the nose of the bomber knocked him into the catwalk under the cockpit. With indomitable fighting spirit, he crawled back to his post and kept on firing until he collapsed on his guns. 2d Lt. Sarnoski by resolute defense of his aircraft at the price of his life, made possible the completion of a vitally important mission.

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ZEAMER, JAY JR. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Over Buka area, Solomon Islands, 16 June 1943. Entered service at: Machias, Maine. Birth: Carlisle, Pa. G.O. No.: 1, 4 January 1944. Citation: On 16 June 1943, Maj. Zeamer (then Capt.) volunteered as pilot of a bomber on an important photographic mapping mission covering the formidably defended area in the vicinity of Buka, Solomon Islands. While photographing the Buka airdrome. his crew observed about 20 enemy fighters on the field, many of them taking off. Despite the certainty of a dangerous attack by this strong force, Maj. Zeamer proceeded with his mapping run, even after the enemy attack began. In the ensuing engagement, Maj. Zeamer sustained gunshot wounds in both arms and legs, 1 leg being broken.

Despite his injuries, he maneuvered the damaged plane so skillfully that his gunners were able to fight off the enemy during a running fight which lasted 40 minutes. The crew destroyed at least 5 hostile planes, of which Maj. Zeamer himself shot down 1. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused medical aid until the enemy had broken combat. He then turned over the controls, but continued to exercise command despite lapses into unconsciousness, and directed the flight to a base 580 miles away. In this voluntary action, Maj. Zeamer, with superb skill, resolution, and courage, accomplished a mission of great value.

HOWARD, JIMMIE E.
Rank and organization: Gunnery Sergeant (then S/Sgt.) U.S. Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 16 June 1966. Entered service at: Burlington, Iowa. Born: 27 July 1929, Burlington, Iowa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty. G/Sgt. Howard and his 18-man platoon were occupying an observation post deep within enemy-controlled territory. Shortly after midnight a Viet Cong force of estimated battalion size approached the marines’ position and launched a vicious attack with small arms, automatic weapons, and mortar fire. Reacting swiftly and fearlessly in the face of the overwhelming odds, G/Sgt. Howard skillfully organized his small but determined force into a tight perimeter defense and calmly moved from position to position to direct his men’s fire. Throughout the night, during assault after assault, his courageous example and firm leadership inspired and motivated his men to withstand the unrelenting fury of the hostile fire in the seemingly hopeless situation. He constantly shouted encouragement to his men and exhibited imagination and resourcefulness in directing their return fire.

When fragments of an exploding enemy grenade wounded him severely and prevented him from moving his legs, he distributed his ammunition to the remaining members of his platoon and proceeded to maintain radio communications and direct air strikes on the enemy with uncanny accuracy. At dawn, despite the fact that 5 men were killed and all but 1 wounded, his beleaguered platoon was still in command of its position. When evacuation helicopters approached his position, G/Sgt. Howard warned them away and called for additional air strikes and directed devastating small-arms fire and air strikes against enemy automatic weapons positions in order to make the landing zone as secure as possible. Through his extraordinary courage and resolute fighting spirit, G/Sgt. Howard was largely responsible for preventing the loss of his entire platoon. His valiant leadership and courageous fighting spirit served to inspire the men of his platoon to heroic endeavor in the face of overwhelming odds, and reflect the highest credit upon G/Sgt. Howard, the Marine Corps, and the U.S. Naval Service.

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17 June

1579 – During his circumnavigation of the world, English seaman Francis Drake anchors in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claims the territory for Queen Elizabeth I. Calling the land “Nova Albion,” Drake remained on the California coast for a month to make repairs to his ship, the Golden Hind, and prepare for his westward crossing of the Pacific Ocean. On December 13, 1577, Drake set out from England with five ships on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World. After crossing the Atlantic, Drake abandoned two of his ships in South America and then sailed into the Straits of Magellan with the remaining three. A series of devastating storms besieged his expedition in the treacherous straits, wrecking one ship and forcing another to return to England.

Only the Golden Hind reached the Pacific Ocean, but Drake continued undaunted up the western coast of South America, raiding Spanish settlements and capturing a rich Spanish treasure ship. Drake then continued up the western coast of North America, searching for a possible northeast passage back to the Atlantic. Reaching as far north as present-day Washington before turning back, Drake paused near San Francisco Bay in June 1579 to repair his ship and prepare for a journey across the Pacific.

In July, the expedition set off across the Pacific, visiting several islands before rounding Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and returning to the Atlantic Ocean. On September 26, 1580, the Golden Hind returned to Plymouth, England, bearing its rich captured treasure and valuable information about the world’s great oceans. In 1581, Queen Elizabeth I knighted Drake during a visit to his ship.

1742 – William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born.

1745 – American New Englanders captured Louisburg, Cape Breton, from the French. The ragtag army captured France’s most imposing North American stronghold on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

1775 – During the American Revolution, British General William Howe lands his troops on the Charlestown peninsula overlooking Boston and leads them against Breed’s Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill. As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, Patriot General William Prescott reportedly told his men, “Don’t one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, cutting down nearly 100 enemy troops and throwing the British into retreat. After reforming his lines, Howe attacked again, with much the same result.

However, Prescott’s men were now low on ammunition, and when Howe led his men up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. The British had won the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, and Breed’s Hill and the Charlestown peninsula fell firmly under British control. Despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a morale-builder for the Americans, who had suffered far fewer casualties than their enemy while demonstrating that they could conduct war effectively against the British.

1832 – The practice of utilizing “surplus” naval officers as officers of the Revenue Marine was discontinued. Revenue officer vacancies were henceforth filled by promotion from within the service.

1833 – USS Delaware enters dry dock at Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, VA, the first warship to enter a public dry dock in the United States.

1837 – Strong Vincent is born in Waterford, Pennsylvania. After working as a lawyer, he went on to become a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was mortally wounded defending Little Round Top. When hostilities erupted in April 1861, Vincent left the law to become an officer in the Erie Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. By early 1862, he rose to commander of the 83rd Pennsylvania. Vincent served in several campaigns with the Army of the Potomac, fighting at Yorktown, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was promoted to colonel after Yorktown, and prior to Gettysburg, Vincent was given command of the Third Brigade, First Division, of the Fifth Corps.

On the night of July 1, 1863, Vincent and his men were hurrying toward the battlefield under a bright moon. When the soldiers passed through a small town near Gettysburg, the regiment bands began to play and residents came to their doors to cheer the Yankee troops. Vincent remarked to an aide that there could be a worse fate than to die fighting in his home state with the flag overhead. The next day, as Vincent and his brigade were arriving behind the Union lines, General Gouverneur K. Warren frantically summoned Vincent’s force to the top of Little Round Top, a rocky hill at the end of the Federal line. Warren observed that the Confederates could turn the Union left flank by taking the summit, which was occupied by only a Yankee signal corps at the time. So Vincent and his men hurried up the hill, arriving just ahead of the Rebels. The brigade held the top, but just barely. Vincent was mortally wounded in the engagement and died on July 7th. He was promoted posthumously to brigadier general.

1862 – Joint expedition including U.S.S. Sebago, Lieutenant Murray, and U.S.S. Currituck, Acting Master Shankland, with troops embarked on transport Seth Low, at the request of General McClellan ascended the Pamunkey River to twenty-five miles above White House. Confederates burned seventeen vessels, some loaded with coal and commissary stores. The river was so narrow at this point that the Union gunboats were compelled to return stern foremost for several miles. General McClellan reported that the ”expedition was admirably managed, and all concerned deserve great credit.”

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1863 – On the way to Gettysburg, Union and Confederate forces skirmished at Point of Rocks, Maryland.

1863 – Battle of Aldie: Confederates failed to drive back Union in Virginia.

1863 – C.S.S. Atlanta, Commander Webb, with wooden steamers Isondiga and Resolute, engaged U.S.S. Weehawken, Captain J. Rodgers, and U.S.S. Nahant, Commander Downes, in Wassaw Sound. A percussion torpedo was fitted to the ram’s bow, “which,” Webb wrote, “I knew would do its work to my entire satisfaction, should I but be able to touch the Weehauken. . . Atlanta grounded coming into the channel, was gotten off, but repeatedly failed to obey her helm. Weehawken poured five shots from her heavy guns into the Confederate ram, and Nahant moved into attacking Position. With two of his gun crews out of action, with two of three Pilots severely injured, and with his ship helpless and hard aground, Webb was compelled to surrender.

His two wooden escorts had returned upriver without engaging. Captain Rodgers reported: “The Atlanta was found to have mounted two 6-inch and two 7-inch rifles, the 6-inch broadside, the 7-inch working on a Pivot either as broadside or bow and stern guns. There is a large supply of ammunition for these guns and other stores, said to be of great value by some of the officers of the vessel. There were on board at the time of capture, as per muster roll, 21 officers and 124 men, including 28 marines.”

1864 – A 640 meter long pontoon bridge over the James River in Virginia was finished.

1864 – General John B. Hood replaced General Johnston as head of CSA troops around Atlanta.

1870 – USS Mohican burns Mexican pirate ship Forward.

1876 – Sioux and Cheyenne Indians score a tactical victory over General Crook’s forces at the Battle of the Rosebud, foreshadowing the disaster of the Battle of Little Big Horn eight days later. General George Crook was in command of one of three columns of soldiers converging on the Big Horn country of southern Montana that June. A large band of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians under the direction of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and several other chiefs had congregated in the area in defiance of U.S. demands that the Indians confine themselves to reservations. The army viewed the Indians’ refusal as an opportunity to dispatch a massive three-pronged attack and win a decisive victory over the “hostile” Indians. Crook’s column, marching north from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming Territory, was to join with two others: General Gibbon’s column coming east from Fort Ellis in Montana Territory, and General Terry’s force coming west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory. Terry’s force included the soon-to-be-famous 7th Cavalry under the command of George Custer. The vast distances and lack of reliable communications made it difficult to coordinate, but the three armies planned to converge on the valley of the Big Horn River and stage an assault on an enemy whose location and size was only vaguely known. The plan quickly ran into trouble.

As Crook approached the Big Horn, his Indian scouts informed him they had found signs of a major Sioux force that must still be nearby. Crook was convinced that the Sioux were encamped in a large village somewhere along the Rosebud Creek just east of the Big Horn. Like most of his fellow officers, Crook believed that Indians were more likely to flee than stand and fight, and he was determined to find the village and attack before the Sioux could escape into the wilderness. Crook’s Indian allies–262 Crow and Shoshone warriors–were less certain. They suspected the Sioux force was under the command of Crazy Horse, thee brilliant war chief. Crazy Horse, they warned, was too shrewd to give Crook an opportunity to attack a stationary village. Crook soon learned that his allies were right. Around 8 a.m. on this day in 1876, Crook halted his force of about 1,300 men in the bowl of a small valley along the Rosebud Creek in order to allow the rear of the column to catch up. Crook’s soldiers unsaddled and let their horses graze while they relaxed in the grass and enjoyed the cool morning air. The American soldiers were out in the open, divided, and unprepared. Suddenly, several Indian scouts rode into the camp at a full gallop. “Sioux! Sioux!” they shouted. “Many Sioux!”

Within minutes, a mass of Sioux warriors began to converge on the army. A force of at least 1,500 mounted Sioux warriors caught Crook’s soldiers by surprise. Crazy Horse had kept an additional 2,500 warriors in reserve to finish the attack. Fortunately for Crook, one segment of his army was not caught unprepared. His 262 Crow and Shoshone allies had taken up advanced positions about 500 yards from the main body of soldiers. With astonishing courage, the Indian warriors boldly countercharged the much larger invading force. They managed to blunt the initial attack long enough for Crook to regroup his men and send soldiers forward to support his Indian allies. The fighting continued until noon, when the Sioux-perhaps hoping to draw Crook’s army into an ambush-retreated from the field.

The combined force of 4,000 Sioux warriors had outnumbered Crook’s divided and unprepared army by more than three to one. Had it not been for the wisdom and courage of Crook’s Indian allies, Americans today might well remember the Battle of the Rosebud as they do the subsequent Battle of the Little Big Horn. As it was, Crook’s team was badly bloodied–28 men were killed and 56 were seriously wounded. Crook had no choice but to withdraw and regroup. Crazy Horse had lost only 13 men and his warriors were emboldened by their successful attack on the American soldiers. Eight days later, they would join with their tribesmen in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which would wipe out George Custer and his 7th Cavalry.

1898 – Navy Hospital Corps established.

1913 – U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.

1916 – American troops under the command of Gen. Jack Pershing marched into Mexico. US General Pershing led an unsuccessful punitive expedition against Francisco “Pancho” Villa.

