This Date in Military History:

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BROWN, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 50th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 19 August 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Schuylkill County, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 47th Virginia Infantry (C.S.A.).

CAYER, OVILA
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 14th U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 19 August 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Canada. Date of issue: 15 February 1867. Citation: Commanded the regiment, all the officers being disabled.

HOTTENSTINE, SOLOMON J.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg and Norfolk Railroad, Va., 19 August 1864. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Lehigh County, Pa. Date of issue: 2 February 1865. Citation: Captured flag belonging to a North Carolina regiment, and through a ruse led them into the arms of Federal troops.

MARTIN, SYLVESTER H.
Rank and organization. Lieutenant, Company K, 88th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 19 August 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Chester County, Pa. Date of issue: 5 April 1894. Citation: Gallantly made a most dangerous reconnaissance, discovering the position of the enemy and enabling the division to repulse an attack made in strong force.

TAYLOR, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Co. H, and 2d Lt. Co. M, 1st Maryland Inf. Place and date: At Front Royal, Va., 23 May 1862. At Weldon Railroad, Va., 19 August 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Washington, D.C. Date of issue: 2 August 1897. Citation: When a sergeant, at Front Royal, Va., he was painfully wounded while obeying an order to burn a bridge, but, persevering in the attempt, he burned the bridge and prevented its use by the enemy. Later, at Weldon Railroad, Va., then a lieutenant, he voluntarily took the place of a disabled officer and undertook a hazardous reconnaissance beyond the lines of the army; was taken prisoner in the attempt.

WOODS, BRENT
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: New Mexico, 19 August 1881. Entered service at: Louisville, Ky. Birth: Pulaski County, Ky. Date of issue: 12 July 1894. Citation: Saved the lives of his comrades and citizens of the detachment.

*NAKAE, MASATO
Private Masato Nakae distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 19 August 1944, near Pisa, Italy. When his submachine gun was damaged by a shell fragment during a fierce attack by a superior enemy force, Private Nakae quickly picked up his wounded comrade’s M-1 rifle and fired rifle grenades at the steadily advancing enemy. As the hostile force continued to close in on his position, Private Nakae threw six grenades and forced them to withdraw. During a concentrated enemy mortar barrage that preceded the next assault by the enemy force, a mortar shell fragment seriously wounded Private Nakae. Despite his injury, he refused to surrender his position and continued firing at the advancing enemy. By inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy force, he finally succeeded in breaking up the attack and caused the enemy to withdraw. Private Nakae’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

*FRATELLENICO, FRANK R.
Rank and organization Corporal, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 19 August 1970. Entered service at: Albany, N.Y. Born: 14 July 1951, Sharon, Conn. Citation: Cpl. Fratellenico distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman with Company B. Cpl. Fratellenico’s squad was pinned down by intensive fire from 2 well-fortified enemy bunkers. At great personal risk Cpl. Fratellenico maneuvered forward and, using hand grenades, neutralized the first bunker which was occupied by a number of enemy soldiers. While attacking the second bunker, enemy fire struck Cpl. Fratellenico, causing him to fall to the ground and drop a grenade which he was preparing to throw. Alert to the imminent danger to his comrades, Cpl. Fratellenico retrieved the grenade and fell upon it an instant before it exploded. His heroic actions prevented death or serious injury to 4 of his comrades nearby and inspired his unit which subsequently overran the enemy position. Cpl. Fratellenico’s conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the cost of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

PLESS, STEPHEN W.
Rank and organization: Major (then Capt.), U.S. Marine Corps, VMD-6, Mag-36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Place and date: Near Quang Nai, Republic of Vietnam, 19 August 1967. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 6 September 1939, Newman, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a helicopter gunship pilot attached to Marine Observation Squadron 6 in action against enemy forces. During an escort mission Maj. Pless monitored an emergency call that 4 American soldiers stranded on a nearby beach were being overwhelmed by a large Viet Cong force. Maj. Pless flew to the scene and found 30 to 50 enemy soldiers in the open. Some of the enemy were bayoneting and beating the downed Americans. Maj. Pless displayed exceptional airmanship as he launched a devastating attack against the enemy force, killing or wounding many of the enemy and driving the remainder back into a treeline. His rocket and machinegun attacks were made at such low levels that the aircraft flew through debris created by explosions from its rockets. Seeing 1 of the wounded soldiers gesture for assistance, he maneuvered his helicopter into a position between the wounded men and the enemy, providing a shield which permitted his crew to retrieve the wounded. During the rescue the enemy directed intense fire at the helicopter and rushed the aircraft again and again, closing to within a few feet before being beaten back. When the wounded men were aboard, Maj. Pless maneuvered the helicopter out to sea. Before it became safely airborne, the overloaded aircraft settled 4 times into the water. Displaying superb airmanship, he finally got the helicopter aloft. Major Pless’ extraordinary heroism coupled with his outstanding flying skill prevented the annihilation of the tiny force. His courageous actions reflect great credit upon himself and uphold the highest traditions ofe the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service.

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20 August

1494 – Columbus returned to Hispaniola. He had confirmed that Jamaica was an island and failed to find a mainland.

1619 – The 1st African slaves arrived to North America aboard a Dutch privateer. It docked in Jamestown, Virginia, with twenty human captives among its cargo.

1707 – The first siege of Pensacola in Spanish Florida by English supported Creek Indians resulted in the destruction of the town, but Fort San Carlos de Austria successfully resisted the onslaught.

1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.

1781 – George Washington began to move his troops south to fight Cornwallis in the Carolinas.

1785 – Oliver Hazard Perry, US Naval hero (“We have met the enemy”), was born in Rhode Island.

1794 – American General “Mad Anthony” Wayne defeated the Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance in the area. The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy, including minor support from the British, against the United States for control of the Northwest Territory (an area bounded on the south by the Ohio River, on the west by the Mississippi River, and on the northeast by the Great Lakes). The battle, which was a decisive victory for the United States, ended major hostilities in the region until Tecumseh’s War and the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

1804 – Sergeant Charles Floyd dies three months into the voyage of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, becoming the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during the journey. Lewis and Clark left St. Louis the previous May, heading up the Missouri River with a party of 35 men, called the Corps of Discovery. Among the voyagers was Charles Floyd, a native of Kentucky who had enlisted in the U.S. military a few years earlier. When word went out asking for volunteers to join the ambitious expedition across the continent to the Pacific, Floyd was among the first to apply. Young, vigorous, and better educated than most of the soldiers, Floyd was a natural choice. The two co-captains not only selected him to join the mission, they promoted him to sergeant. Sadly, Floyd’s part in the great voyage of the Corps of Discovery was short-lived. By late July, Lewis and Clark reported that Floyd “has been very sick for several days.” He seemed to grow better for a time, but on August 15, he was “seized with a complaint somewhat like a violent chorlick [colic] . . . [and] he was sick all night.” Concerned, the two captains did what they could to treat Floyd’s ailment, but the previously robust young man steadily weakened. The illness grew severe during the evening of August 19, and Clark sat up with the suffering man almost the entire night. Floyd died in the early afternoon of this day, reportedly “with a good deal of composure.” The members of the expedition buried his body on a high bluff overlooking a river that flowed into the Missouri, affixing a red-cedar post with his name, title, and date of death over the grave. Lewis read the funeral service, and the two captains concluded the ceremony by naming the nearby stream Floyds River and the hill Floyds Bluff.

Lewis and Clark regretted that their limited wilderness medical skills were inadequate to cure the young soldier, yet even if Floyd had been in Philadelphia, the best doctors of the day would likely have been unable to save him. Based on the symptoms described by Lewis and Clark, modern physicians have concluded that Floyd was probably suffering from acute appendicitis. When his appendix ruptured, Floyd quickly died of peritonitis. Lacking antibiotics and ignorant of the proper surgical procedures, no early 19th century physician could have done much more than Lewis and Clark did. On their triumphant return journey from the Pacific in 1806, Lewis and Clark stopped to pay their respects at Sergeant Floyd’s grave. Amazingly, Floyd’s was the only death the Corps of Discovery suffered in more than two years of dangerous wilderness travel.

1833 – Future 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, is born on this day. He was the grandson of former 9th President (and Guard general) William H. Harrison, who died one month into his term in 1841. A lawyer by training and active in Indiana politics Benjamin was appointed in 1862 as the colonel of the 70th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a regiment he helped to organize. Over the next three years he led the 70th in numerous engagements including taking part in General William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” through Georgia in 1864. He ended the Civil War as a brigadier general of volunteers. After resigning his commission he again became active in politics and was elected first to the Senate and then in 1888 as President. He served one term and died in 1901.

1847 – General Winfield Scott won the battle of Churubusco on his drive to Mexico City. The Mexican War gave future civil war generals their first taste of combat.

1864 – The 8th and last day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Va., left about 3900 casualties on both sides.

1865 – President Andrew Johnson proclaimed an end to the “insurrection” in Texas.

1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, even though the fighting had stopped months earlier.

1908 – The American Great White Fleet arrived in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome.

1910 – The 1st shot fired from an airplane was during a test flight over Brooklyn’s Sheeps Head Bay.

1920 – Pioneering American radio station 8MK in Detroit (later WWJ) began daily broadcasting.

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1940 – Radar was used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain.

1941 – Adolf Hitler authorized the development of the V-2 missile.

1942 – Plutonium was first weighed. Glenn T. Seaborg was a co-discoverer of Plutonium.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, the first aircraft, 31 Marine (MAG-23) fighters from the escort carrier USS Long Island are flown into Henderson Field Air Strip.

1942 – Searchlights crossing the sky cease to be a fixture of Hollywood premieres as of this day in 1942. In an attempt to avoid attack and surveillance by enemy forces in World War II, the entire West Coast was required to dim its lights at night. During the war, movie studies were also limited in the amount of cloth they could use in costumes, the quantity of new construction they could devote to sets, and the amount of film stock they could purchase.

1944 – During the night, the last elements of German 5th Panzer and 7th Armies to escape the Falaise pocket filter through Allied line around Chambois and St. Lambert. Some 70-80 miles to the east, the US 3rd Army captures crossings over the Seine River at Mantes Grassicourt, 30 miles west of Paris. To the southwest of Paris, the US 20th Corps (also part of US 3rd Army) enters Fontainbleau.

1944 – Americans announce that Japanese resistance on Biak Island has ended. The Japanese have suffered 4700 killed and 220 captured. US casualties are listed at 2550.

1945 – The War Production Board removes most of its controls over manufacturing activity. These and many other measures help the US economy to convert quickly to a peacetime basis. The American economy is actually stronger and more productive now, than before the war, and the standard of living, unlike that of any of the other major participants in the war, has actually increased.

1946 – World War II civilian truck restrictions were lifted in the U.S. Truck restrictions were only the beginning of special regulations during the war. Civilian auto production virtually ceased after the attack on Pearl Harbor as the U.S. automotive industry turned to war production, and gas rationing began in 1942.

1948 – The United States ordered the expulsion of the Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin, accusing him of attempting to return two consular employees to the Soviet Union against their will.

1950 – General MacArthur repeated his July 4th warning to North Korean leader Kim Il Sung concerning the treatment of prisoners of war as a result of the Hill 303 (Waegwan) murder of 36 American soldiers.

1952 – In interservice air operation at Chang Pyong-ni, Korea, U.S. Navy, Marine and Air Force aircraft destroy 80 percent of assigned area.

1953 – The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

1954 – President Eisenhower approves a National Security Council paper titled “Review of U.S. Policy in the Far East.” This paper supported Secretary of State Dulles’ view that the United States should support Diem, while encouraging him to broaden his government and establish more democratic institutions. Ultimately, however, Diem would refuse to make any meaningful concessions or institute any significant new reforms and U.S. support was withdrawn. Diem was subsequently assassinated during a coup by opposition generals on November 2, 1963.

1956 – The US State Department reaffirmed its ban on travel to China.

1966 – Operation “Allegheny” in Quang Nam, RVN. (Concluded 29 August).

1968 – In the face of rising anti-Soviet protests in Czechoslovakia, Soviet troops (backed by troops from other Warsaw Pact nations) intervene to crush the protest. The brutal Soviet action shocked the West and dealt a devastating blow to U.S.-Soviet relations. The troubles in Czechoslovakia began when Alexander Dubcek took over as secretary general of the nation’s Communist Party in January 1968. It was immediately apparent that Dubcek wanted a major overhaul of Czechoslovakia’s political and economic system-he called his particular ideology “Socialism with a human face.” He called for greater political freedom, including more participation by noncommunist parties. Dubcek also pressed for economic policies that would ensure less state control and more reliance on free market economics. Finally, he insisted on greater freedom from Soviet domination, although he reiterated his nation’s allegiance to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc’s counterpart to NATO. Dubcek’s policies shocked the Soviets and leaders in other Eastern European nations.

Throughout early and mid-1968, negotiations took place between Dubcek and representatives from Russia and other Soviet bloc nations in an attempt to have the Czechoslovakian leader soften his reforms. Dubcek refused, and tensions with the Soviet Union steadily increased. Meanwhile, the sudden atmosphere of freedom that Dubcek was encouraging took root, and Czech citizens embraced and celebrated the new tolerance for free exchange of ideas and open discussion in what came to be known as the “Prague Spring.” On the night of August 20, 1968, more than 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops crossed into Czechoslovakia and headed for the capital city of Prague. In just over a day, the entire country was occupied; within a week nearly three-quarters of a million foreign troops were in Czechoslovakia. Anti-Soviet riots broke out in Prague, but these were viciously crushed and thousands of Czechs fled the country. The Soviet action in August 1968 shocked the West. Not since 1956, when Soviet troops intervened in Hungary, had the Russian government resorted to such force to bring one of its communist allies into line with its own policies. The Czech invasion was particularly damaging to U.S.-Soviet relations.

In June 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson met with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin to begin discussions related to a number of issues, including arms control. It was agreed that Johnson would visit the Soviet Union in October 1968 to continue the talks. The Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia caused Johnson to cancel his visit abruptly.

1974 – In the wake of Nixon’s resignation, Congress reduces military aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion to $700 million. This was one of several actions that signaled the North Vietnamese that the United States was backing away from its commitment to South Vietnam.

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1975 – Viking 1, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars. On June 19, 1976, the spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars and devoted the next month to imaging the Martian surface with the purpose of finding an appropriate landing site for its lander. On July 20–the seventh anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing–the Viking 1 lander separated from the orbiter and touched down on the Chryse Planitia region, becoming the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars. The same day, the craft sent back the first close-up photographs of the rust-colored Martian surface. In September 1976, Viking 2–launched only three weeks after Viking 1–entered into orbit around Mars, where it assisted Viking 1 in imaging the surface and also sent down a lander. During the dual Viking missions, the two orbiters imaged the entire surface of Mars at a resolution of 150 to 300 meters, and the two landers sent back more than 1,400 images of the planet’s surface.

1977 – The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

1982 – During the Lebanese Civil War, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into 17 months and leave 262 U.S. servicemen dead. In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups. During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and in August 1982 a multinational force arrived to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon.

1987 – A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., rejected Lt. Col. Oliver North’s argument that the independent counsel investigating the Iran-Contra affair was operating under an invalid Justice Department regulation.

1990 – For the first time since Iraq began detaining foreigners, President Bush publicly referred to the detainees as hostages, and demanded their release. Iraq moved Western hostages to military installations (human shields).

1994 – President Clinton slapped new sanctions on Cuba that included prohibiting payments by Cuban-Americans to their relatives in Cuba.

1995 – Iraq provides to UNSCOM and the IAEA previously concealed information: 680,000 pages of documents, computer disks, videotapes, and microfilm, related to its prohibited weapons programs which subsequently leads to further disclosures by Iraq concerning the production of the nerve agent VX (the most advanced, deadly, and long-lasting chemical agent) and Iraq’s development of a nuclear weapon. Observers speculate that this was prompted by the defection of Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel Hassan al-Majid, who the Iraqi government believed would cooperate with UN inspectors and Western governments to provide previously undisclosed information on Iraqi weapons programs.

1997 – NATO troops in Bosnia seized truckloads of weapons from police stations in Banja Luka. They moved to force out officers loyal to Karadzic.

1998 – President Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan 13 days after the deadly embassy bombings in East Africa. About 50 missiles were fired at the camp of Osama Bin Laden and some 25 missiles against a suspected chemical plant in Khartoum. The plant in Sudan was suspected of producing the chemical EMPTA, one of the ingredients in VX nerve gas, but also an ingredient in fungicides and anti-microbial agents.

1998 – Iraq and Syria sign an agreement to reopen an oil pipeline linking Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields to Mediterranean terminals in Banias, Syria and Tripoli, Lebanon.

1998 – Following its regular 60-day review of trade sanctions against Iraq, the U.N. Security Council decides to extend the sanctions and expresses concern over Iraq’s continuing refusal to cooperate with arms inspectors.

2002 – The Guardian reports that U.S. oil companies have radically reduced imports from Iraq in the past five months amid fears that any military action will disrupt supplies. Iraq exported 69% of its oil to the US a year ago, but the figure has dropped to only 16% since the end of May. Iraqi oil exports have halved overall, dropping from around an average of 2m barrels a day last year to just short of 1m barrels at the end of May.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

JENNINGS, JAMES T.
Rank and organization: Private, Company K, 56th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 20 August 1864. Entered service at: Bucks County, Pa. Birth: England. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 55th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.).

