This Date in Military History:

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3 October

1650 – The English parliament declared its rule over the fledgling American colonies.

1656 – Myles Standish, Plymouth Colony leader, died (birth date unknown). Myles Standish was one of the 102 English settlers who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. He had served in Queen Elizabeth’s Army and was chosen to command the first group of men to go ashore when the ship reached New England. Occasionally he was called upon to defend the colony when it found itself at odds with the native peoples. His first wife, Rose, died during the winter of 1620/1. He had seven children with his second wife, Barbara.

1789 – George Washington proclaimed the 1st national Thanksgiving Day to be Nov 26. Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness: Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and their transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."

1790 – John Ross, Chief of the United Cherokee Nation from 1839 to 1866, was born near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Although his father was Scottish and his mother only part Cherokee, Ross was named Tsan-Usdi (Little John) and raised in the Cherokee tradition. A settled people with successful farms, strong schools, and a representative government, the Cherokee resided on 43,000 square miles of land they had held for centuries. John Ross was the first and only elected Chief of the Cherokee Nation from the time it was formed until his death in 1866. Highly regarded for his role in leading the fight against removal and leading his people to their exile in Oklahoma, controversy was his constant companion once the Georgia Cherokee arrived. Ross had a private tutor as a youth. Although only one-eighth Cherokee, Ross played Native American games and kept his Indian ties. Early in his life he was postmaster in Rossville, Ga. and a clerk in a trading firm. The town he founded as Rossville Landing grew much larger than it’s namesake as Chattanooga, Tennessee. Growing up with the constant raids of whites and Indians, Ross witnessed much of the brutality on the early American frontier. The future Walker County was a hunting ground for both white and Cherokee raiding parties, strategically located midpoint between head of Coosa and Col. John Sevier’s band of marauders from Tennessee. “Little John” served as a Lieutenant in the Creek War, fighting with many famous Americans including Sam Houston. When future president and Cherokee oppressor Andrew Jackson called the Battle of Horseshoe Bend “one of the great victories of the American frontier,” losing 50 men while killing 500 Creek men, women, and children. Ross was invaluable to Moravians who established a mission on the Federal Highway near present-day Brainerd, Tennessee. Serving as translator for the missionaries, just as he had for Return J. Miegs, Indian agent for the Cherokee, Ross acted as liaison between the missionaries, Miegs, and the tribal council. He proposed selling land to the Moravians for the school, a radical idea in a society that did not understand the concept. Ross was viewed as astute and likable, and frequently visited Washington. After the death of James Vann, Ross joined Charles Hicks, with whom he worked, and Major Ridge as a member of the Cherokee Triumvirate.

During the trip to negotiate the Treaty of 1819 in Washington, D. C. he became recognized for his efforts. Ross, one of the richest men in North Georgia before 1838 had a number of ventures including a 200 acre farm and owned a number of slaves. He would not speak Cherokee in council because he felt his command of the language was weak. After the death of Charles Hicks, and others in the early 1820’s, settlers believed that the Cherokee time was short. Ross and others decided to make legal moves to prevent the forced removal including organizing the Cherokee tribe as a nation, with its own Constitution, patterned after the Constitution of the United States of America. As president of the Constitutional Convention that convened in the summer of 1827 he was the obvious choice for Principal Chief in the first elections in 1828. He held this post until his death in 1866. Ridge, his close friend and ally, would serve the last years in Georgia as “counselor,” for lack of a better word to describe the roll. Over the first 10 years of his rule he fought the white man not weapons but with words. As the encroachment of the settlers grew, he turned to the press to make his case. When the Land Lottery of 1832 divided Cherokee land among the whites he filed suit in the white man’s courts and won, only to see the ruling go unenforced. His old friend Major Ridge and the Treaty Party signed away the Cherokee land in 1835. Ross got 16,000 signatures of Cherokees to show the party did not speak for a majority of the tribe, but Andrew Jackson forced the treaty through Congress. He lost his first wife, Quatie, on the “Trail Where They Cried,” or as it is more commonly known, the Trail of Tears. After his forced departure from the State of Georgia, Ross was embroiled in a number of controversies. Internal and external conflict kept him busy for the rest of his life.

1794 – On this date President George Washington called on the governors of four states; Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia to furnish troops from their militia to march to western Pennsylvania to restore the peace and end the “Whiskey Rebellion.” Congress had enacted a tax on whiskey in 1791 and the result sparked mob actions from farmers in western Pennsylvania. They attacked excise agents, tax collectors and finally a federal marshal trying to enforce the law. This act and other provocations were enough for the president. This marked the first time under the Constitution that militia (Guard) units would be called up for federal active duty. A total of 13,000 militia were raised and instructed to converge on two locations before linking up into one army. Elements from Maryland and Virginia, under the command of Virginia Governor Henry “Light Horse” Lee (a Revolutionary War hero and father of Robert E. Lee) met at Fort Cumberland, MD. One of the men serving in Captain Thomas Walker’s Volunteer Corps from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was Private Meriwether Lewis, who would with fellow Virginian William Clark, command the “Corps of Discovery” exploring the American west in 1803-1805. Other units from Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania gathered at the town of Harrisburg, PA (this city would not become the capital of PA until 1812). President Washington, acting in his role as “Commander-in-Chief”, donned a military uniform and inspected the troops first at Harrisburg on this date and later in October at Ft. Cumberland. This marks the only time an American president has actually taken command of troops in the field. Washington was planning on leading the Army himself but changed his mind and turned command over to Lee. As the Army moved into western Pennsylvania the revolt collapsed with little bloodshed. The ringleaders were later tried and convicted, but they were all pardoned by Washington.

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1862 – At the Battle of Corinth, in Mississippi, a Union army defeated the Confederates. After the Battle of Iuka, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s Confederate Army of the West marched from Baldwyn to Ripley where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s Army of West Tennessee. Van Dorn was senior officer and took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched to Pocahontas on October 1, and then moved southeast toward Corinth. They hoped to seize Corinth and then sweep into Middle Tennessee. Since the Siege of Corinth, in the spring, Union forces had erected various fortifications, an inner and intermediate line, to protect Corinth, an important transportation center. With the Confederate approach, the Federals, numbering about 23,000, occupied the outer line of fortifications and placed men in front of them. Van Dorn arrived within three miles of Corinth at 10:00 am on October 3, and moved into some fieldworks that the Confederates had erected for the siege of Corinth.

The fighting began, and the Confederates steadily pushed the Yankees rearward. A gap occurred between two Union brigades which the Confederates exploited around 1:00 pm. The Union troops moved back in a futile effort to close the gap. Price then attacked and drove the Federals back further to their inner line. By evening, Van Dorn was sure that he could finish the Federals off during the next day. This confidence–combined with the heat, fatigue, and water shortages–persuaded him to cancel any further operations that day. Rosecrans regrouped his men in the fortifications to be ready for the attack to come the next morning. Van Dorn had planned to attack at daybreak, but Brig. Gen. Louis Hébert’s sickness postponed it till 9:00 am. As the Confederates moved forward, Union artillery swept the field causing heavy casualties, but the Rebels continued on. They stormed Battery Powell and closed on Battery Robinett, where desperate hand-to-hand fighting ensued. A few Rebels fought their way into Corinth, but the Federals quickly drove them out. The Federals continued on, recapturing Battery Powell, and forcing Van Dorn into a general retreat. Rosecrans postponed any pursuit until the next day. As a result, Van Dorn was defeated, but not destroyed or captured, at Hatchie Bridge, Tennessee, on October 5th.

1863 – President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day. Credit for establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday is usually given to Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies’ Magazine in Boston. Her editorials in the magazine and letters to President Lincoln urging the formal establishment of a national holiday of Thanksgiving resulted in Lincoln’s proclamation, which designated the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. Later presidents followed this example, with the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1939 proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a week earlier–on the fourth, not the last, Thursday of November–in effort to encourage more holiday shopping. In 1941 Congress adopted a joint resolution, permanently setting the date of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

1873 – Captain Jack and three other Modoc Indians were hanged in Oregon for the murder of General Edward Canby. Captain Jack’s advisors had suggested that the Army would leave if their leader, General Edward Canby, were killed, and Captain Jack called for peace negotiations. On April 11, on a pre-arranged signal during a peace conference, Captain Jack and some of his men pulled out pistols and killed the negotiating team, Captain Jack personally killing General Canby, who thus became the only General to be killed during the Indian Wars. The murder did not have the desired effect; the Army, now under the command of General Jefferson C. Davis, was reinforced with over 1000 men. On April 14, the Army attacked the stronghold again, and forced the Modoc to flee. Over the next several months, various groups of Modoc continued to fight the army, while many began to surrender. On June 1, Captain Jack laid down his rifle and surrendered. Captain Jack was taken to Fort Klamath, Oregon and was hanged with three of his warriors for the murder of General Canby and the negotiators.

1912 – Marines participated in the Battles of Coyotepe and Barranca Hills during the Nicaraguan Campaign. Located on the end of the Masaya Lagoon are two large hills, one called Coyotepe and the other called La Barranca. Before the Marines showed up, Liberal forces fortified both hills. Coyotepe was the more strategic of the two as the main railroad leading from Granada to Managua passes directly under its heights; a few small pieces of artillery on Coyotepe can effectively disrupt traffic since it also overlooks the main road between Masaya and Granada. It was obvious that the Marines would have to take the hill in order to control access to Granada and defeat the rebel coalition of Zeledón and Mena. Telegrams were exchanged between the U.S. forces and Zeledón: the Marines asked him to leave Coyotepe: he politely refused and told them they would have to fight him. Before dawn on October 4, 1912, Company “C” of the First Battalion, First Provisional Regiment, U.S. Marines, Nicaraguan Expedition, under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton, assembled at the foot of Coyotepe Hill and made ready their assault. At first light they started up the hill. They shot their way to the top, and took control of Coyotepe Hill. Zeledón’s forces had retreated off the hill as the Marines approached the summit. Irregulars from Conservative forces began combing the area for Zeledón and his men.

The next morning near Diriomo, Zeledón ran into a Conservative force and shot it out with them. He was struck in the spine by a bullet. He was taken by mule or by wagon, according to different versions, to Catarina. The wound had been fatal and he was dead on arrival. Another version has Zeledón being captured in Catarina and taken to Masaya where he was executed on orders from the Marines. The corpse was then paraded through the streets. A young Augusto César Sandino may have witnessed this procession, or perhaps his burial in the cemetery at Catarina. Zeledón lay there, unremarked upon, until Sandinista Comandante Tomás Borge dedicated a large monument in the form of a Winchester rifle to him in 1980.

Regarding the assault, the only accurate account of the battle and the condition of the hill at the time of the battle is found in an address that Colonel Pendleton gave in 1913 at the dedication of a plaque to honor the dead who took part in that battle. That plaque is mounted on a wall in the Marine barracks in Boston, where the great majority of the men who took part in the assault had come from. Pendleton finally told what happened on the hill outside of Masaya. Commanded in the field by Captain Fortson, Company “C” had made it part way up the hill before they were detected by a sentry stationed on the summit of Coyotepe, who started waving a sword. The strategy of the Marines was to have one group of soldiers pin down the defenders with accurate rifle fire as the others climbed the hill. This worked until the Marines reached an open space right under the summit. A machine gun had been placed to cover it, and it was also blocked with barbed wire. As soon as the Marines made it there, three were shot dead and several others were wounded seriously. A fourth Marine named Durham continued forward and was shot down, but not before he had managed to cut the barbed wire. The Marines then took the summit. The assault on Coyotepe was over. American losses were four killed and several wounded; Nicaraguan losses unknown.

1918 – The first phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive ends with two of three German defensive lines in US hands. The Germans have been rushing reinforcements to the sector, and the pace of the advance begins to slow.

1921 – USS Olympia sails for France to bring home the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The bodies of many soldiers killed in World War I could not be identified. To honor them, the remains of one were brought to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state, and on Armistice Day 1921 they were ceremoniously buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The tomb bears the inscription “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.” Congress later directed that an “Unknown American” from subsequent wars — World War II, Korea and Vietnam — be similarly honored. Because of the development of DNA technology, the unknown soldier from the Vietnam War was recently exhumed and identified. There may never be another unknown soldier.

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1940 – After a month of training and experimentation the U.S. Army adopted airborne, or parachute, soldiers. In 1935 the Russians had a head start on Airborne warfare and made the world’s first spectacular use of parachutists. Despite this early entrance upon the Airborne stage the USSR made little use of Airborne troops in World War II. Their activities were principally concerned with the dropping of supplies and individuals for guerrilla activities. However, their prewar example inspired enthusiasm among the Germans, French, and British. The British organized parachute forces in 1936 and used them continually in their maneuvers. The French organized a parachute battalion in 1938 but inactivated it in 1939. It was left to the Germans to develop and use paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers in mass operations. Their first use was in the sweep across Holland and Belgium, where paratroopers were used to seize key bridges and the powerful Belgian fortress Eben Emael. Their successful tactical use enabled the panzer divisions to sweep across the low countries, and made the conquest of France relatively easy. The invasion of Norway saw an even larger use of paratroopers. The invasion was a combined air and sea attack. The British warships wreaked havoc on the German amphibious forces, but the German Airborne troops were successful in establishing several airheads. As soon as these were established, thousands of German soldiers and their supplies were transported by air. As a direct consequence, Norway fell. The American General Staff had been closely watching the daring use of Airborne soldiers by the Germans. In September 1940 the United States activated its first parachute battalion. Within a short time Airborne enthusiasts decided that the Airborne soldier provided the tactical commander with a new method of attaining surprise that could very easily revolutionize modern warfare. By the summer of 1944 we had formed five Airborne Divisions and six Airborne Regiments. By the end of World War II we had used our Airborne troops in fourteen major offensives.

1942 – Germany conducted the 1st successful test flight of an A-4/V-2 missile from the Peenemunde test site. It flew perfectly over a 118-mile course to an altitude of 53 miles (85 km). The 13-ton, 46-foot long V2 rocket was the world’s 1st long-range ballistic missile.