1926 – Spain threatened to quit the League of Nations if Germany was allowed to join.

1930 – The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill became law, placing the highest tariff on imports to the U.S. An international trade war began with the US passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. By the spring of 1930, it was all too clear that America would not be able to shake off the fiscal impact of the Great Crash of 1929. And so, President Herbert Hoover stepped into the breach and signed the controversial Smoot-Hawley Tariff on this day in 1930. Smoot-Hawley raised duties on imports to astronomical heights in hopes of preserving the domestic market for American-made goods. Along with forwarding the protectionist cause, the legislation also embodied Hoover’s belief that a revived American economy would aid global fiscal health.

Needless to say, Smoot-Hawley was a fast hit with protectionist forces, still licking their wounds from the crash. However, economists and international business leaders blasted Smoot-Hawley as an overly aggressive bill that would hurt and perhaps ultimately alienate foreign markets; a month before Hoover signed the bill, over one thousand economists signed a petition that protested the tariff. Fears that foreign governments would view Smoot-Hawley as a bellicose bill proved to be all too well-founded: a raft of foreign nations retaliated by enacting their own hefty tariffs, as well as quotas on imports and other measures that not only made international trade all that more difficult, but that also exacerbated America’s fiscal woes.

1932 – The U.S. Senate defeated the bonus bill as 10,000 veterans massed around the Capitol.

1938 – Japan declared war on China.

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1940 – Chief of Naval Operations asks Congress for money to build two-ocean Navy.

1942 – Yank a weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, began publication. Hartzell Spence (d.2001 at 93), executive editor of Yank, a new US Army publication, soon introduced the term “pinup” for the photo inserts of beautiful women and added the “Sad Sack” cartoon strip.

1942 – Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet directed the organization of coastal pickets to combat submarine menace of Atlantic Coast. This became known as the “Corsair Fleet.”

1943 – Operation Husky. The first units of the naval support for the invasion of Sicily set sail from the British Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow.

1944 – The US 1st Army cuts off the Contentin Peninsula. The US 9th Division (part of US 7th Corps) reaches the west coast to the north and south of Barneville. German divisions isolated to the north are not permitted to attempt to break out. Hitler meets with Rundstedt, Commander in Chief (West), and Rommel, commanding Army Group B. Both Field Marshals seek a withdrawal to more defensible positions inland. Hitler refuses to allow a retreat in Normandy. He suggests that the V1 bombing of Britain will force it out of the war.

1944 – The US 27th Infantry Division lands on Saipan to reinforce the American beachhead.

1944 – The carriers led by Admiral Clark and the rest of the main US carrier forces sail for a rendezvous to the west of the Mariana Islands.

1945 – On Okinawa, reinforced American units advance in the Kuishi Ridge area which has been stubbornly defended by forces of the Japanese 32nd Army. Along the line of the US 24th Corps, the last Japanese defensive line is broken. The US 7th Division completes the capture of Hills 153 and 115. The commander of the Japanese naval base on Okinawa, Admiral Minoru Ota, is found dead, having committed suicide.

1945 – On Luzon, elements of the US 37th Division, US 1st Corps, captures Naguilian after making a forced crossing of the Cagayan river, near the town of Cagayan.

1945 – General Arnold orders General Chennault to be replaced by General Stratemeyer as Commander in Chief of the US air forces operating in China. Japanese troops in southern China begin withdrawing northward in five long columns between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.

1953 – A revised demarcation line was settled at Panmunjom.

1953 – Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stayed the executions of spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for next day, their 14th wedding anniversary. They were put to death June 19th.

1953 – The Soviet Union orders an entire armored division of its troops into East Berlin to crush a rebellion by East German workers and antigovernment protesters. The Soviet assault set a precedent for later interventions into Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The riots in East Berlin began among construction workers, who took to the streets on June 16, 1953, to protest an increase in work schedules by the communist government of East Germany. By the next day, the crowd of disgruntled workers and other antigovernment dissidents had grown to between 30,000 and 50,000. Leaders of the protest issued a call for a general strike, the resignation of the communist East German government, and free elections. Soviet forces struck quickly and without warning.

Troops, supported by tanks and other armored vehicles, crashed through the crowd of protesters. Some protesters tried to fight back, but most fled before the onslaught. Red Cross officials in West Berlin (where many of the wounded protesters fled) estimated the death toll at between 15 and 20, and the number of wounded at more than 100. The Soviet military commanders declared martial law, and by the evening of June 17, the protests had been shattered and relative calm was restored.

In Washington, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that the brutal Soviet action contradicted Russian propaganda that the people of East Germany were happy with their communist government. He noted that the smashing of the protests was “a good lesson on the meaning of communism.” America’s propaganda outlet in Europe, the Voice of America radio station, claimed, “The workers of East Berlin have already written a glorious page in postwar history. They have once and for all times exposed the fraudulent nature of communist regimes.” These criticisms had little effect on the Soviet control of East Germany, which remained a communist stronghold until the government fell in 1989.

1965 – For the first time, 27 B-52s fly from Guam to bomb a Vietcong concentration in a heavily forested area of Binhduong Province. Such flights, under the aegis of the Strategic Air Command, are known as Operation Arc Light.

1967 – China detonated its 1st hydrogen bomb and became the world’s 4th thermonuclear power.

1969 – U.S. intelligence reports that an estimated 1,000 North Vietnamese troops have reoccupied Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), one mile east of the Laotian border. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had fought a fierce battle with North Vietnamese troops there in May. The battle was part of a 2,800-man Allied sweep of the A Shau Valley called Operation Apache Snow. The purpose of the operation was to cut off the North Vietnamese and stop any infiltration from Laos that was menacing Hue to the northeast and Da Nang to the southeast. Paratroopers from the 101st Airborne had engaged a North Vietnamese regiment on the slopes of Hill 937, known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. Entrenched in prepared fighting positions, the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment repulsed the initial American assault and beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14th. An intense battle raged for 10 days as the mountain came under heavy Allied air strikes, artillery barrages, and 10 infantry assaults.

On May 20th, Major General Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st, sent in two additional U.S. airborne battalions and a South Vietnamese battalion as reinforcements. The communist stronghold was finally captured in the 11th attack when the American and South Vietnamese soldiers fought their way to the summit of the mountain. In the face of the four-battalion attack, the North Vietnamese retreated to sanctuary areas in Laos. During the intense fighting, 597 North Vietnamese were reported killed and U.S. casualties were 56 killed and 420 wounded.

Due to the bitter fighting and the high loss of life, the battle for Ap Bia Mountain received widespread unfavorable publicity in the United States and was dubbed “Hamburger Hill” in the U.S. media (a name evidently derived from the fact that the battle turned into a “meat grinder”). Since the operation was not intended to hold territory but rather to keep the North Vietnamese Army off balance, the mountain was abandoned soon after the battle. The news of the battle and subsequent U.S. withdrawal from the area resulted in public outrage over what appeared to be a senseless loss of American lives. This furor only increased when it was revealed that the North Vietnamese had reoccupied their original positions after the American soldiers left. General Creighton Abrams, who had succeeded General William Westmoreland as commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was ordered to avoid such battles in the future.

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1970 – North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in Cambodia.

1971 – After 21 months of hard bargaining, US Secretary of State William P. Rogers and Japanese Foreign minister Kiichi Aichi sign a treaty returning Okinawa, scene of one of the bloodiest World War II Pacific campaigns, to Japanese rule. Located just 400 miles from Communist China, for 25 years it has been the key center through which US supplies flowed in the Korean and Vietnam wars. It is due to remain the most powerful base in the western Pacific, but under terms of the treaty, nuclear weapons are banned from Okinawa and its use as a base for staging to wars in Asia is to be limited.

1972 – Five burglars are arrested in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, D.C. James McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzales, and Eugenio Martinez were apprehended in the early morning after a security guard at the Watergate noticed that several doors leading from the stairwell to various hallways had been taped to prevent them from locking. The intruders were wearing surgical gloves and carrying walkie-talkies, cameras, and almost $2,300 in sequential $100 bills. A subsequent search of their rooms at the Watergate turned up an additional $4,200, burglary tools, and electronic bugging equipment. Although there was no immediate explanation as to the objective of the break-in, an extensive investigation ensued, eventually unveiling a comprehensive scheme of political sabotage and espionage designed to discredit Democratic candidates. McCord, who was one of the burglars, was also Richard Nixon’s security chief for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Nixon campaign funds were ultimately linked back to the Watergate break-in.

In addition, equipment used during the burglary had been borrowed from the CIA. In the fall of 1972, Nixon was re-elected into office, but the probe continued. FBI agents soon established that hundreds of thousands of dollars in Nixon campaign contributions had been set aside to pay for a massive undercover anti-Democratic operation. According to federal investigators, CREEP had forged letters and distributed them under Democratic candidate’s letterhead, leaked false and manufactured information to the press, seized confidential Democratic campaign files, and followed Democratic candidates’ families in order to gather damaging information. During an interview with the Senate select Watergate committee on July 13, 1973, former White House aide Alexander Butterfield revealed that Nixon had been taping all of his conversations and telephone calls in the White House since 1971.

After losing a battle in the Supreme Court to keep these tapes private, Nixon was heard approving the cover-up of the Watergate burglary less than a week after it happened. During a June 20, 1972, discussion of the Watergate scandal between the President and former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, an 18 1/4-minute gap had been inexplicably erased, causing frustration and speculation from investigators. On August 9, 1974, President Nixon resigned-the first U.S. president to do so. However, newly elected President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon a month later, saving him from facing criminal charges. Liddy later asserted that John Dean was really after a brochure of call-girl pictures kept by DNC secretary Ida Wells that included a picture of Dean’s girlfriend, Maureen Biner.

1972 – Chilean president Allende formed a new government and the CIA prepared to oust him.

1979 – Colonel Valeria Hilgart became the first woman Marine to assume duty as chief of staff of a major command (Albany, Georgia).

1983 – National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS) began operations under the direction of Vice President George Bush and the executive board consisting of Secretaries of State, Transportation and Defense, the Attorney General, the Counselor to the President, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the White House Drug Abuse Policy Office. “U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps airborne and seaborne craft, intelligence, technology, surveillance, and manpower now are used to augment operations by the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The system provides a coordinated national and international interagency network for prioritizing interdiction targets, identifying resources, recommending the most effective action, and coordinating joint special actions.”

1991 – The remains of President Zachary Taylor were briefly exhumed in Louisville, Kentucky, to test a theory that Taylor had died of arsenic poisoning. Results showed death was from natural causes.

1991 – The U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) is established to monitor Iraqi disarmament.

1992 – President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a breakthrough arms-reduction agreement. Addressing Congress, Yeltsin pledged to find any American prisoners of war still being held in Russia.

1996 – The Middle East Economic Digest reports that Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) will soon sign 3-month sales contracts with foreign oil companies. The United Nations selects France-based Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) to hold the escrow account for Iraqi oil sales, the proceeds of which will be used by the U.N. for humanitarian purposes. Iraq could begin exporting oil under U.N. Security Council Resolution 986as early as late September 1996.

1997 – Mir Aimal Kasi, suspected in the shooting deaths of two CIA employees outside agency headquarters in January 1993, was brought to Fairfax, Va., to face trial after being arrested in Pakistan. He was later convicted and sentenced to death.

2003 – A US federal appeals court ruled the government properly withheld names and other details about hundreds of foreigners who were detained in the months after the September 11th attacks.

2004 – The US bipartisan commission investigating the September 11th attacks released its final report.

2004 – In Afghanistan fighters loyal to several regional warlords stormed Chagcharan, a provincial capital of western Ghor province, and forced the governor to flee. The fledgling Afghan National Army was deployed and soon restored order.

2004 – Algerian troops killed one of North Africa’s most-wanted terrorist leaders, who allied his group with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Nabil Sahraoui (also known as Abu Ibrahim Mustapha), one of his key right-hand men and a “good number” of other Salafist lieutenants were killed in a military sweep.

2004 – Pakistan’s army killed Nek Mohammed, a renegade tribal leader accused of sheltering al-Qaida fighters, tracing him to a mud-brick compound near Wana via a satellite phone and then leveling the building in a helicopter assault. Army troops killed 30 tribesman suspected of shielding al-Qaida fugitives. As many as 70 “foreign terrorists” were also killed in the operation.

2006 – The Second Battle of Ramadi was fought for control of the capital of the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq. A combined force of U.S. Soldiers, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy SEALs, and Iraqi Security Forces fought insurgents for control of key locations in Ramadi, including the Government Center and the General Hospital. Coalition strategy relied on establishing a number of patrol bases called Combat Operation Posts throughout the city. U.S. military officers believe that insurgent actions during the battle led to the formation of the Anbar Awakening.