CLARK, WILFRED
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Big Hole, Mont., 9 August 1877; at Camas Meadows, Idaho, 20 August 1877. Entered service at:——. Birth: Philadelphia Pa. Date of issue: 28 February 1878. Citation: Conspicuous gallantry, especial skill as sharpshooter.

JACKSON, JAMES
Rank and organization: Captain, 1st U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Camas Meadows, Idaho, 20 August 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: New Jersey. Date of issue: 17 April 1896. Citation: Dismounted from his horse in the face of a heavy fire from pursuing Indians, and with the assistance of 1 or 2 of the men of his command secured to a place of safety the body of his trumpeter, who had been shot.

JONES, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: Farrier, Company L, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Muddy Creek, Mont., 7 May 1877- at Camas Meadows, Idaho, 20 August 1877. Entered service at: Louisville, Ky. Birth. Davidson County, N.C. Date of issue: 28 February 1878. Citation: Gallantry in the attack against hostile Sioux Indians on May 7, 1877 at Muddy Creek, Mont., and in the engagement with Nez Perces Indians at Camas Meadows, Idaho, on 20 August 1877 in which he sustained a painful knee wound.

WILKENS, HENRY
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company L, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Muddy Creek, Mont., 7 May 1877; at Camas Meadows, Idaho, 20 August 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 28 February 1878. Citation: Bravery in actions with Indians.

HAWK, JOHN D.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company E, 359th Infantry, 90th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Chambois, France, 20 August 1944. Entered service at: Bremerton, Wash. Birth: San Francisco, Calif. G.O. No.: 55, 13 July 1945. Citation: He manned a light machinegun on 20 August 1944, near Chambois, France, a key point in the encirclement which created the Falaise Pocket. During an enemy counterattack, his position was menaced by a strong force of tanks and infantry. His fire forced the infantry to withdraw, but an artillery shell knocked out his gun and wounded him in the right thigh. Securing a bazooka, he and another man stalked the tanks and forced them to retire to a wooded section. In the lull which followed, Sgt. Hawk reorganized 2 machinegun squads and, in the face of intense enemy fire, directed the assembly of 1 workable weapon from 2 damaged guns. When another enemy assault developed, he was forced to pull back from the pressure of spearheading armor. Two of our tank destroyers were brought up. Their shots were ineffective because of the terrain until Sgt. Hawk, despite his wound, boldly climbed to an exposed position on a knoll where, unmoved by fusillades from the enemy, he became a human aiming stake for the destroyers. Realizing that his shouted fire directions could not be heard above the noise of battle, he ran back to the destroyers through a concentration of bullets and shrapnel to correct the range. He returned to his exposed position, repeating this performance until 2 of the tanks were knocked out and a third driven off. Still at great risk, he continued to direct the destroyers’ fire into the Germans’ wooded position until the enemy came out and surrendered. Sgt. Hawk’s fearless initiative and heroic conduct, even while suffering from a painful wound, was in large measure responsible for crushing 2 desperate attempts of the enemy to escape from the Falaise Picket and for taking more than 500 prisoners.

LAMBERS, PAUL RONALD
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. place and date: Tay Ninh province, Republic of Vietnam, 20 August 1968. Entered service at: Holland, Mich. Born: 25 June 1942, Holland, Mich. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. (then Sgt.) Lambers distinguished himself in action while serving with the 3d platoon, Company A. The unit had established a night defensive position astride a suspected enemy infiltration route, when it was attacked by an estimated Viet Cong battalion. During the initial enemy onslaught, the platoon leader fell seriously wounded and S/Sgt. Lambers assumed command of the platoon. Disregarding the intense enemy fire, S/Sgt. Lambers left his covered position, secured the platoon radio and moved to the command post to direct the defense. When his radio became inoperative due to enemy action, S/Sgt. Lambers crossed the fire swept position to secure the 90mm recoilless rifle crew’s radio in order to re-establish communications. Upon discovering that the 90mm recoilless rifle was not functioning, S/Sgt. Lambers assisted in the repair of the weapon and directed canister fire at point-blank range against the attacking enemy who had breached the defensive wire of the position.

When the weapon was knocked out by enemy fire, he single-handedly repulsed a penetration of the position by detonating claymore mines and throwing grenades into the midst of the attackers, killing 4 more of the Viet Cong with well aimed hand grenades. S/Sgt. Lambers maintained command of the platoon elements by moving from position to position under the hail of enemy fire, providing assistance where the assault was the heaviest and by his outstanding example inspiring his men to the utmost efforts of courage. He displayed great skill and valor throughout the 5-hour battle by personally directing artillery and helicopter fire, placing them at times within 5 meters of the defensive position. He repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire at great risk to his own life in order to redistribute ammunition and to care for seriously wounded comrades and to move them to sheltered positions. S/Sgt. Lambers’ superb leadership, professional skill and magnificent courage saved the lives of his comrades, resulted in the virtual annihilation of a vastly superior enemy force and were largely instrumental in thwarting an enemy offensive against Tay Ninh City. His gallantry at the risk of his life is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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21 August

1680 – Pueblo Indians took possession of Santa Fe, N.M., after driving out the Spanish. They destroyed almost all of the Spanish churches in Taos and Santa Fe.

1778 – The Siege of Pondicherry was the first military action on the Indian subcontinent following the declaration of war between Great Britain and France in the American War of Independence. A British force besieged the French-controlled port of Puducherry in August 1778, which capitulated after ten weeks of siege. Following the American victory at Saratoga in October 1777, France decided to enter the American War of Independence as an ally to the United States. Word first reached the French Indian colony of Pondicherry in July 1778 that France and Britain had recalled their ambassadors, a sign that war was imminent. The British colonies had already received orders to seize the French possessions in India and begun military preparations. The siege would last almost 2 months. Between 6 and 13 October the British siege operations continued, but heavy rains hampered them. The British succeeded in draining the northern ditch, which the French unsuccessfully attempted again to flood. On 14 October the walls of the two bastions the British had targeted lay in ruins, and preparations began for an assault. Bellecombe was also running out of ammunition. After holding a war council on 15 October, he sent a truce flag to Munro the next day. He signed the terms of capitulation on 18 October.

1800 – U.S. Marine Corps Band gave its first concert in Washington, D.C.

1814 – Marines defended Washington, DC, at Bladensburg, Maryland, against the British.

1831 – Believing himself chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery, Nat Turner launches a bloody slave insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner, a slave and educated minister, planned to capture the county armory at Jerusalem, Virginia, and then march 30 miles to Dismal Swamp, where his rebels would be able to elude their pursuers. With seven followers, he slaughtered Joseph Travis, his slave owner, and Travis’ family, and then set off across the countryside, hoping to rally hundreds of slaves to his insurrection en route to Jerusalem. During the next two days and nights, Turner and 75 followers rampaged through Southampton County, killing about 60 whites. Local whites resisted the rebels, and then the state militia–consisting of some 3,000 men–crushed the rebellion.

Only a few miles from Jerusalem, Turner and all his followers were dispersed, captured, or killed. In the aftermath of the rebellion, scores of African Americans were lynched, though many of them were non-participants in the revolt. Turner himself was not captured until the end of October, and after confessing without regret to his role in the bloodshed, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. On November 11, he was hanged in Jerusalem. Turner’s rebellion was the largest slave revolt in U.S. history and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves.

1861 – U.S.S. Albatross, Commander Prentiss, engaged C.S.S. Beaufort, Lieutenant R. C. Duvall, in Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. Albatross, heavier gunned, forced Beau fort to withdraw.

1861 – U.S. Marines commanded by Major Reynolds took part in the First Battle of Bull Run: 9 Marines killed, 19 wounded, 16 missing in action. Commander Dahlgren wrote of the loss of two naval howitzers in the battle. The Confederates also had a naval battery at Manassas.

1862 – As the economy took a beating from the Civil War, the Treasury Department sprung into action by releasing fractional currency, alternately known as postage currency. The new 5, 10, 25, and 50-cent notes hit the streets on this day.

1863 – The vicious guerilla war in Missouri spills over into Kansas and precipitates one of the most appalling acts of violence during the war when 150 men in the abolitionist town of Lawrence are murdered in a raid by Southern partisans. The Civil War took a very different form in Kansas and Missouri than it did throughout the rest of the nation. There were few regular armies operating there; instead, partisan bands attacked civilians and each other. The roots of conflict in the region dated back to 1854, when the Kansas-Missouri border became ground zero for tension over slavery. While residents of Kansas Territory were trying to decide the issue of slavery, bands from Missouri, a slave state, began attacking abolitionist settlements in the territory. Abolitionists reacted with equal vigor. When the war began, the long heritage of hatred between partisans created unparalleled violence in the area.

In August 1863, the Union commander along the border, General Thomas Ewing, arrested several wives and sisters of members of a notorious band led by William Quantrill. This gang of outlaws had scorched the region, terrorizing and murdering Union sympathizers. On August 14, the building in Kansas City where the women were being held collapsed, killing five. Quantrill assembled 450 men to exact revenge. The army, which included such future western outlaws as the Younger brothers and Frank and Jesse James, headed for Lawrence, Kansas, long known as the center of abolitionism in Kansas. After kidnapping 10 farmers in order to guide them to Lawrence, the gang murdered each of them. Quantrill’s men rode into Lawrence and dragged 182 men from their homes, many in front of their families, and killed them in cold blood. They burned 185 buildings in Lawrence, then rode back to Missouri with Union cavalry in hot pursuit. This incident incited the North and led to even more killing by both sides along the Kansas-Missouri border.

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1863 – Confederate torpedo boat Torch, Pilot James Carlin, formerly a blockade runner, made a gallant night attempt to sink U.S.S. New Ironsides, Captain Stephen C. Rowan, in the channel near Morris Island. The small steamer, which was constructed from the hulk of an unfinished gunboat at Charleston, sailed low in the water, was painted gray and burned anthracite coal to avoid detection. She took on much water and her engines were of dubious quality when she made her run on the heavy Union blockader. When but 40 yards away from New Ironsides, Carlin ordered the engines cut and pointed her at his prey. The boat failed to respond properly to her helm, and as New Ironsides swung about her anchor slowly with the tide, the torpedo failed to make contact with the ship’s hull. While alongside the Union ship, Carlin could not start the engines for some minutes, but the daring Confederate kept up a cool conversation with the officer of the deck on New Ironsides, who finally became alarmed but was unable to depress any of the guns sufficiently to fire into the little craft. At this moment, the torpedo boat’s engines started, and Carlin quickly made his way back to Charleston, two shots from New Ironsides, falling 20 feet to either side of his torpedo boat. General Beauregard, seeking to lift the blockade and the continuing bombardment of his forces at Forts Wagner and Sumter, wrote Carlin: “I feel convinced that another trial under more favorable circumstances will surely meet with success, notwith-standing the known defects of the vessel.”

1864 – Confederate General A.P. Hill attacked Union troops south of Petersburg, Va., at the Weldon railroad. His attack was repulsed, resulting in heavy Confederate casualties.

1883 – The first installation of electric lights in a US Navy warship took place during the summer of 1883. Earlier that spring, seven electric power companies were asked by the Bureau of Navigation to submit bids for installing lights in USS Trenton, then currently berthed at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn. Only one, the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting, submitted a bid of $5,500 to install one L dynamo & one Armington-Sims engine complete to supply light via insulated wiring to 104 16-candle power lamps, 130 10-candle power lamps, and 4 32-candle power lamps. The ensuing contract also included 238 key sockets, 6 extra brushes, 1 automatic regulator and 1 dynamo foundation. Lieutenant.Commander. R. B. Bradford, executive officer of the ship, oversaw the installation of this equipment in Trenton between 7 June and 21 August 1883. Owing to the need to maintain the engine and dynamo, the system was only run at night.

1867 – After the Civil War settlers rushed to claim lands in the Great Plains. By the mid-1867 the native peoples in Kansas began resisting by attacking settlements, railroad workers and travelers heading west. To help meet this emergency the War Department authorized placing volunteer units on active duty to patrol and protect the settlements. They were soon joined by elements of the U.S. 10th Cavalry. This unit was one of four Regular Army African American regiments composed of all-black enlisted men but almost entirely commanded by white officers. These men are often referred to as the “Buffalo Soldiers”, a nick name given them by the Native American because their hair resembles that of the buffalo. Combined patrols of cavalry and militia were soon scouting for hostiles. One of these patrols consisted of four companies of the 18th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry along with a small number of men from the 10th. They split their forces along the Saline River. Soon the 10th, numbering some 135 men, was under attack by more then 300 Indians. When Captain Horace Moore commanding 125 Kansans and his men heard the firing, they turned and rode to help the 10th. Soon the two forces were reunited, though pinned down on a hill near Prairie Dog Creek, surrounded by hostiles. To break free the 10th’s commander organized a combined detachment of black troopers and white volunteers. Horse-mounted they broke the Indians encirclement and threw them back in confusion.

1915 – Italy declared war on Turkey.

1920 – Radio station built by U.S. Navy and French Government transmits first wireless message heard around the world. At time it was the most powerful radio station in the world.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, Japanese Colonel Ichiki’s force of 1000 men attack the American positions across the Tenaru River. The American strength and defenses are unexpected and the Japanese force is destroyed. The Marines continue to receive shipments of supplies and some reinforcements.

1944 – Allied armies advance northeast in pursuit of the broken and retreating German forces. The US 3rd Army develops its bridgeheads over the Seine River. The right flank of its advance reaches Sens.

1944 – Representatives from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China meet in the Dumbarton Oaks estate at Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to formulate the formal principles of an organization that will provide collective security on a worldwide basis-an organization that will become the United Nations. Following up on a promise made at the Moscow Conferences of 1943 to create an international organization to succeed the League of Nations, the Dumbarton Oaks Conference began planning its creation. Step one was the outline for a Security Council, which would be composed of the member states (basically, the largest of the Allied nations)–the United States, the USSR, China, France, and Great Britain-with each member having veto power over any proposal brought before the Council. Many political questions would remain to be hammered out, such as a specific voting system and the membership status of republics within the Soviet Union. A more detailed blueprint for the United Nations would be drawn up at both the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and the San Francisco Conference, which would produce the U.N. charter, also in 1945.

1945 – President Harry S. Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped some $50 billion in aid to America’s Allies during World War II.

1945 – Japan appeals to Kamikaze pilots to cease operations. A joint statement by the Japanese Imperial headquarters and the government instructs the general public in Japan to go about its business calmly and, according to the official news agency, authorities have forbidden fraternization saying “there will be no direct contact between the general public and the Allied landing forces.”

1945 – Haroutune (Harry) Krikor Daghlian, Jr. (May 4, 1921 – September 15, 1945), an Armenian American physicist with the Manhattan Project, accidentally irradiated himself during a critical mass experiment at the remote Omega Site facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, resulting in his death 25 days later. Daghlian was irradiated as a result of a criticality accident that occurred when he accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a 6.2 kg delta phase plutonium bomb core. This core, available at the close of World War II and later nicknamed the “Demon core”, also resulted in the death of Louis Slotin in a similar accident, and was used in the Able detonation, during the Crossroads series of nuclear weapon testing.

1951 – First contract for nuclear-powered submarine awarded.

1952 – The Commander in Chief, Far East Command, General Mark W. Clark, established the Korean Communications Zone as a major subordinate command of FEC. The Korean COMZ had responsibility for all activities south of a boundary at approximately the 37th parallel.

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1959 – The modern United States receives its crowning star when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state. The president also issued an order for an American flag featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows: five six-star rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became official July 4, 1960. The first known settlers of the Hawaiian Islands were Polynesian voyagers who arrived sometime in the eighth century. In the early 18th century, American traders came to Hawaii to exploit the islands’ sandalwood, which was much valued in China at the time. In the 1830s, the sugar industry was introduced to Hawaii and by the mid 19th century had become well established. American missionaries and planters brought about great changes in Hawaiian political, cultural, economic, and religious life. In 1840, a constitutional monarchy was established, stripping the Hawaiian monarch of much of his authority.

In 1893, a group of American expatriates and sugar planters supported by a division of U.S. Marines deposed Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii. One year later, the Republic of Hawaii was established as a U.S. protectorate with Hawaiian-born Sanford B. Dole as president. Many in Congress opposed the formal annexation of Hawaii, and it was not until 1898, following the use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the Spanish-American War, that Hawaii’s strategic importance became evident and formal annexation was approved. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory. During World War II, Hawaii became firmly ensconced in the American national identity following the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In March 1959, the U.S. government approved statehood for Hawaii, and in June the Hawaiian people voted by a wide majority to accept admittance into the United States. Two months later, Hawaii officially became the 50th state.

1963 – South Vietnamese Special Forces loyal to President Diem’s brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, attack Buddhists pagodas, damaging many and arresting 1,400 Buddhists. Diem’s government represented a minority of Vietnamese who were mostly businessmen, land owners, and Roman Catholics. A large part of the rest of the South Vietnam’s population, overwhelmingly Buddhist, deeply resented Diem’s rule because of what they perceived as severe discrimination against non-Catholics. In May 1963, the Buddhists began a series of demonstrations against the Diem government, in which seven Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in protest. The U.S. government tried to convince Diem to be more lenient with the Buddhists, but he only became more repressive. This continuing confrontation with the Buddhists and Diem’s failure to press for meaningful reforms led to a withdrawal of U.S. support for the South Vietnamese leader and effectively gave a green light for a coup conducted by opposition generals, who were told that the United States would support whichever government was in power. During the course of the coup, Diem and his brother were assassinated by South Vietnamese officers. The removal of Diem, which U.S. government officials had hoped would stabilize the political situation in South Vietnam, resulted in anything but stability–there would be ten successive governments in Saigon within 18 months.