1942 – U S Marines occupy Funafuti in the Ellice Islands.

1943 – Aircraft from USS Ranger sink 5 German ships and damage 3 in Operation Leader, the only U.S. Navy carrier operation in northern European waters during World War II. Defying enemy shore batteries and warships lurking in Norwegian waters, a combined United States and British naval force that included a strongly escorted American aircraft carrier, struck a surprise blow at German merchant shipping in the Norwegian “leads” or inner waterways in the Bodoe area. German naval units in Norway, where the powerful battleship Tirpitz was lying in a fjord somewhere northeast of Trondheim, refusing to accept the obvious challenge to come out and fight. The only opposition was by enemy anti-aircraft fire and by two German planes, both of which were destroyed by fighters that took off from the American carrier, USS Ranger. Three planes from the carrier were shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

The USS Ranger

The three United States planes that were lost were part of a formation that took off from the carrier and bombed a number of large enemy merchant ships, including an 8,000-ton tanker. .

Tanker Schleswig, identified as a Rigmor-class tanker in this combat photo, under attack during OPERATION LEADER.

The two enemy planes that were destroyed arrived after the bombing attack was completed and tried to shadow the combined United States and British naval forces. As a result of a Sweedish decision refusing the Nazis further use of Swedish railroads for the transportation of materials and men to Norway, the Germans were compelled to send them by ship through the Skagerrak and up along the Norwegian coast. Operation Leader was a strike at the vulnerable German lifelines to their Norwegian base as well as laying the groundwork for convoys to be carry supplies to Russia.

1944 – During World War II, U.S. troops cracked the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany.

1951 – Operation COMMANDO, one of the largest operations conducted after the commencement of truce negotiations, began. COMMANDO was a full-scale offensive designed to establish a defensive line that would screen the Yonchon-Chorwon Valley from enemy observation and long-range artillery.

1952 – USAF Major Frederick C. “Boots” Blesse, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing, flying an F-86 Sabre jet, scored his 10th and final aerial victory and became the fifth double ace of the Korean War.

1955 – USS Saipan (CVL-48) begins disaster relief at Tampico, Mexico rescuing people and delivering supplies. Operations end 10 October.

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1962 – Launch of Sigma 7 (Mercury 8) piloted by CDR Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USN. Although NASA was concerned that the path of Tropical Storm Daisy as projected on October 1, 1962 might pose a threat, launch preparations were carried out as scheduled with no postponements. Astronaut Schirra journeyed a total of 160,000 miles aboard the Sigma 7 spacecraft, which in contrast to the previous Mercury flight, splashed down within the intended recovery point. The capsule splashed down about 275 miles northeast of Midway Island just 9,000 yards from the recovery vessel. Schirra, aboard the Sigma 7 capsule, reached the recovery vessel just 37 minutes after the first splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Sigma 7 capsule had been modified to prevent problems encountered in the previous orbital flights. The reaction control system was modified to disarm the high-thrust jets during periods of manual spacecraft operation. This saved precious fuel. The capsule was also scheduled for more drift time to save fuel during the flight. Drift error was found to be negligible, which aided in planned fuel savings during future orbital flights. In addition, two high-frequency antennas were mounted onto the retro package to help maintain improved communications between the capsule and the ground during the flight. Schirra operated an experimental hand-held camera during the flight. Nine ablative-type material samples were included in an experiment package mounted onto the cylindrical neck of the capsule. In addition, two radiation monitoring devices were mounted inside the capsule, with one mounted on each side of the astronaut couch.

Schirra participated in the first live television broadcast beamed back to Earth during a manned U.S. space flight. The television signal was broadcast to North America and Western Europe via Telstar-1, the first commercial communications satellite. The mission demonstrated that longer duration space flights were feasible, and Schirra commented that both he and the spacecraft could have flown much longer than six orbits. On October 5, 1962 the Air Force announced that Schirra would likely have been killed by radiation if the Sigma 7 spacecraft had exceeded 400 miles in altitude. Radiation monitoring devices on classified military satellites had confirmed this lethal radiation, which resulted from a high-altitude nuclear test conducted in July, 1962. In fact, at the altitude actually flown by Schirra, the radiation monitoring devices inside the spacecraft confirmed that the astronaut had been exposed to much less radiation than predicted even under normal circumstances. Schirra was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by NASA Administrator James Webb on October 15, 1962 during a ceremony held at the astronaut’s hometown of Oradell, New Jersey.

1985 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight. (Mission STS-51-J). STS-51-J was the 21st NASA Space Shuttle mission and the first flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying a payload for the U.S. Department of Defense, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 7 October.

1988 – Discovery completed a four-day mission, the first American shuttle flight since the Challenger disaster.

1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made his first known visit to Kuwait since his country seized control of the oil-rich emirate.

1990 – The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union. Now celebrated as German Unity Day.

1993 – Battle at Bakhara Market. On 22 August, Task Force Ranger, consisting of one company of Rangers from 3/75, a special forces unit, and a deployment package of the 160th SOAR (A), was ordered to deploy to Mogadishu, Somalia. They departed on 26 August. The mission of the 160th SOAR (A) as defined by the task force commander was: “When directed, [to] deploy to Mogadishu, Somalia; [to] conduct operations to capture General Aideed and/or designated others. The aviation task force must be prepared to conduct two primary courses of action: moving convoy and strong point assault. . . . Success is defined as the live capture of General Aideed and designated individuals and recovery to the designated transload point; safely and without fratricide.” In Mogadishu the task force occupied an old hangar and old construction trailers under primitive conditions. During the month of September, the force conducted several successful missions to arrest Aideed sympathizers and to confiscate arms caches. The aircraft also made frequent flights over the city to desensitize the public to the presence of military aircraft and to familiarize themselves with the narrow streets and alleys of the city. On the afternoon of 3 October 1993, informed that two leaders of Aideed’s clan were at a residence in central Mogadishu, the task force sent 19 aircraft, 12 vehicles, and 160 men to arrest them. During the mission, one of the Rangers fast-roping from an MH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, missed the rope and fell 70 feet to the street below, badly injuring himself. The two leaders were quickly arrested, and the prisoners and the injured Ranger were loaded on a convoy of ground vehicles. Armed Somalis were converging on the target area from all over the city. In the meantime, another MH-60, call sign Super 61 and piloted by CW4 Clifton P. Wolcott and CW3 Donovan Briley, was flying low over the street a few blocks from the target area, and was struck from behind by an rocket propelled grenade (RPG). The MH-60 crashed to the street below. The convoy and the Somali crowds immediately headed for the crash site.

An MH-6 Little Bird, call sign Star 41, piloted by CW4 Keith Jones and CW3 Karl Maier, landed in the street next to the downed MH-60 and attempted to evacuate the casualties. Both Wolcott and Briley had been killed in the crash. Jones went to assist survivors, successfully pulling two soldiers into the Little Bird, while Maier laid down suppressive fire from the cockpit with his individual weapon. Under intense ground fire, the MH-6 departed with its crew and survivors. In the meantime, Blackhawk Super 64, with pilot CW3 Michael Durant, copilot CW4 Raymond Frank, and crewmembers SSG William Cleveland and SSG Thomas Field, moved in to take Super 61’s place in the formation. As Super 64 circled over the target area, an RPG suddenly struck it. The Blackhawk’s tail rotor was severely damaged, and the air mission commander ordered it back to the airfield. En route to the airfield, the tail rotor and much of the rear assembly fell off, and the helicopter pitched forward and crashed. Meanwhile the ground convoy had lost its way, and rescue forces were already overtaxed at the site of the first Blackhawk crash. As armed Somalis rushed toward the Super 64 crash site, the crew’s only hope came from SFC Randall Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon aboard the covering Blackhawk, Super 62, who volunteered to jump in and protect the crew of the downed helicopter. They would ultimately sacrifice their lives for their downed comrades.

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Durant and Frank had both suffered broken legs in the crash, and both of the crew chiefs were severely wounded. A large crowd of Somalis, organized by the local militia, surrounded the crew and their rescuers and engaged in a fierce firefight, killing all but Durant. Then, they rushed the downed pilot, severely beating him and taking him prisoner. Meanwhile another Blackhawk carrying a rescue team arrived over the crash site of Super 61 and the 15-man team fast-roped to the ground. They found both Wolcott and Briley already dead, but crew chiefs Staff Sgt. Ray Dowdy and Staff Sgt. Charlie Warren were still alive in the wreckage. It took hours to pry Wolcott’s body from the wreckage. In the meantime, the soldiers set up a perimeter to protect against attack from Somali militia and armed civilians and awaited the arrival of a convoy from the 10th Mountain Division to rescue them. The militia had taken Mike Durant captive, planning to trade him for Somali prisoners. But before they could get him back to their village, they were intercepted by local bandits, who took Durant, intending to use him for ransom. He was taken back to a house where he was held, interrogated, and videotaped. Later, after Aideed paid his ransom, Durant was moved to the apartment of Aideed’s propaganda minister. After five days, he was visited by a representative of the International Red Cross and interviewed by British and French journalists. Finally, after ten days, with the intervention of former U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Robert Oakley, he was released and flew home to a hero’s welcome. The mission was over. The 160th SOAR (A) had been involved in the fiercest battle since the Vietnam War. It had lost two MH-60 aircraft with two more severely damaged, suffered eight wounded and five killed in action, and had had one of its pilots taken captive. Despite the public perception that this was a failed mission, Task Force Ranger did take into custody and delivered the two leaders from Aideed’s clan, resulting in mission accomplishment. President Clinton expressed sorrow at the deaths of American soldiers in Somalia, but reaffirmed those U.S. forces would stay in the African nation.

1994 – U.S. soldiers in Haiti raided the headquarters of a pro-army militia.

1995 – Pres. Gligorov, leader of Macedonia, was critically hurt in a car bomb attack in Skopje, Macedonia.

1995 – The Sri Lankan army claimed to have killed 200 Tamil Tiger rebels on the northern Jaffa peninsula.

1997 – US Defense Sec. William Cohen ordered the Nimitz Carrier Battle Group to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran and Iraq to stop incursions into the US-enforced “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq.

1997 – In Algeria armed men killed 38 people at the village of Mahelma. Throats of the victims were slit, heads were cut off and houses were set on fire. In Blida 10 people were killed and 20 wounded by assailants with homemade rockets and bombs. Another group of attackers killed 75 others including 34 children. In the village of Ouled Benaissa armed men killed 37 people including 22 children.

1997 – In Columbia a paramilitary group hired to protect a cocaine shipment killed 11 judicial officials near the town of San Carlos de Guaroa.

1997 – UN officials reported that Congo had ordered international refugee agencies to leave part of eastern Congo and was expelling Rwandans who had fled there to escape fighting in Rwanda.

1997 – Turkish jets bombed escape routes used by Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Over the last 13 days the army reported 415 rebels dead vs. 6 Turkish soldiers.

1998 – In Chechnya 4 men working to install a cellular phone system were kidnapped by 20 men. The severed heads Darren Hickey, Rudolf Petschi, Stanley Shaw and Peter Kennedy were found Dec 8. Their bodies were found Dec 26 in Chernorechiye.

1998 – Turkey sent some 10,000 troops into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels.

1999 – In Peru 9 soldiers were killed in a weekend clash with some 60 Maoist guerrillas in the central jungle.

1999 – In Sierra Leone Foday Sankoh returned home with former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma and met with Pres. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. Sankoh gave a radio speech and pleaded for forgiveness.

2000 – A cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians quickly crumbled and the death toll climbed to at least 54. Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat planned to meet in Paris to seek an end to the conflict.

2001 – Near Manchester, Tennessee, Damir Igric (29), a Croatian passenger on a Greyhound bus, slit the throat of the bus driver and caused a roll over that killed 6 people including Igric. 2001 – In Chechnya rebels killed 9 federal troops in a number of clashes that included 4 dead from land mines. 4 militants were also killed.

2001 – Israeli forces in Gaza cleared a half mile buffer zone and killed 6 Palestinians when tank shells ripped their cars.

2001 – President Putin said Russia is ready to reconsider its opposition to NATO expansion if the alliance assumes a broader political identity in which Moscow can be involved.

2002 – Police hunted for a “skilled shooter” who murdered five random victims over 16 hours with a high-powered rifle in Montgomery County, Maryland, just a short distance from Washington DC. A 6th victim was killed in DC. James Buchanon (39), Premkumar Walekar (54), Sarah Ramos (34), Lori Ann Lewis Rivera (25) and Pascal Charlot (72) became the 2nd to 6th victims.

2002 – India said it had killed eight Islamic militants trying to enter Indian Kashmir from Pakistani territory as the state battles a surge in rebel violence just days before the end of a disputed election.

2002 – NATO and European Union called on Croatia to cooperate with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal, urging the government to hand over indicted war crimes suspect Gen. Janko Bobetko. 2002 – Turkey formally commuted Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan’s death sentence to life in prison after parliament abolished capital punishment two months ago in a bid to join the European Union.

2003 – Afghan civilians accidentally set off an explosive inside a home near Bagram Air Base American military headquarters, killing seven people and wounding six others.

2003 – In Karachi, Pakistan, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Shiite Muslim employees of Pakistan’s space agency, killing six and wounding at least six others.

2003 – In Sri Lanka the US Embassy said it has re-designated the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization, despite an ongoing peace process between the Sri Lankan government and the rebels.

2004 – Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops claimed success in wresting control of Samarra from Sunni insurgents in fierce fighting.