In August, insurgents executed a tribal sheik who was encouraging his kinsmen to join the Iraqi police and prevented his body from being buried in accordance with Islamic laws. In response, Sunni sheiks banded together to drive insurgents from Ramadi. In September 2006, Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha formed the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of approximately 40 Sunni tribes. The battle also marked the first use of chlorine bombs by insurgents during the war. On October 21, 2006, insurgents detonated a car-bomb with two 100-pound chlorine tanks, injuring three Iraqi policemen and a civilian in Ramadi.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BROSNAN, JOHN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 164th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 18 January 1894. Citation: Rescued a wounded comrade who lay exposed to the enemy’s fire, receiving a severe wound in the effort.

CHANDLER, HENRY F.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 59th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Andover, Mass. Date of issue: 30 March 1898. Citation: Though seriously wounded in a bayonet charge and directed to go to the rear he declined to do so, but remained with his regiment and helped to carry the breastworks.

DI CESNOLA, LOUIS P.
Rank and organization: Colonel, 4th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Aldie, Va., 17 June 1863. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 29 June 1832, Rivarola, Piedmont, Italy. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: Was present, in arrest, when, seeing his regiment fall back, he rallied his men, accompanied them, without arms, in a second charge, and in recognition of his gallantry was released from arrest. He continued in the action at the head of his regiment until he was desperately wounded and taken prisoner.

DICKEY, WILLIAM D.
Rank and organization: Captain, Battery M, 15th New York Heavy Artillery. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Newburgh, N.Y. Born: 11 January 1845, Newburgh, N.Y. Date of issue: 10 June 1896. Citation: Refused to leave the field, remaining in command after being wounded by a piece of shell, and led his command in the assault on the enemy’s works on the following day.

HARBOURNE, JOHN H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company K, 29th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Born: 9 September 1840, England. Date of issue: 24 February 1897. Citation: Capture of flag along with 3 enemy men.

MEYER, HENRY C.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company D, 24th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. Birth: Hamburg, N.Y. Date of issue: 29 March 1899. Citation: During an assault and in the face of a heavy fire rendered heroic assistance to a wounded and helpless officer, thereby saving his life and in the performance of this gallant act sustained a severe wound.

MONAGHAN, PATRICK
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Minersville, Pa. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Recapture of colors of 7th New York Heavy Artillery.

MORRISON, FRANCIS
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 85th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Bermuda Hundred, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Drakestown, Pa. Birth: Fayette County, Pa. Date of issue: 2 August 1897. Citation: Voluntarily exposed himself to a heavy fire to bring off a wounded comrade.

PLOWMAN, GEORGE H.
Rank and organization: Sergeant Major, 3d Maryland Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: England. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Recaptured the colors of the 2d Pennsylvania Provisional Artillery.

REID, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Pottsville, Pa. Birth: Scotland. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 44th Tennessee Infantry (C.S.A.).

ROWE, HENRY W.
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 11th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Candia, N.H. Born: April 1840, Candia, N.H. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: With 2 companions, he rushed and disarmed 27 enemy pickets, capturing a stand of flags.

STRAUSBAUGH, BERNARD A.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 3d Maryland Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Warfordsburg, Pa. Birth: Adams County, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Recaptured the colors of 2d Pennsylvania Provisional Artillery.

WAGEMAN, JOHN H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 60th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Amelia, Ohio. Birth: Clermont County, Ohio. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: Remained with the command after being severely wounded until he had fired all the cartridges in his possession, when he had to be carried from the field.

YOUNG, BENJAMIN F.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company I, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 17 June 1864. Entered service at: Canada. Born: 1844, Canada. Date of issue: % December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 35th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.).

McGANN, MICHAEL A.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company F, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Rosebud River, Mont., 17 June 1876. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 9 August 1880. Citation: Gallantry in action.

PARNELL, WILLIAM R.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 1st U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White Bird Canyon, Idaho, 17 June 1877. Entered service at: New York. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 16 September 1897. Citation: With a few men, in the face of a heavy fire from pursuing Indians and at imminent peril, returned and rescued a soldier whose horse had been killed and who had been left behind in the retreat.

ROBINSON, JOSEPH
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company D, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Rosebud River, Mont., 17 June 1876. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 23 January 1880. Citation: Discharged his duties while in charge of the skirmish line under fire with judgment and great coolness and brought up the lead horses at a critical moment.

SHINGLE, JOHN H.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Troop 1, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Rosebud River, Mont., 17 June 1876. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 1 June 1880. Citation: Gallantry in action.

SNOW, ELMER A.
Rank and organization: Trumpeter, Company M, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Rosebud Creek, Mont., 17 June 1876. Entered service at: ——. Birth. Hardwick, Mass. Date of issue: 16 October 1877. Citation. Bravery in action; was wounded in both arms.

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18 June

1778 – After almost nine months of occupation, the 15,000 British troops under Sir Henry Clinton evacuate Philadelphia, the former U.S. capital. The British position in Philadelphia had become untenable after France’s entrance into the war on the side of the Americans. To avoid the French fleet, General Clinton was forced to lead his British-Hessian force to New York City by land. Loyalists in the city sailed down the Delaware River to escape the Patriots, who returned to Philadelphia the day after the British departure. U.S. General Benedict Arnold, who led the force that reclaimed the city without bloodshed, was appointed military governor. On June 24, the Continental Congress returned from its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania. On September 26, 1777, Philadelphia was captured by the British following Patriot General George Washington’s defeats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds. British General William Howe had made Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, the focus of his campaign, but the Patriot government had deprived him of the decisive victory he hoped for by moving its operations to the more secure site of York one week before. Nine months later, the Continental Congress returned.

1812 – The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law–and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the “War Hawks” had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States. In the months after President Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington, D.C., fell to the British in August.

In Washington, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers. In September, the tide of the war turned when Thomas Macdonough’s American naval force won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain. The invading British army was forced to retreat back into Canada. The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U.S.-British peace negotiations in Belgium, and on December 24, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, formally ending the War of 1812.

By the terms of the agreement, all conquered territory was to be returned, and a commission would be established to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada. British forces assailing the Gulf Coast were not informed of the treaty in time, and on January 8, 1815, the U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson achieved the greatest American victory of the war at the Battle of New Orleans. The American public heard of Jackson’s victory and the Treaty of Ghent at approximately the same time, fostering a greater sentiment of self-confidence and shared identity throughout the young republic.

1862 – Commander S.P. Lee submitted a demand from Flag Officer Farragut and General Butler for the surrender of Vicksburg; Confederate authorities refused and a year long land and water assault on the stronghold began.

1863 – After repeated acts of insubordination, General John McClernand was relieved by General Ulysses S. Grant during the siege of Vicksburg.

1863 – Rear Admiral Farragut in U.S.S. Monongahela steamed down river from Port Hudson to Plaquemine, Louisiana, where a raid by a company of Confederate cavalry had burned two Army transports. It was feared that the Confederate intent was to capture Donaldsonville, Louisiana, cutting off the flow of supplies between New Orleans and General Banks before Port Hudson. U.S.S. Winona, Lieutenant Commander Aaron ‘V. Weaver, shelled the Confederate cavalrymen from the town.

1864 – At Petersburg, Union General Ulysses S. Grant realized the town could no longer be taken by assault and settled into a siege.

1864 – Union war hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is severely wounded at Petersburg, Virginia, while leading an attack on a Confederate position. Chamberlain, a college professor from Maine, took a sabbatical to enlist in the Union army. As commander of the 20th Maine, he earned distinction at Gettysburg when he shored up the Union left flank and helped save Little Round Top for the Federals. His bold counterattack against the Confederates earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. His wound at Petersburg was the most serious of the six he received during the war. Doctors in the field hospital pronounced his injury fatal, and Union General Ulysses S. Grant promoted him to brigadier general as a tribute to his service and bravery.

Miraculously, he survived and spent the rest of the Petersburg campaign convalescing at his Maine home. He returned to the Army of the Potomac in time for Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, and he was given the honor of accepting the arms of the Confederate infantry. Chamberlain returned to Maine after the war and served four terms as governor. He then became president of Bowdoin College—the institution that had refused to release him for military service—and held the position until 1883. Chamberlain remained active in veterans’ affairs and, like many soldiers, attended regimental reunions and kept alive the camaraderie created during the war. He was present for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg in 1913, one year before he died of an infection from the wound he suffered at Petersburg.

1878 – Congress established the U.S. Life-Saving Service as a separate agency under the control of the Treasury Department (20 Stat. L., 163).

1878 – The 45th Congress enacted a rider on an Army appropriations bill that became known as the Posse Comitatus Act [Chapter 263, Section 15, U.S. Statutes, Vol. 20.] This act limited active-duty military involvement in civil law enforcement leaving the Revenue Cutter Service as the only military force consistently charged with federal law enforcement on the high seas and in U.S. waters and the militia, later to become the National Guard, available for such duty.

The rider prohibited the use of the Army in domestic civilian law enforcement without Constitutional or Congressional authority. The use of the Navy was prohibited by regulation and the rider was amended in 1976 outlawing the use of the Air Force. In 1981, however, new legislation allowed the Secretary of Defense to bring Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps support to civilian authorities in intelligence, equipment, base and research facilities, and related training.

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1900 – Empress Douairisre ordered I-Ho-Chuan (the Boxers) to kill all foreigners.

1903 – 1st transcontinental auto trip began in SF and arrived in NY 3-months later.

1918 – Allied forces on the Western Front began their largest counter-attack against the spent German army.

1942 – The U.S. Navy commissioned its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.

1944 – On Saipan, elements of the US 5th Amphibious Corps continue to make progress. The 4th Marine Division reaches the west side of the island at Magicienne Bay. This advance divides the Japanese garrison. Elements of the 27th Division capture Aslito airfield. Japanese air strikes sink 1 American destroyers and 2 tankers as well as damaging the escort carrier Fanshaw Bay. Most of the American air and naval support has withdrawn to meet the approaching Japanese fleet.

1944 – The main US carrier forces rendezvous west of the Mariana Islands. Japanese scout planes sight the American fleet late in the day. The Japanese command intends to launch air strikes next morning, while still beyond range, and fly the aircraft to Guam to refuel and rearm.

1944 – Elements of the French Expeditionary Corps (part of US 5th Army), in the west, enter Radicofani.

1945 – On instructions from Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister Suzuki tells the Japanese Supreme Council that it is the intention of Hirohito to seek peace with the Allies as soon as possible.

1945 – On Okinawa, the remnants of the Japanese 32nd Army continue to offer determined resistance to attacks of the US 3rd Amphibious Corps and the US 24th Corps. Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner, commanding US 10th Army, is killed by Japanese artillery fire while he is on a visit to the front line, inspecting troops of the US 8th Marine Division. He is temporarily replaced by General Geiger, commanding the US 3rd Amphibious Corps.

1945 – On Luzon, elements of the US 37th Division, supported by an armored column, advance in the Caygayan valley, capturing Ilagan airfield and crossing the Ilagan River. On Mindanao, organized Japanese resistance comes to an end. Forces of the Japanese 35th Army have been cut off and dependent on roots and tree bark for food for some time now. Nonetheless, some small units of Japanese continue to resist.

1945 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower received a tumultuous welcome in Washington, where he addressed a joint session of Congress. Eisenhower went on to meet Pres. Harry Truman and the 2 men established a warm relationship that later soured. In 2001 Steve Neal authored “Harry and Ike: The Relationship That Remade the Postwar World.”

1945 – Organized Japanese resistance ended on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.

1953 – ROK President Syngman Rhee ordered ROK guards to release 25,000 North Korean prisoners who did not wish to be repatriated. This unilateral action by Rhee threatened to derail armistice negotiations.

1953 – U.S. Air Force Captains Lonnie R. Moore and Ralph S. Parr of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing became the 33rd and 34th aces of the war. Their F-86s were named “Billie/Margie” and “Barb/Vent De Mort.”

1954 – Albert Patterson was assassinated in Phenix, Alabama. He had recently been elected as attorney general on a platform to crack down on vice. His murder led the governor to call in the National Guard to replace local law enforcement and cleanup the vice. Patterson’s son John filled the attorney general position. He was elected governor in 1958.

1957 – CNO approves ship characteristics of the Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine.