1965 – Launch of Gemini 5, piloted by LCDR Charles Conrad Jr., USN, who completed 120 orbits in almost 8 days at an altitude of 349.8 km. Recovery was by helicopter from USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39).

1965 – It is revealed by MACV headquarters (Headquarters Military Assistance Command Vietnam) in Saigon that U.S. pilots have received approval to destroy any Soviet-made missiles they see while raiding North Vietnam. This was a major change from previous orders that restricted them to bombing only previously approved targets.

1968 – William Dana reached 80 km. in the last high-altitude X-15 flight.

1968 – After 5 years Russia once again jammed Voice of America radio.

1968 – Soviet forces invaded Czechoslovakia because of the country’s experiments with a more liberal government.

1968 – James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

1972 – US orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus was launched.

1972 – Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2.

1975 – In Los Angeles Kathleen Ann Soliah (later known as Sarah Jane Olson) and other members of the SLA placed 2 pipe bombs under parked police cars at an Int’l. House of Pancakes on Sunset Blvd. They did not explode. Olson pleaded guilty to 2 felony accounts in 2001. Olson was convicted and sentenced in 2002 to 20 years to life in prison and was then arraigned with 3 others for the Apr 21 murder of Myrna Opsahl.

1976 – Operation Paul Bunyan begins. In response to the “axe murder incident”, the UN Command determined that instead of trimming the branches that obscured visibility, they would cut down the tree with the aid of overwhelming force. The parameters of the operation were decided in the White House, where President Gerald Ford had held crisis talks. Ford and his advisors were concerned about making a show of strength to chasten North Korea, but without causing further escalation. The operation, named after mythical lumberjack Paul Bunyan, was conceived as a US/South Korean show of force, but was also carefully managed to prevent further escalation. It was planned over two days by General Richard G. Stilwell and his staff at the UNC headquarters in Seoul.

1980 – USS Truxtun rescues 42 Vietnamese refugees and USS Merrill rescues 62 Vietnamese refugees, over 200 miles southeast of Saigon.

1982 – The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

1983 – Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport. Fabian Ver (d.1998 at 78), leader of the Philippine army, was among 20 men later charged in the murder of Aquino. Ver fled to Hawaii in 1986 along with Marcos.

1987 – Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB after becoming romantically involved with a Soviet woman while serving as a U.S. Embassy guard in Moscow. Lonetree ended up serving eight years in a military prison, and was released in February 1996.

1989 – The U.S. space probe Voyager 2 fired its thrusters to bring it closer to Neptune’s mysterious moon Triton.

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1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered a speech in which he defended the detaining of foreigners in his country, and promised “a major catastrophe” should fighting break out in the Persian Gulf.

1991 – Just three days after it began, the coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev collapses. Despite his success in avoiding removal from office, Gorbachev’s days in power were numbered. The Soviet Union would soon cease to exist as a nation and as a Cold War threat to the United States. The coup against Gorbachev began on August 18, led by hard-line communist elements of the Soviet government and military. The attempt was poorly planned and disorganized, however. The leaders of the coup seemed to spend as much time bickering among themselves–and, according to some reports, drinking heavily–as they did on trying to win popular support for their action. Nevertheless, they did manage to put Gorbachev under house arrest and demand that he resign from leadership of the Soviet Union.

Many commentators in the West believed that the administration of President George Bush would come to the rescue, but were somewhat surprised at the restrained response of the U.S. government. These commentators did not know that at the time a serious debate was going on among Bush officials as to whether Gorbachev’s days were numbered and whether the United States should shift its support to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin’s stock rose sharply as he publicly denounced the coup and organized strikes and street protests by the Russian people. The leaders of the coup, seeing that most of the Soviet military did not support their action, called off the attempt and it collapsed on August 21. The collapse of the coup brought a temporary reprieve to the Gorbachev regime, but among U.S. officials he was starting to be seen as damaged goods. Once a darling of the U.S. press and public, Gorbachev increasingly was viewed as incompetent and a failure. U.S. officials began to discuss the post-Gorbachev situation in the Soviet Union. Based on what had transpired during the August 1991 coup, they began a slow but steady tilt toward Yeltsin. In retrospect, this policy seemed extremely prudent, given that Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Despite the turmoil around him, Yeltsin continued to serve as president of the largest and most powerful of the former soviet socialist republics, Russia.

1993 – In a serious setback for NASA, engineers lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft on a $980 million mission. Its fate remains unknown.

1995 – A Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem and killed 4 Israelis, 1 American, and wounded more than 100 people. Hamas took responsibility.

1998 – Sudanese authorities, angered by the US attack of US cruise missiles, released 2 men suspected in the bombing of 2 US embassies on Aug 7. The men were sent to Pakistan.

2001 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

2001 – The CIA placed Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaf Alhazmi under suspicion as part of the investigation in the bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen. The 2 were among the hijackers who commandeered the jet that hit the Pentagon on September 11th.

2002 – President Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch that ousting Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was “in the interests of the world” but indicated the United States was in no hurry.

2002 – A new Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket launched a 4-ton French communications satellite into orbit.

2003 – The US military reported that Ali Hassan al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”), No. 5 on the list of most-wanted Iraqis, had been captured.

2004 – In Najaf, Iraq, militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine, and clashes flared.

2004 – Pakistani officials said they had arrested at least five al-Qaida-linked terrorists who were plotting suicide attacks on government leaders and the U.S. Embassy.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

ANDERSON, FREDERICK C.
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 18th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 21 August 1864. Entered service at:——Birth: Boston, Mass. Date of issue: 6 September 1864. Citation: Capture of battle flag of 27th South Carolina (C.S.A.) and the color bearer.

ELLIS, HORACE
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 7th Wisconsin Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 21 August 1864. Entered service at: Chippewa Falls, Wis. Birth: Mercer County, Pa. Date of issue: December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 16th Mississippi (C.S.A.).

REED, GEORGE W.
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 11th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 21 August 1864. Entered service at: Johnstown, Pa. Birth: Cambria County, Pa. Dale of issue: 6 September 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 24th North Carolina Volunteers (C.S.A.).

SHILLING, JOHN
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company H, 3d Delaware Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 21 August 1864. Entered service at: Felton, Del. Born: 15 February 1832, England. Date of issue: 6 September 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.

SMITH, RICHARD
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 95th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Va., 21 August 1864. Entered service at: Harverstraw, Rockland County, N.Y. Birth: Harverstraw, Rockland County, N.Y. Date of issue: 13 March 1865. Citation: Captured 2 officers and 20 men of Hagood’s brigade while they were endeavoring to make their way back through the woods.

HARRINGTON, DAVID
Rank and organization: First Class Fireman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1856, Washington, D.C. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Tallapoosa at the time of the sinking of that vessel, on the night of 21 August 1884. Remaining at his post of duty in the fireroom until the fires were put out by the rising waters, Harrington opened the safety valves when the water was up to his waist.

MAGEE, JOHN W.
Rank and organization: Second Class Fireman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1859, Maryland. Accredited to: Maryland. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Tallapoosa during the sinking of that vessel on the night of 21 August 1884. During this period, Magee remained at his post of duty in the fireroom until the fires were put out by the rising waters.

OHMSEN, AUGUST
Rank and organization: Master-at-Arms, U.S. Navy. Born: 1853, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Tallapoosa at the time of the sinking of that vessel, on the night of 21 August 1884. Clearing the berth deck, Ohmsen remained there until the water was waist deep, wading about with outstretched arms, rousing the men out of their hammocks. Then, going on deck, he assisted in lowering the first cutter and then the dinghy, of which he took charge.

OSBORNE, JOHN
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1844, New Orleans, La. Accredited to: Louisiana. G.O. No.: 218, 24 August 1876. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Juniata, Osborne displayed gallant conduct in rescuing from drowning an enlisted boy of that vessel, at Philadelphia, Pa., 21 August 1876.

HAMMANN, CHARLES HAZELTINE
Rank and organization: Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve Fleet. Born: 16 March 1892, Baltimore, Md. Appointed from: Maryland. Citation: For extraordinary heroism as a pilot of a seaplane on 21 August 1918, when with 3 other planes Ens. Hammann took part in a patrol and attacked a superior force of enemy land planes. In the course of the engagement which followed the plane of Ens. George M. Ludlow was shot down and fell in the water 5 miles off Pola. Ens. Hammann immediately dived down and landed on the water close alongside the disabled machine, where he took Ludlow on board. Although his machine was not designed for the double load to which it was subjected, and although there was danger of attack by Austrian planes, he made his way to Porto Corsini.

SMITH, JOHN LUCIAN
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Fighter Squadron 223, Place and date: In the Solomon Islands area, August-September 1942. Entered service at: Oklahoma. Born: 26 December 1914, Lexington, Okla. Other Navy award: Legion of Merit. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and heroic achievement in aerial combat above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 223 during operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area, August-September 1942. Repeatedly risking his life in aggressive and daring attacks, Maj. Smith led his squadron against a determined force, greatly superior in numbers, personally shooting down 16 Japanese planes between 21 August and 15 September 1942. In spite of the limited combat experience of many of the pilots of this squadron, they achieved the notable record of a total of 83 enemy aircraft destroyed in this period, mainly attributable to the thorough training under Maj. Smith and to his intrepid and inspiring leadership. His bold tactics and indomitable fighting spirit, and the valiant and zealous fortitude of the men of his command not only rendered the enemy’s attacks ineffective and costly to Japan, but contributed to the security of our advance base. His loyal and courageous devotion to duty sustains and enhances the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

*YOUNG, MARVIN R.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, (Mechanized), 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Ben Cui, Republic of Vietnam, 21 August 1968. Entered service at: Odessa, Tex. Born: 11 May 1947, Alpine, Tex. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Young distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a squad leader with Company C. While conducting a reconnaissance mission in the vicinity of Ben Cui, Company C was suddenly engaged by an estimated regimental-size force of the North Vietnamese Army. During the initial volley of fire the point element of the 1st Platoon was pinned down, sustaining several casualties, and the acting platoon leader was killed. S/Sgt. Young unhesitatingly assumed command of the platoon and immediately began to organize and deploy his men into a defensive position in order to repel the attacking force. As a human wave attack advanced on S/Sgt. Young’s platoon, he moved from position to position, encouraging and directing fire on the hostile insurgents while exposing himself to the hail of enemy bullets. After receiving orders to withdraw to a better defensive position, he remained behind to provide covering fire for the withdrawal.

Observing that a small element of the point squad was unable to extract itself from its position, and completely disregarding his personal safety, S/Sgt. Young began moving toward their position, firing as he maneuvered. When halfway to their position he sustained a critical head injury, yet he continued his mission and ordered the element to withdraw. Remaining with the squad as it fought its way to the rear, he was twice seriously wounded in the arm and leg. Although his leg was badly shattered, S/Sgt. Young refused assistance that would have slowed the retreat of his comrades, and he ordered them to continue their withdrawal while he provided protective covering fire. With indomitable courage and heroic self-sacrifice, he continued his self-assigned mission until the enemy force engulfed his position. By his gallantry at the cost of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service, S/Sgt. Young has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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22 August

1775 – England’s King George III proclaimed the American colonies in a state of open rebellion.

1777 – With the approach of General Benedict Arnold’s army, British Colonel Barry St. Ledger abandoned Fort Stanwix and returns to Canada.

1816 – The Revenue Cutter Active, under the command of Revenue Captain Steven White and acting under orders of the Collector at Baltimore, took possession of the Spanish brig Servia, recently departed from Baltimore, which was anchored in the Patuxent River. The Servia had been captured by an American privateer and Active was ordered to arrest the Servia and return it to Baltimore for examination.

1846 – The United States annexed New Mexico.

1862 – Secretary of the Navy Welles ordered Rear Admiral L. M. Goldsborough, commanding North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, to “assist the army, as far as you may be able, in embarking the troops at Fortress Monroe and Newport News, as desired by Major General Halleck.” The withdrawal northward of the Army of the Potomac by water transport brought to a close the Peninsular Campaign.

1863 – Following 4 day’s of intensive bombardment of Forts Wagner, Sumter, and Gregg from afloat and ashore, naval forces under Rear Admiral Dahlgren moved to press a close attack on heavily damaged Fort Sumter late at night. U.S.S. Passaic, Lieutenant Commander Edward Simpson, in advance of the other ironclads, grounded near the fort shortly after midnight. “It took so much time to get her off,” the Admiral wired Brigadier General Gillmore, “that when I was informed of the fact that I would have had but little time to make the attack before daylight [the assault] was unavoidably postponed . . . .” Dahlgren wrote Secretary Welles of the difficulties attendant upon an all-out naval offensive because of the multitude of duties his ships had to perform. He noted that one ironclad had to be stationed at Savannah and that another was repairing at Port Royal. The remaining five had to work closely in support of Army operations ashore, for the trenches can not be advanced nor even the guns kept in play, unless the ironclads keep down Wagner, and yet in doing so the power of the ironclads is abated proportionally.” This same date, Brigadier General Johnson Hagood, CSA, commanding Fort Wagner, testified to the effectiveness of the Union Navy’s gunfire support: The fire from the fleet, enfilading the land face and proving destructive, compelled us to cease firing. As soon as the vessels withdrew the sharpshooters resumed their work.”

1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick and wounded soldiers in the battlefield.

1902 – President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. chief executive to ride in an automobile in Hartford, Conn.

1911 – President William Taft vetoed a joint resolution of Congress granting statehood to Arizona. Taft vetoed the resolution because he believed a provision in the state constitution authorizing the recall of judges was a blow at the independence of the judiciary. The offending clause was removed an Arizona was admitted to statehood on February 14, 1912. Afterward, the state restored the article in its constitution.

1912 – Birthday of the Navy’s Dental Corps.

1934 – H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition forces during the Persian Gulf War (1991), was born in Trenton, NJ.

1942 – The 4th Marine Air Wing was commissioned at Ewa, Hawaii, as the 4th Marine Base Defense Air Wing.

1943 – US forces occupy islands of the Ellice group, including Nukufetau and Namumea. There is no Japanese opposition. Work begins on constructing airfields.

1944 – The Liberty ship SS Alexander V. Frazer, named for the “first” commandant of the Revenue Cutter Service, was launched.

1945 – Conflict in Vietnam began when a group of Free French parachute into southern Indochina, in response to a successful coup by communist guerilla Ho Chi Minh.

1945 – The Japanese garrison on Mili Atoll capitulated in a ceremony on an American destroyer escort; USS Levy. This is the first time a Japanese force surrenders en masse.

1950 – During the fighting at the “Bowling Alley” near Tabudong, North Korean Lieutenant Colonel Chong Pong UK, commander of the artillery regiment supporting the North Korean 13th Division, surrendered to the ROK 1st Division. Chong, the highest-ranking communist prisoner to date, gave precise information on the location of his artillery. Eighth Army immediately launched air and artillery strikes on the enemy guns. Chong had defected in protest against what he felt was an unfair reprimand by the 13th Division commander.

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1962 – Savannah, world’s 1st nuclear powered ship, completed here maiden voyage from Yorktown, Va., to Savannah, Ga.

1963 – Following attacks of the preceding two days on Buddhist populations by Diem and the resulting resignations of several high ranking Buddhist South Vietnamese officials, US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge lands in Saigon and reports back to Washington that Diem’s brother, Nhu, is the architect of the attacks. Lodge confirms as well that Diem’s generals seek US support for a coup, but counsels prudence.

1963 – American Joe Walker in an X-15 test plane reaches an altitude of 106 km (66 mi).

1967 – Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General John P. McConnell, states before a Senate Subcommittee that adopting a graduated bombing policy in North Vietnam was a mistake. Three days later, Secretary of Defense McNamara admitted that the bombing of North Vietnam had not materially affected Hanoi’s “war making capability.”

1968 – For the first time in two months, Viet Cong forces launch a rocket attack on Saigon, killing 18 and wounding 59. Administration officials denounced the attack as a direct repudiation of President Johnson’s speech of August 19, in which he appealed to the North Vietnamese to respond favorably to his limitation of the air campaign north of the DMZ.

1971 – J. Edgar Hoover and John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28. The Camden 28 were a group of “Catholic left” anti-Vietnam War activists who in 1971 planned and executed a raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board. The raid resulted in a high-profile trial against the activists that was seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War.

1987 – The supertanker Bridgeton and three other reflagged Kuwaiti tankers left Kuwait under U.S. escort and safely cleared Persian Gulf waters where the Bridgeton had hit a mine the month before.

1990 – President Bush signed an order calling up reservists to bolster the US military buildup in the Persian Gulf.

1993 – NASA engineers continued trying, without success, to re-establish contact with the Mars Observer, a day after losing contact.

1993 – In Somalia, six US soldiers are WIA when their truck is blown up.

1994 – The Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea and the CCCS Louis S. Ste Laurent became the first “North American surface ships” to reach the North Pole. An HH-65A from Aviation Training Center Mobile, detached to the Polar Sea, became the first U.S. (and also Coast Guard) helicopter to reach the pole as well.