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2010 – Germany makes its last reparations payment for World War I, settling its outstanding debt from the 1919 Versailles Treaty and quietly closing the final chapter of the conflict that shaped the 20th century. This is also the 20th anniversary of German unification, as well as the end of reparations payments 92 years after the country’s defeat. The German government will pay the last installment of interest on foreign bonds it issued in 1924 and 1930 to raise cash to fulfill the enormous reparations demands the victorious Allies made after World War I. The reparations bankrupted Germany in the 1920s and the fledgling Nazi party seized on the resulting public resentment against the terms of the Versailles Treaty. The sum was initially set at 269 billion gold marks, around 96,000 tons of gold, before being reduced to 112 billion gold marks by 1929, payable over a period of 59 years. Germany suspended annual payments in 1931 during the global financial crisis and Adolf Hitler unsurprisingly declined to resume them when he came to power in 1933. But in 1953, West Germany agreed at an international conference in London to service its international bond obligations from before World War II. In the years that followed it repaid the principal on the bonds, which had been issued to private and institutional investors in countries including the United States. Under the terms of the London accord, Germany was allowed to wait until it unified before paying some €125 million in outstanding interest that had accrued on its foreign debt in the years 1945 to 1952. After the Berlin Wall fell and West and East Germany united in 1990, the country dutifully paid that interest off in annual installments.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BARTON, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1831, Cleveland, Ohio. Accredited to: Ohio. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Hunchback in the attack on Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. When an ignited shell, with cartridge attached, fell out of the howitzer upon the deck, S/man Barton promptly seized a pail of water and threw it upon the missile, thereby preventing it from exploding.

BREEN, JOHN
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1827, New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Commodore Perry in the attack upon Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. With enemy fire raking the deck of his ship and blockades thwarting her progress, Breen remained at his post and performed his duties with skill and courage as the Commodore Perry fought a gallant battle to silence many rebel batteries as she steamed down the Blackwater River.

BURBANK, JAMES H.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 4th Rhode Island Infantry. Place and date: At Blackwater, near Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. Entered service at: Providence, R.I. Born: 5 January 1838, Holland. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: Gallantry in action while on detached service on board the gunboat Barney.

LAKIN, DANIEL
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1834, Baltimore Md. Accredited to: Maryland. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Commodore Perry in the attack upon Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. With enemy fire raking the deck of his ship and blockades thwarting her progress, Lakin remained at his post and performed his duties with skill and courage as the Commodore Perry fought a gallant battle to silence many rebel batteries as she steamed down the Blackwater River.

LAWSON, GAINES
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company D, 4th East Tennessee Infantry. Place and date: At Minville, Tenn., 3 October 1863. Entered service at: Tennessee. Born: 1841, Hawkins County, Tenn. Date of issue: 11 June 1895. Citation: Went to the aid of a wounded comrade between the lines and carried him to a place of safety.

McCAMMON, WILLIAM W.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company E, 24th Missouri Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., 3 October 1862. Entered service at: Montgomery County, Mo. Birth: Ohio. Date of issue: 9 July 1896. Citation: While on duty as provost marshal, voluntarily assumed command of his company, then under fire, and so continued in command until the repulse and retreat of the enemy on the following day, the loss to this company during the battle being very great.

MURPHY, DENNIS J. F.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 14th Wisconsin Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., 3 October 1862. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 22 January 1892. Citation: Although wounded three times, carried the colors throughout the conflict.

PETERSON, ALFRED
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1838, Sweden. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Commodore Perry in the attack upon Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. With enemy fire raking the deck of his ship and blockades thwarting her progress, Peterson remained at his post and performed his duties with skill and courage as the Commodore Perry fought a gallant battle to silence many rebel batteries as she steamed down the Blackwater River.

SMITH, EDWIN
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1841, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Whitehead in the attack upon Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. When his ship became grounded in a narrow passage as she rounded a bend in the Blackwater River, Smith, realizing the hazards of lowering a boat voluntarily swam to shore with a line under the enemy’s heavy fire. His fearless action enabled his ship to maintain steady fire and keep the enemy in check during the battle.

WILLIAMS, JOHN
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1832, Pennsylvania. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Commodore Perry in the attack upon Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. With enemy fire raking the deck of his ship and blockades thwarting her progress, Williams remained at his post and performed his duties with skill and courage as the Commodore Perry fought a gallant battle to silence many rebel batteries as she steamed down the Blackwater River.

BART, FRANK J.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company C, 9th Infantry, 2d Division. Place and date: Near Medeah Ferme, France, 3 October 1918. Entered service at: Newark, N.J. Birth: New York, N.Y. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: Pvt. Bart, being on duty as a company runner, when the advance was held up by machinegun fire voluntarily picked up an automatic rifle, ran out ahead of the line, and silenced a hostile machinegun nest, killing the German gunners. The advance then continued, and when it was again hindered shortly afterward by another machinegun nest this courageous soldier repeated his bold exploit by putting the second machinegun out of action.

KELLY, JOHN JOSEPH (Army Medal)
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps, 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division. Place and date: At Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born. 24 June 1898, Chicago, Ill. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. (Also received Navy Medal of Honor.) Citation: Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machinegun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with 8 prisoners.

KELLY, JOHN JOSEPH (Navy Medal)
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps, 78th Company 6th Regiment. Born: 24 June 1898, Chicago, Ill. Accredited to: Illinois. (Also received Army Medal of Honor.) Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division, in action with the enemy at Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage a hundred yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machinegun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with 8 prisoners.

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*PRUITT, JOHN HENRY (Army Medal)
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division. Place and date: At Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Entered service at: Phoenix, Ariz. Born: 4 October 1896, Fayettesville, Ark. G.O. No.: 62, W.D., 1919. (Also received Navy Medal of Honor.) Citation: Cpl. Pruitt single-handed attacked 2 machineguns, capturing them and killing 2 of the enemy. He then captured 40 prisoners in a dugout nearby. This gallant soldier was killed soon afterward by shellfire while he was sniping at the enemy.

*PRUITT, JOHN HENRY (Navy Medal)
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 4 October 1896, Fayettesville, Ark. Accredited to: Arizona. (Also received Army Medal of Honor.) Citation: For extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division, in action with the enemy at Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Cpl. Pruitt, single-handed attacked 2 machineguns, capturing them and killing 2 of the enemy. He then captured 40 prisoners in a dugout nearby. This gallant soldier was killed soon afterward by shellfire while he was sniping the enemy.

*GORDON, GARY I.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: —– Born: Lincoln, Maine. Citation: Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon’s sniper team provided precision fires from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crew’s weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, “good luck.” Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot’s life. Master Sergeant Gordon’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

*SHUGHART, RANDALL D.
Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: —– Born: Newville, Pennsylvania. Citation: Sergeant First Class Shughart, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Sergeant First Class Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot’s life. Sergeant First Class Shughart’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

CARTER, TY M.
Rank: Specialist, Organization: U.S. Army, Company: B Troop, 3d Squadron 61st Cavalry Regiment, Divison: 4th Infantry, Born: January 25, 1980, Spokane, WA, Departed: No, Entered Service At: Antioch, CA, G.O. Number: , Date of Issue: 08/26/2013, Accredited To: ,Place / Date: Oct, 3, 2009, Outpost Keating, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Specialist Ty M. Carter distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Scout with Bravo Troop, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, during combat operations against an armed enemy in Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on October 3, 2009. On that morning, Specialist Carter and his comrades awakened to an attack of an estimated 300 enemy fighters occupying the high ground on all four sides of Combat Outpost Keating, employing concentrated fire from recoilless rifles, rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft machine guns, mortars and small arms fire. Specialist Carter reinforced a forward battle position, ran twice through a 100 meter gauntlet of enemy fire to resupply ammunition and voluntarily remained there to defend the isolated position. Armed with only an M4 carbine rifle, Specialist Carter placed accurate, deadly fire on the enemy, beating back the assault force and preventing the position from being overrun, over the course of several hours. With complete disregard for his own safety and in spite of his own wounds, he ran through a hail of enemy rocket propelled grenade and machine gun fire to rescue a critically wounded comrade who had been pinned down in an exposed position. Specialist Carter rendered life extending first aid and carried the Soldier to cover. On his own initiative, Specialist Carter again maneuvered through enemy fire to check on a fallen Soldier and recovered the squad’s radio, which allowed them to coordinate their evacuation with fellow Soldiers. With teammates providing covering fire, Specialist Carter assisted in moving the wounded Soldier 100 meters through withering enemy fire to the aid station and before returning to the fight. Specialist Carter’s heroic actions and tactical skill were critical to the defense of Combat Outpost Keating, preventing the enemy from capturing the position and saving the lives of his fellow Soldiers. Specialist Ty M. Carter’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Bravo Troop, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and the United States Army.

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[SHOOTER13]

ROMESHA, CLINTON L.
Rank: Staff Sergeant, Organization: U.S. Army, Company: 3rd Squadron, 61st Calvary Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Division: 4th Infantry. Born: August 17, 1981 / Lake City, CA, Departed: No, Entered Service At: California, G.O. Number: , Date of Issue: 02/11/2013, Accredited To: California, Place / Date: Outpost Keating, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan October 3, 2009. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Section Leader with Bravo Troop, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, during combat operations against an armed enemy at Combat Outpost Keating, Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on 3 October 2009. On that morning, Staff Sergeant Romesha and his comrades awakened to an attack by an estimated 300 enemy fighters occupying the high ground on all four sides of the complex, employing concentrated fire from recoilless rifles, rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft machine guns, mortars and small arms fire. Staff Sergeant Romesha moved uncovered under intense enemy fire to conduct a reconnaissance of the battlefield and seek reinforcements from the barracks before returning to action with the support of an assistant gunner. Staff Sergeant Romesha took out an enemy machine gun team and, while engaging a second, the generator he was using for cover was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, inflicting him with shrapnel wounds. Undeterred by his injuries, Staff Sergeant Romesha continued to fight and upon the arrival of another soldier to aid him and the assistant gunner, he again rushed through the exposed avenue to assemble additional soldiers. Staff Sergeant Romesha then mobilized a five-man team and returned to the fight equipped with a sniper rifle.

With complete disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Romesha continually exposed himself to heavy enemy fire, as he moved confidently about the battlefield engaging and destroying multiple enemy targets, including three Taliban fighters who had breached the combat outpost’s perimeter. While orchestrating a successful plan to secure and reinforce key points of the battlefield, Staff Sergeant Romesha maintained radio communication with the tactical operations center. As the enemy forces attacked with even greater ferocity, unleashing a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and recoilless rifle rounds, Staff Sergeant Romesha identified the point of attack and directed air support to destroy over 30 enemy fighters. After receiving reports that seriously injured soldiers were at a distant battle position, Staff Sergeant Romesha and his team provided covering fire to allow the injured soldiers to safely reach the aid station. Upon receipt of orders to proceed to the next objective, his team pushed forward 100 meters under overwhelming enemy fire to recover and prevent the enemy fighters from taking the bodies of the fallen comrades. Staff Sergeant Romesha’s heroic actions throughout the day-long battle were critical in suppressing an enemy that had far greater numbers. His extraordinary efforts gave Bravo Troop the opportunity to regroup, reorganize and prepare for the counterattack that allowed the Troop to account for its personnel and secure Combat Post Keating. Staff Sergeant Romesha’s discipline and extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty reflect great credit upon himself, Bravo Troop, 3d Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and the United States Army.

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[SHOOTER13]

4 October

1597 – The first Guale uprising begins against the Spanish missions in Georgia. Guale was an historic Native American chiefdom along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16th century. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, Guale society was shattered from extensive epidemics of new infectious diseases and warfare from other tribes. The first Guale rebellion would be largely ineffective.

1648 – Peter Stuyvesant established America’s 1st volunteer firemen. Governor of New York, Peter Stuyvesant appointed a group of four fire wardens to inspect chimneys of the thatched-roof houses and to levy a fine of three guilders for each unswept chimney. The money received from these fines was used to import leather buckets, hooks, and ladders. These instruments were then put to use by concerned citizens to protect their communities from destructive fires. Thus the tradition of Americans volunteering their time for fire protection began.
1776 – Marines participated in the USS Wasp’s capture of a British ship off the coast of New England.

1777 – George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Penn., resulting in heavy American casualties. British General Sir William Howe repelled Washington’s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge. Following the British capture of Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine, Howe’s troops encamped in Germantown to the North of the city. The camp stretched in a line astride the main northern road. Washington determined to surprise the British army in camp. His plan required a strong column under Major General Nathaniel Greene (with McDougall, Muhlenberg, Stephen and Scott) to attack the right wing of the British army comprising Grant’s and Donop’s troops, the second column which he commanded (with Stirling and Sullivan) to advance down the main Philadelphia road and launch an assault on the British center, while forces of militia attacked each wing of the British force comprising on the right the Queen’s Rangers and on the left near the Schuylkill River, Hessian Jagers and British Light Infantry. Washington’s plan required the four attacks to be launched “precisely at 5 o’clock with charged bayonets and without firing”. The intention was to surprise the whole British army in much the way the Hessians had been surprised at Trenton. The American columns started along their respective approach roads on the evening of 3rd October 1777.

Dawn found the American forces well short of their start line for the attack and there was an encounter with the first British picket which fired its guns to warn of the attack. The outpost was supported by a battalion of light infantry and the 40th Foot under Colonel Musgrave. It took a substantial part of Sullivan’s division to drive back the British contingent. General Howe rode forward, initially thinking the advanced force was being attacked by a raiding party, his view impeded by a thickening fog that clouded the field for the rest of the day. During the fighting Musgrave caused 6 companies of the 40th to fortify the substantial stone house of Chief Justice Chew and use it as a strong point. The American advance halted while furious attacks were launched against the house aided by an artillery barrage. Hearing the firing, Stephen heading the other main attack, ignored his orders to continue along the lane to the attack of the British right wing, swung to the right and made for the Chew House. His brigade joined the attack on the house which was assailed for a full hour by the infantry and guns of several American brigades. The rest of Greene’s division launched a savage attack on the British line as planned and broke through, capturing a number of British troops. In the meantime Sullivan and Wayne had continued past the Chew House and begun their attack. In the fog Wayne’s and Stephen’s brigades encountered each other and exchanged fire. Both brigades broke and fled. Sullivan’s brigade was attacked on both flanks, by Grant with the 5th and 55th Foot on his left and by Brigadier Grey on his right. Sullivan’s brigade broke. The British then turned on Greene’s isolated division capturing Colonel Matthews and his 9th Virginia Regiment.Attacked by the British Guards, the 25th and 27th Foot, Greene withdrew up the main road to the North West, assisted by the efforts of Muhlenberg’s brigade. As the American army retreated its condition deteriorated and Washington was forced to withdraw some sixteen miles, harried by the British light dragoons. The American militia forces did not develop their attacks and finally retreated.