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1964 – In a meeting with North Vietnam’s Premier Pham Van Dong, J. Blair Seaborn, the chief Canadian delegate to the International Control Commission, is serving as a secret envoy for the US government for he has been authorized to appraise the situation in Hanoi, specifically, to see whether the North Vietnamese leaders are ready to pull back from the war. Although Seaborn is not authorized to make any literal threats, he leaves the Premier with little doubt that the United States was prepared to ‘carry the war to the North…if pushed too far.’ Seaborn, however, was not informed about, nor authorized to convey a package of proposals including the withdrawal of US forces and various forms of economic aid if Hanoi would halt hostilities in South Vietnam. When Seaborn returns to Saigon and sends two long reports to the US State Department, no action is taken by the US authorities.

1965 – For the first time, 28 B-52s fly-bomb a Viet Cong concentration in a heavily forested area of Binh Duong Province northwest of Saigon. Such flights, under the aegis of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), became known as Operation Arc Light. The B-52s that took part in the Arc Light missions had been deployed to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and more bombers were later deployed to bases in Okinawa and U-Tapao, Thailand. In addition to supporting ground tactical operations, B-52s were used to interdict enemy supply lines in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and later to strike targets in North Vietnam. Releasing their bombs from 30,000 feet, the B-52s could neither be seen nor heard from the ground as they inflicted awesome damage. B-52s were instrumental in breaking up enemy concentrations besieging Khe Sanh in 1968 and An Loc in 1972. Between June 1965 and August 1973, 126,615 B-52 sorties were flown over Southeast Asia. During those operations, the Air Force lost 29 B-52s: 17 from hostile fire over North Vietnam and 12 from operational causes.

1966 – General William Westmoreland, senior U.S. military commander in Vietnam, sends a new troop request to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Westmoreland stated that he needed 542,588 troops for the war in Vietnam in 1967–an increase of 111,588 men to the number already serving there. In the end, President Johnson acceded to Westmoreland’s wishes and dispatched the additional troops to South Vietnam, but the increases were done in an incremental fashion. The highest number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam was 543,500, which was reached in 1969.

1979 – During a summit meeting in Vienna, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II agreement dealing with limitations and guidelines for nuclear weapons. The treaty, which never formally went into effect, proved to be one of the most controversial U.S.-Soviet agreements of the Cold War. The SALT-II agreement was the result of many nagging issues left over from the successful SALT-I treaty of 1972. Though the 1972 treaty limited a wide variety of nuclear weapons, many issues remained unresolved. Talks between the United States and the Soviet Union began almost immediately after SALT-I was ratified by both nations in 1972. Those talks failed to achieve any new breakthroughs, however. By 1979, both the United States and Soviet Union were eager to revitalize the process.

For the United States, fear that the Soviets were leaping ahead in the arms race was the primary motivator. For the Soviet Union, the increasingly close relationship between America and communist China was a cause for growing concern. In June 1979, Carter and Brezhnev met in Vienna and signed the SALT-II agreement. The treaty basically established numerical equality between the two nations in terms of nuclear weapons delivery systems. It also limited the number of MIRV missiles (missiles with multiple, independent nuclear warheads). In truth, the treaty did little or nothing to stop, or even substantially slow down, the arms race. Nevertheless, it met with unrelenting criticism in the United States. The treaty was denounced as a “sellout” to the Soviets, one that would leave America virtually defenseless against a whole range of new weapons not mentioned in the agreement. Even supporters of arms control were less than enthusiastic about the treaty, since it did little to actually control arms. Debate over SALT-II in the U.S. Congress continued for months.

In December 1979, however, the Soviets launched an invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet attack effectively killed any chance of SALT-II being passed, and Carter ensured this by withdrawing the treaty from the Senate in January 1980. SALT-II thus remained signed, but unratified. During the 1980s, both nations agreed to respect the agreement until such time as new arms negotiations could take place.

1983 – From Cape Canaveral, Florida, the space shuttle Challenger is launched into space on its second mission with Dr. Sally Ride, who as a mission specialist became the first American woman to travel into space. During the six-day mission, Ride, an astrophysicist from Stanford, operated the shuttle’s robot arm, which she had helped design. Her historic journey was preceded almost 20 years to the day by cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova of the Soviet Union, who on June 16, 1963, became the first woman ever to travel into space. The United States had screened a group of female pilots in 1959 and 1960 for possible astronaut training but later decided to restrict astronaut qualification to men. In 1978, NASA changed its policy and announced that it had approved six women to become the first female astronauts in the U.S. space program. The new astronauts were chosen out of some 3,000 original applicants. Among the six were Sally Ride and Shannon Lucid, who in 1996 set a new space endurance record for an American and a world endurance record for a woman during her 188-day sojourn on the Russian space station Mir.

1984 – Radio talk host Alan Berg, the self-described “man you love to hate,” is gunned down in the driveway of his home in Denver, Colorado. With his own show on KOA aiming to stir up controversy, Berg was used to receiving an endless stream of death threats. He had reportedly once said, “You never know where the nuts are going to come from so you live day by day.” One of the suspects, Bruce Pierce-leader of a neo-Nazi organization called the Order-was arrested nearly a year later in Georgia, driving a van that contained machine guns, grenades, dynamite, and a crossbow. His right-wing extremist group had been linked to many armored-car robberies in the West. David Lane and Richard Scutari, Pierce’s alleged accomplices, were caught a short time later. Authorities believed that Robert Matthews, the founder of the Order, was also involved, but he had died in a fire caused by a shootout with FBI agents in Seattle, Washington, in December 1984. After Pierce, Lane, and Scutari were charged with violating Berg’s civil rights, a jury concluded that Pierce had been responsible for shooting Berg, while Lane had driven the getaway car. Scutari was acquitted.

1987 – Charles Glass, a journalist on leave from ABC News, was kidnapped in Lebanon. (Glass escaped his captors the following August.)

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1995 – The Bosnian Serbs announced the resumption of cooperation with the UN. Serbs released the last 26 UN hostages held since NATO airstrikes.

1996 – Federal prosecutors in California charged Theodor J. Kaczynski, the UNABOM suspect, in four of the Unabomber attacks He was indicted by a federal grand jury for two killings in Sacramento.

1996 – Two Army transport helicopters collided and crashed during training exercises near Fort Campbell, Ky., killing six and injuring 33.

1999 – The US and Russia agreed on terms for Russian participation in Kosovo peacekeeping.

1999 – NATO peacekeepers took 25 KLA members into custody after finding 15 Gypsy prisoners they had mistreated. Serb media reported that KLA fighters had killed 3 Serbs in Novo Selo and kidnapped 18 Serbs near Pristina.

1999 – The CGC Midgett departed its homeport of Seattle for a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Midgett was attached to a Navy carrier battle group. The Midgett’s crew brought the Coast Guard’s expertise in boarding ships to the battle group. Once in the Gulf, the cutter’s primary mission was to enforce United Nations’ sanctions against illegal Iraq petroleum shipments and conduct SAR operations.

2000 – A US F-14 Tomcat fighter jet crashed during an air show at Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Two naval aviators were killed.

2001 – The US Navy dropped dummy bombs on Vieques island. A number of protesters were arrested for trespassing.

2001 – In Yemen 15 suspected terrorists were arrested. US FBI investigators had pulled out on June 17 under a security threat.

2002 – President Bush sent to Congress his detailed proposal for creation of a new Homeland Security Department.

2002 – Saudi Arabia announced its first al-Qaida-related arrests since Sept. 11 and said it was holding 11 Saudis, an Iraqi and a Sudanese man behind a plot to shoot down a U.S. military plane taking off from a Saudi air base.

2004 – In southern Afghanistan Taliban insurgents attacked a government office in Mizan, sparking a gunfight with Afghan troops that killed seven people.

2004 – South Korea said it will send 3,000 soldiers to northern Iraq beginning in early August to assist the U.S.-led coalition.

2004 – A Saudi al-Qaida group said it killed American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., posting three photos on the internet showing his body and severed head.

2004 – Saudi security forces killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin (31), a top al-Qaida leader, and three other militants in Riyadh.

2004 – The U.N. atomic watchdog agency censured Iran for past cover-ups in its nuclear program in a resolution, warning Tehran to be more forthcoming.

2007 – Operation Arrowhead Ripper began when Multi-National Division-North commenced offensive operations against Al-Qaeda positions in Baquba in Diyala province where fighting had already been going on for months. The operation started with air assaults under the cover of darkness in Baquba. Heavy street fighting lasted throughout the first day of the operation, mainly in the center of the city and around the main city market. On 22 June, Coalition attack helicopters killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen and the vehicle they were using southwest of Khalis in Diyala province. By 19 August, at least 227 insurgents had been killed in Baquba.

2013 – The handover of security from NATO to Afghan forces was completed. The International Security Assistance Force formally handed over control of the last 95 districts to Afghan forces at a ceremony attended by President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a military academy outside Kabul. Following the handover, Afghan forces will have the lead for security in all 403 districts of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Before the handover they were responsible for 312 districts nationwide, where 80 percent of Afghanistan’s population of nearly 30 million lives.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

CLARK, JAMES G.
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 88th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 18 June 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germantown, Pa. Date of issue: 30 April 1892. Citation: Distinguished bravery in action; was severely wounded.

LEONARD, EDWIN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 37th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: Near Petersburg, Va., 18 June 1864. Entered service at: Agawan, Mass. Birth: Agawan, Mass. Date of issue: 16 August 1894. Citation: Voluntarily exposed himself to the fire of a Union brigade to stop their firing on the Union skirmish line.

LUDWIG, CARL
Rank and organization: Private, 34th New York Battery. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 18 June 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: France. Date of issue: 30 July 1896. Citation: As gunner of his piece, inflicted singly a great loss upon the enemy and distinguished himself in the removal of the piece while under a heavy fire.

MOSTOLLER, JOHN W.
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 54th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Lynchburg, Va., 18 June 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Somerset County, Pa. Date of issue: 27 December 1894. Citation: Voluntarily led a charge on a Confederate battery (the officers of the company being disabled) and compelled its hasty removal.

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19 June

1586 – English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island, N.C. after failing to establish England’s first permanent settlement in America.

1778 – General George Washington’s troops finally left Valley Forge, Pennsylvania after a winter of training. Washington left to intercept the British force on its way to New York City.

1786 – General Nathanael Greene died of sunstroke at his Georgia plantation.

1794 – Richard Henry Lee (born 1732) statesman, Declaration of Independence signer, died.

1811 – Samuel P. Chase (born April 1741), judge, jurist, Supreme Court Justice, revolutionary, attorney, Declaration of Independence signer; picture on a $10000 bill, died.

1845 – The Secretary of the Treasury had Lieutenants Thornton A. Jenkins and Richard Bache detailed from the Navy and sent abroad to procure information that might tend to the improvement of the lighthouse system of the United States. Subsequently, when the Secretary submitted the report of these two naval officers and asked that a board be appointed to consider thoroughly the matter of lighthouse improvements. No legislative action resulted.

1862 – Slavery was outlawed in U.S. territories. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation. News of the document reached the south and Texas through General Gordon Granger.

1863 – A naval battery mounted to fire across the river at Cerro Gordo, Tennessee, manned by crew from U.S.S. Robb, Acting Ensign Hanford, was hotly engaged by Confederate troops. Hanford reported: “They [the Confederates] charged four abreast (dismounted) and came to within 20 yards of the cannon’s mouth, while canister was being fired into them like rain.”

1864 – Skirmish at Pine Knob Georgia.

1864 – USS Kearsarge sinks CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France. “The day being Sunday and the weather fine, a large concourse of people-many having come all the way from Paris collected on the heights above the town [Cherbourg], in the upper stories of such of the houses as commanded a view of the sea, and on the walls and fortifications of the harbor. Several French luggers employed as pilot-boats went out, and also an English steam-yacht, called the Deerhound. Everything being in readiness between nine and ten o’clock, we got underway, and proceeded to sea, through the western entrance of the harbor; the Couronne [French ironclad] following us. As we emerged from behind the mole, we discovered the Kearsarge at a distance of between six and seven miles from the land. She had been apprised or our intention of coming out that morning, and was awaiting us.” Thus Captain Raphael Semmes drew the scene as the historic Kearsarge-Alabama battle unfolded. Alabama mounted 8 guns to Kearsarge’s 7. Yet, Captain Winslow of Kearsarge enjoyed a superiority in eight of broadside including two heavy XI-inch Dahlgren guns while Semmes had but one heavy gun, an VIlI-inch. Perhaps his greatest advantage was superior ammuni-tion, since Alabama’s had deteriorated during her long cruise. Furthermore, Winslow had protected the sides of his ship and the vulnerable machinery by hanging heavy chains over the sides from topside to below the waterline. Kearsarge’s complement numbered 163; Alabama’s, 149.