1996 – The US Army began operating an incinerator in Utah to destroy a 14,000 ton stockpile of chemical weapons over 7 years.

1997 – A $64.8 million 890- lb. Lewis satellite was launched by NASA on a hoped-for 5-year mission. It went into an uncontrolled spin on Aug 22 and was expected to fall and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in September.

1998 – President Clinton, in his Saturday radio address, announced he had signed an executive order putting Osama bin Laden’s Islamic Army on a list of terrorist groups.

2001 – The space shuttle Discovery returned and brought home 3 crew members, Yuri Usachev, Susan Helms, and Jim Voss, who had spent nearly 6 months on the Int’l. Space Station.

2001 – NATO members gave formal approval for alliance soldiers to collect weapons from Albanian guerrillas in Macedonia.

2002 – The US and Russia took away 100 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from an aging nuclear reactor in Belgrade to Russia for re-processing.

2002 – Two US helicopter pilots were reported lost in South Korea. Their bodies were found the next day 13 miles south of Camp Page.

2004 – U.S. warplanes bombed Najaf’s Old City and gunfire rattled amid fears a plan to end the standoff with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could. A car bomb exploded north of Baghdad, killing two people and injuring four others, including a deputy provincial governor.

2007 – The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

CLlFFORD, ROBERT T.
Rank and organization: Master-at-Arms, U.S. Navy. Born: 1835, Pennsylvania. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Shokokon at New Topsail Inlet off Wilmington, N.C., 22 August 1863. Participating in a strategic plan to destroy an enemy schooner, Clifford aided in the portage of a dinghy across the narrow neck of land separating the sea from the sound. Launching the boat in the sound, the crew approached the enemy from the rear and Clifford gallantly crept into the rebel camp and counted the men who outnumbered his party 3 to 1. Returning to his men, he ordered a charge in which the enemy was routed, leaving behind a schooner and a quantity of supplies.

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23 August

1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St. James’s stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.

1784 – Eastern Tennessee settlers declared their area an independent state and named it Franklin; a year later the Continental Congress rejected it.

1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry, naval hero, died on his 34th birthday.

1820 – The Revenue Cutter Louisiana captured four pirate vessels.

1861 – Allen Pinkerton, head of the new secret service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow under house arrest in Washington, D.C. Greenhow was a wealthy widow living in Washington at the outbreak of the war. She was well connected in the capital and was especially close with Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. The Maryland native was openly committed to the Southern cause, and she soon formed a substantial spy network. Greenhow’s operation quickly paid dividends for the Confederacy. One of her operatives provided key information to Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard concerning the deployment of Union General Irwin McDowell’s troops before the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Beauregard later testified that this dispatch, along with further information provided by Greenhow herself, was instrumental in Beauregard’s decision to request additional troops. The move led to a decisive victory by the Rebels. It did not take the Federals long to track down the leaks in Washington. Pinkerton placed Greenhow under house arrest, and he soon confined other suspected women in her home. However, Greenhow was undeterred. She was allowed visitors, including Senator Wilson, and was able to continue funneling information to the Confederates. Frustrated, Pinkerton finally confined Greenhow and her daughter to the Old Capitol Prison for five months in early 1862. In June 1862, she and her daughter, “Little Rose,” were released and exiled to the South. Greenhow traveled to England and France to drum up support for the Southern cause, and she penned her memoirs while abroad. She returned to the Confederacy in September 1864, but a Yankee war vessel ran her ship aground in North Carolina. Weighted down by a substantial amount of gold, Greenhow’s lifeboat overturned and she drowned.

1863 – A ruthless band of guerillas attacks the town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing every man and boy in sight. Led by William Quantrill and William “Bloody Bill” Anderson, the guerillas were said to have carried out the brutal attack on behalf of the Confederacy. Included in their group was Jesse James’ brother Frank and Cole Younger, who would also play a large role in the James gang later on. Bloody Bill Anderson got his name for his love of shooting unarmed and defenseless people. Reportedly, he carried as many as eight handguns, in addition to a saber and a hatchet. His horse was also outfitted with several rifles and backup pistols. Although he claimed to have political motives for his terrorism, Anderson more likely used the Civil War as an opportunity to kill without repercussion. Jesse James, only 17 at the time, teamed up with Bloody Bill after he split from Quantrill’s band of killers. On September 24, 1864, their small splinter group terrorized and destroyed most of the town of Centralia, Missouri. They also ambushed a small troop of Union soldiers whose train happened to stop at Centralia. Twenty-five Northern soldiers were stripped and lined up while Anderson and Arch Clement proceeded to shoot each of them down in cold blood, sparing only the sergeant. A month later, Anderson paid for his crimes: He was caught by a full contingent of Union army troops in Missouri and killed in the ensuing battle. Jesse James was never brought to justice by the North for his war crimes and went on to become the 19th century’s most infamous criminal.

1863 – Confederate boat expedition under Lieutenant Wood, CSN, captured U.S.S. Reliance, Acting Ensign Henry Walter, and U.S.S Satellite, Acting Master Robinson, off Windmill Point, on the Rappahannock River. Wood had departed Richmond 11 days before with some 80 Confederates and 4 boats placed on wheels. These were launched on the 16th, 2 miles from the mouth of the Piankatank River and rowed into the bay. Concealing themselves by day and venturing forth by night, the Confederates sought for a week to find Union ships in an exposed position. Shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning, 23 August, Reliance and Satellite were found at anchor “so close to each other,” Wood reported, “that it was necessary to board both at the same time.” The two ships were quickly captured and taken up the Rappahannock to Urbanna. A “daring and brilliantly executed” plan, the capture of the two steamers shocked the North. Only a limited supply of coal on board the prizes and poor weather prevented Wood from following up his initial advantage more extensively.

1863 – As operations against the Charleston defenses continued, ironclads under Rear Admiral Dahlgren, including U.S.S. Weehawken, Montauk, Nahant, Passaic, and Patapsco, opened on Fort Sumter shortly: after 3 a.m. Confederate batteries at Fort Moultrie replied, and three of the monitors turned their attention to that quarter as fog set in, obscuring the view of both sides. “Finding Sumter pretty well used up,” Dahlgren wrote, “I concluded to haul off [at daybreak], for the men had been at work two days and two nights and were exhausted.” Much of the firing had been within a range of 1,000 yards. Later that morning U.S.S. New Ironsides, Captain Rowan, steamed abreast of and engaged Fort Wagner for an hour. In the exchange New Ironsides lost a dinghy which was cut away by a shot from a Confederate 10 inch gun.

1864 – Having doggedly withstood naval bombardment for more than two weeks, and invested by Union soldiers ashore, Brigadier General Page surrendered Fort Morgan, the last Confederate bastion at Mobile Bay. “My guns and powder had all been destroyed, my means of defense gone, the citadel, nearly the entire quartermaster stores, and a portion of the commissariat burned by the enemy’s shells,” he reported. “It was evident the fort could hold out but a few hours longer under a renewed bombardment. The only question was: Hold it for this time, gain the eclat, and sustain the loss of life from the falling of the walls, or save life and capitulate?”

1864 – Acting Master’s Mate Woodman made his second dangerous reconnaissance up the Roanoke River, North Carolina, to gather intelligence on C.S.S. Albemarle and the defenses of Plymouth. Woodman reported: “At 10 a.m. I arrived on the Roanoke River, opposite Plymouth. The ram Albemarle was lying alongside of the wharf at Plymouth, protected with timbers, extending completely around her . . . .” Woodman, who would make yet another reconnaissance mission, gained much vital information upon which Lieutenant Cushing planned the expedition which ended Albemarle’s career.

1864 – The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality of medical personnel. It also proposed the use of an international emblem to mark medical personnel and supplies. In honor of Dunant’s nationality, a red cross on a white background–the Swiss flag in reverse–was chosen. In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize. In 1881, American humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons founded the American National Red Cross, an organization designed to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross.

1883 – Jonathan Wainwright, U.S. General, who fought against the Japanese on Corregidor in the Philippines and was forced to surrender, was born.

1889 – The 1st ship-to-shore wireless message was received in US in San Francisco.

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1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

1927 – Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard. The murderers, who were described as two Italian men, escaped with more than $15,000. After going to a garage to claim a car that police said was connected with the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the crime. Although both men carried guns and made false statements upon their arrest, neither had a previous criminal record. On July 14, 1921, they were convicted and sentenced to die. Anti-radical sentiment was running high in America at the time, and the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was regarded by many as unlawfully sensational. Authorities had failed to come up with any evidence of the stolen money, and much of the other evidence against them was later discredited. During the next few years, sporadic protests were held in Massachusetts and around the world calling for their release, especially after Celestino Madeiros, then under a sentence for murder, confessed in 1925 that he had participated in the crime with the Joe Morelli gang. The state Supreme Court refused to upset the verdict, and Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller denied the men clemency. In the days leading up to the execution, protests were held in cities around the world, and bombs were set off in New York City and Philadelphia. On August 22, Sacco and Vanzetti were electrocuted. In 1961, a test of Sacco’s gun using modern forensic techniques apparently proved it was his gun that killed the guard, though little evidence has been found to substantiate Vanzetti’s guilt. Nevertheless, in 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation vindicating Sacco and Vanzetti, stating that they had been treated unjustly and that no stigma should be associated with their names.

1939 – Lloyd’s of London advanced war-risk rates as the Nazis threatened to invade Poland and Europe braced itself for war. The Dow responded to the news with a 3.25 drop to close the day at 131.82.

1939 – Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, stunning the world, given their diametrically opposed ideologies. But the dictators were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs. After Nazi Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain had to decide to what extent it would intervene should Hitler continue German expansion. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, at first indifferent to Hitler’s capture of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia, suddenly snapped to life when Poland became threatened. He made it plain that Britain would be obliged to come to the aid of Poland in the event of German invasion. But he wanted, and needed, an ally. The only power large enough to stop Hitler, and with a vested interest in doing so, was the Soviet Union. But Stalin was cool to Britain after its effort to create a political alliance with Britain and France against Germany had been rebuffed a year earlier. Plus, Poland’s leaders were less than thrilled with the prospect of Russia becoming its guardian; to them, it was simply occupation by another monstrous regime.

Hitler believed that Britain would never take him on alone, so he decided to swallow his fear and loathing of communism and cozy up to the Soviet dictator, thereby pulling the rug out from the British initiative. Both sides were extremely suspicious of the other, trying to discern ulterior motives. But Hitler was in a hurry; he knew if he was to invade Poland it had to be done quickly, before the West could create a unified front. Agreeing basically to carve up parts of Eastern Europe-and leave each other alone in the process-Hitler’s foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flew to Moscow and signed the non-aggression pact with his Soviet counterpart, V.M. Molotov (which is why the pact is often referred to as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Supporters of bolshevism around the world had their heretofore romantic view of “international socialism” ruined; they were outraged that Stalin would enter into any kind of league with the fascist dictator. But once Poland was German-occupied territory, the alliance would not last for long.

1942 – The 1st US flights landed on Guadalcanal.

1942 – In an attempt to cover the ferrying of supplies to their forces at Guadalcanal, both the Japanese and the American send major warships.

1943 – American destroyers bombard Finschafen in support of air operations against Wewak.

1944 – US 1st Army (part of US 12th Army Group) also drives forward to the Seine. The US 19th Corps captures Evreux. French forces are employed as the spearhead of the US 5th Corps advance toward Paris. On the Atlantic coast, elements of the US 3rd Army link up with French resistance members near Bordeaux.

1944 – Elements of the French 2nd Corps (part of US 7th Army) reach the outskirts of Marseilles and Toulon.

1944 – The last Japanese resistance on the island of Numfoor is overcome and most of the American force is redeployed.

1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster; A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.

1945 – A US B-24 crashed into a school in Freckelton, England, and 76 were killed.

1945 – British, American and French troops enter Vienna.

1945 – Clarence V. Bertucci is granted a discharge from the Army and sent to a mental institution for further tests and evaluation. He is responsible for the massacre of German POWs at Camp Salina, Utah on July 8th.

1945 – General MacArthur orders the release of some 5000 Filipinos interned for security reasons.

1950 – Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps were called involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War.

1951 – The Navy recommissioned the battleship USS Iowa under the command of Captain William R. Smedberg, III.

1954 – First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship (AC-130), for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol, and aerial firefighting. It is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 60 nations. The C-130 entered service with U.S., followed by Australia and others. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in numerous military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. The family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. In 2007, the C-130 became the fifth aircraft—after the English Electric Canberra, Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-95, and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, all designs with various forms of aviation gas turbine powerplants—to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer, in this case, the United States Air Force. The C-130 is one of the only military aircraft to remain in continuous production for over 50 years with its original customer, as the updated C-130J Super Hercules.

1958 – In Taiwan Straits Crisis, Units of 7th Fleet move into Taiwan area to support Taiwan against Chinese Communists. This massive concentration of the Pacific Fleet in Quemoy-Matsu area prevents invasion of islands by China. Marines from Okinawa prepare to reinforce Chinese Nationalists at Taiwan.

1966 – The American cargo ship Baton Rouge Victory strikes a mine laid by the Viet Cong in the Long Tao River, 22 miles south of Saigon. The half-submerged ship blocked the route from the South Vietnamese capital to the sea. Seven crewmen were killed.

1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1968 – Communist forces launch rocket and mortar attacks on numerous cities, provincial capitals, and military installations. The heaviest shelling was on the U.S. airfield at Da Nang, the cities of Hue and Quang Tri. North Vietnamese forces numbering between 1200 and 1500 troops attacked the U.S. Special Forces camp at Duc Lap, 130 miles northeast of Saigon near the Cambodian border. The camp fell but was retaken by an allied relief column led by U.S. Special Forces on August 25. A reported 643 North Vietnamese troops were killed in the battle.

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1973 – Secretary of Defense Melvin R Laird announces the adoption of the “Total Force Policy” as the new doctrine of American military preparedness. The war in Vietnam has just ended. One of the major conclusions drawn from that experience was that the American people had not supported the war because it was fought without a stated declaration and the Johnson Administration failed to mobilize and use large numbers of Reserve Component (RC) forces, including the National Guard. By conscripting (drafting) individual men for service there is little notice by the larger community. However, when an RC unit is mobilized, often taking dozens to hundreds of personnel at one time, attracting big local headlines and impacting whole communities in numerous ways. Only by having a supportive populous, one backing the effort, can American military objectives be met. By restructuring missions, training and equipment to more fully integrate RC units in with their active duty counterparts, it was hoped that the U.S. could never commit itself to another war without the debate sure to come by mobilizing the Guard and Reserves. This proved true first in Operations DESERT SHIELD/STORM in 1990-1991 and again in Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM starting in 2001. So many necessary elements of the American military now belong to the RC that active duty forces can not fight a major conflict with RC mobilization. This is just what the planners of Total Force envisioned.

1979 – The keel of the first of the new 270-foot class medium endurance cutters, the CGC Bear, was laid.

1984 – The last Marines to serve peace-keeping duty in Lebanon arrived home. The 24th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) arrived off the coast of Lebanon on 9 April to relieve Marines of the 22d MAU who were guarding the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The 24th MAU left Beirut on 31 July, marking the last presence of U.S. combat troops in Beirut since Marines entered almost two years earlier.

1989 – The markets took a nosedive and the Dow lost a hefty 76.73 points just a month after it nearly broke the 3,000 point barrier. The culprit for the decline? Wall Street’s increasing fears about the Persian Gulf crisis, which began in early August when the Iraqi army rolled into the oil-rich territory of its neighbor, Kuwait. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein openly declared his intention of annexing Kuwait, prompting President George Bush to deride the invasion as an act of “naked aggression.” As Bush and Hussein faced off, oil prices marched upward, in turn triggering the sell-off on Wall Street. Indeed, fears of war and escalating prices were written all over the markets: during the week of the 23rd, the Dow lost 6 percent of its total value.

1990 – US began to call up of 46,000 reservists to the Persian Gulf.

1990 – East and West Germany announced that they would unite October 3rd.

1990 – Iraqi state television showed President Saddam Hussein meeting with a group of about 20 Western detainees, telling the group—whom he described as “guests”—that they were being held “to prevent the scourge of war.”

1991 – Internaut’s day; Tim Berners-Lee opens the WWW, World Wide Web to new users.

1991 – In the wake of a failed coup by hard-liners in the Soviet Union, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin acted to strip the Communist Party of its power and take control of the army and the KGB.

1993 – The Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon, later named Dactyl, around 243 Ida, the first known asteroid moon.

1994 – A new Coast Guard record for people rescued was set on 23 August 1994 when 3,253 Cubans were rescued from dangerously overloaded craft during Operation Able Vigil.

1994 – Eugene Bullard, one of only two black pilots, and the only black American pilot, in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, one of the 10 children of William O. Bullard, nicknamed “Big Chief Ox”, and his wife Josephine Thomas, a Creek Indian. He was a student at Twenty-eighth Street School in 1901-1906, where he learned to read and write. As a teenager, Eugene Bullard stowed away on a ship bound for Scotland, seeking to escape racial discrimination (he later claimed to have witnessed his father’s narrow escape from lynching). Bullard arrived at Aberdeen before making his way south to Glasgow. He became a boxer in Paris and also worked in a music hall. On a visit to Paris, Bullard decided to settle in France. At the outbreak of World War I, according to his personnel file at the French Ministry of Defense, he enlisted on October 19, 1914 in the 1st Regiment of Foreign Legion since volunteers from overseas in 1914 were allowed to serve only in the French colonial troops. As a part of the 170th Infantry, Bullard fought and was seriously wounded in March 1916 during the Battle of Verdun. After recovering from his wounds, Bullard volunteered on October 2, 1916 to join the French Air Service (Aéronautique Militaire) as an air gunner, and went through training at the Aerial Gunnery School in Cazaux, Gironde. Later, he went through initial flight training at Châteauroux and Avord and received his pilot’s license number 6950 from the Aéro-Club de France on May 5, 1917.