1779 – The Fort Wilson Riot began. After the British had abandoned Philadelphia, James Wilson, a signer of teh Declaration of Independence, successfully defended at trial 23 people from property seizure and exile by the radical government of Pennsylvania. A mob whipped up by liquor and the writings and speeches of Joseph Reed, president of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council, marched on Congressman Wilson’s home at Third and Walnut Streets. Wilson and 35 of his colleagues barricaded themselves in his home, later nicknamed Fort Wilson. In the fighting that ensued, six died, and 17 to 19 were wounded. The city’s soldiers, the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry and Baylor’s 3rd Continental Light Dragoons, eventually intervened and rescued Wilson and his colleagues. The rioters were pardoned and released by Joseph Reed.

1821 – LT Robert F. Stockton sails from Boston for Africa to carry out his orders to help stop the international slave trade. Stockton will be instrumental in the founding of Liberia.

1822 – Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president (R) of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio. Hayes was a major-general in the Civil War, then an Ohio congressman, then succeeded Grant as president (1877-81). Hayes won the Electoral College by a margin of one vote after his opponent won the popular vote in an election so fraught with charges of vote fraud that there were even fears of a coup. Hayes refused to seek a second term. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio the son of Rutherford and Sophia Birchard Hayes. His father having died before he was born, he was reared by his uncle, Sardis Birchard. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1842 and studied at Harvard Law School. Admitted to the bar in 1845, he moved (1849) to Cincinnati and married Lucy Webb on Dec. 30, 1852. The couple had eight children. Hayes resolved as a young man “to maintain steady nerves if possible, under the most trying circumstances.” Initially a Whig, Hayes joined the Republican party in the 1850s and was chosen city solicitor of Cincinnati in 1858. At the start of the U.S. Civil War he became a major in the 23d Ohio Volunteers. His wartime career took him through several battles, ending with service under Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. He left the army as a brevet major general. Elected to Congress in 1864, Hayes took his seat in December 1865 and was reelected in 1866. He served two terms (1868 72) as governor of Ohio, retired, and then was elected to a third term in 1875. As a moderate with a clean record and as governor of a critical Midwestern state, Hayes won a seventh-ballot victory over James G. Blaine at the Republican National Convention in 1876. On election night, however, it seemed that Hayes had lost to his Democratic rival, Samuel J. Tilden. Tilden had a popular majority and 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. Hayes had 165 electoral votes. A total of 20 in Oregon, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were disputed. If Hayes had won all of these, as the Republicans claimed, he would have won.

With competing returns from the contested states, Congress created an electoral commission, which decided that Hayes should receive all 20 disputed ballots and thus ensured his inauguration in March 1877. A series of sectional bargains, which have been called the Compromise of 1877, brought about this peaceful result. Southerners in Congress accepted Hayes because of Republican assurances that Reconstruction would end with the withdrawal of federal troops. Republicans also made less definite commitments about appropriations for internal improvements in the South, while the South’s representatives said that the political rights of black Americans would be safeguarded. None of these informal deals survived the early months of Hayes’s term. On the race issue and the South, Hayes attempted to carry out his policy “to wipe out the color line, to abolish sectionalism, to end the war and bring peace.” He named a southerner David M. Key from Tennessee as postmaster general and withdrew the federal army from the South. Republicans assailed him, and the South repudiated his initiative. The last two Republican governments in the South Louisiana and South Carolina fell, and by 1878 the solidly Democratic South had emerged. “I am reluctantly forced to admit that the experiment was a failure,” Hayes said. Like most of American society in the 1870s, the president believed that blacks would have to survive in the South and complete the journey to freedom through their personal efforts without government support. Hayes had more success with other issues. An advocate of civil service reform, he waged a two-year battle with Sen. Roscoe Conkling of New York over that state’s patronage.

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[SHOOTER13]

( continued... )

In the end Hayes won confirmation for his appointees to the New York Custom House, removing Chester A. Arthur from his position there, and thus gave important impetus toward later adoption of civil service reform. On monetary issues Congress passed the mildly inflationary Bland-Allison Act over the president’s veto in 1878, but the administration did bring about the resumption of gold payments for Civil War greenback currency on Jan. 1, 1879. When the elections of 1878 produced a Democratic House of Representatives, Hayes resisted opposition efforts to attach crippling riders to appropriation bills that would have weakened the presidency. He also vetoed (1879) Congress’s first attempt to ban Chinese immigration. Fulfilling his pledge to serve only a single term, Hayes handed over the government to his Republican successor, James A. Garfield, in 1881 and retired to his estate, Spiegel Grove, in Fremont, Ohio. Humanitarian causes, especially prison reform and international peace, and speaking engagements filled out his remaining years. Lucy Hayes died in 1889, and the former president on Jan. 17, 1893. Hayes’s reputation has been tarnished by the circumstances under which he became president. Contemporaries gibed at “His Fraudulency”; modern critics deplore the way in which the Compromise of 1877 betrayed blacks. In office, however, he made a creditable record and left the presidency stronger than when he came to it.

1861 – The Union ship USS South Carolina captured two Confederate blockade runners outside of New Orleans, La.

1862 – Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, ended in a Union victory, though failing to destroy Van Dorn’s Confederate force.

1874 – Kiowa leader Santanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrendered in Darlington, Texas. He was later sent to the state penitentiary, where he committed suicide October 11, 1878.

1906 – Marines protected Americans during revolution in Cuba. Revolution broke out in Cuba in 1906, and a Marine expeditionary force was sent to the island to establish and maintain law and order. In mid-1906 Cuban internal strife caused the United States to invoke the Platt Amendment and send troops to the island nation in an attempt to restore order. William Howard Taft, now Secretary-of-War, sent his Philippine Insurrection veterans.

1912 – General Zeledon, Nicaraguan opponent of US occupation, was killed by his troops as he attempted to desert them at the conclusion of the Battle of Coyotepe.

1918 – Under an Anglo-French offensive, General max von Boehn’s Germany Army Group is forced to abandon the Hindenburg Line. This precipitates retreat of other German forces, which form a hasty defensive line along the Selle River, 10 miles behind their original positions.

1918 – There was an explosion at the T.A. Gillespie Co. munitions yard in Morgan, NJ. Coast Guardsmen from Perth Amboy responded. When fire threatened a trainload of TNT, these men repaired the track and moved the train to safety, thus preventing further disaster. Two Coast Guardsmen were killed in this effort.

1940 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps, where the Nazi leader sought Italy’s help in fighting the British.

1943 – U.S. Forces capture the Solomon Islands.

1943 – Aircraft from USS Ranger sink 5 German ships and damage 3 in Operation Leader, the only U.S. Navy carrier operation in northern European waters during World War II. Ranger departed Scapa Flow with the Home Fleet 2 October to attack German shipping in Norwegian waters. The objective of the force was the Norwegian port of Bodö. The task force reached launch position off Vestfjord before dawn 4 October completely undetected. At 0618, Ranger launched 20 Dauntless dive bombers and an escort of eight Wildcat fighters. One division of dive bombers attacked the 8,000-ton freighter LaPlata, while the rest continued north to attack a small German convoy. They severely damaged a 10,000-ton tanker and a smaller troop transport. They also sank two of four small German merchantmen in the Bodö roadstead. A second Ranger attack group of 10 Avengers and six Wildcats destroyed a German freighter and a small coaster and bombed yet another troop-laden transport. Three Ranger planes were lost to antiaircraft fire. On the afternoon of 4 October, Ranger was finally located by three German aircraft, but her combat air patrol shot down two of the enemy planes and chased off the third.
Ranger returned to Scapa Flow 6 October.

1952 – Task Force 77 aircraft encounter Russian MIG-15 aircraft for the first time.

1952 – Flying an F-86 Sabre, future jet ace Captain Manuel J. Fernandez, Jr., 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, scored his first aerial victory of the war.

1956 – Two U.S. Air Force F-89 aircraft crashed in rugged mountain terrain about four miles from Mount Olympus, WA. For seven days, the Coast Guard directed a highly coordinated search for the lost plane and crews. Finally, aircraft and helicopters from the CG Air Station, Port Angeles, WA, assisted by aircraft and ground search elements from other services located and evacuated the four crew members, one of whom had died.

1957 – The Space Age and “space race” began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik (traveler), the first man-made space satellite. The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. The event was timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. In 1958, it reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up. It was followed by 9 other Sputnik spacecraft.

1985 – Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley. Fellow hostage David Jacobsen, however, later said he believed Buckley had died of torture injuries four months earlier. USALC and CIA Station Chief, William Francis Buckley, 57, was kidnapped from Beirut, Lebanon on March 16, 1984 before being taken to Iran where he was brutally tortured and killed. He was held captive for 15 months before dying from the torture he had received. In 1991 his body, wrapped in blankets was dumped on a road near the Beirut airport. He is survived by Candace Hammond and two sisters. Lt Colonel Buckley is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

1989 – Fawaz Younis, a Lebanese hijacker convicted of commandeering a Jordanian jetliner in 1985 with two Americans aboard, was sentenced in Washington to 30 years in prison.

1993 – Last US KIA in Somalia. A Green Beret is killed during a mortar attack at the Mogadishu Airport. 12 GIs are WIA. Three Marines are WIA elsewhere.

1993 – In Somalia US troops blasted their way out of Bakara Market in Mogadishu and left an estimated 500 Somalis dead. Dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu.

1994 – Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vowed in an address to the U.N. General Assembly to return to Haiti in 11 days.

1995 – Hurricane Opal hit the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Destin, Florida. Coast Guard units provided relief efforts, surveyed damage, and restored aids to navigation. The CGC Kodiak Island contacted the CGC Courgeous and requested assistance. The Kodiak Island was battling 10 to 12-foot waves 100 miles west of Gasparilla, Florida, and experiencing flooding and a loss of steering control due to a hydraulic fluid leak. A HC-130 from AIRSTA Clearwater flew to the scene to provide assistance and the Courageous went to escort the Kodiak Island to Group St. Petersburg.

1997 – From Bosnia it was reported that an Egyptian ship loaded with Soviet-made T-55 tanks was sitting at anchor in the Croatian port of Ploce. The shipment was registered with officials of the foreign peace force. An error on the manifest said the tanks were intended for the Bosnian Army.

1997 – In Columbia rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces killed 17 policemen near San Juan de Arama. The rebels were staging a growing campaign to disrupt municipal elections. They had already killed 26 candidates and forced more than 1,500 to withdraw.

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1998 – U.S. and Algierian Navies conduct first bilateral exercise since Algerian independendence in 1962. It was a search and rescue operation involving USS Mitscher.

1998 – In Iraq a Palestinian burst into a Baghdad synagogue and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. 2 Jews and 2 Muslims were killed.

1998 – Russian envoys warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that NATO might launch air-strikes unless he took “decisive measures” to end the humanitarian crisis in the southern province of Kosovo.

1999 – Israeli PM Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed on terms for the first safe route between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

1999 – In Russia Prime Minister Putin planned to resettle thousands of Chechens in areas under Russian control, an indication that Moscow planned to split Chechnya in two. Chechen fighters shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24 warplane that was searching for another downed plane.

2000 – In Indonesia Pres. Wahid denied clemency to Tommy Suharto and ordered the arrest of a Timorese militia chief.

2000 – In Israel Prime Minister Barak agreed to withdraw heavy arms from the West Bank and Gaza in a bid to halt violence. Amid fresh bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright brought Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat together for talks in Paris.

2000 – In the Ivory Coast a bus-station bombing killed 4 people and a state of emergency was declared.

2000 – In Serbia the Constitutional Court set aside part of the Sep 24 voting results in a move seen to buy time for Pres. Milosevic. Citizens blocked an attempt by the government to use force against strikers and protesters. Major protests were planned to force Milosevic from office.

2001 – The US pledged $320 million in aid to Afghan refugees.

2001 – Reagan National Airport re-opens after 9/11 attacks.

2001 – NYC officials estimated that the damage from the September 11th attacks would cost as much as $105 billion over the next 2 years. Depending on the number of jobs permanently shifted out of the city, the September 11th attacks could cost New York City as much as $83-95 billion dollars, though the financial loss could never compare to the horrendous loss of nearly 3,000 lives.

2001 – The British government released a 16-page document over the Internet that presented details on Osama bin Laden’s responsibility for the September 11th terrorist attacks.

2001 – The EU made a joint announcement with Spain that the Basque ETA would be put on the list of terrorist organizations whose assets would be frozen by the EU.

2001 – In Israel PM Sharon warned the US that it risked appeasing the Arab nations: “Do not try to appease the Arabs at our expense.” A Palestinian posing as an Israeli soldier killed 3 Israelis in Afula. A Palestinian was killed during a 2nd day of fighting in Hebron.

2001 – Macedonian security forces, in opposition to external warnings, took control of 3 ethnic Albanian villages but met with resistance from others.

2001 – Pakistan announced that it sees sufficient grounds for an indictment against Osama bin Laden.

2001 – In the Philippines government forces captured 13 members of Abu Sayaaf.

2002 – Hans Blix, UN weapons inspector, endorsed a US demand that Iraq make a full declaration of its weapons program before inspections resume.

2002 – Richard C. Reid pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes and declared himself a follower of Osama bin Laden.

2002 – US federal agents arrested 4 suspected al Qaeda terrorists, 3 in Portland and 1 in Detroit. 2 other suspected cell members were overseas.

2002 – Foreign ministers from six Pacific nations arrived in Java’s ancient royal capital of Yogyakarta for a day of talks that Indonesia said would tackle the thorny issue of terrorism.