The antagonists closed to about one and a half miles, when Semmes opened the action with a starboard broadside. Within minutes the firing became fierce from both ships as they fought starboard to starboard on a circular course. Lieutenant Sinclair, CSN, wrote: “Semmes would have chosen to bring about yard-arm quarters, fouling, and boarding, relying upon the superior physique of his crew to overbalance the superiority of numbers; but this was frustrated.” Shot and shell from the heavier guns of Kearsarge crashed into Alabama’s hull, while the Union sloop of war, her sides protected by the chain armor, suffered only minor damage. One shell from Alabama lodged in the Kearsarge’s sternpost but failed to explode. “If it had exploded,” wrote John M. McKenzie, who was only 16 years old at the time of the battle, “the Kearsarge would have gone to the bottom instead of the Alabama. But our ammunition was old and had lost its strength.” Southern casualties were heavy as both sides fought valiantly. “

After the lapse of about one hour and ten minutes,” Semmes reported, “our ship was ascertained to be in a sinking condition, the enemy’s shells having exploded in our side, and between decks, opening large apertures through which the water rushed with great rapidity. For some few minutes I had hopes of being able to reach the French coast, for which purpose I gave the ship all steam, and set such of the fore and aft sails as were available. The ship filled so rapidly, however, that before we had made much progress, the fires were extinguished in the furnaces, and we were evidently on the point of sinking. I now hauled down my colors to prevent the further destruction of life, and dispatched a boat to inform the enemy of our condition.”

Alabama settled stern first and her bow raised high in the air as the waters of the English Channel closed over her. Boats from Kearsarge and French boats rescued the survivors. The English yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr. John Lancaster, picked up Captain Semmes with 13 of his officers and 27 crew members and carried them to Southampton. The spectacular career of the Confederacy’s most famous raider was closed. Before her last battle Semmes reminded his men: “You have destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, one-half of the enemy’s commerce, which, at the beginning of the war, covered every sea. Alabama had captured and burned at sea 55 Union merchantmen valued at over four and one-half million dollars, and had bonded 10 others to the value of 562 thousand dollars. Another prize, Conrad, was commissioned C.S.S. Tuscaloosa, and herself struck at Northern shipping. Flag Officer Barron lamented: “It is true that we have lost our ship; the ubiquitous gallant Alabama is no more, but we have lost no honor.”

For Winslow and Kearsarge the victory was well deserved and rewarding. Throughout the North news of Alabama’s end was greeted with jubilation and relief. Secretary Welles wrote the Captain: “I congratulate you for your good fortune in meeting the Alabama, which had so long avoided the fastest ships of the service . . . for the ability displayed in the contest you have the thanks of the Department. . . . The battle was so brief, the victory so decisive, and the comparative results so striking that the country will be reminded of the brilliant actions of our infant Navy, which have been repeated and illustrated in this engagement . . . Our countrymen have reason to be satisfied that in this, as in every naval action of this unhappy war, neither the ships, the guns, nor the crews have deteriorated, but that they maintain the ability and continue the renown which have ever adorned our naval annals.” Winslow received a vote of thanks from Congress, and was promoted to Commodore with his commission dated 19 June 1864, his victory day.

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1865 – Emancipation Day, also known as Juneteenth, was the day that Union General Granger informed Texas slaves that they were free. Blacks came to celebrate the day as Juneteenth Freedom Day.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, arrives in New York City’s harbor. Originally known as “Liberty Enlightening the World,” the statue was proposed by French historian Edouard Laboulaye to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the 151-foot statue was the form of a woman with an uplifted arm holding a torch. In February 1877, Congress approved the use of a site on New York Bedloe’s Island, which was suggested by Bartholdi. In May 1884, the statue was completed in France, and three months later the Americans laid the cornerstone for its pedestal in New York.

On June 19, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty arrived in the New World, enclosed in more than 200 packing cases. Its copper sheets were reassembled, and the last rivet of the monument was fitted on October 28, 1886, during a dedication presided over by U.S. President Grover Cleveland. On the pedestal was inscribed “The New Colossus,” a famous sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus that welcomed immigrants to the United States with the declaration, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. / I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” Six years later, Ellis Island, adjacent to Bedloe’s Island, opened as the chief entry station for immigrants to the United States, and for the next 32 years more than 12 million immigrants were welcomed into New York harbor by the sight of “Lady Liberty.” In 1924, the Statue of Liberty was made a national monument.

1868 – Attempting to convince hostile Indians to make peace with the United States, the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet meets with the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in present-day Montana. A native of Belgium, De Smet came to the United States in 1821 at the age of 20. He became a novitiate of the Jesuit order in Maryland and was subsequently ordained in St. Louis. As a priest, De Smet’s ambition was to be a missionary to the Native Americans of the Far West. In 1838, he was sent to proselytize among the Potawatomi villages near today’s Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, he met a delegation of Flathead Indians who had come east seeking a “black robe” whom they hoped might be able to bring the power of the Christian god to aid their tribe.

During the 1840s, De Smet made several trips to work with the Flathead in present-day western Montana. He established a thriving mission and eventually secured a peace treaty with the Flathead’s previously irreconcilable enemy, the Blackfeet. A genuine friend to the Native Americans, De Smet earned a reputation as a white man who could be trusted to fairly negotiate disputes between Indians and the American government. During the 1860s, such disputes became increasingly common in the West, where Plains Indians like the Sioux and Cheyenne resisted the growing flood of white settlers invading their territories. The U.S. government began to demand that all the Plains Indians relocate to reservations. Leaders in the American government and military hoped the relocation could be achieved through negotiations, but they were also perfectly willing to use violence to force the Indians to comply.

One of the principal leaders of the so-called “hostile” Indians that resisted relocation was the great Chief of the Teton Sioux, Sitting Bull. In May 1868, the federal government asked De Smet to meet with Sitting Bull to negotiate a peace treaty. The 67-year-old De Smet agreed to try, and on this day in 1868, he met with Sitting Bull at his camp along the Powder River in present-day Montana. Although tensions were high, Sitting Bull had promised to meet De Smet with “arms stretched out, ready to embrace him.” Lest any hotheaded young brave do something foolish, Sitting Bull first talked with De Smet in his own lodge in order to ensure the priest’s safety. The next day, De Smet met with a council that included other chiefs. De Smet was not able to convince Sitting Bull personally to sign a peace treaty. However, the chief did agree to send one of his lesser chiefs to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to sign a treaty in which the Sioux agreed to allow white travel and settlement in specified areas. Although Sitting Bull himself had not agreed to the treaty, the negotiations were a triumph for De Smet.

As one historian later noted, “No White Man has ever come close to equaling his universal appeal to the Indian.” De Smet spent the remaining five years of his life continuing to work for peace with the Plains Indians. Through his books and speaking tours, he also attempted to bring a sympathetic portrait of the Indians to an American public that tended to think of Indians as bloodthirsty savages. Ultimately, however, De Smet was unable to stop the tragic Plains Indian War that eventually forced Sitting Bull and other Indians to leave their homes and move to government-controlled reservations. De Smet died in St. Louis in 1873, three years before Sitting Bull won his greatest victory in his war with the United States at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

1888 – Marines landed in Korea and marched 25 miles to protect the Seoul Legation.

1902 – The US Senate voted in favor of Panama as the canal site. US support for a $40 million purchase was based on Congressional acceptance for a canal in Panama rather than Nicaragua, and the acquisition of land to serve as a canal zone.

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1941 – In retaliation for the closing of all Italian and German consulates in the United States, similar action is taken by Italy and Germany with respect to American consulates.

1942 – Churchill and Roosevelt confer. One of topics discussed are the plans for a Second Front. It has become clear that Operation Sledgehammer, the planned invasion of France will not be possible in 1942. Churchill proposes an attack on French North Africa instead. Also under discussion is the Atomic research program. It is agree that the Americans and British will share their information, but that the research should be concentrated in the United States rather than wartime Britain.

1944 – In the early morning hours Japanese reconnaissance finds US Task Force 58 while remaining undetected. The Japanese immediately launch 372 aircraft, in four waves, to strike the American fleet. Overall, the Japanese have about 550 planes (including those on Guam) while the Americans have roughly 950. Furthermore, US radar provides significant advance warning of the attack. There is enough time to launch an air raid on Guam before the Japanese can arrive over their target. American fighters begin intercepting the incoming Japanese planes while 50 miles away. Many of the attackers are shot down before reaching the American fleet; US anti-aircraft defenses accounts for many more. The only hit achieved by the Japanese is on the USS South Dakota which is damaged by one bomb. The Japanese lose 240 aircraft and the Americans lose 29. The attackers fly on to Guam where American aircraft strike and destroy another 50 Japanese planes. Meanwhile, the Japanese aircraft carriers Taiho and Shokaku are sunk by the US submarines Cavalla and Albacore. American participants refer to the day as “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” because of the ease with which the Japanese forces have been suppressed.

1944 – “Ace of Aces” David McCampbell (1910-1996) and the Fabled 15 challenged 80 Japanese carrier based aircraft bearing down on an American fleet. He shot down 7 Zeroes and the group routed the enemy fliers at the Battle of the Marianas.

1944 – On Biak, the reinforced US 41st Division launches attacks against Japanese strongpoints in the west of the island.

1944 – Elements of the US 1st Army clear Montebourg and Valognes.

1945 – Millions of New Yorkers turned out to cheer Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was honored with a parade.

1945 – Spain is barred from membership in the United Nations organization as long as the Franco regime continue to hold power.

1945 – On Luzon, in the Cagayan Valley, Ilagan is captured by advancing troops of the US 1st Corps.

1945 – On Okinawa, the insistent use of propaganda by means of leaflets and loudspeakers, by the American forces, induces some 343 Japanese troops to surrender. Japanese forces fall back in some disorder along the frontage of the US 3rd Amphibious Corps but continue to resist along the line held by the US 24th Corps.

1947 – The first plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1004 kph) was flown by Albert Boyd in Muroc, California.

1948 – USSR blocked access road to West Berlin.

1948 – Chief of Naval Operations assigns 3 destroyers to U.N. mediator for the Palestine truce.

1951 – President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowered the draft age to 18 years of age.

1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, are put to death in the electric chair. The execution marked the dramatic finale of the most controversial espionage case of the Cold War. Julius was arrested in July 1950, and Ethel in August of that same year, on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage. Specifically, they were accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial in March 1951 they were convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death. The pair was taken to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, to await execution.

During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. Many people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anticommunist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Most Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke for many Americans when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated, “I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.”

Julius Rosenberg was the first to be executed, at about 8pm on June 19, 1953. Just a few minutes after his body was removed from the chamber containing the electric chair, Ethel Rosenberg was led in and strapped to the chair. She was pronounced dead at 8:16 pm Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths. Two sons, Michael and Robert, survived them.

1965 – Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky assumes the premiership of the ninth government to be installed within the last 20 months in the country. The Armed Forces Council had chosen Ky as premier on June 11, and Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu was chosen for the relatively powerless position of chief of state. Having risen to the rank of lieutenant general in the fledgling South Vietnamese Air Force, Ky was one of a group of officers who had seized power earlier in 1965 to end the anarchy that had followed in the wake of the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963. The new premier immediately took steps to strengthen the armed forces. He also instituted needed land reforms, programs for the construction of schools and hospitals, and price controls.

Additionally, his government began a much-touted campaign to remove corrupt officials. At the same time, however, Ky instituted a number of unpopular repressive actions, including a ban on newspapers. In 1966, Buddhists, among other political factions, demanded Ky’s ouster, and protests took place in various cities. The disturbances ended partly as a result of a government crackdown and partly because of a loss of support for the Buddhists among dissident elements of the military. Ky continued in his post until the elections of 1967, when be became Vice President of South Vietnam and Thieu became president. Ky served in that position until 1971, when he chose not to run as an opposition candidate against President Nguyen Van Thieu. He reverted to the rank of Air Marshal in the air force.

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1968 – In a public ceremony at Hue, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu signs a general mobilization bill. Under the new measure, men between the ages of 18 and 43 were subject to induction into the regular armed forces. Men between the ages of 44 and 50 and youths between 16 and 17 years old were eligible to serve in the part-time civilian People’s Self Defense Organization. An estimated 90,000 17-year-olds in the People’s Self Defense Organization would be transferred to the regular army. It was believed that, by the end of 1968, the law would provide for the induction of an additional 200,000 men. This would begin a steady growth in the size of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces that would accelerate under President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization program. There would be 1.1 million men and women in the South Vietnamese forces by the end of 1972.

1969 – Former Secretary of Defense Clifford Clark, writing in Foreign Affairs, proposes a timetable for withdrawal from Vietnam which calls for the removal of 100,000 combat troops in 1969 and an additional 100-150,000 troops by the end of 1970. President Nixon, speaking at a news conference expresses the ‘hope that we could beat Mr. Clifford’s timetable.’