Like many other American aviators, Bullard wanted to join the famous aero squadron Escadrille Americaine, the Lafayette Escadrille, but after enrolling 38 American pilots in spring and summer of 1916, it stopped accepting new flyers. Therefore, after receiving more training at Avord, Bullard on November 15, 1916, joined 269 American aviators at the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Service, which was a designation rather than a unit. American volunteers flew with French pilots in different pursuit and bomber/reconnaissance aero squadrons on the Western Front. Edmund L. Gros, who facilitated the incorporation of American pilots in the French Air Service, listed in the October 1917 issue of Flying, an official publication of the Aero Club of America, Bullard’s name in the member roster of the Lafayette Flying Corps. On June 28, 1917 Bullard was promoted to the rank of corporal. He took part in about twenty combat missions, and is sometimes credited with shooting down one or two German aircraft (sources differ). However, the French authorities did not confirm Bullard’s victories. When the United States entered the war, the United States Army Air Service convened a medical board to recruit Americans serving in the Lafayette Flying Corps to the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces. Bullard went through the medical examination, but was not called in since only white pilots were allowed to serve. A time later, while being on short break from duty in Paris, Bullard allegedly got into a fight with a French officer and was punished by being transferred to the service battalion of the 170th in January 1918. As a noncombatant, he served past the Armistice being finally discharged on October 24, 1919. For his World War I service Bullard was awarded the Croix de Guerre, Médaille militaire, Croix du combattant volontaire 1914–1918, and Médaille de Verdun, among others.

1996 – Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’

1999 – US and British warplanes attacked targets in northern Iraq after being fired upon by an Iraqi military radar station.

1999 – It was reported that the US was training a 950-man Colombian army counter narcotics battalion to regain control of guerrilla controlled territory.

2000 – Boeing made the first successful launch of its Delta III rocket.

2001 – Brian Regan (38), retired US Air Force master sergeant and cryptanalyst, was arrested by the FBI at Dulles Int’l. Airport on charges of spying. In 2002 Regan was accused of trying to spy for Iraq, Libya and China.

2001 – NATO soldiers streamed into Macedonia as part of a mission to help end 6 months of ethnic hostilities by collecting and destroying rebel weapons.

2002 – U.S. warplanes bombed an air defense site in northern Iraq after being targeted by an Iraqi missile guidance radar system.

2002 – The United States imposed symbolic sanctions on a North Korean company and the North Korean government for exporting medium or long-range missile components.

2003 – Taliban fighters ambushed a truck full of government soldiers in the southern province of Zabul. Gov. Hafizullah Khan said five soldiers and three Taliban were killed.

2004 – Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan for talks with his Pres. Pervez Musharraf on eradicating Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters from their common border.

2004 – Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister and American officials signed an agreement extending the lease of the U.S. Air Force base in the Caribbean country until 2008.

2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BREYER, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Rappahannock Station, Va., 23 August 1862. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth:——. Date of issue: 8 July 1896. Citation: Voluntarily, and at great personal risk, picked up an unexploded shell and threw it away, thus doubtless saving the life of a comrade whose arm had been taken off by the same shell.

WHITE, J. HENRY
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Rappanhannock Station, Va., 23 August 1862. Entered service at:——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 5 May 1900. Citation: At the imminent risk of his life, crawled to a nearby spring within the enemy’s range and exposed to constant fire filled a large number of canteens, and returned in safety to the relief of his comrades who were suffering from want of water.

CAWETZKA, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 30th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Sariaya, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 23 August 1900. Entered service at: Wayne, Mich. Birth: Detroit, Mich. Date of issue: 14 March 1902. Citation: Single-handed, he defended a disabled comrade against a greatly superior force of the enemy.

*CAREY, ALVIN P.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 38th Infantry, 2-t Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Plougastel, Brittany, France, 23 August 1944. Entered service at: Laughlinstown, Pa. Born: 16 August 1916, Lycippus, Pa. G.O. No.: 37, 11 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, on 23 August 1944. S/Sgt. Carey, leader of a machinegun section, was advancing with his company in the attack on the strongly held enemy hill 154, near Plougastel, Brittany, France. The advance was held up when the attacking units were pinned down by intense enemy machinegun fire from a pillbox 200 yards up the hill. From his position covering the right flank, S/Sgt. Carey displaced his guns to an advanced position and then, upon his own initiative, armed himself with as many hand grenades as he could carry and without regard for his personal safety started alone up the hill toward the pillbox. Crawling forward under its withering fire, he proceeded 150 yards when he met a German rifleman whom he killed with his carbine. Continuing his steady forward movement until he reached grenade-throwing distance, he hurled his grenades at the pillbox opening in the face of intense enemy fire which wounded him mortally. Undaunted, he gathered his strength and continued his grenade attack until one entered and exploded within the pillbox, killing the occupants and putting their guns out of action. Inspired by S/Sgt. Carey’s heroic act, the riflemen quickly occupied the position and overpowered the remaining enemy resistance in the vicinity.

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24 August

1682 – Duke James of York gave Delaware to William Penn.

1781 – A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.

1814 – On the 19th of August British Major – General Robert Ross had landed his troops and started marching up the Patuxent River, with Rear – Admiral George Cockburn and a naval division of light vessels in support. On the third day, Commodore Joshua Barney, U.S.N. had to destroy his own flotilla of gunboats to prevent them from being captured; he then withdrew his 400 seamen to defend the road leading from the village of Bladensburg to Washington. Brigadier – General Winder was in charge of the troops here. There were 120 dragoons and about 300 regular infantry as well as 1,500 militia. On August 24th, almost 5,000 additional American militia started to arrive on the battlefield that General Winder had selected to be on the Washington side of the village. The American defensive position looked impressive; they were formed up in two lines on the heights. The advanced U.S. forces occupied a fortified house, and Marine artillery covered the bridge that the British would have to cross. Many of the militia are poorly trained and armed and their officers are lacking leadership skills. The British open the engagement by unleashing their secret weapon, Congreve rockets.

Though highly inaccurate (no American was reportedly injured by one) they caused great noise and smoke, creating panic in the militia ranks. Almost as soon as the British infantry started their assault, some militia routed off the field. However some units, like the 5th Regiment of Infantry, Maryland Militia (today the 175th Infantry) and the Hartford Dragoon’s fought a delaying action long enough to cover the retreat of other troops. The British entered Washington with no further problem this evening and burned government buildings including the White House and Capital. Commodore Barney and his seamen and Marines attempted to make a real fight of it until ordered by their badly wounded commander to withdraw to avoid being captured. The U.S. cannon took its toll on the advancing British troops and cut large holes in the British lines crossing the bridge. But the British kept on advancing filling in the ranks where soldiers fell. The charging British had 64 killed and 185 wounded while the U.S. forces lost 10 men killed and 12 wounded at what became known as “The Bladenburg Races” After a few hours rest the British formed up and continued on toward Washington.

1814 – British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelm American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and march unopposed into Washington, D.C. Most congressmen and officials fled the nation’s capital as soon as word came of the American defeat, but President James Madison and his wife, Dolley, escaped just before the invaders arrived. Earlier in the day, President Madison had been present at the Battle of Bladensburg and had at one point actually taken command of one of the few remaining American batteries, thus becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief. The British army entered Washington in the late afternoon, and General Ross and British officers dined that night at the deserted White House. Meanwhile, the British troops, ecstatic that they had captured their enemy’s capital, began setting the city aflame in revenge for the burning of Canadian government buildings by U.S. troops earlier in the war. The White House, a number of federal buildings, and several private homes were destroyed. The still uncompleted Capitol building was also set on fire, and the House of Representatives and the Library of Congress were gutted before a torrential downpour doused the flames. On August 26, General Ross, realizing his untenable hold on the capital area, ordered a withdrawal from Washington. The next day, President Madison returned to a smoking and charred Washington and vowed to rebuild the city. James Hoban, the original architect of the White House, completed reconstruction of the executive mansion in 1817.

1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis of 1816 was signed by Ninian Edwards, William Clark, and Auguste Chouteau for the United States and representatives of the Council of Three Fires (united tribes of Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi) residing on the Illinois and Milwaukee rivers. Despite the name, the treaty was conducted at Portage des Sioux, Missouri, located immediately north of St. Louis, Missouri. By signing the treaty, the tribes, their chiefs, and their warriors relinquished all right, claim, and title to land previously ceded to the United States by the Sac and Fox tribes on November 3, 1804 (see, 1804 Treaty, above), By signing, the united tribes also ceded a 20 mile strip of land to the United States, which connected Chicago and Lake Michigan with the Illinois River. In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was built on the ceded land and, in 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

1828 – Confederate General George Hume “Maryland” Steuart is born in Baltimore, Maryland. Steuart attended West Point and graduated in 1844. He served in various capacities in Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, and he was part of General Albert S. Johnston’s expedition against the Mormons in Utah. Steuart resigned his commission after the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, because he anticipated that his native state would follow the other Southern states that had already seceded from the Union, and he was appointed major general of the Maryland volunteers who supported secession. When Maryland did not secede, Steuart accepted a commission as lieutenant colonel in the Confederate army. He earned his nickname from his close association with troops from Maryland. Steuart became colonel when his regiment commander was promoted to brigadier general. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and in the spring of 1862 he was promoted to command a brigade. Steuart’s force served on General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s brilliant 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign, and he fought at Gettysburg with Richard Ewell’s corps, where his brigade participated in the unsuccessful attacks against Culp’s Hill. Steuart was also part of the 1864 campaign in Virginia between Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee. At Spotsylvania Court House in May, he and his entire brigade were captured when Union forces overran the Bloody Angle. He was exchanged in August, and received command of a brigade in George Pickett’s division. Steuart remained with the Army of Northern Virginia until the surrender at Appomattox Court House. After the war, Steuart returned to Maryland, where he farmed and remained active in Confederate veterans’ groups until his death in 1903.

1857 – The Panic of 1857, a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy, began. Because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis that began in late 1857 was the first world-wide economic crisis. In Britain, the Palmerston government circumvented the requirements of the Peel Banking Act of 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation. This circumvention set off the Panic in Britain. The sinking of the SS Central America contributed to the panic of 1857, as New York banks were awaiting a much needed shipment of gold; not recovering financially until after the civil war. Beginning in September 1857, the financial downturn did not last long; however, a proper recovery was not seen until the American Civil War.

1862 – The C.S.S. Alabama was commissioned at sea off Portugal’s Azore Islands, beginning a career that would see over 60 Union merchant vessels sunk or destroyed by the Confederate raider. The ship was built in secret in the in Liverpool shipyards, and a diplomatic crisis between the US government and Britain ensued when the Union uncovered the ship’s birth place.

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1863 – General Dabney H. Maury, CSA, reported: “The submarine boat sent to Charleston found that there was not enough water under the Ironsides for her to pass below her keel; therefore they have decided to affix a spike to the bow of the boat, to drive the spike into the Ironsides, then to back out, and by a string to explode the torpedo which was to be attached to the spike.” N. F. Hunley had originally been provided with a floating copper cylinder torpedo with flaring triggers which she could tow some 200 feet astern. The submarine would dive beneath the target ship, surface on the other side, and continue on course until the torpedo struck the ship and exploded. When the method proved unworkable, a spare torpedo containing 90 pounds of powder was affixed to the bow. A volunteer crew commanded by Lieutenant Payne, CSN, of C.S.S. Chicora took charge of H. L. Hunley in the next few days.

1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.

1894 – Congress passed the first graduated income tax law, which was declared unconstitutional the next year. It imposed a 2% tax on incomes over $4000.

1909 – Workers started pouring concrete for Panama Canal.

1912 – US passed an anti-gag law giving federal employees the right to petition government.

1912 – By an act of Congress, Alaska was given a territorial legislature of two houses.

1912 – Launching of USS Jupiter, first electrically propelled Navy ship. This collier will later be converted in to the first US Aircraft Carrier, the USS Langly.

1942 – The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. US Task Force 61, commanded by Admiral Fletcher is comprised of the American aircraft carriers Saratoga, Enterprise and Wasp. The Japanese split their forces into two, Admiral Nagumo commanding the Zuikaku and Shokaku and Admiral Hara, the Ryujo. Both forces are attempting to cover the ferrying of supplies to the respective forces on Guadalcanal. American scout planes discover the Ryujo and Admiral Fletcher dispatches a strike force. When the other two Japanese carriers are sighted, he attempts to redirect the attack, but most of his planes do not receive the new orders and proceed to sink the Ryujo. Admiral Nagumo’s planes find the USS Enterprise inflicting damage, however planes can still land on the carrier. Both carrier groups disengage at the end of the day without a clear result.

1942 – U.S. forces continue to deliver crushing blows to the Japanese, sinking the aircraft carrier Ryuho in the Battle of the East Solomon Islands. Key to the Americans’ success in this battle was the work of coastwatchers, a group of volunteers whose job it is to report on Japanese ship and aircraft movement. The Marines had landed on Guadalcanal, on the Solomon Islands, on August 7. This was the first American offensive maneuver of the war and would deliver the first real defeat to the Japanese. On August 23, coastwatchers, comprised mostly of Australian and New Zealander volunteers, hidden throughout the Solomon and Bismarck islands and protected by anti-Japanese natives, spotted heavy Japanese reinforcements headed for Guadalcanal. The coastwatchers alerted three U.S. carriers that were within 100 miles of Guadalcanal, which then raced to the scene to intercept the Japanese. By the time the Battle of the Eastern Solomons was over, the Japanese lost a light carrier, a destroyer, and a submarine and the Ryuho. The Americans suffered damage to the USS Enterprise, the most decorated carrier of the war; the Enterprise would see action again, though, in the American landings on Okinawa in 1945. As for the coastwatchers, Vice Adm. William F. Halsey said, “The coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.”

1944 – The French 4th Armored Division (Leclerc), part of the US 5th Corps, reaches the outskirts of Paris as renewed fighting takes place within the city, between German forces and French resistance members.

1944 – Elements of the US 7th Army advancing northeast along the coast capture Cannes. In the advance northward, Grenoble is occupied while forces moving west take Arles on the Rhone River, south of Avignon.

1945 – The last Cadillac-built M-24 tank was produced on this day, ending the company’s World War II effort. Civilian auto production virtually ceased after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the U.S. automotive industry turned to war production. Between 1940 and 1945, automotive firms made almost $29 billion worth of military materials, including jeeps, trucks, machine guns, carbines, tanks, helmets, and aerial bombs.

1949 – The North Atlantic Treaty went into effect.

1950 – The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division relieved the 24th Infantry Division on line along the Pusan Perimeter after weeks of continuous combat.

1954 – Congress passes the Communist Control Act in response to the growing anticommunist hysteria in the United States. Though full of ominous language, many found the purpose of the act unclear. In 1954, the Red Scare still raged in the United States. Although Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most famous of the “red hunters” in America, had been disgraced earlier in the summer of 1954 when he tried to prove that communists were in the U.S. Army, most Americans still believed that communists were at work in their country. Responding to this fear, Congress passed the Communist Control Act in August 1954. The act declared that, “The Communist Party of the United States, though purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States.” The act went on to charge that the party’s “role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its existence a clear and continuing danger to the security of the United States.” The conclusion seemed inescapable: “The Communist Party should be outlawed.” Indeed, that is what many people at the time believed the Communist Control Act accomplished. A careful reading of the act, however, indicates that the reality was a bit fuzzier. In 1950, Congress passed the Internal Security Act. In many respects, it was merely a version of the Communist Control Act passed four years later. It used the same language to condemn communism and the Communist Party of the United States, and established penalties for anyone belonging to a group calling for the violent overthrow of the American government. However, it very specifically noted that mere membership in the Communist Party, or affiliated organizations, was not in and of itself sufficient cause for arrest or penalty.

The 1954 act went one step further by removing the “rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies created under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States” from the Communist Party. The Communist Control Act made it clear that “nothing in this section shall be construed as amending the Internal Security Act of 1950.” Thus, while the Communist Control Act may have declared that the Communist Party should be outlawed, the act itself did not take this decisive step. In the years to come, the Communist Party of the United States continued to exist, although the U.S. government used legislation such as the Communist Control Act to harass Communist Party members. More ominously, the government also used such acts to investigate and harass numerous other organizations that were deemed to have communist “leanings.” These included the American Civil Liberties Union, labor unions, and the NAACP. By the mid-to-late 1960s, however, the Red Scare had run its course and a more liberal Supreme Court began to chip away at the immense tangle of anticommunist legislation that had been passed during the 1940s and 1950s. Today, the Communist Party of the United States continues to exist and regularly runs candidates for local, state, and national elections.

1959 – Three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. Senator while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. Representative.

1960 – USS Bexar (APA-237) deploys to Pangahan Province in response to emergency request for aid from the Province’s governor.