2002 – Lawmakers from rival Iraqi Kurdish factions met for the first time in 8 years, in a rare show of political unity ahead of a possible U.S. attack on Iraq.

2002 – North Korean officials told a visiting US delegation that the country has a second covert nuclear weapons program.

2002 – Pakistan said it successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. It was named Hatf-IV (Shaheen-1) and had a range of 700 km (430 miles).

2003 – A U.S. military source said Polish troops had discovered and destroyed French-made anti-aircraft missiles in Iraq. France swiftly denied selling any weapons to Iraq in violation of a U.N. arms embargo and had stopped making the Roland missiles 15 years ago.

2003 – In London James Forlong (44), a former Sky News television correspondent who resigned after he admitted faking parts of a report on the war in Iraq, was found dead at his home in a possible suicide.

2003 – In Haifa, Israel, Hanadi Jaradat (29), a female Palestinian lawyer, blew herself up in a crowded Mediterranean beach restaurant, killing 19 people including 4 children.

2003 – In Italy anti-globalization demonstrators set fire to an employment agency, smashed cars and windows and hurled insults at government headquarters in Rome.

2004 – Gordon “Gordo” Cooper, one of the original Mercury astronauts who pioneered human space exploration, died. He was 77. One of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Cooper piloted the final flight of the Mercury program, the United States’ first manned spaceflight program. An Oklahoman, Cooper was born March 6, 1927, in Shawnee. Cooper was a World War II veteran. He joined the Marines and transferred to the Air Force in 1949. He earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956 and served as a test pilot in the Flight Test Division at Edwards Air Force Base. Cooper was selected as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959.

On May 15, 1963, Cooper piloted the “Faith 7” spacecraft on a 22-orbit mission that lasted 34 hours and 20 minutes. In 1965 he served as command pilot of the Gemini 5 mission. He and Charles Conrad established a new space endurance record by traveling more than 3.3 million miles in an elapsed time of 190 hours, 56 minutes, and proved that humans could survive in a weightless state for the length of a trip to the moon. It also tested a new power source for future flights – fuel cells. During a 1995 reunion of surviving Mercury astronauts, Cooper was asked who was the greatest fighter pilot he ever saw, Cooper answered, “You’re looking at him!”

2004 – Insurgents unleashed a pair of powerful car bombs near the symbol of U.S. authority in Iraq, the Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and key government offices are located as well as hotels occupied by hundreds of foreigners. Two other explosions brought the day’s bombing toll to at least 26 dead and more than 100 wounded.

2004 – US and Iraqi forces conclude a 3 day fight to reclaim Samarra from Sunni insurgents.

2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.

2005 – United States President George W. Bush expresses concern for a potential avian flu outbreak. He requests Congressional legislation permitting the military to impose a quarantine in the event of a deadly flu pandemic.United States President George W. Bush expresses concern for a potential avian flu outbreak. He requests Congressional legislation permitting the military to impose a quarantine in the event of a deadly flu pandemic.

2006 – A United States Appeals Court in Cincinnati, Ohio rules that the U.S. government can continue to use its warrantless domestic wiretap program pending the Justice Department’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling outlawing the program.

2006 – The US announces reformulation of Counterinsurgency doctrine. GEN David Petraeus will lead a joint Army-Marine team in rewriting the Counterinsurgency manual. This new doctrine is heavily influenced by the success of COL McMaster’s clear/hold/build strategy.

2013 – U.S. special forces operators captured alive Abu Anas al Libi in Tripoli, Libya. Libi, also known as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, was wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

2014 – The Kurdish city of Kobani in the Raqqa governate is besieged by ISIS fighters.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

ARCHER, JAMES W.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant and Adjutant, 59th Indiana Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., 4 October 1862. Entered service at: Spencer, Ind. Birth: Edgar, Ill. Date of issue: 2 August 1897. Citation: Voluntarily took command of another regiment, with the consent of one or more of his seniors, who were present, rallied the command and led it in the assault.

SWAYNE, WAGER
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, 43d Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., 4 October 1862. Entered service at: Columbus, Ohio. Born: 10 November 1834, Columbus, Ohio. Date of issue: 19 August 1893. Citation: Conspicuous gallantry in restoring order at a critical moment and leading his regiment in a charge.

KAUFMAN, BENJAMIN
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K, 308th Infantry, 77th Division. Place and date: In the forest of Argonne, France, 4 October 1918. Entered service at: Brooklyn, N.Y. Born: 10 March 1894, Buffalo, N.Y. G.O. No.: 50, W.D., 1919. Citation: He took out a patrol for the purpose of attacking an enemy machinegun which had checked the advance of his company. Before reaching the gun he became separated from his patrol and a machinegun bullet shattered his right arm. Without hesitation he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left hand and charging with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner back to the first-aid station.

MADISON, JAMES JONAS
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve Force. Born: 20 May 1884, Jersey City, N.J. Appointed from: Mississippi. Citation: For exceptionally heroic service in a position of great responsibility as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga, when, on 4 October 1918, that vessel was attacked by an enemy submarine and was sunk after a prolonged and gallant resistance. The submarine opened fire at a range of 500 yards, the first shots taking effect on the bridge and forecastle, 1 of the 2 forward guns of the Ticonderoga being disabled by the second shot. The fire was returned and the fight continued for nearly 2 hours. Lt. Comdr. Madison was severely wounded early in the fight, but caused himself to be placed in a chair on the bridge and continued to direct the fire and to maneuver the ship. When the order was finally given to abandon the sinking ship, he became unconscious from loss of blood, but was lowered into a lifeboat and was saved, with 31 others, out of a total number of 236 on board.

MORELOCK, STERLING
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company M, 28th Infantry, 1st Division. Place and date: Near Exermont, France, 4 October 1918. Entered service at: Oquawka, Ill. Birth: Silver Run, Md. G.O. No.: 43, W.D., 1922. Citation: While his company was being held up by heavy enemy fire, Pvt. Morelock, with 3 other men who were acting as runners at company headquarters, voluntarily led them as a patrol in advance of his company’s frontline through an intense rifle, artillery, and machinegun fire and penetrated a woods which formed the German frontline. Encountering a series of 5 hostile machinegun nests, containing from 1 to 5 machineguns each, with his patrol he cleaned them all out, gained and held complete mastery of the situation until the arrival of his company commander with reinforcements, even though his entire party had become casualties. He rendered first aid to the injured and evacuated them by using stretcher bearers 10 German prisoners whom he had captured. Soon thereafter his company commander was wounded and while dressing his wound Pvt. Morelock was very severely wounded in the hip, which forced his evacuation. His heroic action and devotion to duty were an inspiration to the entire regiment.

*ROBERTS, HAROLD W.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army Company A, 344th Battalion, Tank Corps. Place and date: In the Montrebeau Woods France 4 October 1918. Entered service at: San Francisco, Calif. Birth: San Francisco, Calif. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: Cpl. Roberts, a tank driver, was moving his tank into a clump of bushes to afford protection to another tank which had become disabled. The tank slid into a shell hole, 10 feet deep, filled with water, and was immediately submerged. Knowing that only 1 of the 2 men in the tank could escape, Cpl. Roberts said to the gunner, “Well, only one of us can get out, and out you go,” whereupon he pushed his companion through the back door of the tank and was himself drowned.

*MENDOZA, MANUEL V.
Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant. U.S. Army. Company B, 250th Infanry. 88th Infantry Division. Place and Date: October 4, 1944, Mt. Battaglia, Italy. Born: June 15, 1922, Miami, AZ . Departed: Yes (12/12/2001). Entered Service At: Phoenix, AZ. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 03/18/2014. Accredited To: Arizona. Citation: Then-Staff Sgt. Manuel Mendoza is being recognized for his actions on Oct. 4, 1944, in Mt. Battaglia, Italy, where he is credited with single-handedly breaking up a German counterattack

*PHELPS, WESLEY
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 12 June 1923, Neafus, Ky. Accredited to: Kentucky. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu Island, Palau Group, during a savage hostile counterattack on the night of 4 October 1944. Stationed with another marine in an advanced position when a Japanese handgrenade landed in his foxhole Pfc. Phelps instantly shouted a warning to his comrade and rolled over on the deadly bomb, absorbing with his own body the full, shattering Impact of the exploding charge. Courageous and indomitable, Pfc. Phelps fearlessly gave his life that another might be spared serious injury, and his great valor and heroic devotion to duty in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

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[SHOOTER13]

5 October

1775 – George Washington writes a letter to the President of the Continental Congress reporting that a trusted Son of Liberty, Dr. Benjamin Church, was sending information to the British. As early as 1774, information about the Sons of Liberty was being leaked to British General Thomas Gage. Church seems like the probable culprit. Moreover, in the weeks before Lexington and Concord, Church provided Gage with information about colonial plans and supplies. Yet still Church managed to keep the trust of Patriots. After Lexington and Concord, Church insisted upon going to Boston to obtain medical supplies. Paul Revere later learned that Church had been seen leaving Gage’s residence in Boston. Church claimed that he had been taken a prisoner and then released, but (at least as he told the story many years later) Revere was doubtful. Church gained a new position as chief physician of the new Continental army at about this time. He was sent to Philadelphia and seems to have lost contact with Gage. Church attempted to re-establish contact. It proved to be a mistake. Church wrote a letter in code and asked his mistress to deliver it to one of several people.

Unfortunately for Church, his mistress did not follow the instructions she’d been given. She instead delivered the letter to a baker named Godfrey Wainwood (or Wenwood). Wainwood was suspicious and never delivered the letter. Several weeks later, the mistress wrote him about it. Wainwood became even more suspicious and he turned the letter in to local officials. The letter was decoded. Dr. Church’s mistress was questioned and revealed that Church was the author. A court martial was held on October 4. Church claimed that he’d been trying to help the Patriot effort by “impress[ing] the Enemy with a strong Idea of our Strength & Situation in order to prevent an Attack at a Time when the Continental Army was in great Want of Ammunition.” The court of inquiry was unimpressed. It found that Church was guilty of “criminal Correspondence with the Enemy.” Washington wrote Congress the next day, seeking direction on what to do next. Congress had not yet enacted the death penalty for spying. Instead, it resolved that “Dr. Church be close confined in some secure gaol in the colony of Connecticut, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, and that no person be allowed to converse with him. . . .” Church’s health suffered in confinement. He was eventually paroled and set sail for the West Indies in the hopes that he could restore his health. That did not go so well for him, either. His ship was lost at sea and Church was never seen again. ( Death to Traitors !! )

1775 – Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 2d Continental Congress used the word “Marines” on one of the earliest known occasions. It directed General George Washington to secure two vessels on “Continental risque and pay”, and to give orders for the “proper encouragement to the Marines and seamen” to serve on the two armed ships.

1804 – Robert Parker Parrott (d.1877), Inventor (Parrot Gun – 1st machine gun), was born. Robert P. Parrott is known to many Civil War artillery researchers and collectors for his inventions of the projectile and cannon which bear his name. He was born in Lee, New Hampshire. Parrott would graduate 3rd in his class at West Point Military Academy in 1824. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery and was assigned to the southeastern states where he participated in the Creek Indian War. He was later assigned as assistant to the Chief of the Ordnance Bureau and, later, as an inspector of ordnance at the West Point Foundry at Cold Spring, New York. The foundry was a private firm and administered by civilians. Parrott, by this time a captain, resigned his rank and accepted the civilian position of superintendent of the foundry, October 31, 1836. Parrott served the foundry well during the next 41 years. He became the lessee and operator of the foundry and experimented with the manufacturing of artillery. As a private citizen Parrott was able to experiment with cannons and projectiles without the usual red tape involved in government foundries.

His accomplishments during his tenure included the perfection of a rifled cannon and its corresponding projectile (both named after him) patented in 1861, and the Parrott sight and fuse which were developed during the Civil War years. The fact that his foundry was used to manufacture his weapons is proved by the letters WPF (West Point Foundry) found on the Parrott gun tube, along with his initials RPP. Parrott’s cannons were distinguished by a single reinforcing band around the breech of the iron tube. His first rifled cannon design, a 10-pounder (2.9-inch caliber), was turned out in 1860. By the next year he had developed the 20-pounder (3.67-inch caliber) and 30-pounder (4.2-inch caliber) versions, among other models. In 1864 the 3-inch Parrott rifle replaced the 10-pounder (2.9-inch caliber) rifle. In 1867, Parrott turned the operation of the foundry over to other parties, but he continued to experiment with projectiles and fuses until his death on December 24, 1877.

1813 – The Battle of the Thames was decisive in the War of 1812. The U.S. victory over British and Indian forces near Ontario at the village of Moraviantown on the Thames River is known in Canada as the Battle of Moraviantown. Some 600 British regulars and 1,000 Indian allies under the command of Colonel Henry Procter and Shawnee leader Tecumseh were greatly outnumbered and quickly defeated by U.S. forces, an army of 3,500 troops, under the command of Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison. The British army was retreating from Fort Malden, Ontario after Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. Tecumseh convinced Colonel Procter to make a stand at Moraviantown. The American army won a total victory. The British soldiers fled or surrendered. The Indians fought fiercely, but they lost heart and scattered after Tecumseh died on the battlefield. Richard Johnson probably killed the Indian leader. The Battle of the Thames was the most important land battle of the War of 1812 in the American Northwest. General Harrison’s victory marked the end of Tecumseh’s Confederacy and the downfall of the Indians in Ohio.

1830 – The 21st president of the United States, Chester Arthur, was born. Vice President and 21st President of the United States; born in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vt.; attended the public schools and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., in 1848; became principal of an academy in North Pownal, Vt., in 1851; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in New York City; took an active part in the reorganization of the State militia; during the Civil War, served as acting quartermaster general of the State in 1861; commissioned inspector general, appointed quartermaster general with the rank of brigadier general, and served until 1862; resumed the practice of law in New York City; appointed by President Ulysses Grant as collector of the port of New York 1871-1878; resumed the practice of law in New York City; elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with President James A. Garfield for the term beginning March 4, 1881; upon the death of President Garfield, became President of the United States on September 20, 1881, and served until March 3, 1885; returned to New York City where he died November 18, 1886; interment in the Rural Cemetery Albany, N.Y.