1973 – The Case-Church Amendment prevented further U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

1976 – U.S. Viking 1 went into Martian orbit after a 10-month flight from earth.

1981 – Boeing commercial Chinook 2-rotor helicopter was certified.

1983 – The crew of the space shuttle Challenger, including America’s first woman in space, Sally K. Ride, launched the Indonesian-owned Palapa B communications satellite into orbit.

1985 – On day six of the hijacking of TWA 847, an ABC News reporter was able to briefly interview the plane’s pilot, John L. Testrake, who said from his cockpit window, “We’re OK.” ABC later denied reports that they had paid the terrorists for the interview.

1985 – In El Salvador four off-duty US Marines and 9 others were killed at sidewalk restaurants in the Zona Rosa section of San Salvador. Pedro Antonio Andrade Martinez (aka Mario Gonzalez), a Marxist guerrilla, was one of the reputed masterminds of the attack.

1992 – In a joint operation with INS, the Coast Guard assisted in the seizure of the 167-foot Belize-registered freighter Lucky No. 1, her 15-man crew, and 117 Chinese migrants that were aboard. The seizure took place off Oahu.

1994 – Former President Jimmy Carter, just returned from North Korea, said he believed the crisis with Pyongyang was over following talks with North Korean President Kim Il Sung on how to resolve the nuclear issue.

1995 – US Air Force Captain Jim Wang, a radar officer, was cleared of wrongdoing in a friendly fire attack on 2 US helicopters over northern Iraq in 1994 that resulted in 26 deaths.

1998 – The U.N. Security Council unanimously approves Resolution 1175 allowing Iraq to spend $300 million on spare parts for its oil industry. The spare parts are expected to expand Iraq’s oil export capacity from 1.6 million barrels per day to 1.8-1.9 million barrels per day.

1999 – NATO reached a tentative agreement with leaders of the KLA for the rebel force to gradually disarm, disband and cease military activities in 30 days.

2002 – The space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth with one Russian and two American crewmen who’d spent six and a-half months aboard the international space station.

2002 – In Afghanistan the 9-day grand council ended with the inauguration of Hamid Karzai as president and the approval of his new Cabinet.

2003 – In Iraq The special “Task Force 20” commando team was joined in the convoy operation by an AC-130 gunship and other air support, attacking by ground and air along a known escape and smuggling route near the western city of Qaim.

2003 – Arrest and guilty plea unsealed of Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver who plotted with Osama Bin Laden to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.

2003 – The U.S. Air Force dropped manslaughter and aggravated assault charges against two fighter pilots who’d mistakenly bombed Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. One pilot was waiting trial on a charge of dereliction of duty.

2004 – A US military plane fired missiles into Fallujah, killing 26. The target was a hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror network. 23 of the 26 killed were foreign terrorists. 3 Iraqis were among the dead.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

AHEAM, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Paymaster’s Steward, U.S. Navy. Enlisted in: France. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Carrying out his duties courageously, PmS. Aheam exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended by his divisional officer for gallantry under enemy fire.

BICKFORD, JOHN F.
Rank and organization: Captain of the Top, U.S. Navy. Born: 1843, Tremont, Maine. Accredited to: Maine. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as the first loader of the pivot gun during this bitter engagement Bickford exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by his divisional officer.

BOND, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1839, Boston, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Carrying out his duties courageously, Bond exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by his divisional officer.

HALEY, JAMES
Rank and organization. Captain of the Forecastle, U.S. Navy. Born: 1824, Ireland. Accredited to. Ohio. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as captain of the forecastle on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as captain of a gun during the bitter engagement, Haley exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly commended by his division officer for his gallantry and meritorious achievement under enemy fire.

HAM, MARK G.
Rank and organization: Carpenter’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1820, Portsmouth, N.H. Accredited to: New Hampshire. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Performing his duties intelligently and faithfully, Ham distinguished himself in the face of the bitter enemy fire and was highly commended by his divisional officer.

HARRISON, GEORGE H.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1842, Massachusetts. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No. 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as sponger and loader of the 11-inch pivot gun during the bitter engagement, Harrison exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by the divisional officer.

HAYES, JOHN
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1831, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as second captain of the No. 2 gun during this bitter engagement, Hayes exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by the divisional officer.

LEE, JAMES H.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1840, New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as seaman on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as sponger of the No. 1 gun during this bitter engagement, Lee exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by the divisional officer.

MOORE, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: 25 March 1862, Gibraltar, England. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as seaman on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as sponger and loader of the 1 l_inch pivot gun of the second division during this bitter engagement, Moore exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by the divisional officer.

PEASE, JOACHIM
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: Long Island, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as seaman on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as loader on the No. 2 gun during this bitter engagement, Pease exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended by the divisional officer for gallantry under fire.

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PERRY, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1836 New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as boatswain’s mate on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as captain of the No. 2 gun during this bitter engagement, Perry exhibited marked coolness and good conduct under the enemy fire and was recommended for gallantry by his divisional officer.

POOLE, WILLIAM B.
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1833 Maine. Accredited to: Maine. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Service as quartermaster on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Stationed at the helm, Poole steered the ship during the engagement in a cool and most creditable manner and was highly commended by his divisional officer for his gallantry under fire.

READ, CHARLES A.
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1837, Sweden Accredited to: Ohio. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as coxswain on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as the first sponger of the pivot gun during this bitter engagement, Read exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by his divisional officer.

READ, GEORGE E.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1838, Rhode Island. Accredited to: Rhode Island. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864 Citation: Served as seaman on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as the first loader of the No. 2 gun during this bitter engagement, Read exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by his divisional officer.

SAUNDERS, JAMES
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1809, Massachusetts. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: Served as quartermaster on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Carrying out his duties courageously throughout the bitter engagement, Saunders was prompt in reporting damages done to both ships, and it is testified to by Commodore Winslow that he is deserving of all commendation, both for gallantry and for encouragement of others in his division.

SMITH, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1838, Ireland. Accredited to: New Hampshire. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served as second quartermaster on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as captain of the 11-inch pivot gun of the second division, Smith carried out his duties courageously and deserved special notice for the deliberate and cool manner in which he acted throughout the bitter engagement. It is stated by rebel officers that this gun was more destructive and did more damage than any other gun of Kearsarge.

STRAHAN, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Captain of the Top, U.S. Navy. Birth: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Accredited to: New Jersey. Citation: Served as captain of the top on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864. Acting as captain of the No. 1 gun, Strahan carried out his duties in the face of heavy enemy fire and exhibited marked coolness and good conduct throughout the engagement. Strahan was highly recommended by his division officer for his gallantry and meritorious achievements.

*BAKER, THOMAS A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed.

Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade, who was then himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree . Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier’s pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker’s body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

McCAMPBELL, DAVID
Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy, Air Group 15. Place and date: First and second battles of the Philippine Sea, 19 June 1944. Entered service at: Florida. Born: 16 January 1 910, Bessemer, Ala. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Gold Stars, Air Medal. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commander, Air Group 15, during combat against enemy Japanese aerial forces in the first and second battles of the Philippine Sea. An inspiring leader, fighting boldly in the face of terrific odds, Comdr. McCampbell led his fighter planes against a force of 80 Japanese carrier-based aircraft bearing down on our fleet on 19 June 1944. Striking fiercely in valiant defense of our surface force, he personally destroyed 7 hostile planes during this single engagement in which the outnumbering attack force was utterly routed and virtually annihilated.

During a major fleet engagement with the enemy on 24 October, Comdr. McCampbell, assisted by but l plane, intercepted and daringly attacked a formation of 60 hostile land-based craft approaching our forces. Fighting desperately but with superb skill against such overwhelming airpower, he shot down 9 Japanese planes and, completely disorganizing the enemy group, forced the remainder to abandon the attack before a single aircraft could reach the fleet. His great personal valor and indomitable spirit of aggression under extremely perilous combat conditions reflect the highest credit upon Comdr. McCampbell and the U.S. Naval Service.

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MEAGHER, JOHN
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company E, 305th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Ozato, Okinawa, 19 June 1945. Entered service at: Jersey City, N.J. Birth: Jersey City, N.J. G.O. No.: 60, 26 June 1946. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. In the heat of the fight, he mounted an assault tank, and, with bullets splattering about him, designated targets to the gunner. Seeing an enemy soldier carrying an explosive charge dash for the tank treads, he shouted fire orders to the gunner, leaped from the tank, and bayoneted the charging soldier. Knocked unconscious and his rifle destroyed, he regained consciousness, secured a machinegun from the tank, and began a furious 1-man assault on the enemy. Firing from his hip, moving through vicious crossfire that ripped through his clothing, he charged the nearest pillbox, killing 6. Going on amid the hail of bullets and grenades, he dashed for a second enemy gun, running out of ammunition just as he reached the position. He grasped his empty gun by the barrel and in a violent onslaught killed the crew. By his fearless assaults T/Sgt. Meagher single-handedly broke the enemy resistance, enabling his platoon to take its objective and continue the advance.

LASSEN, CLYDE EVERETT
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, Helicopter Support Squadron 7, Detachment 104, embarked in U.S.S. Preble (DLG-15). place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 19 June 1968. Entered service at: Jacksonville, Fla. Born: 14 March 1942, Fort Myers, Fla. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as pilot and aircraft commander of a search and rescue helicopter, attached to Helicopter Support Squadron 7, during operations against enemy forces in North Vietnam. Launched shortly after midnight to attempt the rescue of 2 downed aviators, Lt. (then Lt. (J.G.)) Lassen skillfully piloted his aircraft over unknown and hostile terrain to a steep, tree-covered hill on which the survivors had been located. Although enemy fire was being directed at the helicopter, he initially landed in a clear area near the base of the hill, but, due to the dense undergrowth, the survivors could not reach the helicopter.

With the aid of flare illumination, Lt. Lassen successfully accomplished a hover between 2 trees at the survivors’ position Illumination was abruptly lost as the last of the flares were expended, and the helicopter collided with a tree, commencing a sharp descent. Expertly righting his aircraft and maneuvering clear, Lt. Lassen remained in the area, determined to make another rescue attempt, and encouraged the downed aviators while awaiting resumption of flare illumination. After another unsuccessful, illuminated rescue attempt, and with his fuel dangerously low and his aircraft significantly damaged, he launched again and commenced another approach in the face of the continuing enemy opposition. When flare illumination was again lost, Lt. Lassen, fully aware of the dangers in clearly revealing his position to the enemy, turned on his landing lights and completed the landing. On this attempt, the survivors were able to make their way to the helicopter. En route to the coast he encountered and successfully evaded additional hostile antiaircraft fire and, with fuel for only 5 minutes of flight remaining, landed safely aboard U.S.S. Jouett (DLG-29) .

RAY, RONALD ERIC
Rank and organization: Captain (then 1st Lt.), U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: la Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 19 June 1966. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 7 December 1941, Cordelle, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Ray distinguished himself while serving as a platoon leader with Company A. When 1 of his ambush patrols was attacked by an estimated reinforced Viet Cong company, Capt. Ray organized a reaction force and quickly moved through 2 kilometers of mountainous jungle terrain to the contact area. After breaking through the hostile lines to reach the beleaguered patrol, Capt. Ray began directing the reinforcement of the site. When an enemy position pinned down 3 of his men with a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire, he silenced the emplacement with a grenade and killed 4 Viet Cong with his rifle fire. As medics were moving a casualty toward a sheltered position, they began receiving intense hostile fire.

While directing suppressive fire on the enemy position, Capt. Ray moved close enough to silence the enemy with a grenade. A few moments later Capt. Ray saw an enemy grenade land, unnoticed, near 2 of his men. Without hesitation or regard for his safety he dove between the grenade and the men, thus shielding them from the explosion while receiving wounds in his exposed feet and legs. He immediately sustained additional wounds in his legs from an enemy machinegun, but nevertheless he silenced the emplacement with another grenade. Although suffering great pain from his wounds, Capt. Ray continued to direct his men, providing the outstanding courage and leadership they vitally needed, and prevented their annihilation by successfully leading them from their surrounded position. Only after assuring that his platoon was no longer in immediate danger did he allow himself to be evacuated for medical treatment. By his gallantry at the risk of his life in the highest traditions of the military service, Capt. Ray has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army .

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20 June

1675 – Abenaki, Massachusetts, Mohegan & Wampanoag Indians formed an anti English front. Wampanoag warriors attacked livestock and looted farms.

1782 – Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States and the American Bald Eagle as its symbol.

1813 – Fifteen U.S. gunboats engage 3 British ships in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1815 – Trials of Fulton I, built by Robert Fulton, are completed in New York. This ship would become the Navy’s first steam-driven warship.