1963 – A policy decision reaches Lodge from Washington that Diem must be given a chance to remove his brother Nhu, but will himself have to go if he does not. Lodge is advised to pass this on to Diem’s generals, in effect assuring them of support for a coup against Diem if he does not remove Nhu.

1968 – France became the world’s fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.

1969 – Peru nationalized US oil interests.

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1969 – Company A of the Third Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade refuses the order of its commander, Lieutenant Eugene Schurtz, Jr., to continue an attack that had been launched to reach a downed helicopter shot down in the Que Son valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang. The unit had been in fierce combat for five days against entrenched North Vietnamese forces and had taken heavy casualties. Schurtz called his battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Bacon, and informed him that his men had refused to follow his order to move out because they had “simply had enough” and that they were “broken.” The unit eventually moved out when Bacon sent his executive officer and a sergeant to give Schurtz’s troops “a pep talk,” but when they reached the downed helicopter on August 25, they found all eight men aboard dead. Schurtz was relieved of his command and transferred to another assignment in the division. Neither he nor his men were disciplined. This case of “combat refusal,” as the Army described it, was reported widely in U.S. newspapers.

1970 – U.S. B-52s carry out heavy bombing raids along the DMZ. In the United States, a radical protest group calling themselves the New Year’s Gang, a cover for or faction of the Weather Underground, blew up in the Army Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin Army Mathematics Research Center in Madison. A graduate student who was working late was killed in the blast. The center, which reportedly was involved in war research, had been a focus for protest in the past, but previously protests had all been nonviolent.

1987 – A military jury in Quantico, Va., sentenced Marine Sgt. Clayton Lonetree to 30 years in prison for disclosing U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union. The sentence was later reduced; with additional time off for good behavior, Lonetree ended up serving eight years in a military prison.

1989 – Voyager II passed within three thousand miles of Neptune sending back striking photographs.

1990 – Iraqi troops surrounded foreign missions in Kuwait.

1990 – Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent a message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warning the Persian Gulf situation was “extremely dangerous.”

1993 – NASA’s Mars Observer, which was supposed to map the surface of Mars, was declared lost.

1995 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist and writer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Chinese law and then expelled from China. China expelled Harry Wu, hours after convicting him of spying.

1996 – Four women began two days of academic orientation at The Citadel; they were the first female cadets admitted to the South Carolina military school since Shannon Faulkner.

1998 – The United States and Britain agreed to allow two Libyan suspects in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.

1998 – In Egypt Abu Nidal was captured after crossing the border from Libya. He had split from the PLO in 1974 and was responsible for terrorist bombings in 1985 at the Rome and Vienna airports and a 1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 as well as a number of assassinations of PLO figures. Egypt denied the report of Nidal’s capture.

2000 – Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says “Iraq will not cooperate”with UNMOVIC, the body created by the United Nations to replace the former UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). UNMOVIC is headed by Hans Blix ,a Swedish diplomat and arms control expert. Under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1284 creating UNMOVIC, U.N. economic sanctions could be lifted if Iraq fulfills various conditions, including cooperation with UNMOVIC.

2001 – The United States decides to support a modified British proposal to tighten procedures for pricing Iraqi crude oil. According to reports, Iraq is attempting to price its oil at artificially low levels, and favouring buyers willing to pay surcharges to secret accounts, thereby circumventing United Nations control over Iraqi oil revenue. Britain had proposed that the U.N. and Iraq set prices every 10 days, instead of the current 30days, to make it more difficult for Iraq to exploit fluctuations in the market.

2002 – In the Canary Islands over a dozen beaked whales beached themselves following NATO exercises that involved a cluster of warships and submarines. 9 of the whales washed ashore dead and showed lesions in the brain and hearing system, consistent with acoustic impact.

2003 – Public power went out in Kabul, Afghanistan, due to lack of water in the local reservoirs. Return of power was not expected until December.

2003 – A 150-strong US Marine force ended an 11-day sortie and headed back to warships off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia.

2004 – In Iraq a car bomb killed at least 2 people in Baghdad. In Najaf US forces intensified fighting against rebels loyal to al-Sadr.

2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term “planet” such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.

2104 – The British Ambassador to the US apologizes after a British Embassy tweet: “Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the burning of the White house. Only sparkers this time!” The Twitter message was complete with a photo of a Whitehouse cake with the mentioned sparklers surrounding it.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*ANDERSON, RICHARD A.
Rank and organization: Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Company E, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 24 August 1969. Entered service at: Houston, Tex. Born: 16 April 1948, Washington, D.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an assistant team leader with Company E, in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy. While conducting a patrol during the early morning hours L/Cpl. Anderson’s reconnaissance team came under a heavy volume of automatic weapons and machine gun fire from a numerically superior and well concealed enemy force. Although painfully wounded in both legs and knocked to the ground during the initial moments of the fierce fire fight, L/Cpl. Anderson assumed a prone position and continued to deliver intense suppressive fire in an attempt to repulse the attackers. Moments later he was wounded a second time by an enemy soldier who had approached to within 8 feet of the team’s position. Undaunted, he continued to pour a relentless stream of fire at the assaulting unit, even while a companion was treating his leg wounds. Observing an enemy grenade land between himself and the other marine, L/Cpl. Anderson immediately rolled over and covered the lethal weapon with his body, absorbing the full effects of the detonation. By his indomitable courage, inspiring initiative, and selfless devotion to duty, L/Cpl. Anderson was instrumental in saving several marines from serious injury or possible death. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

By virtue of an act of Congress approved 24 August 1921, the Medal of Honor, emblem of highest ideals and virtues is bestowed in the name of the Congress of the United States upon the unknown American, typifying the gallantry and intrepidity, at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, of our beloved heroes who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War. They died in order that others might live (293.8, A.G:O.) (War Department General Orders, No. 59, 13 Dec. 1921, sec. I).

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25 August

1540 – Explorer Hernando de Alarcon traveled up the Colorado River.

1718 – Hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana, with some of them settling in present-day New Orleans.

1765 – In protest over the stamp tax, American colonists sacked and burned the home of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson.

1814 – British forces destroyed the Library of Congress, containing some 3,000 books.

1829 – Pres. Jackson made an offer to buy Texas, but the Mexican government refused.

1843 – Steam frigate Missouri arrives at Gibralter completing first Trans-Atlantic crossing by U.S. steam powered ship.

1861 – John LaMountain began balloon reconnaissance ascensions at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

1862 – Union and Confederate troops skirmished at Waterloo Bridge, Virginia, during the Second Bull Run Campaign.

1864 – Confederate troops secure a vital supply line into Petersburg, Virginia, when they halt destruction of the Weldon and Petersburg Railroad by Union troops. The railroad, which ran from Weldon, North Carolina, was a major supply line for General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. For more than two months, Lee had been under siege at Petersburg by General Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac. Grant had tried to cut the rail line in June and again in August. On August 18, his troops succeeded in capturing a section of the track, but the Confederates simply began to stop the trains further south of Petersburg and haul the supplies by wagon into the city. Grant responded by ordering his troops to tear up the track and move further south. Soldiers from General Winfield Hancock’s corps tore up eight miles of rail, but Lee moved quickly to halt the operation. On August 25, General Ambrose P. Hill’s infantry and General Wade Hampton’s cavalry were ordered to attack the Federals at Ream’s Station, and they drove the Yankees into defensive positions. The Union earthworks, hastily constructed the day before, were arranged in a square shape that was too small and so Confederate shells easily passed over the top. The green troop in Union General John Gibbon’s division was unnerved by the bombardment, and a Confederate attack broke through the Yankee lines. The Union force retreated in disarray. Hancock’s corps lost 2,700 men, most of whom were captured during the retreat. Hill and Hampton lost just 700. The battle was a stinging defeat for Hancock’s proud Second Corps, which had held the Union line against Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, and was considered among the best in the Army of the Potomac. Gibbon and Hancock blamed each other for the disaster, and both soon left their positions in the Second Corps.

1883 – The signing of a Treaty of Protectorate formally ends Vietnam’s independence. The name ‘Vietnam’ is officially eliminated, and the French divide Vietnam into northern and southern protectorates (Tonkin and Annam, respectively), both tightly under French control, although Annam retains its imperial Vietnamese administration. Southern Vietnam (Cochin China) has been a French colony since 1867. A general uprising in 1885 fails. In the Red River Valley of the north the French begin a period of twelve years of slaughter known as the ‘pacification’ of Tonkin.

1901 – Clara Maass (25), army nurse, sacrificed her life to prove that the mosquito carries yellow fever. Clara Louise Maass lost her life during scientific studies to determine the cause of yellow fever. A graduate of Newark German Hospital Training School for Nurses, she worked as an Army nurse in Florida, Cuba, and the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. In 1900, Maass returned to Cuba at the request of Maj. William Gorgas, chief sanitation officer. There she became embroiled in a controversy over the cause of yellow fever. To determine whether the tropical fever was caused by city filth or the bite of a mosquito, seven volunteers, including Maass, were bitten by the mosquitoes. Two men died, but she survived. Several months later she again volunteered to be bitten, this time suffering severe pain and fever. Maass died of yellow fever at the age of 25. In her memory, Newark German Hospital was renamed Clara Maass Memorial Hospital and in 1952, Cuba issued a national postage stamp in her name. In 1976, the U.S. Postal Service honored Clara Louise Maass with a commemorative stamp.

1921 – The Battle of Blair Mountain, one of the largest civil uprisings in United States history and the largest armed rebellion since the American Civil War, begins. For five days in late August and early September 1921, in Logan County, West Virginia, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers, called the Logan Defenders, who were backed by coal mine operators during an attempt by the miners to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields. The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired, and the United States Army intervened by presidential order.

1921 – The United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signed a peace treaty with Germany.

1942 – Five Navy nurses who became POWs on Guam repatriated .

1943 – U.S. forces completed the occupation of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands during World War II. Losing Hill 700 to the Japanese meant defeat for the American forces on Bougainville. To the men of the 37th Infantry Division, that was unthinkable.

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1944 – After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with Germans, and a puppet French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and Vichy rule. The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By August 18, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications. At his headquarters two miles inland from the Normandy coast, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had a dilemma. Allied planners had concluded that the liberation of Paris should be delayed so as to not divert valuable resources away from important operations elsewhere. The city could be encircled and then liberated at a later date. On August 21, Eisenhower met with de Gaulle and told him of his plans to bypass Paris. De Gaulle urged him to reconsider, assuring him that Paris could be reclaimed without difficulty. The French general also warned that the powerful communist faction of the Resistance might succeed in liberating Paris, thereby threatening the re-establishment of a democratic government. De Gaulle politely told Eisenhower that if his advance against Paris was not ordered, he would send Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division into the city himself.

On August 22, Eisenhower agreed to proceed with the liberation of Paris. The next day, the 2nd Armored Division advanced on the city from the north and the 4th Infantry Division from the south. Meanwhile, in Paris, the forces of German General Dietrich von Choltitz were fighting the Resistance and completing their defenses around the city. Hitler had ordered Paris defended to the last man, and demanded that the city not fall into Allied hands except as “a field of ruins.” Choltitz dutifully began laying explosives under Paris’ bridges and many of its landmarks, but disobeyed an order to commence the destruction. He did not want to go down in history as the man who had destroyed the “City of Light”–Europe’s most celebrated city. The 2nd Armored Division ran into heavy German artillery, taking heavy casualties, but on August 24 managed to cross the Seine and reach the Paris suburbs. There, they were greeted by enthusiastic civilians who besieged them with flowers, kisses, and wine. Later that day, Leclerc learned that the 4th Infantry Division was poised to beat him into Paris proper, and he ordered his exhausted men forward in a final burst of energy. Just before midnight on August 24, the 2nd Armored Division reached the Hýtel de Ville in the heart of Paris. German resistance melted away during the night. Most of the 20,000 troops surrendered or fled, and those that fought were quickly overcome.

On the morning of August 25, the 2nd Armored Division swept clear the western half of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division cleared the eastern part. Paris was liberated. In the early afternoon, Choltitz was arrested in his headquarters by French troops. Shortly after, he signed a document formally surrendering Paris to de Gaulle’s provincial government. De Gaulle himself arrived in the city later that afternoon. On August 26, de Gaulle and Leclerc led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Scattered gunfire from a rooftop disrupted the parade, but the identity of the snipers was not determined. De Gaulle headed two successive French provisional governments until 1946, when he resigned over constitutional disagreements. From 1958 to 1969, he served as French president under the Fifth Republic.

1944 – “Dammit colonel, I’m looking up at Notre Dame!” became the battle cry of an on-going feud between two former Guard units as each claim the bragging rights as to which American unit was the first to actually enter the city of Paris just as the Germans abandoned it. The statement was made by Captain William Buenzle, a New Jersey Guardsman, commanding Troop A, 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron to his commander, Colonel Cyrus Dolph III, commander of New Jersey’s 102nd Cavalry Group, the famous “Essex Troop” to which the 38th was assigned. The 38th was organized in 1942 from former Guardsmen of Iowa’s 113th Cavalry Regiment. After the 38th was assigned to the 102nd in England it gained some New Jersey Guardsmen (including Buenzle) too. The other half of the 102nd Groups’ compliment was it’s own 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, also from New Jersey. Ever since landing on Omaha Beach on June 8th (D+2 after “D-Day”) the Group had been an important part of the scouting ‘eyes’ of the Allied advance through Normandy. On this date each squadron was scouting ahead for major components of the Allied armies. The 38th was patrolling for the 4th U.S. Infantry Division and the 102nd scouting for the French 2nd Armored Division. Both entered Paris at about the same time by two different routes. While Buenzle’s statement gives strength to the 38th’s claim, and the veterans of each claim to this day that their squadron was the ‘first,’ its safe to say that Guardsmen were indeed the “first in Paris.”

1944 – In Brittany, the US 8th Corps launches an attack on Brest were the German garrison continues to resist. The HMS Warspite shells the town.

1944 – American forces of US 7th Army capture Avignon in the advance westward. Most of the German 19th Army is withdrawing northward up the Rhone valley. The garrisons in Marseilles and Toulon continue to resist.

1945 – Captain John Birch of the US Army is shot dead in a scuffle with Chinese Communist soldiers. The liberation of China is becoming a race between the rival Nationalist and Communist forces. Troops of the Kuomintang, commanded by Generalisimo Chiang Kai-shek, enter Shanghai and Nanking, the prewar capital. The Japanese surrender at Nanking was accepted with Communist troops only 3 miles from the city. Communist forces are reported to be marching towards both cities. In Shanghai, the Communists claim workers are occupying factories and preparing to welcome the Communist forces. In the south, Communist forces are reported to be advancing in Canton and nearing Hong Kong. In the north they are closing in on Tientsin. In the 1950s, Robert Welch would create a right-wing, anticommunist organization called the John Birch Society. For Welch, Birch was “the first casualty in the Third World War between Communists and the ever-shrinking Free World.”

1945 – General Yamashita informs the commander of the US 32nd Division that he has ordered all Japanese troops in the Philippines to lay down their arms.

1945 – Vice-Admiral Willis A. “Ching” Lee Jr. Dies of a heart attack at age 56.

1945 – CGC Magnolia sank in a collision off Mobile Bay with the loss of 1 man.

1947 – Marion Carl, US Navy test pilot, set a world speed record of 651 mph in a D-558-I at Muroc Field (later Edwards AFB), Ca. He was shot to death in Oregon by a house robber in 1998 at age 82.

1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: “Confrontation Day” between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.

1950 – President Truman ordered the Army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike. The railroads were returned to their owners 2 years later.

1950 – Major General William F. Dean, 24th Infantry Division commander, was taken prisoner by the North Koreans after evading capture for 46 days after the fall of Taejon.

1950 – The Army organized the Japan Logistical Command to provide the supplies and equipment needed to support the Korean War, relieving Eighth Army of theater logistical support missions.

1951 – 23 Navy Banshee and Panther fighters from USS Essex (CV-9) escort Air Force heavy bombers attacking Najin, Korea since target, the rail marshaling yards at Rashin located on the extreme northeast Korean border, was beyond range of land-based fighters.

1967 – Defense Secretary McNamara concedes that the U.S. bombing campaign has had little effect on the North’s “war-making capability.” At the same time, McNamara refuses a request from military commanders to bomb all MIG bases in North Vietnam. In Hanoi, North Vietnam’s Administrative Committee orders all workers in light industry and all craftsmen and their families to leave the city; only persons vital to the city’s defense and production were to remain.

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1971 – The Secretary of Transportation announced the awarding of a contract to the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington, “to build the world’s most powerful icebreaker for the US Coast Guard,” Polar Star, the first of the Polar-Class of icebreakers.

1971 – U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, among the first U.S. ground units sent to Vietnam, ceases combat operations and prepares to redeploy to the United States as part of Nixon’s troop withdrawal plan. As the redeployment commenced, the communists launched a new offensive to disrupt the upcoming General Assembly elections in South Vietnam. The height of the new offensive occurred from August 28 to August 30, when the Communists executed 96 attacks in the northern part of South Vietnam. U.S. bases also came under attack at Lai Khe, Cam Ranh Bay, and other areas. Nixon’s troop reduction plans were supposedly tied to the level of enemy activity on the battlefield, but once they began, very little attention was paid to what the enemy was doing and the withdrawals continued unabated.

1981 – The U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back pictures and data about the ringed planet.

1985 – STS 51-I was scrubbed at T –9 min because of an onboard computer problem.