1857 – The City of Anaheim, California is founded. Founded by fifty German families in 1857 and incorporated as the second city in Los Angeles County on March 18, 1876,[1] Anaheim developed into an industrial center, producing electronics, aircraft parts and canned fruit. It is the site of the Disneyland Resort, a world-famous grouping of theme parks and hotels which opened in 1955, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Honda Center and Anaheim Convention Center, the largest convention center on the West Coast.

1863 – Confederate ship David seriously damages USS New Ironsides with a spar torpedo off Charleston, South Carolina.

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1864 – At the Battle of Allatoona Pass, a small Union post was saved from Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood’s army. 1/3 of Union troops died repulsing Southern forces. General Alexander P. Stewart [CS] advanced from the hills of west Cobb County and gained the Western and Atlantic Railroad in early October, 1864. As they moved northwest his Rebels battled the Union garrisons established by General William Tecumseh Sherman to protect his all-weather lifeline. With cavalry sweeping Stewart’s front, the Confederates easily defeated Yankees stationed at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Moon’s Station and Acworth on October 3rd. Less than 500 men defended the three arrisons. Working through the night the Confederates tore up track for eight miles north of Big Shanty. On October 4th General Samuel French (of Stewart’s Corps) received orders instructing him to advance on Allatoona Pass, fill it with “…logs, brush, rails, dirt…” then continue on to the Etowah Bridge and destroy it. As is typical with virtually all of John Bell Hood’s battles after his assumption of command of the Army of Tennessee, his descriptions of the events vary greatly from the description given by the participants. The Confederate Army had a significant portion of northwest Georgia within striking distance and the bulk of the Union Army either behind it in Atlanta and Kennesaw or further north in Tennessee. Less than a week earlier General George Thomas had moved north of Dalton to protect Sherman’s supply line while troops under the command of John Corse moved to Rome. President Jefferson Davis told about the plans for Hood’s Army in a speech given at Macon and a similar speech given to the troops at Palmetto.

Newspapers carried the information to General Sherman. As the Western and Atlantic Railroad winds towards Chattanooga it passes through Allatoona Pass, a man-made gorge drilled deep into a high ridge in the rugged mountains east of Cartersville, Georgia. Sherman had avoided a direct assault on the pass during the Atlanta Campaign, having made a note of the impressive defensive nature of the pass while stationed in Georgia in 1844. The evening of October 3rd, 1864, Sherman realized that Hood’s objective was the storehouses at Allatoona, bursting with rations for the Union Army in Atlanta. His order to Corse to advance from Rome to Allatoona with a division arrived in Rome early October 4th. Corse began to move men and munitions east to the pass, arriving early on October 5th with about 1,000 men. This doubled the size of the garrison. As senior officer, Corse assumed command from Colonel John Tourtellotte. A message was sent to Sherman. Now standing beside the signalman at the top of Kennesaw Mountain he made out the message “Corse is here” then remarked, “He will hold it; I know the man.” Two fortified areas (“…two small redoubts” according to Sherman) at the top of the ridge both east and west of the railroad tracks had been built by Confederate forces and re-enforced by Union soldiers after their capture on June 1, 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign. An outer defensive position was added, about 100 feet from the eastern fort and the fort itself was modified into the shape of a star so that troops within the fort could support each other during an assault. A wooden plank spanned the distance between the two hills above the tracks so that soldiers would not have to climb down the hill and back up to get across the pass. This bridge would play an important role in the battle.

The Confederates were approaching Altoona Pass at 3:00am on the morning of October 5th, 1864 and had deployed to the west of the Star Fort by 8:00am. Troops to the north of the fort were delayed. Frantic dispatches were signaled to from a crow’s nest near the eastern redoubt to Kennesaw Mountain asking, “Where is General Sherman?” Sherman had indicated that help was on the way, but it would be up to Corse and his men to hold the forts although outnumbered 3 to 2. At 8:30 Samuel French’s adjutant advanced towards the Union position under a flag of truce and presented a surrender demand to an officer of the 93rd Illinois Regiment. It was passed up to General Corse at a position near the inner wall of the western fort. The adjutant waited, leaving when he felt no response was forthcoming. Corse’s reply would not be known to the Confederates until after the war was over. During the truce some Confederates may have tried to gain a better position for the coming assault, which was clearly against the established rules of warfare. Regardless of the attempt to better their position, at 10:30am the Rebels began the assault. Originally, a brigade under the command of Claudius Sears was to attack the ridge from the north. Getting impatient with a delay, French ordered Confederate forces to the west of the fort to move east along the Alabama Road towards the fort on the western side of Allatoona Pass. They faced a series of impediments to their advance including abatis and debris. After the abatis lay the outer wall of the fort.

The men of the 93rd Illinois had greeted French’s adjutant at this spur only a short time before under a flag of truce. Withering fire had halted the initial Rebel advance when a second attack was launched on the Federal left, centering on the point where the outside wall of the fort crossed the Alabama Road. Fierce hand-to-hand combat marked this battle for Rowett’s Redoubt, which Union soldiers named for an injured commander. As the Rebels overran the Federal’s first line of defense, Claudius Sears began a belated attack up the north side of the mountain. The Confederates advanced across a broad front, forcing Corse to withdraw to the Star Fort and pressuring the Eastern Redoubt. It was now 11:00am. Quickly Union soldiers worked to strengthen the perimeter of the Star Fort. Over the next two and a half hours Confederate forces would attack four times. During these attacks a brave private kept the Star Fort supplied with ammunition by repeatedly crossing the wooden footpath between the two sides of Allatoona Pass. At 1:00pm Corse was hit in the face with a bullet and command passed to the somewhat less injured Colonel Richard Rowett, who had led the fighting at the outer redoubt. The final assault occurred at 1:30pm. Now attention turned to Samuel French. The able Confederate commander had been repulsed repeatedly while assaulting the Star Fort. He had reason to believe a large Federal force was advancing on his position, as reported by his cavalry. And he knew that Sherman had signaled “Hold the fort, we are coming.” Without much of choice, he retreated from Allatoona without a victory, without rations and without 1,000 of the men he began with. As he withdrew, French launched an attack against a blockhouse on Allatoona Creek about 2 miles south of the pass. After setting the structure on fire, he captured four officers and 85 men who were stationed there. Fearing the approach of the Union Army, French left abruptly.

1877 – Nez Perce Chief Joseph and 418 survivors were captured in the Bear Paw mountains and forced into reservations in Kansas. They surrendered in Montana Territory, after a 1,700 -mile trek to reach Canada fell 40 miles short. Nez Perce Chief Joseph surrendered to General O.O. Howard and Colonel Nelson Miles at the Bear Paw ravine in Montana Territory, saying, “Hear me, my chiefs, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more, forever.” When Joseph’s father died in 1871, Joseph was elected to succeed him. He inherited not only a name but a situation made increasingly volatile as white settlers continued to arrive in the Wallowa Valley. Joseph staunchly resisted all efforts to force his band onto the small Idaho reservation, and in 1873 a federal order to remove white settlers and let his people remain in the Wallowa Valley made it appear that he might be successful. But the federal government soon reversed itself, and in 1877 General Oliver Otis Howard threatened a cavalry attack to force Joseph’s band and other hold-outs onto the reservation. Believing military resistance futile, Joseph reluctantly led his people toward Idaho. Unfortunately, they never got there. About twenty young Nez Percé warriors, enraged at the loss of their homeland, staged a raid on nearby settlements and killed several whites. Immediately, the army began to pursue Joseph’s band and the others who had not moved onto the reservation.

Although he had opposed war, Joseph cast his lot with the war leaders. What followed was one of the most brilliant military retreats in American history. Even the unsympathetic General William Tecumseh Sherman could not help but be impressed with the 1,400 mile march, stating that “the Indians throughout displayed a courage and skill that elicited universal praise… [they] fought with almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines, and field fortifications.” In over three months, the band of about 700, fewer than 200 of whom were warriors, fought 2,000 U.S. soldiers and Indian auxiliaries in four major battles and numerous skirmishes. By the time he formally surrendered on October 5, 1877, Joseph was widely referred to in the American press as “the Red Napoleon.” It is unlikely, however, that he played as critical a role in the Nez Percé’s military feat as his legend suggests. He was never considered a war chief by his people, and even within the Wallowa band, it was Joseph’s younger brother, Olikut, who led the warriors, while Joseph was responsible for guarding the camp. It appears, in fact, that Joseph opposed the decision to flee into Montana and seek aid from the Crows and that other chiefs — Looking Glass and some who had been killed before the surrender — were the true strategists of the campaign. Joseph died in 1904.

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1882 – Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist, was born. He received 214 patents for rocket systems and components. American physicist who is looked upon as one of the three main founders of modern rocketry, along with Tsiolkovsky and Oberth. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926. The flight lasted just 2.5 seconds, reaching an altitude of 12.3 meters and landing (crashing, actually) 55.2 meters from the launch site in his Aunt Effie’s cabbage patch. In 1920, the Smithsonian Institution published Goddard’s paper on rocket concepts, “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.” Towards the end of his article, Goddard began to hint at his thoughts for the future by detailing his plans for launching a small, unmanned rocket that would be sent to Earth’s Moon, wherein it would strike the surface and explode its payload of flash powder, so that observers with telescopes could see where the rocket had landed. Goddard was cautious not to mention flights to Mars or any other planet, as any celestial object beyond the Moon was considered by many scientists at that time to be too far away from Earth to ever be reached by humans. Goddard suddenly found himself ridiculed by the press. The prestigious New York Times dismissed Goddard’s ideas and said that he didn’t even possess an elementary knowledge of physics. The Times’ editor incorrectly thought that rockets could not work in space. He thought the exhaust from the vehicle would have nothing to push against; he did not realize that the rocket exhaust would be acting against the inner walls of the rocket itself, thus creating the required reaction.

Luckily, aviator Charles Lindberg took an interest in Goddard’s concepts and decided to help finance his work on rockets. Lindberg also convinced philanthropist Daniel Guggenheim to help fund Goddard and move his entire operation to Eden Valley near Roswell, New Mexico. There, Goddard could test his new developments in the comparative safety and peace of the wide open desert. Here in the desert, Goddard did some of his best work, testing parachute systems to recover rockets and their payloads, constructing stabilizing fins and gyroscopes to keep rockets flying straight, and even putting simple meteorological instruments aboard some flights to study the weather. Despite all this work, Goddard and his rockets were generally unknown to the American public, and many of his ideas went unrecognized until several decades after his death in 1945. Ironically, his ideas did not go unnoticed by the Germans, particularly Wernher von Braun who took Goddard’s plans from various journals and incorporated them into building the A-4 series of rockets–better known as the V-2–which constantly struck at Europe in the last two years of World War Two. The Army also adopted only one major and direct facet of Goddard’s concepts in his lifetime, the antitank weapon known as the bazooka. Eventually, the United States Patent Office would posthumously recognize 214 patents in all for various rocket designs invented by Goddard. Every liquid-fueled rocket that flies is based on Goddard’s original innovations.

1912 – Leon, Nicaragua, was captured by Marines after a short battle.

1913 – Trial of OWL. The first airplane purchased by the U.S. Navy was a Curtiss Model E hydro-aeroplane and was given the Navy designation A-1 in early 1911. The Navy purchased a second Model E in July 1911, with a more powerful 80-horsepower Curtiss OX engine, and designated it the A-2. It was also known as the OWL, standing for Over Water and Land. Modifications of the A-2 by the Navy led to re-designations of E-1 and later AX-1. These modifications, done at the Curtiss plant at Hammondsport, New York, included moving the seats from the lower wing to the float and enclosing the crew area with a fabric-covered framework, giving the aircraft the appearance of a short-hull flying boat. The OWL, with its modified float, was developed into a true flying boat (the entire fuselage being a hull as opposed to mounting the aircraft on a separate float) by Curtiss in 1912, first with the Model D Flying Boat, and then a refined version, the Model E. The Model E Flying Boat was the first truly practical flying boat. It was powered by either a 60- or a 75-horsepower Curtiss V8 engine. Both the U.S. Army and Navy purchased Curtiss Model E Flying Boats, the Navy designating it the C-1.

1915 – Germany issued an apology and promises for payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.

1916 – Corporal Adolf Hitler was wounded in WW I.

1937 – Saying, “the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading,” President Roosevelt called for a “quarantine” of aggressor nations.

1938 – The first members are enrolled in the Coast Guard Reserve.

1940 – The Tripartite Pact is condemned by Navy Secretary Knox and he announces that he is calling up some of the naval reserve.

1942 – Aircraft from the carrier Hornet attack Japanese shipping gathering off Bougainville, but achieve only slight success.

1943 – Patrol Squadron 6 (VP -6 CG) was officially established. This was an all Coast Guard unit. Its home base was at Narsarssuak, Greenland, code name Bluie West -One. It had nine PBY -5A’s assigned. CDR Donald B. MacDiarmid was the first commanding officer. As additional PBY’s became available, the units area of operation expanded and detachments were established in Argentia, Newfoundland and Reykjavik, Iceland, furnishing air cover for US Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Hundreds of rescue operations were carried out during the 27 months the squadron was in operation.

1947 – The first televised White House address is given by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

1950 – Eighth Army issued its operations order for the movement across the 38th parallel. Eighth Army anticipated strong resistance at the parallel and a stubborn defense of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

1951 – The ROK 3rd Infantry Division recaptured Pohang -Dong.

1951 – Having experienced heavy fighting to secure the central positions of Line Jamestown where no less than four 3rd Infantry Division soldiers earned the Distinguished Service Cross in a three -day period, the key Hill 477 was taken without a shot fired. Battle-weary troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment were pleasantly surprised.