1819 – The paddle-wheel steamship Savannah arrives in Liverpool, England, after a voyage of 27 days and 11 hours–the first steamship to successfully cross the Atlantic.

1820 – The Revenue cutter Diligence captured the Buenos Aires privateer-turned-pirate General Rondeau near Wilmington, North Carolina, after a seven-day chase.

1840 – Samuel F.B. Morse, a popular artist, patented his telegraph.

1862 – Union gunboats occupied the Stono River above Cole’s Island, South Carolina, and shelled Confederate positions there. Flag Officer Du Pont reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles: “The Unadilla, Pembina, and Ottawa, under Commander Marchand . . . succeeded in entering Stono and proceeded up the river above the old Fort opposite Legareville. On their approach the barracks were fired and deserted by the enemy . . . This important base of operations, the Stono, has thus been secured for further operations by the army against Charleston.

1863 – President Lincoln admitted West Virginia as the 35th state.

1863 – A heavy combined Army-Navy bombardment of Vicksburg, lasting 6 hours, hammered Confederate positions. Supporting the Army, Porter pressed mortars, gunboats, and scows into action from 4 a.m. until 10. The naval force met with no opposition, and the Admiral noted: “The only demonstration made by the rebels from the water front was a brisk fire of heavy guns from the upper batteries on two 12-pounder rifled howitzers that were planted n the Louisiana side by General Ellet’s Marine Brigade, which has [sic] much annoyed the enemy for two or three days, and prevented them from getting water.” After this extensive bombardment, reports reached Porter that the Southerners were readying boats with which to make a riverborne evacua-tion of the city. Emphasizing the need for continued vigilance, the Admiral informed his gunboat commanders: “If the rebels start down in their skiffs, the current will drift them to about abreast of the houses where the mortars are laid up, and they will land there. In that case the vessels must push up amidst them, run over them, fire grape and canister and destroy all they can, looking out that they are not boarded.”

1864 – General John Bell Hood’s Confederate force attack William T. Sherman’s troops outside of Atlanta, Georgia, but are repulsed with heavy losses. This was Hood’s first battle as head of the Army of Tennessee. Hood had assumed the command from Joseph Johnston just two days before when Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced Johnston after Sherman backed Johnston into this key Southern city. For nearly three months, Sherman had pushed Johnston southward from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Johnston had blocked each of Sherman’s flanking maneuvers, but in doing so he lost territory. Davis finally lost patience with Johnston, and selected the more offensive-minded Hood to defeat Sherman.Hood wasted little time. He planned to strike the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by General George Thomas, as it crossed Peachtree Creek.

The waterway was deep, and the Confederates destroyed all bridges on their retreat into the outskirts of Atlanta. Hood suspected that the Yankees were most vulnerable when only part of their force was across the creek so he planned a two-pronged assault to hold part of Thomas’ army at bay while the rest could be pinned against Peachtree Creek. It was a sound plan, but poor execution doomed the operation. Scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on July 20, the attack was delayed for three hours while Hood’s troops shifted into position. The overall assault lacked a general coordination, so units charged the Union positions piecemeal. Twenty thousand Rebels assaulted the same number of Yankees, but the delay proved costly. The Confederates achieved some success, but could not drive the Union troops back into Peachtree Creek. After three hours, Hood ordered a halt to the advance. Hood was not deterred. Two days later, he attacked Sherman’s forces again at the Battle of Atlanta.

1864 – Side-wheelers U.S.S. Morse, Lieutenant Commander Babcock, and U.S.S. Cactus, Acting Master Newell Graham, dislodged Confederate batteries which had opened fire on Army supply wagon trains near White House, Virginia. Rear Admiral Lee reported: “Deserters afterwards reported that a force estimated at 10,000 of Wade Hampton’s and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry intended at-tacking our trains, but were deterred from the attempt by the fire of the gunboats.” For three weeks Babcock had supported the Army at White Mouse. The Admiral noted: “I should not fail to call attention to the hearty, efficient, and successful service which Lieutenant Commander Babcock has rendered to the Army in opening and protecting its communications and in repelling the assaults of the enemy.” Next day, U.S.S. Shokokon, Acting Master William B. Sheldon, similarly dispersed an attack on Union transport Eliza Hancox at Cumberland Point, Virginia.

1867 – President Andrew Johnson announced the purchase of Alaska.

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1881 – Five years after General George A. Custer’s infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 of his men at Little Bighorn. Pursued by the U.S. Army after the Indian victory, he escaped to Canada with his followers. Born in the Grand River Valley in what is now South Dakota, Sitting Bull gained early recognition in his Sioux tribe as a capable warrior and a man of vision. In 1864, he fought against the U.S. Army under General Alfred Sully at Killdeer Mountain and thereafter dedicated himself to leading Sioux resistance against white encroachment. He soon gained a following in not only his own tribe but in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Native American groups as well.

In 1867, he was made principal chief of the entire Sioux nation. In 1873, in what would serve as a preview of the Battle of Little Bighorn three years later, an Indian military coalition featuring the leadership of Sitting Bull skirmished briefly with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. In 1876, Sitting Bull was not a strategic leader in the U.S. defeat at Little Bighorn, but his spiritual influence inspired Crazy Horse and the other victorious Indian military leaders. He subsequently fled to Canada, but in 1881, with his people starving, he returned to the United States and surrendered. He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall in South Dakota territory for two years and then was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation straddling North and South Dakota territory.

In 1885, he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show and then returned to Standing Rock. In 1889, the spiritual proclamations of Sitting Bull influenced the rise of the “Ghost Dance,” an Indian religious movement that proclaimed that the whites would disappear and the dead Indians and buffalo would return. His support of the Ghost Dance movement had brought him into disfavor with government officials, and on December 15, 1890, Indian police burst into Sitting Bull’s house in the Grand River area of South Dakota and attempted to arrest him. There is confusion as to what happened next.

By some accounts, Sitting Bull’s warriors shot the leader of the police, who immediately turned and gunned down Sitting Bull. In another account, the police were instructed by Major James McLaughlin, director of the Standing Rock Sioux Agency, to kill the chief at any sign of resistance. Whatever the case, Sitting Bull was fatally shot and died within hours. The Indian police hastily buried his body at Fort Yates within the Standing Rock Reservation. In 1953, his remains were moved into Mobridge, South Dakota, where a granite shaft marks his resting place.

1866 – 50 Marines and Sailors landed at new Chwang, China, to assure punishment for those who attacked an American official.

1894 – During the summer of 1894, the Pullman Palace Car Company was embroiled in what proved to be one of the most bitter strikes in American history. The strike was a direct response to company chief George Pullman and his hardball tactics, most notably his decision in the midst of the Depression of 1893 to preserve profits by slashing wages and hiking up workers’ rents. A band of frustrated employees implored Pullman to ease rents and restore wages; Pullman responded by firing three of the workers. In May, the workers fired back at their avaricious boss by calling a strike. Backed by the organizational muscle of Eugene Debs and the mighty American Railway Union (ARU), the workers touched off a round of sympathy strikes and boycotts that effectively crippled the Chicago-based company. However, Pullman had has own network of powerful allies, including other rail honchos and a number government officials.

In hopes of enlisting the aid of the federal military, Pullman and his cronies convinced the government that the strikes and boycotts were inhibiting the delivery of America’s mail. Though Pullman’s cars didn’t carry any mail, the scheme proved effective: in early July, the government banned the boycotts and swiftly shipped troops to Chicago. Fighting broke out shortly after the government forces hit the scene; by the time the militia left Chicago on July 20, the “war” between the troops and the strikers had left thirty-four men dead. But, the damage had already been done to the Pullman strikers: their ranks and clout had been depleted, and, when American Federation of Labor chief Samuel Gompers’ refusal to lend them any substantial support, the rail workers were forced to capitulate to management. In the wake of the settlement, many of the strikers were barred from working in the rail industry.

1898 – During the Spanish-American War on the way to the Philippines to fight the Spanish, the U.S. Navy cruiser Charleston seized the island of Guam.

1900 – German minister murdered; Chinese begin siege of foreigners in Beijing. Military delegations in the “Foreign Quarter” including the US Marine delegation band together to defend their charges.

1913 – First fatal accident in Naval Aviation, ENS W. D. Billingsley killed at Annapolis, Maryland.

1919 – Treaty of Versailles: Germany ended the incorporation of Austria.

1923 – President Harding set out on a 7,500-mile “Voyage of Understanding” through the northwest. The 57-year-old Harding, who suffered from heart disease, was so shaken by breaking reports of corruption in his administration that he went on a cross-country speaking tour to strengthen his position.

1924 – Audie Murphy was born in Kingston, Texas. He became the most decorated American soldier of World War II who went on to make movies and write a book about his war experiences called “To Hell and Back.”

1934 – Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet Admiral Frank Upham reports to CNO that based on analyses of Japanese radio traffic, “any attack by (Japan) would be made without previous declaration of war or intentional warning.”

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1940 – President Roosevelt strengthens his Cabinet by bringing in two prominent Republicans. Henry Stimson becomes Secretary for War and Frank Knox becomes Secretary for the Navy. Stimson is strongly against America’s isolationist tradition and will be a champion of Lend-Lease.

1941 – A German U-boat sights the American battleship Texas within the area that Germany has declared is the operational area for U-boats. However, after checking with the U-boat command, the Texas is not attacked.

1941 – U.S. Army Air Forces was established, replacing the Army Air Corps.

1943 – US General Krueger establishes 6th Army headquarters at Milne Bay. There is an unsuccessful Japanese attack on the 17th Australian Brigade in the Mubo area.

1943 – Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in 34 deaths and 600 wounded.

1944 – Elements of the US 1st Army advance to about 5 miles of Cherbourg and begin to encounter heavier resistance.

1944 – Nazis began mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz.

1944 – Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him. High German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and assassination was the only way to stop him. A coup d’etat would follow, and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete destruction at the hands of the Allies. That was the plan.

This was the reality: Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, chief of the army reserve, had been given the task of planting a bomb during a conference that was to be held at Berchtesgaden (but was later moved to Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg). Stauffenberg planted the explosive in a briefcase, which he placed under a table, then left quickly. Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern front as Colonel Heinz Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing. At 12:42 p.m. the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded, charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm-but he was very much alive. (He was even well enough to keep an appointment with Benito Mussolini that very afternoon. He gave Il Duce a tour of the bomb site.)

Four others present died from their wounds. As the bomb went off, Stauffenberg was making his way to Berlin to carry out Operation Valkyrie, the overthrow of the central government. In Berlin, he and co-conspirator General Olbricht arrested the commander of the reserve army, General Fromm, and began issuing orders for the commandeering of various government buildings. And then the news came through from Herman Goering-Hitler was alive. Fromm, released from custody under the assumption he would nevertheless join the effort to throw Hitler out of office, turned on the conspirators. Stauffenberg and Olbricht were shot that same day. Once Hitler figured out the extent of the conspiracy (it reached all the way to occupied France), he began the systematic liquidation of his enemies.

More than 7,000 Germans would be arrested (including evangelical pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer), and up to 5,000 would wind up dead-either executed or as suicides. Hitler, Himmler, and Goering took an even firmer grip on Germany and its war machine. Hitler became convinced that fate had spared him-“I regard this as a confirmation of the task imposed upon me by Providence”-and that “nothing is going to happen to me…. the great cause which I serve will be brought through its present perils and…everything can be brought to a good end.”

1944 – The Japanese fleet withdraws to refuel, believing that their aircraft have landed safely on Guam. US Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) launches an air strike on the Japanese fleet in the late afternoon. The 216 American aircraft encounter 35 defending fighters and sink the carrier Hiyo. Two other Japanese aircraft carriers are damaged as are a battleship and a cruiser. US loses amount to 20 planes shot down and 72 crashing while attempting to land on their carriers in the dark. During the night, the Japanese fleet withdraws and are not pursued.

1944 – Vice Admiral Marc Mitchner, commander of the U.S. Task Force 58, ordered all lights on his ships turned on to help guide his carrier-based pilots back from the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

1944 – On Biak, there is fighting among the Japanese-held caves in the west of the island. The airfields and villages at Borokoe and Sorido are overrun by American forces.

1944 – The US 5th Amphibious Corps continues operations on Saipan. The US 27th Division clears the south of the island while the US 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions advance northward.

1945 – On Okinawa, Japanese resistance along the center of the line, held by the US 24th Corps, continues to be strong. The US 32nd Infantry Regiment (US 7th Division) reaches Height 89, near Mabuni, where the Japanese headquarters have been identified. On the flanks, the American Marines on the right and the infantry on the left advance virtually unopposed, capturing over 1000 Japanese and reaching the southern coast of the island at several points. The scale of surrenders is unprecedented for the forces of the Imperial Army.