1988 – NASA launched space vehicle S-214.

1989 – NASA scientists received stunning photographs of Neptune and its moons from Voyager 2.

1990 – The United Nations gave the world’s navies the right to use force to stop vessels trading with Iraq.

1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.

1993 – The United States applied limited sanctions against China and Pakistan after concluding the Chinese had sold missile technology to the Pakistanis. After China sold some M-11 missile components to Pakistan, the US imposed limited sanctions.

1997 – NASA sent a Delta rocket aloft with the Ace solar observatory, Advanced Composition Explorer. The 5-year $110 million project will go into orbit at a point 1 million miles from Earth and 92 million miles from the Sun where the gravity of Earth and Sun balance.

1998 – Iraq asks the United Nations to prevent Richard Butler from making public statements about searches for weapons in Iraq.

2000 – German intelligence confirmed that it had discovered a secret Iraqi missile factory near Baghdad. Some 250 technicians were reported working on ARABIL-100 short-range missiles.

2002 – A U.S.-British air raid in southern Iraq destroyed a major military surveillance site that monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf.

2002 – Up to 10 guerrillas from a Philippine Marxist rebel group blacklisted by the United States were killed when the military clashed with a 40-man New People’s Army (NPA) band in Rodriguez town, a Manila suburb.

2003 – NASA launched the largest-diameter infrared telescope ever in space. NASA showed the 1st images from the $670 million Spitzer Space Telescope on Dec 18.
2003 – In southeastern Afghanistan US jets hit a Taliban hideout and at least 14 insurgents were killed.

2004 – Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returned to Iraq from a hospital stay in London and called for a mass demonstration to end the fighting in Najaf.

2004 – Militants said they had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations in the holy city of Najaf.

2005 – Hurricane Katrina made landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida, as a Category 1 hurricane. Four days later it came ashore again near Empire, Buras and Boothville, Louisiana. The rescue and response effort was one of the largest in Coast Guard history, with 24,135 lives saved and 9,409 evacuations.

2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.

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[SHOOTER13]

Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

GINLEY, PATRICK
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 1st New York Light Artillery. Place and date: At Reams Station, Va., 25 August 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 22 December 1822, Ireland. Date of issue: 31 October 1890. Citation: The command having been driven from the works, he, having been left alone between the opposing lines, crept back into the works, put 3 charges of canister in one of the guns, and fired the piece directly into a body of the enemy about to seize the works; he then rejoined his command, took the colors, and ran toward the enemy, followed by the command, which recaptured the works and guns.

PIPES, JAMES
Rank and organization: Captain, Company A, 140th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Gettysburg, Pa., 2 July 1863; At Reams Station, Va., 25 August 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Green County, Pa. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: While a sergeant and retiring with his company before the rapid advance of the enemy at Gettysburg, he and a companion stopped and carried to a place of safety a wounded and helpless comrade; in this act both he and his companion were severely wounded. A year later, at Reams Station, Va., while commanding a skirmish line, voluntarily assisted in checking a flank movement of the enemy, and while so doing was severely wounded, suffering the loss of an arm.

ROHM, FERDINAND F.
Rank and organization: Chief Bugler, 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Place and date. At Reams Station, Va., 25 August 1864. Entered service at: Jumata County, Pa. Birth: Juniata County, Pa. Date of issue: 16 October 1897. Citation. While his regiment was retiring under fire voluntarily remained behind to succor a wounded officer who was in great danger, secured assistance, and removed the officer to a place of safety.

TRIBE, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 5th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Waterloo Bridge, Va., 25 August 1862. Entered service at: Oswego, N.Y. Birth: Tioga County, N.Y. Date of issue: 11 June 1895. Citation: Voluntarily assisted in the burning and destruction of the bridge under heavy fire of the enemy.

CORCORAN, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company E, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Agua Fria River, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

DONAVAN, CORNELIUS
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Agua Fria River, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

HAMILTON, FRANK
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Agua Fria River, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MAHERS, HERBERT
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Seneca Mountain, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at:——. Birth: Canada. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MORAN, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Seneca Mountain, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MURPHY, PHILIP
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Seneca Mountain, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MURPHY, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Seneca Mountain, Ariz., 25 August 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

GARMAN, HAROLD A.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company B, 5th Medical Battalion, 5th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Montereau, France, 25 August 1944. Entered service at: Albion, Ill. Born: 26 February 1918, Fairfield, Ill. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On 25 August 1944, in the vicinity of Montereau, France, the enemy was sharply contesting any enlargement of the bridgehead which our forces had established on the northern bank of the Seine River in this sector. Casualties were being evacuated to the southern shore in assault boats paddled by litter bearers from a medical battalion. Pvt. Garman, also a litter bearer in this battalion, was working on the friendly shore carrying the wounded from the boats to waiting ambulances. As 1 boatload of wounded reached midstream, a German machinegun suddenly opened fire upon it from a commanding position on the northern bank 100 yards away. All of the men in the boat immediately took to the water except 1 man who was so badly wounded he could not rise from his litter. Two other patients who were unable to swim because of their wounds clung to the sides of the boat. Seeing the extreme danger of these patients, Pvt. Garman without a moment’s hesitation plunged into the Seine. Swimming directly into a hail of machinegun bullets, he rapidly reached the assault boat and then while still under accurately aimed fire towed the boat with great effort to the southern shore. This soldier’s moving heroism not only saved the lives of the three patients but so inspired his comrades that additional assault boats were immediately procured and the evacuation of the wounded resumed. Pvt. Garman’s great courage and his heroic devotion to the highest tenets of the Medical Corps may be written with great pride in the annals of the corps.

*SEAY, WILLIAM W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 62d Transportation Company (Medium Truck), 7th Transportation Battalion, 48th Transportation Group. Place and date: Near Ap Nhi, Republic of Vietnam 25 August 1968. Entered service at: Montgomery, Ala. Born: 24 October 1948, Brewton, Ala. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Seay distinguished himself while serving as a driver with the 62d Transportation Company, on a resupply mission. The convoy with which he was traveling, carrying critically needed ammunition and supplies from Long Binh to Tay Ninh, was ambushed by a reinforced battalion of the North Vietnamese Army. As the main elements of the convoy entered the ambush killing zone, they were struck by intense rocket, machinegun and automatic weapon fire from the well concealed and entrenched enemy force. When his convoy was forced to stop, Sgt. Seay immediately dismounted and took a defensive position behind the wheels of a vehicle loaded with high-explosive ammunition. As the violent North Vietnamese assault approached to within 10 meters of the road, Sgt. Seay opened fire, killing 2 of the enemy. He then spotted a sniper in a tree approximately 75 meters to his front and killed him. When an enemy grenade was thrown under an ammunition trailer near his position, without regard for his own safety he left his protective cover, exposing himself to intense enemy fire, picked up the grenade, and threw it back to the North Vietnamese position, killing 4 more of the enemy and saving the lives of the men around him. Another enemy grenade landed approximately 3 meters from Sgt. Seay’s position. Again Sgt. Seay left his covered position and threw the armed grenade back upon the assaulting enemy. After returning to his position he was painfully wounded in the right wrist; however, Sgt. Seay continued to give encouragement and direction to his fellow soldiers. After moving to the relative cover of a shallow ditch, he detected 3 enemy soldiers who had penetrated the position and were preparing to fire on his comrades. Although weak from loss of blood and with his right hand immobilized, Sgt. Seay stood up and fired his rifle with his left hand, killing all 3 and saving the lives of the other men in his location. As a result of his heroic action, Sgt. Seay was mortally wounded by a sniper’s bullet. Sgt. Seay, by his gallantry in action at the cost of his life, has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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[SHOOTER13]

26 August

1775 – Rhode Island Resolve: Rhode Island delegates to Continental Congress press for creation of Continental Navy to protect the colonies.

1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat.

1804 – Following the death of Sergeant Charles Floyd, Lewis and Clark promote Patrick Gass as his replacement. Barely three months into their journey to the Pacific, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lost the only man to die on the journey. On August 20, 1804, Sergeant Charles Floyd died from a disease Lewis diagnosed as “Biliose Chorlick,” or bilious colic. Based on the symptoms described, Floyd’s appendix had probably ruptured and he died of peritonitis. After burying Floyd on a high bluff above the Missouri River, the expedition moved on toward the Pacific Ocean. Two days later, the captains held an election among the men to determine Floyd’s replacement. Private Patrick Gass received a majority of the votes. A native of Pennsylvania, Gass had joined the U.S. Army in 1799 at the age of 28. He proved to be a reliable soldier and soon won promotion to sergeant. When a call for volunteers to join Lewis and Clark’s journey of exploration to the Pacific was released, Gass jumped at the chance. Lewis overrode the commander’s objections to giving up his best noncommissioned officer, and Gass joined the Corps of Discovery as a private. Gass proved himself a capable man in the first weeks of the mission. The captains agreed with their men–Gass was the best choice to replace Floyd as one of the two sergeants on the expedition.

On this day in 1804, Lewis issued an order promoting Gass to the rank of “Sergeant in the corps of volunteers for North Western Discovery.” Gass proved more than equal to the task. He served faithfully during the long journey to the Pacific and kept a careful journal throughout the journey, an important historical contribution. After the expedition returned, Lewis and Clark released Gass from duty, giving him a letter testifying to his excellent service. Gass settled in Wellsburg, West Virginia, where he prepared for the publication of his journal. Appearing seven years before the official narrative of the journey was published, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery was a well-crafted account of the journey that continues to be useful to historians. Having already completed the adventure of a lifetime, Gass still had many decades ahead of him. He served again in the army, lost an eye during the War of 1812, married at the age of 58, and fathered seven children. For most of his later years, Gass was the sole surviving member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He lived until 1870, dying only a few months short of his 100th birthday.

1839 – The slave ship Amistad was captured off Long Island. The U.S.S. Washington, a U.S. Navy brig, seized the Amistad York, and escorted it to New London, Connecticut.

1847 – Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic. Freed American slaves founded Liberia. They modeled their constitution after that of the US, copied the US flag, and named their capital Monrovia, after James Monroe, who financed early settlers. Over the decades 16,400 former slaves made the voyage. They assumed that the 16 native tribes were there to be exploited.

1861 – Union amphibious force lands near Hatteras, NC.

1862 – The stage is set for the Second Battle of Bull Run on this day when Confederate cavalry under General Fitzhugh Lee enter Manassas Junction and capture the rail center. Union General John Pope’s Army of Virginia was soon on its way, and the two armies would clash on August 29. In August 1862, the action shifted from the James Peninsula, southeast of Richmond, to northern Virginia. The peninsula had been the scene of a major campaign in June, when Union General George McClellan and his Army of the Potomac attempted to capture Richmond, but were thwarted by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the Seven Days’ Battles. By August, it was clear that McClellan would not make another attempt on the Confederate capital. President Lincoln began moving troops from McClellan’s force to General John Pope’s Army of Virginia in the northern part of the state. Lee sent one of his corps, commanded by General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, to keep an eye on the growing Federal presence. Pope’s army was scattered around the area east of Washington from Manassas to the Shenandoah Valley. Approaching the area with the intent of driving Pope away, Jackson and his force captured Bristoe Station southwest of Manassas. On August 26, the Confederates captured Manassas and began looting and destroying Pope’s huge supply depot located there. Pope was surprised by the large Rebel force operating in his rear, but he also realized that Jackson was detached from the rest of Lee’s army and so he began gathering his forces around Manassas. But Pope soon had a new problem: He could not find Jackson. From August 26 until the beginning of Second Bull Run on August 29, Pope’s men searched for Jackson, who had hidden his army in the trees along Bull Run. On August 29, Jackson surprised Pope and the battle was on. The rest of Lee’s army showed up, and the result was a major victory for the Confederacy.

1863 – Battle of Rocky Gap, West Virginia.

1865 – Civil War ends with Naval strength over 58,500 men and 600 ships.

1873 – Lee De Forest, inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, was born in Council bluffs, Iowa. He is considered the father of radio.

1901 – Maxwell Taylor, U.S. general and diplomat, born. As commanding general of the 8th Army in 1953, he directed U.N. forces during the latter stages of the Korean War.

1942 – Japanese troops landed on New Guinea, Milne Bay.

1943 – The US, Canada and Britain give limited recognition to the Free French Committee of National Liberation.

1943 – 2nd Airdrome Bn prepared to land at Ellice Islands.

1944 – Most of the Allied armies have advance elements across the Seine River. Both US 12th Army Group and British 21st Army Group are advancing northwest.

1945 – Japanese diplomats boarded the Missouri to receive instructions on Japan’s surrender at the end of WW II.

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[SHOOTER13]

1950 – The 5th Regimental Combat Team (the 5th Infantry Regiment and the 555th Artillery Battalion) was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division, replacing the 34th Infantry Regiment and the 63rd Field Artillery Battalion, which were reduced to paper strength and transferred to Japan to be reconstituted. The 34th Infantry Regiment had been greatly battered in combat at Pyongtaek, Chonan and the Kum River line.

1950 – The 65th Infantry Regiment, newly assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division to replace the 30th Infantry Regiment, sailed from Puerto Rico through the Panama Canal for Korea.

1957 – The Soviet Union announces that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of being fired “into any part of the world.” The announcement caused great concern in the United States, and started a national debate over the “missile gap” between America and Russia. For years after World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union had been trying to perfect a long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Building on the successes of Nazi Germany in developing the V-1 and V-2 rockets that pummeled Great Britain during the last months of World War II, both American and Russian scientists raced to improve the range and accuracy of such missiles. (Both nations relied heavily on captured German scientists in their efforts.) In July 1957, the United States seemed to win the race when the Atlas, an ICBM with a speed of up to 20,000 miles an hour and an effective range of 5,000 miles, was ready for testing. The test, however, was a disaster. The missile rose only about 5,000 feet into the air, tumbled, and plunged to earth. Just a month later, the Soviets claimed success by announcing that their own ICBM had been tested, had “covered a huge distance in a brief time,” and “landed in the target area.” No details were given in the Russian announcement and some commentators in the United States doubted that the ICBM test had been as successful as claimed.

Nevertheless, the Soviet possession of this “ultimate weapon,” coupled with recent successful test by the Russians of atomic and hydrogen bombs, raised concerns in America. If the Soviets did indeed perfect their ICBM, no part of the United States would be completely safe from possible atomic attack. Less than two months later, the Soviets sent the satellite Sputnik into space. Concern quickly turned to fear in the United States, as it appeared that the Russians were gaining the upper hand in the arms and space races. The American government accelerated its own missile and space programs. The Soviet successes–and American failures–became an issue in the 1960 presidential campaign. Democratic challenger John F. Kennedy charged that the outgoing Eisenhower administration had allowed a dangerous “missile gap” to develop between the United States and the Soviet Union. Following his victory in 1960, Kennedy made missile development and the space program priorities for his presidency.

1963 – Lodge meets with Diem for the first time. Diem refuses to drop Nhu, and refuses to discuss reforms. Lodge now presses the Kennedy administration, still badly divided over the issue of supporting a coup, to support the dissident generals. CIA Chief of Station-Saigon, John Richardson, agrees with Lodge, reporting ot Washington that the situation has reached a point of no return.

1964 – The Joint Chiefs of Staff send a memorandum to the Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. It concurred with an August 19 cable from Ambassador Maxwell Taylor in Saigon who called for “a carefully orchestrated bombing attack on North Vietnam” to prevent “a complete collapse of the U.S. position in Southeast Asia.”

1969 – New Hampshire’s 3rd Battalion, 197th Artillery suffers its highest loss of life when a truck carrying seven soldiers is blown up by a landmine less than two weeks before the unit was scheduled to return home. Five men, all Guardsmen from Manchester’s Battery A, are immediately killed. The shock wave to hit the city was devastating. These deaths brought to six the total number of Guard members from the battalion killed in action. A bronze plaque now stands in front of the Manchester Armory to their memory.

1981 – Voyager 2 took photo’s of Saturn’s moon Titan.

1987 – In an attempt to eliminate a superpower stumbling block, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said his country would destroy its 72 Pershing 1A rockets if Washington and Moscow scrapped all their intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

1990 – Fifty-five Americans, who had been evacuated from the US Embassy in Kuwait, left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.

1991 – In an address to the Supreme Soviet, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised national elections in a last-ditch effort to preserve his government, but leaders of Soviet republics told him the hour of central power had passed.

1992 – A federal judge declared a mistrial in the Iran-Contra cover-up trial of former CIA spy chief Clair George. George was convicted of perjury in a retrial, but was then pardoned by President Bush.

1992 – The United States, Britain, and France announce the establishment of a southern “no fly zone” to protect Iraqi dissidents in southern Iraq from regime air attacks. (A northern “no fly zone” has been in place since the 1991 cease-fire).

1992 – The United Nations Security Council votes to accept a U.N.-sponsored demarcation of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and declares this border “inviolable.”

1993 – Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and 14 co-defendants entered innocent pleas in federal court in New York, a day after their indictment on charges of conspiring to wage terrorism against the United States.

1993 – Manhunt begins. 3rd Battalion. 75th Ranger Regiment and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (DELTA) deploy to Somalia to capture warlord Mohammad Farrah Aidid.

1996 – A Cuban court convicted fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco of economic crimes. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for economic crimes against the state.