1957 – Minitrack, a satellite tracking net developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, becomes operational. This network, with stations from Maine to Chile, tracked the Vangard satellite.

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1963 – Three days after Kennedy orders Lodge not to pursue the encouragement of a coup that they though had been canceled, Lodge reports to Kennedy that the coup is on. General Minh, meeting with CIA officer Lucien Conein, asks for assurances that the US will not act to thwart a coup and that economic and military aid will continue. Kennedy approves, cautioning that the United States should avoid getting involved with operational details. Conein keeps in touch with rebel activity through meetings with General Tran Van Don. in the wake of another Buddhist monk’s self-immolation, intensified political repression including the arrest of scores of children and the reaction to it, US officials from Kennedy on down attempt to control US newsmen in Saigon without success. Lodge’s dismissal of Saigon CIA chief John Richardson, who has doubts about the coup, encourages the dissident generals.

1965 – U.S. forces in Saigon received permission to use tear gas.

1969 – A Cuban defector entered US air space undetected and landed his Soviet -made MiG -17 at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami, Florida, where the presidential aircraft Air Force One was waiting to return President Richard M. Nixon to DC.

1970 – British trade commissioner James Richard Cross was kidnapped in Canada by militant Quebec separatists; he was released the following December.

1975 – Democratic Senator Frank Church of Idaho charged that the CIA tried to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro during the administrations of three US presidents.

1986 – American Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Sandinista soldiers after the weapons plane he was flying in was shot down over southern Nicaragua.

1990 – NASA astronaut and Coast Guard CDR Bruce Melnick made his first space flight when he served as a Mission Specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery on Space Shuttle Mission STS -41, which flew from 6 to 10 October 1990. Discovery deployed the Ulysses spacecraft for its five -year mission to explore the polar regions of the sun. CDR Melnick was the first Coast Guardsman selected by NASA for astronaut training.

1991 – Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced sweeping cuts in nuclear weapons in response to President Bush’s arms reduction initiative.

1993 – Army Gen. John Shalikashvili was confirmed by the Senate to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

1993 – China set off an underground nuclear blast, ignoring a plea from President Clinton not to do so.

1995 – Pres. Clinton announced that a cease -fire was agreed on in Bosnia to start on Oct 10, and that combatants would attend talks in the US. Bosnia’s combatants agreed to a 60-day cease-fire and new talks on ending their three and a-half years of battle.

1996 – A bomb exploded in the mayoral offices of French Prime Minister Alain Juppe. There were no casualties. A Corsican separatist group later claimed responsibility.

1997 – In Algeria armed men attacked a school bus near Blida. The driver attempted to run their roadblock but crashed and 16 children were killed by the attackers.

1998 – In Congo rebels under Arthur Mulunda said they were within 12 miles of Kindu. The rebels were backed by troops and equipment from Rwanda and Uganda.

1999 – Initial indictments in a Russian money-laundering scheme were handed up. A former bank of NY vice president, her husband, and a Russian business associate were accused of conspiracy to transmit about $7 billion illegally.

1999 – In Chechnya Russian troops seized the northern third of the country. A suspected Russian artillery shell hit a busload of people and killed 40 people, mostly women and children.

1999 – Kofi Annan presented a UN plan to take full control of East Timor and guide the territory to nationhood over 2 -3 years.

1999 – In Kosovo at least one Serb was killed when ethnic Albanians attacked a Russian-Serb convoy. The Albanians had gathered for the funeral of 18-28 countrymen found in a mass grave the previous week.

2002 – Foreign ministers from six Pacific nations (Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and East Timor) ended a day of talks in Indonesia’s ancient royal capital Yogyakarta, vowing to fight terrorism together.

2002 – Israeli soldiers enforcing a curfew shot Amer Hashem, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in Nablus, during clashes with stone-throwing protesters. It was the eve of an international round of peace diplomacy.

2002 – In Latvia the pro-business New Era party appeared set to win the most seats in parliamentary elections to choose the government that will lead this ex-Soviet republic into the European Union and NATO. Einars Repse led polls for election as prime minister.

2002 – Rwanda withdrew its last troops from neighboring Congo, with some 1,100 soldiers marching in single file out of the war-ravaged country.

2003 – Israeli warplanes bombed the Ein Saheb base northwest of Damascus, Syria, in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant. Israeli military called it an Islamic Jihad training base. Residents later told the Associated Press the camp was abandoned years ago.

2004 – Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said negotiators hammered out the basis for an agreement to end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. 2 car bombs exploded in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, killing four Iraqis and prompting clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen. 10 Iraqi policemen, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in two separate attacks south of Baghdad.

2005 – U.S. Marine Leandro Aragoncillo is indicted for espionage, accused of passing classified information from the Vice President’s office to the Philippines.

2006 – NATO expands its security mission to the whole of Afghanistan, taking command of more than 13,000 U.S. troops in the east of the country.

2013 – American SEALS launched an amphibious raid on the town of Baraawe, Somalia engaging with al-Shabaab militants and inflicting some casualties on them before withdrawing.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

CROFT, JAMES E.
Rank and organization: Private, 12th Battery, Wisconsin Light Artillery. Place and date: At Allatoona, Ga., 5 October 1864. Entered service at: Janesville, Wis. Birth: England. Date of issue: 20 March 1897. Citation: Took the place of a gunner who had been shot down and inspired his comrades by his bravery and effective gunnery, which contributed largely to the defeat of the enemy.

ANDERSON, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 5 October 1870. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Canada East. Date of issue: 19 November 1870. Citation: Gallantry during the pursuit and fight with Indians.

BOWDEN, SAMUEL
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 5 October 1870. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Salem, Mass. Date of issue: 19 November 1870. Citation: Gallantry in pursuit of and fight with Indians.

BURKARD, OSCAR
Rank and organization: Private, Hospital Corps, U.S. Army. Place and date: At Leech Lake, Minn., 5 October 1898. Entered service at: Hay Creek, Minn. Born: 21 December 1877, Achern, Germany. Date of issue: 21 August 1899. Citation: For distinguished bravery in action against hostile Indians. [Note: This, the last Medal of Honor won in an Indian campaign, was awarded for an action during the uprising of Chippewa Indians, on Lake Leech, northern Minnesota, 5 October 1898.]

DOSHIER, JAMES B.
Rank: Post Guide during Indian Wars. Place: Holliday Creek, Texas. Little Wichita River. Date: 5 October 1870. Entered service: Fort Richardson, Texas. Born: Warren County, Tennessee, 2 May 1820. G.O. No. – – – – – Issue date: 19 November 1870. Issue place: – – – – – Citation: Gallantry in action and on the march.
(In 1916, the general review of all Medals of Honor deemed 900 unwarranted. This recipient was one of them. In June 1989, the U.S. Army Board of Correction of Records restored the medal to this recipient.)

GRIMES, EDWARD P.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Milk River, Colo., 29 September to 5 October 1879. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Dover, N.H. Date of issue: 27 January 1880. Citation: The command being almost out of ammunition and surrounded on 3 sides by the enemy, he voluntarily brought up a supply under heavy flre at almost point blank range.

JOHNSON, HENRY
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Milk River, Colo., 2 -5 October 1879. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Boynton, Va. Date of issue: 22 September 1890. Citation: Voluntarily left fortified shelter and under heavy fire at close range made the rounds of the pits to instruct the guards, fought his way to the creek and back to bring water to the wounded.

KEATING, DANIEL
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 5 October 1870. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 19 November 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action and in pursuit of Indians.

MOQUIN, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Milk River, Colo., 29 September to 5 October 1879. Entered Service at: – – – – – – – – -. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 27 January 1880. Citation: Gallantry in action.

WELCH, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 5 October 1870. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Date of issue: 19 November 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

WILSON, BENJAMIN
Rank and organization: Private, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 5 October 1870. Entered service at: – – – – – -. Birth: Pittsburgh, Pa. Date of issue: 19 November 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

BALCH, JOHN HENRY
Rank and organization: Pharmacist’s Mate First Class, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Vierzy, France, and Somme -Py, France, 19 July and 5 October 1918. Entered service at: Kansas City, Mo. Born: 2 January 1896, Edgerton, Kans. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, with the 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines, in action at Vierzy, on 19 July 1918. Balch unhesitatingly and fearlessly exposed himself to terrific machinegun and high -explosive fire to succor the wounded as they fell in the attack, leaving his dressing station voluntarily and keeping up the work all day and late into the night unceasingly for 16 hours. Also in the action at Somme -Py on 5 October 1918, he exhibited exceptional bravery in establishing an advanced dressing station under heavy shellfire.

ELLIS, MICHAEL B.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 28th Infantry, 1st Division. Place and date: Near Exermont, France, 5 October 1918. Entered service at: East St. Louis, Ill. Born: 28 October 1894, St. Louis, Mo. G.O. No.: 74, W.D., 1919. Citation: During the entire day’s engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single -handedly attacking and reducing machinegun nests. Flanking one emplacement, he killed 2 of the enemy with rifle fire and captured 17 others. Later he single -handedly advanced under heavy fire and captured 27 prisoners, including 2 officers and 6 machineguns, which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured officers indicated the locations of 4 other machineguns, and he in turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing marked heroism and fearlessness.

*CORRY, WILLIAM MERRILL, JR.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Near Hartford, Conn., 2 October 1920. Born: 5 October 1889, Quincy, Fla. Accredited to: Florida. Other Navy award: Navy Cross. Citation: For heroic service in attempting to rescue a brother officer from a flame -enveloped airplane. On 2 October 1920, an airplane in which Lt. Comdr. Corry was a passenger crashed and burst into flames. He was thrown 30 feet clear of the plane and, though injured, rushed back to the burning machine and endeavored to release the pilot. In so doing he sustained serious burns, from which he died 4 days later.

*KRAUS, RICHARD EDWARD
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 24 November 1925, Chicago, Ill. Accredited to: Minnesota. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 8th Amphibious Tractor Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu, Palau Islands, on 5 October 1944. Unhesitatingly volunteering for the extremely hazardous mission of evacuating a wounded comrade from the front lines, Pfc. Kraus and 3 companions courageously made their way forward and successfully penetrated the lines for some distance before the enemy opened with an intense, devastating barrage of hand grenades which forced the stretcher party to take cover and subsequently abandon the mission. While returning to the rear, they observed 2 men approaching who appeared to be marines and immediately demanded the password. When, instead of answering, 1 of the 2 Japanese threw a hand grenade into the midst of the group, Pfc. Kraus heroically flung himself upon the grenade and, covering it with his body, absorbed the full impact of the explosion and was instantly killed. By his prompt action and great personal valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved the lives of his 3 companions, and his loyal spirit of self -sacrifice reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his comrades.

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[SHOOTER13]

6 October

1539 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army enter the Apalachee capital of Anhaica (present-day Tallahassee, Florida) by force. The Apalachee were a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle. The Apalachee occupied the site of Velda Mound starting about 1450 CE, but had mostly abandoned it before the Spanish started settlements in the 17th century. They first encountered Spanish explorers in the 16th century, when the Hernando de Soto expedition arrived. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River, at the head of Apalachee Bay, an area known to Europeans as the Apalachee Province. They spoke a Muskogean language called Apalachee now extinct.

1683 – German Quaker and Mennonite families found Germantown in the colony of Pennsylvania, marking the first major immigration of German people to America. Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: ‘Germantown’ and ‘East Germantown’. Germantown has played a significant role in American history; it was the birthplace of the American antislavery movement, the site of a Revolutionary War battle, the temporary residence of George Washington, the location of the first bank of the United States, and the residence of many notable politicians, scholars, artists, and social activists.

1777 – General Sir Henry Clinton leads British forces in the capture of Continental Army Hudson River defenses in the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery. The battle was fought in the highlands of the Hudson River valley, not far from West Point. British forces under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, and then dismantled the Hudson River Chain. The purpose of the attack was to create a diversion to draw American troops from the army of General Horatio Gates, whose army was opposing British General John Burgoyne’s attempt to gain control of the Hudson. The forts were garrisoned by about 600 Continental Army troops under the command of two brothers, General (and Governor of New York) George Clinton, and General James Clinton, while General Israel Putnam led additional troops at nearby Peekskill, New York. (This battle is also sometimes called the “battle of the Clintons” due to the number of participants with that name. The brothers were probably not related to Sir Henry.)

Using a series of feints, Sir Henry fooled Putnam into withdrawing most of his troops to the east, and then he landed over 2,000 troops on the west side of the Hudson to assault the two forts. After several hours of hiking through the hilly terrain, Sir Henry divided his troops to stage simultaneous assaults on the two forts. Although the approach to Fort Montgomery was contested by a company armed with a small field piece, they attacked the two forts at nearly the same time and captured them after a relatively short battle. More than half the defenders were killed, wounded, or captured. The British followed up this success with raids as far north as Kingston before being recalled to New York City. The action came too late to be of any assistance to Burgoyne, who surrendered his army on October 17. The only notable consequences of the action were the casualties suffered and the British destruction of the two forts on their departure.

1781 – Americans and French began the siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the last battle of Revolutionary War. They began digging the first parallel trenches, a distance of 500 to 600 yards from the enemy’s works. A French wagon train arrived at the siege site.

1858 – US Marines conduct the Battle of Waya in the Fiji Islands.

1861 – U.S.S. Flag, Commander Louis C. Sartori, captured Confederate blockade running schooner Alert near Charleston.

1884 – Department of the Navy establishes the Naval War College at Newport, RI. Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler signed General Order 325, which began by simply stating: “A college is hereby established for an advanced course of professional study for naval officers, to be known as the Naval War College.” The order went on to assign “the principal building on Coaster’s Harbor Island, Newport, R.I.”—the Newport Asylum for the Poor, built in 1820—to its use and “Commodore Stephen B. Luce . . . to duty as president of the college.” Such were the humble beginnings of what is now the oldest continuing institution of its kind in the world.