1945 – On Luzon, Filipino guerrillas advance up the Cagayan valley from Aparri and liberate the town of Tuguegarao. The American regimental task force enters Aparri while elements of the US 37th Division advances 2.5 miles north of Ilagan. Meanwhile, the US 8th Army headquarters announces that operations to recapture the islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Palawan, as well as the western part of Mindanao, are completed.

1945 – US Task Group 12.4 (Admiral Jennings) with the carriers Lexington, Hancock and Cowpens conduct air raids on Japanese positions. The carriers are en route to join US Task Force 38.

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1948 – President Harry S. Truman institutes a military draft with a proclamation calling for nearly 10 million men to register for military service within the next two months. Truman’s action came during increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union. Following World War II, the United States moved quickly to demobilize the vast military it had constructed during the conflict. During the war, more than 16 million men and women served in the U.S. military; when the war ended in August 1945, the American people demanded rapid demobilization. By 1948, less than 550,000 men remained in the U.S. Army. This rapid decline in the size of America’s military concerned U.S. government officials, who believed that a confrontation with the Soviet Union was imminent. During the years following World War II, relations between the Russians and Americans deteriorated rapidly.

In 1947, the president issued the Truman Doctrine, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey to oppose communist subversion. In that same year, Secretary of State George C. Marshall warned that Western Europe was on the brink of political and economic chaos that would leave it defenseless against communist aggression; the following year, Congress approved billions of dollars in financial assistance to the beleaguered nations. In June 1948, the Soviets cut all land traffic into the U.S.-British-French zones of occupation in West Berlin. The United States responded with the Berlin Airlift, in which tons of food and supplies were flown in to sustain the population of the besieged city. In light of these events, many Americans believed that actual combat with the Soviet Union was not far away.

In response to this threat, President Truman announced on July 20, 1948, that the United States was re-instituting the draft and issued a proclamation requiring nearly 10 million men to register for military service in the next two months. Truman’s action in July 1948 marked the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States, thereby underlining the urgency of his administration’s concern about a possible military confrontation with the Soviet Union. It also brought home to the American people in concrete terms the possibility that the Cold War could, at any moment, become an actual war. In 1950, possibility turned to reality when the United States entered the Korean War, and the size of America’s armed forces once again increased dramatically.

1953 – U.S. infantrymen held onto outposts in the central sector despite an artillery and mortar barrage of some 5,000 rounds followed by a battalion-size assault.

1953 – The U.N. forces established a new main line of resistance on the south bank of the Kumsong River.

1954 – A cease-fire ‘Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Viet Nam’ is signed by General Ta Quang Buu for the Vietminh and General Henri Delteil for France. The agreement ceases hostilities in Cambodia and Laos as well. A second document, the ‘Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference,’ receives the general support of Britain, France, Laos, China, the Soviet Union, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam but is never signed. It states: 1) Vietnam is provisionally partitioned along the 17th parallel into North and South Vietnam, pending reunification or other permanent settlement to be achieved through nationwide elections, 2) for a period of 300 days all persons may pass freely from one zone to the other, 3) limits are imposed on foreign military bases North and South, on personnel movements, and re-armaments, 4) nationwide elections are scheduled for 20 July 1956, 5) an International Control Commission made up of representatives from India, Canada, and Poland is established to supervise the implementation of these agreements. The Vietminh accept elections because their popular support is such that they would win, so South Vietnam pushes the elections as far into the future as possible, and Molotov pressures the Vietminh to agree. The United States does not agree with the Final Declaration but does support it, and Bao Dai’s government denounces all agreements.

1963 – The United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a hot line communications link between the two superpowers and a treaty was signed limiting nuclear testing.

1964 – General William Westmoreland succeeded General Paul Harkins as head of the U.S. forces in Vietnam.

1964 – CGC Reliance, the first of the Coast Guard’s 210-foot medium endurance cutter class, was commissioned.

1964 – Viet Cong forces overrun Cai Be, the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, killing 11 South Vietnamese militiamen, 10 women, and 30 children. On July 31, South Vietnam charged that the enemy troops involved in the attack were North Vietnamese Army regulars and that Chinese communist advisors led the attack. This claim was never verified, but it is likely that North Vietnamese regulars participated in the action. This incident and numerous intelligence reports indicated that North Vietnamese regular troops were moving down the Ho Chi Minh Trail in great numbers to join the fighting in South Vietnam. This marked a major change in the tempo and scope of the war in South Vietnam and resulted in President Lyndon B. Johnson committing U.S. combat troops. North Vietnamese forces and U.S. troops clashed for the first time in November 1965, when units from the newly arrived 1st Cavalry Division engaged several North Vietnamese regiments in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands.

1966 – CGC Point League attacked and crippled a North Vietnamese junk attempting to run the Navy’s Market Time blockade. The action continued into the next day as the junk stranded itself on the shore and its crew fired a demolition charge, destroying their ship.

1967 – Boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court.

1967 – The United States apologizes to the Soviet Union for what it calls an inadvertent US air attack on the Soviet ship Turkestan on June 2nd.

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1969 – A top-secret study, commissioned by presidential assistant Henry Kissinger, is completed by the office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Code-named Duck Hook, the study proposed measures for military escalation against North Vietnam. The military options included a massive bombing of Hanoi, Haiphong, and other key areas of North Vietnam; a ground invasion of North Vietnam; the mining of harbors and rivers; and a bombing campaign designed to sever the main railroad links to China. A total of 29 major targets in North Vietnam were pinpointed for destruction in a series of air attacks planned to last four days and to be renewed until Hanoi capitulated. This plan represented a drastic escalation of the war and was never ordered by President Richard Nixon. However, Nixon did order certain elements of the proposal, such as the intensified bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong and the mining of North Vietnamese harbors, in response to the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive.

1972 – PresidentNixon recorded on tape information relating to the Jun 16 Watergate break-in. Sections of the tape were later erased, allegedly accidentally by sec. Rose Mary Woods. A panel of experts examined the tape to see if the 18-minute gap was intentional. Richard H. Bolt (d.2002 at 90), acoustic expert at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, later said that if it was an accident than it was committed at least 5 time in the 18 minutes.

1972 – President Nixon appoints General Crighton W. Abrams, commander of US forces in Vietnam, to be the US Army Chief of Staff.

1972 – US Marine unit HMA-369 begins flying armed helicopter strikes with the new AH-1J Sea Cobra from the decks of USS Constellation, off the coast of South Vietnam, Flying from the USS Coral Sea, A-6 Intruders of Marine unit VMA (AW)-224 make most of their missions into Laos and North Vietnam.

1977 – The 1st oil of the Alaska pipeline began to flow south 799 miles from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez.

1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza’s national guard.

1991 – German lawmakers voted to move the seat of the national government from Bonn back to Berlin.

1994 – Former airman Dean Allen Mellberg went on a shooting rampage at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Wash., killing four people and wounding 22 others before being killed by a military police sharpshooter.

1998 – Iran reversed its opposition to a UN plan, passed the previous day, permitting Iraq to spend $300 million of revenues from the oil-for-food program to buy spare parts to rebuild its oil industry.

1999 – The last Serbian officer left Kosovo. Pres. Milosevic urged the Serbs of Kosovo to stay in Kosovo under NATO protection. As the last of 40-thousand Yugoslav troops rolled out of Kosovo, NATO declared a formal end to its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

2002 – Turkey took over control of the 19-nation peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, ISAF.

2003 – A 31-nation conference in Germany agreed to expand efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force issued a 40-point program to keep international law enforcement abreast of criminals’ increasingly sophisticated efforts to conceal illegal money flows.

2003 – In Iran student protests against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spread to at least 8 other cities.

2004 – Iraq resumed oil exports of about 1 million barrels a day through its southern Basra terminal after completing repairs to pipelines sabotaged by insurgents.

2004 – The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from al-Qaida-linked militants showing Kim Sun Il (33), a South Korean hostage, begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

2010 – Iraq’s Central Bank was bombed in an attack that left 15 people dead and brought much of downtown Baghdad to a standstill. The attack was claimed to have been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq. This attack was followed by another attack on Iraq’s Bank of Trade building that killed 26 and wounded 52 people.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BENSON, JAMES
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1845, Denmark. Enlisted at: Yokohama, Japan. G.O. No.: 180, 10 October 1872. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Ossipee, 20 June 1872. Risking his life, Benson leaped into the sea while the ship was going at a speed of 4 knots and endeavored to save John K. Smith, landsman, of the same vessel, from drowning.

APPLETON, EDWIN NELSON
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 29 August 1876, Brooklyn, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 84, 22 March 1902. Citation: In action against the enemy at Tientsin, China, 20 June 1900. Crossing the river in a small boat while under heavy enemy fire, Appleton assisted in destroying buildings occupied by the enemy.

BURNES, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 14 January 1870, Worcester, Mass. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 84, 22 March 1902. Citation: In action against the enemy at Tientsin, China, 20 June 1900. Crossing the river in a small boat with 3 other men while under a heavy fire from the enemy, Burnes assisted in destroying buildings occupied by hostile forces.

DAHLGREN, JOHN OLOF
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 14 September 1872, Kahliwar, Sweden. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900, Dahlgren distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

*FISHER, HARRY
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 20 October 1874, McKeesport, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: Served in the presence of the enemy at the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900. Assisting in the erection of barricades during the action, Fisher was killed by the heavy fire of the enemy.

HEISCH, HENRY WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 10 June 1872, Latendorf, Germany. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 84, 22 March 1902. Citation: In action against the enemy at Tientsin, China, 20 June 1900. Crossing the river in a small boat while under heavy fire, Heisch assisted in destroying buildings occupied by the enemy.

HUNT, MARTIN
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 9 July 1873, County of Mayo, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900, Hunt distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

McALLISTER, SAMUEL
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 23 January 1869, Belfast, Ireland. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 84, 22 March 1902. Citation: In action against the enemy at Tientsin, China, 20 June 1900. Crossing the river in a small boat while under heavy enemy fire, McAllister assisted in destroying buildings occupied by the enemy.

WALKER, EDWARD ALEXANDER
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 2 October 1864, Huntley, Scotland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900. Throughout this period, Walker distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

*O’BRIEN, WILLIAM J.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Saipan, Marianas Islands, 20 June through 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Marianas Islands, from 20 June through 7 July 1944. When assault elements of his platoon were held up by intense enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien ordered 3 tanks to precede the assault companies in an attempt to knock out the strongpoint. Due to direct enemy fire the tanks’ turrets were closed, causing the tanks to lose direction and to fire into our own troops. Lt. Col. O’Brien, with complete disregard for his own safety, dashed into full view of the enemy and ran to the leader’s tank, and pounded on the tank with his pistol butt to attract 2 of the tank’s crew and, mounting the tank fully exposed to enemy fire, Lt. Col. O’Brien personally directed the assault until the enemy strongpoint had been liquidated.

On 28 June 1944, while his platoon was attempting to take a bitterly defended high ridge in the vicinity of Donnay, Lt. Col. O’Brien arranged to capture the ridge by a double envelopment movement of 2 large combat battalions. He personally took control of the maneuver. Lt. Col. O’Brien crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush alone to arrive at a point where 1 of his platoons was being held up by the enemy. Leaving some men to contain the enemy he personally led 4 men into a narrow ravine behind, and killed or drove off all the Japanese manning that strongpoint. In this action he captured S machineguns and one 77-mm. fieldpiece. Lt. Col. O’Brien then organized the 2 platoons for night defense and against repeated counterattacks directed them. Meanwhile he managed to hold ground. On 7 July 1944 his battalion and another battalion were attacked by an overwhelming enemy force estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese.

With bloody hand-to-hand fighting in progress everywhere, their forward positions were finally overrun by the sheer weight of the enemy numbers. With many casualties and ammunition running low, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to leave the front lines. Striding up and down the lines, he fired at the enemy with a pistol in each hand and his presence there bolstered the spirits of the men, encouraged them in their fight and sustained them in their heroic stand. Even after he was seriously wounded, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to be evacuated and after his pistol ammunition was exhausted, he manned a .50 caliber machinegun, mounted on a jeep, and continued firing. When last seen alive he was standing upright firing into the Jap hordes that were then enveloping him. Some time later his body was found surrounded by enemy he had killed His valor was consistent with the highest traditions of the service.

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The Finale Of The Series:


"This Date In Military History"


:smilie flag:


Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did...

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[havasu]

Thank you for your time and effort on this Kev!