1997 – Two defectors and their families from North Korea were accepted by the US. One was Chang Sung Gil, the ambassador to Egypt, the other was his brother Chang Sung Ho, a commercial councilor at the North Korean mission in Paris. High level arms talks were immediately terminated.

1998 – U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter resigns, saying the Security Council and the United States have failed to take a tougher stand against Iraq.

1998 – A Yemeni national, Mohammed Rashed Daoud Owhali, aka Khalid Salim, suspected in the bombing of the US embassy at Nairobi, was flown to the US from Kenya.

1998 – A $225 million rocket and communication satellite exploded after take-off at Cape Canaveral.

1998 – Libya indicated that it would accept an American and British proposal that 2 suspects of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet be tried in the Netherlands by Scottish judges.

1999 – US officials reported that its permanent military presence in Haiti would be replaced by temporary missions.

2001 – IBM computer scientists reported that they had constructed a working logic circuit within a single molecule of carbon fiber known as a carbon nanotube.

2003 – Investigators concluded that NASA’s overconfident management and inattention to safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as did damage to the craft.

2004 – Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani arranged a peace pact with Muqtada al-Sadr. The 5-point plan called for Kufa and Najaf to be declared weapons-free.

2004 – A mortar barrage hit a mosque in Kufa filled with Iraqis preparing to join a march in Najaf by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, killing 27 people and wounding 63.

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[SHOOTER13]

Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day


STANLEY, EDWARD
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Seneca Mountain, Ariz., 26 August 1869. Entered service at:——. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 3 March 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

THORNTON, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1856, Ireland. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: For jumping overboard from the U.S. Tug Leyden, near Boston, Mass., 26 August 1881, and sustaining until picked up, Michael Drennan, landsman, who had jumped overboard while temporarily insane.

WEISSEL, ADAM
Rank and organization: Ship’s Cook, U.S. Navy. Born: 1854, Germany. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: For jumping overboard from the U.S. Training Ship Minnesota, at Newport, R.l., 26 August 1881, and sustaining until picked up by a boat from the ship, C. Lorenze, captain of the forecastle, who had fallen overboard.

*HANDRICH, MELVIN O.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 5th Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Near Sobuk San Mountain, Korea, 25 and 26 August 1950. Entered service at: Manawa, Wis. Born: 26 January 1919, Manawa, Wis. G.O. No.: 60, 2 August 1951. Citation: M/Sgt. Handrich, Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. His company was engaged in repulsing an estimated 150 enemy who were threatening to overrun its position. Near midnight on 25 August, a hostile group over 100 strong attempted to infiltrate the company perimeter. M/Sgt. Handrich, despite the heavy enemy fire, voluntarily left the comparative safety of the defensive area and moved to a forward position where he could direct mortar and artillery fire upon the advancing enemy. He remained at this post for 8 hours directing fire against the enemy who often approached to within 50 feet of his position. Again, on the morning of 26 August, another strong hostile force made an attempt to overrun the company’s position. With complete disregard for his safety, M/Sgt. Handrich rose to his feet and from this exposed position fired his rifle and directed mortar and artillery fire on the attackers. At the peak of this action he observed elements of his company preparing to withdraw. He perilously made his way across fire-swept terrain to the defense area where, by example and forceful leadership, he reorganized the men to continue the fight. During the action M/Sgt. Handrich was severely wounded. Refusing to take cover or be evacuated, he returned to his forward position and continued to direct the company’s fire. Later a determined enemy attack overran M/Sgt. Handrich’s position and he was mortally wounded. When the position was retaken, over 70 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so intrepidly defended. M/Sgt. Handrich’s sustained personal bravery, consummate courage, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect untold glory upon himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.

BACON, NICKY DANIEL
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 4th Battalion, 21st Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Place and date: West of Tam Ky, Republic of Vietnam, 26 August 1968. Entered service at: Phoenix, Ariz. Born: 25 November 1945, Caraway, Ark. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Bacon distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader with the 1st Platoon, Company B, during an operation west of Tam Ky. When Company B came under fire from an enemy bunker line to the front, S/Sgt. Bacon quickly organized his men and led them forward in an assault. He advanced on a hostile bunker and destroyed it with grenades. As he did so, several fellow soldiers including the 1st Platoon leader, were struck by machine gun fire and fell wounded in an exposed position forward of the rest of the platoon. S/Sgt. Bacon immediately assumed command of the platoon and assaulted the hostile gun position, finally killing the enemy gun crew in a single-handed effort. When the 3d Platoon moved to S/Sgt. Bacon’s location, its leader was also wounded. Without hesitation S/Sgt. Bacon took charge of the additional platoon and continued the fight. In the ensuing action he personally killed 4 more enemy soldiers and silenced an antitank weapon. Under his leadership and example, the members of both platoons accepted his authority without question. Continuing to ignore the intense hostile fire, he climbed up on the exposed deck of a tank and directed fire into the enemy position while several wounded men were evacuated. As a result of S/Sgt. Bacon’s extraordinary efforts, his company was able to move forward, eliminate the enemy positions, and rescue the men trapped to the front. S/Sgt. Bacon’s bravery at the risk of his life was in the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

DAY, GEORGE E.
Rank and organization: Colonel (then Major), U.S. Air Force, Forward Air Controller Pilot of an F-100 aircraft. Place and date: North Vietnam, 26 August 1967. Entered service at: Sioux City, Iowa. Born: 24 February 1925, Sioux City, Iowa. Citation: On 26 August 1967, Col. Day was forced to eject from his aircraft over North Vietnam when it was hit by ground fire. His right arm was broken in 3 places, and his left knee was badly sprained. He was immediately captured by hostile forces and taken to a prison camp where he was interrogated and severely tortured. After causing the guards to relax their vigilance, Col. Day escaped into the jungle and began the trek toward South Vietnam. Despite injuries inflicted by fragments of a bomb or rocket, he continued southward surviving only on a few berries and uncooked frogs. He successfully evaded enemy patrols and reached the Ben Hai River, where he encountered U.S. artillery barrages. With the aid of a bamboo log float, Col. Day swam across the river and entered the demilitarized zone. Due to delirium, he lost his sense of direction and wandered aimlessly for several days. After several unsuccessful attempts to signal U.S. aircraft, he was ambushed and recaptured by the Viet Cong, sustaining gunshot wounds to his left hand and thigh. He was returned to the prison from which he had escaped and later was moved to Hanoi after giving his captors false information to questions put before him. Physically, Col. Day was totally debilitated and unable to perform even the simplest task for himself. Despite his many injuries, he continued to offer maximum resistance. His personal bravery in the face of deadly enemy pressure was significant in saving the lives of fellow aviators who were still flying against the enemy. Col. Day’s conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed Forces.

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[havasu]

*SEAY, WILLIAM W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 62d Transportation Company (Medium Truck), 7th Transportation Battalion, 48th Transportation Group. Place and date: Near Ap Nhi, Republic of Vietnam 25 August 1968. Entered service at: Montgomery, Ala. Born: 24 October 1948, Brewton, Ala. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Seay distinguished himself while serving as a driver with the 62d Transportation Company, on a resupply mission. The convoy with which he was traveling, carrying critically needed ammunition and supplies from Long Binh to Tay Ninh, was ambushed by a reinforced battalion of the North Vietnamese Army. As the main elements of the convoy entered the ambush killing zone, they were struck by intense rocket, machinegun and automatic weapon fire from the well concealed and entrenched enemy force. When his convoy was forced to stop, Sgt. Seay immediately dismounted and took a defensive position behind the wheels of a vehicle loaded with high-explosive ammunition. As the violent North Vietnamese assault approached to within 10 meters of the road, Sgt. Seay opened fire, killing 2 of the enemy. He then spotted a sniper in a tree approximately 75 meters to his front and killed him. When an enemy grenade was thrown under an ammunition trailer near his position, without regard for his own safety he left his protective cover, exposing himself to intense enemy fire, picked up the grenade, and threw it back to the North Vietnamese position, killing 4 more of the enemy and saving the lives of the men around him. Another enemy grenade landed approximately 3 meters from Sgt. Seay’s position. Again Sgt. Seay left his covered position and threw the armed grenade back upon the assaulting enemy. After returning to his position he was painfully wounded in the right wrist; however, Sgt. Seay continued to give encouragement and direction to his fellow soldiers. After moving to the relative cover of a shallow ditch, he detected 3 enemy soldiers who had penetrated the position and were preparing to fire on his comrades. Although weak from loss of blood and with his right hand immobilized, Sgt. Seay stood up and fired his rifle with his left hand, killing all 3 and saving the lives of the other men in his location. As a result of his heroic action, Sgt. Seay was mortally wounded by a sniper’s bullet. Sgt. Seay, by his gallantry in action at the cost of his life, has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.


RIP Hero William Seay.

 

[SHOOTER13]

27 August

1776 – The Americans were defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York. The American forces, composed of Continental Line and militia regiments from several states, attempted to hold back a well coordinated attack by the British Army. While most state units gave a poor showing, often running away upon the enemy approach, this was not always the case. American General Lord Sterling commanding a brigade of Maryland and Delaware regiments blunted their advance long enough for other troops to safely withdraw.

1780 – Marines guarding workmen cutting masts for the Navy pursued Indians near Reading, Pennsylvania.

1832 – Blackhawk, leader of Sauk-Indians, gave himself up, ending the Blackhawk War.

1859 – Edwin Drake struck oil at 69 feet near Titusville, Pennsylvania–the world’s first successful oil well. This source of crude oil, or petroleum, opened up a new inexpensive source of power and quickly replaced whale oil in lamps. Within a few decades of Drake’s discovery, oil drilling was widespread in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the East Indies. However, it was the development of the automobile that catapulted petroleum into a position of paramount importance, for petroleum is the primary source of gasoline. Asphalt, also derived from petroleum, is used to surface roads and highways.

1861 – Union ships sail into North Carolina’s Hatteras Inlet, beginning a two-day operation that secures the area for the Federals and denies the Confederates an important outlet to the Atlantic. The Outer Banks is a series of long, narrow islands that separate Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic, with Hatteras Inlet as the only deep-water passage connecting the two. In the first few months of the war, the Outer Banks were a haven for Confederate blockade runners and raiders. During the summer of 1861, one Rebel ship, the Winslow, wreaked havoc on Union shipping off North Carolina, and Federal naval and army officials mounted a combined operation to neutralize the area. To protect the passage, the Confederates erected two fortresses of sand and wood, garrisoned by 350 soldiers. Eight Union warships and 800 troops under the command of Commodore Silas Stringham and General Benjamin Butler anchored off Cape Hatteras on August 27. Butler’s men slogged ashore the next day with wet powder, hardly in shape to attack a fortified position. Fortunately for the Yankee infantry, the squadron off shore began a devastating bombardment that forced the Confederates to abandon one of the strongholds, Fort Clark. The Confederates gathered inside of the larger Fort Hatteras, but the shelling from the Union ships was more than the garrison could stand. The force surrendered on August 29. The capture of Cape Hatteras was an important victory for the Union, especially after the disaster at Bull Run one month earlier. It also gave the Union a toehold on the North Carolina coast, and it sealed an important outlet to the Atlantic.

1862 – As the Second Battle of Bull Run raged, Confederate soldiers attacked Loudoun County, Virginia.

1864 – In failing health and with the assault on the city of Mobile delayed indefinitely awaiting adequate troops, Rear Admiral Farragut wrote Secretary Welles requesting to be relieved of his duties: “It is evident that the army has no men to spare for this place beyond those sufficient to keep up an alarm, and thereby make a diversion in favor of General Sherman. . . . Now, I dislike to make of show of attack unless I can do something more than make a menace, but so long as I am able I am willing to do the bidding of the Department to the best of my abilities. I fear, however, my health is giving way. I have now been down in this Gulf and the Caribbean Sea nearly five years out of six, with the exception of the short time at home last fall, and the last six months have been a severe drag on me, and I want rest, if it is to he had.” Two months later the great leader set course to the North for a well earned leave.

1864 – U.S.S. Niphon, Acting Lieutenant Joseph B. Breck, and U.S.S. Monticello, Acting Master Henry A. Phelon, conducted an expedition up Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, to silence a Confederate battery which was reported to have been erected in the vicinity. The two screw steamers shelled the shoreline and a number of buildings at Masonboro; landing parties went ashore and captured a quantity of rifles, ammunition, foodstuffs.

1896 – The crew of the Lifesaving Station at Fourth Cliff, Massachusetts, responded to a traffic accident in front of the station. A party of women had been driving by on a horse-drawn buggy when their horse fell, breaking a shaft and the harness. The surfmen repaired the harness and spliced the shaft, “the women being sheltered from the rain in the station until all was ready for them to leave.”

1901 – In Havana, Cuba, U.S. Army physician James Carroll allowed an infected mosquito to feed on him in an attempt to isolate the means of transmission of yellow fever. Days later, Carroll developed a severe case of yellow fever, helping his colleague, Army Walter Reed, prove that mosquitoes can transmit the sometimes deadly disease.

1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963-1969), was born near Stonewall, Texas.

1917 – Squadron of minesweepers departs U.S. for service off France.

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1918 – The Battle of Ambos Nogales (lit. “The Battle of Both Nogales”), or as it is known in Mexico La batalla del 27 de agosto (lit. “The Battle of 27 August”), was an engagement fought between Mexican forces and elements of United States Army soldiers of the 35th Infantry Regiment, who were reinforced by the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, and commanded by Lt. Col. Frederick J. Herman. The American soldiers and militia forces were stationed in Nogales, Arizona and the Mexican soldiers and armed Mexican militia were in Nogales, Sonora. This battle was notable for being a significant confrontation between U.S. and Mexican forces during the Border War which took place in the context of the Mexican Revolution and the First World War. This occurred after the Zimmermann Telegram during World War I when the international border between the two Nogales was a wide open boulevard named International Street. There had been several previous fatal incidents in this area which helped increase international tensions and leading to armed conflict. This included the claim of German military advisors as agitators with Mexican Villa rebels, claims of racism and border politics. As a result of this battle, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to divide the two border communities with a chain-link border fence, the first of many permanent incarnations of the U.S.–Mexico border wall between the two countries.

1928 – Fifteen nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, also known as the Pact of Paris, outlawing war and calling for the settlement of disputes through arbitration. Forty-seven other countries eventually sign the pact. The pact was developed by French foreign minister Aristide Briand and U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg. The document did not stipulate any sanctions and allowed for so many exceptions—including wars of ‘self-defense‘ and obligations under the League Covenant and Monroe Doctrine—that the pact was quite ineffective.

1941 – Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, announces that he would like to enter into direct negotiations with President Roosevelt in order to prevent the Japanese conflict with China from expanding into world war. Konoye, a lawyer by training and well studied in Western philosophy, literature, and economics, entered the Japanese Parliament’s upper house by virtue of his princely status and immediately pursued a program of reform. High on his agenda was a reform of the army general staff in order to prevent its direct interference in foreign policy decisions. He also sought an increase in parliamentary power. An antifascist, Konoye championed an end to the militarism of Japanese political structures, especially in light of the war in Manchuria, which began in 1931. Appointed prime minister in 1933, Konoye’s first cabinet fell apart after full-blown war broke out between Japan and China. In 1940, Konoye was asked to form a second cabinet. But as he sought to contain the war with China, relations with the United States deteriorated, to the point where Japan was virtually surrounded by a U.S. military presence and threats of sanctions.

On August 27, 1941, Konoye requested a summit with President Roosevelt in order to diminish heightening tensions. Envoys were exchanged, but no direct meeting with the president took place. (The U.S. government did not want to send the wrong message to China-and that Japan was on the losing end of that war anyway.) In October, Konoye resigned because of increasing tension with his army minister, Tojo Hideki, who would succeed him as prime minister. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Konoye was put under military surveillance, his political career all but over until 1945, when the emperor considered sending him to Moscow to negotiate peace terms. That meeting never came off either. The grand irony of Prince Konoye’s career came at the war’s conclusion, when he was served with an arrest warrant by the U.S. occupying force for suspicion of war crimes. Rather than submit to arrest, he committed suicide by drinking poison.

1942 – CGC Mojave rescues 293 men from the torpedoed transport, Chatham in the Strait of Belle Isle.

1942 – The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese submarine I-26 damages the USS Saratoga. It will remain out of action until October. The USS Wasp is now the only operational US carrier in the Pacific.

1943 – American forces land on Arundel. Elements of the 43rd Division occupy Nauro Peninsula in the southeast of the island without opposition.

1944 – British 21st Army Group and US 12th Army Group continue to advance beyond the Seine River. The US 3rd Army, on the right wing of the army groups, captures Chateau Thierry on the Marne River as well as reaching the Seine River at Troyes, farther inland.

1944 – USS Stingray (SS-186) lands men and supplies on Luzon, Philippines to support guerilla operations against the Japanese.

1945 – B-29 Superfortress bombers began to drop supplies into Allied prisoner of war camps in China.

1945 – The Allied fleets anchor in Sagami (Tokyo) Bay within sight of Mount Fujiyama. Admiral Halsey, commander of the US 3rd Fleet, is present for what is probably the greatest display of naval might in history. The armada includes 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and escorts, 12 submarines and 185 other vessels. In addition to the American and British ships, there are ships from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands represented.

1945 – President Truman says that the situation in the Pacific continues to have many elements of danger and urges Congress to continue conscription for a further two years.

1950 – Fifth Air Force established a Rescue Liaison Office in the Joint Operations Center at Nagoya Air Base, Japan.

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