1918 – The German chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, contacts US President Woodrow Wilson and requests and armistice based on Wilson’s 14 Points outlined the previous January. It is made clear that there will be no negotiations until the removal of the country’s military leadership.

1924 – Marines from the gunboat Asheville landed in Shanghai and withdrew on October 24th. Landings by Marines continued at ports Shanghai, Tientsin, and Chinwangtao from forces of the Asiatic Fleet of ships stationed in those waters until the arrival of the 4th Marine regiment in 1927 for permanent shore based duty.

1939 – In an address to the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler denied having any intention of war against France and Britain.

1940 – Fourth group of 8 U.S. destroyers involved in Destroyers for Bases Deal are turned over to British authorities at Halifax, Canada.

1942 – An additional Lend -lease agreement is signed in Washington by representatives of the USA and the USSR. Between this date and July 1943 it is planned to deliver 4,400,000 tons of supplies to the Soviet Uniion, 75 percent by sea, the rest though Iran.

1942 – In New Guinea, the 32nd Division begins movement along the Kapa Kapa Trail.

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1943 – In night Battle of Vella Lavella, 3 U.S. destroyers attack 9 Japanese destroyers to stop evacuation of Japanese troops from Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. The Eighth Fleet assigned Rear Admiral Baron Matsuji Ijuin to this mission and gave him a force completely out of proportion to the 589 troops he was charged to rescue: a support group of six destroyers and two transport groups, one of three transport destroyers and the other of four subchasers and twenty barges. His destroyers departed Rabaul on the morning of the 6th while the barges sailed from Buin at 1653 that afternoon. The Japanese movement down the Slot was reported, but Admiral Wilkinson only had three destroyers available to intercept, Squadron 4 led by Captain Frank Walker. Admiral Wilkinson mustered these while he detached another group of three under Captain Harold Larson from convoy duty. The two squadrons were ordered to rendezvous off Marquana Bay, Vella Lavella Island. Walker’s group sailing around the north side of the island while Larson’s approached up the west coast from the south. Japanese aircraft detected Walker’s approach at around 1940 and marked his progress with flares and floatlights. Ijuin split his support group into two divisions. With four ships he pushed ahead to the waters off Marquana Bay while Captain Hara, with Shigure and Samidare and the three transport destroyers, tarried to meet the barges coming up from Buin at 9 knots. Ijuin knew the Allies had wind of his approach and hoped to confuse them as to his size and dispositions. He was also hoping to set Hara up to make a surprise flank attack.

At about 2200 Ijuin received a report from one of his aircraft that he was facing four cruisers and three destroyers, according to Hara’s account of the battle. Morison has the report as one cruiser and four destroyers. Hara explains his old commander’s conduct of this battle with this sighting report and the fact he was exhausted from sustained duty. The Japanese had come to respect radar controlled gunfire, particularly as delivered by the Brooklyn class light cruisers, “a cruiser packs ten times the firepower of a destroyer and Ijuin must have been thinking of this”. Morison treats Ijuin sarcastically (he was a baron and the son of a prominent admiral during the Russo-Japanese War): “Was Ijuin following his habit of fleeing, even when lightly opposed?” At 2210 Ijuin ordered Hara to join him as quickly as possible. The three transport destroyers, Fumizuki, Matsukaze and Yunagi turned back, although the barges continued toward Horaniu. At 2229 Ijuin turned his four destroyers from a westerly heading to the northwest. At 2230 Isokaze reported the first visual sighting of the American force. Captain Walker, leading Selfridge, Chevalier and O’Bannon got radar readings on a Japanese force 10 miles north, northeast just after the Japanese made visual contact. This was apparently the retiring transport group. Larson’s group, Ralph Talbot, Taylor and LaVallette were still some twenty miles south and Walker could not raise them on TBS. Although Wilkinson had advised him the Japanese force consisted of nine destroyers, Walker elected to pile in and engage rather than wait forty minutes for reinforcements.

At 2235 Ijuin turned east and then southeast. The barges were steaming southwest about 20 miles from their destination. Hara’s group was northwest of Ijuin, heading south. He could not see Ijuin’s column so he requested that Isokaze hang a blue light on her stern. There was a quarter moon low in the sky and scattered mist and squalls made visibility uncertain. At 2240 Ijuin was heading south-southwest. Hara had closed to within five miles of Ijuin. At this same time Walker was shaping a course directly toward the Japanese. Their respective courses would take the Japanese across the American T. However, Ijuin, thinking to make a torpedo attack, miscalculated the distance. When he discovered the Americans were further off then he thought, he ordered a simultaneous turn 45 degrees to port at 2245. Three minutes later, his ships executed a 90 degree turn to port to a southeastly heading, all this to close range. The Americans were less than 12,000 yards away at this point and the range was closing rapidly at 1,300 yards a minute. In response to Ijuin’s turn left, Walker turned his column right to the west. These complicated maneuvers erased Ijuin’s initial advantage and in fact placed his four ships in a difficult position. They were sailing parallel in echelon with Akigumo furthest ahead and most distant from the Americans, followed by Isokaze, Kazagumo and finally Yugumo, only 3,300 yards from Selfridge.

At 2255 as they passed, the three American destroyers launched 14 torpedoes. At 2256 they opened fire. When Walker commenced fire only Yugumo could reply as she was masking her comrades from the enemy. She turned toward the Americans at 2255 and had eight torpedoes in the water a minute after the Americans launched theirs. Her movement cleared Kazagumo’s line of fire so she opened up with her guns shortly after. Ijuin swung his ships back into column and headed south, away from the action. All but Yugumo. She, being nearest to the Americans, was punished by the combined fire of eighteen 5″ guns. At least five hits left her drifting, without rudder control. But she obtained her revenge at 2301 when one of her torpedoes struck Chevalier and exploded her forward magazine, ripping off her bow all the way aft to her bridge. Two minutes latter, O’Bannon, charging through the smoke lingering from her gunnery, collided with Chevalier. The two ships were locked together until O’Bannon was able to back clear. She was fortunate that Ijuin had turned away, but the damage she sustained was enough to remove her from the action.

At 2303, just as this was happening, one of the slower American torpedoes struck Yugumo and finished her off. She sank seven minutes later. While Yugumo was being picked off and Ijuin was tearing south, Shigure and Samidare continued on their southwesterly course past the Americans until 2259 when they turned sharply to the northwest. Hara was maneuvering for a good torpedo solution. He was approximately 11,000 yards west of Walker’s lead ship when Selfridge, now a one ship task force, shifted fire to Shigure. The time was 2304. However, both Shigure and Samidare had already emptied their tubes in the direction of Selfridge some three minutes before just after they made their turn. As the Japanese torpedo men struggled to reload for a second attack, Selfridge’s shells began straddling Shigure. At 2306.5, before Selfridge could damage her target, the battle effectively ended when one of the torpedoes fired six minutes before exploded against Selfridge’s port side and left her dead in the water. Larson’s group charging up from the south was still twenty minutes out. Shortly before 2313 aircraft advised Ijuin of this reinforcement. Believing he would be facing more cruisers, Ijuin turned his column away to the northwest. At 2317 his ships fired a parting torpedo salvo from 24 tubes at the two crippled American destroyers 16,000 yards to the northeast, but none found targets. Hara who had been sailing northwest since 2259 fell in behind Ijuin; they collected the destroyer transports which had been lingering off Shortlands and returned to Rabaul.

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[SHOOTER13]

1943 – Himmler ordered the acceleration of “Final Solution.”

1945 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower was welcomed in Hague on Hitler’s train.

1945 – Major General Keller E. Rockey, Commanding General, III Amphibious Corps, accepted the surrender of 50,000 Japanese troops in North China on behalf of the Chinese Nationalist government.

1949 – Pres. Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act that appropriated more than one billion dollars for military aid primarily to members of the Atlantic Pact (NATO).

1949 – American-born Iva Toguri D’Aquino, convicted of being Japanese wartime broadcaster Tokyo Rose, was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000. Iva Toguri was an American stranded in Japan at the outbreak of World War II. She was forced to broadcast propaganda to the Allied troops for Japan. In these radio programs, she taunted the troops and played music from home. She took the name Orphan Ann on the program, Zero Hour. “Tokyo Rose” is a myth: Iva Toguri, like other women who also broadcast Japanese propaganda to Allied troops, was never referred to as Rose or Tokyo Rose. It was a name given by the Allies to the various female Japanese broadcasters. But it has been used since the war primarily to refer to Iva Toguri D’Aquino. After the war, she was convicted of treason and imprisoned, released early for good behavior. She maintained her innocence, asserting that she had not said the words used to convict her, and that she had remained a loyal American.

Though forced to broadcast to the troops, she claimed that she, with the help of American POWs assigned to the radio broadcasts, made herself and her words purposefully ridiculous. She had refused to give up her American citizenship, despite pressure and even punishment from the Japanese who forced her into the broadcasting role. In the 1970s a public campaign brought to light the testimony of the POWs who worked with her and supported her story. The testimony of the witnesses against her was questioned. Eventually she was pardoned by President Gerald Ford. After her imprisonment she returned to Chicago where her family owned a store. She continued to work at the store into her eighties.

1951 – Stalin proclaimed Russia has an atom bomb. 1951 – In a night assault, Hill 931, the highest peak at Heartbreak Ridge, was secured by troops of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 23rd Infantry Regiment after bitter fighting.

1952 – The battle for White Horse Mountain in the Chorwon Valley took place. The defending ROK 9th Infantry Division inflicted 10,000 casualties in fierce combat with the attacking Chinese 38th Army at a cost 3,500 ROK casualties. During the battle, the ROK forces launched nine separate attacks against the communists.

1955 – Diem’s Ministry of the Interior announces that a referendum is scheduled for 23 October to decide whether Bao Dai should be deposed and Diem replace him as head of state.

1958 – The US nuclear sub USS Seawolf remained a record 60 days under pole.

1961 – JFK advised Americans to build fallout shelters from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

1962 – Commissioning of USS Bainbridge (DLGN -25), first nuclear -powered destroyer. USS Bainbridge, was powered by two pressurized water reactors, and carried two twin Terrier missile launchers, two twin 3″ .50 caliber radar controlled gun mounts, two torpedo mounts, an ASROC launcher, and was equipped with state of the art electronics and communications suites. In April 1964, during her second Mediterranean deployment, she joined USS LONG BEACH (CGN 9) for the first time and later in May, along with USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), formed the world’s first nuclear powered task group, Task Group 60.1. She entered dry dock at Mare Island Shipyard in August 1967 for her first refueling. In 1974 she began a 27 month shipyard modernization and overhaul in Bremerton, Wash. While in the shipyard, her 3″ .50 caliber guns were removed and replaced with 20mm cannons, she received the AN/SPS-48 radar, and the Naval Tactical Data System was installed. Additionally, the aft superstructure was constructed and an additional level was added on the forward superstructure to support the SLQ-32. On June 30, 1975, BAINBRIDGE was redesignated a cruiser during the Navy’s reorganization of ship designations; DLGN 25 became CGN 25. After deactivation, BAINBRIDGE was towed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard for defueling and preparation for the final movement of the hull to Bremerton, Washington.

1966 – Hanoi insisted the United States must end its bombings before peace talks could begin.

1969 – Special Forces Captain John McCarthy was released from Fort Leavenworth Penitentiary, pending consideration of his appeal to murder charges.

1981 – Egyptian Pres. Anwar Sadat (1970 -1981) was killed by an assassin at the parade ground of Nasser City by Islamic fundamentalists during a ceremony commemorating the Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Although authorities were warned of a death plot hours earlier, the information did not get to the president in time. He was succeeded by Vice President Hosni Mubarak.

1987 – Destruction of 3 Iranian small boats in the “Tanker War.”


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1990 – The space shuttle “Discovery” blasted off on a four -day mission. Liftoff occurred 12 minutes after two-and-a-half-hour launch window opened at 7:35 a.m. EDT. Heaviest payload to date. Launch Weight: 259,593 lbs. Primary payload, ESA-built Ulysses spacecraft to explore polar regions of Sun, deployed. Two upper stages, Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and a mission-specific Payload Assist Module-S (PAM-S), combined together for first time to send Ulysses toward out-of- ecliptic trajectory. Other payloads and experiments: Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment; INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC); Chromosome and Plant Cell Division Experiment (CHROMEX); Voice Command System (VCS); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP); Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE); Radiation Monitoring Experiment III (RME III); Shuttle Student involvement Program (SSIP) and Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) experiment.

1991 – Cable News Network obtained and aired a videotape made in Beirut, Lebanon, of American hostage Terry Anderson, who quoted his captors as saying they would have “very good news.”

1992 – The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to establish a war crimes commission for Bosnia -Herzegovina.

1993 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat held their first official meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to begin work on realizing terms of the Israeli -PLO accord.

1996 – Turkey’s prime minister urged Libya’s Moammar Khadafy to sign a document to denounce Kurdish rebel terrorism but instead Khadafy condemned Turkish repression of the Kurds. A trade deal hung in suspension.

1997 – The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, bringing home American astronaut Michael Foale after more than four tumultuous months aboard Mir and Astronaut CDR Wendy B. Lawrence, USN returns from mission of STS -86: Shuttle -Mir 7 when Atlantis docked with Mir Space Station. The mission began on 25 September.

1997 – Nine Bosnian Croats surrendered to the int’l. war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Dario Kordic joined the group when the US promised a speedy trial to volunteer suspects. Kordic was the leader of the Bosnian branch of Franjo Tudjman’s Croatian Democratic Union political party, and was charged with commanding troops who rampaged through 14 towns in the Lasva Valley torturing and killing hundreds of Muslims and burning their homes.

1997 – In Palestine Sheik Ahmed Yassin (61), the quadriplegic spiritual leader of Hamas, returned to the Gaza Strip.

1999 – The US introduced a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the seizure of assets of the Taliban militia and grounding all international flights from Afghanistan until Osama bin Laden is turned over.

1999 – The Chechen president called for a holy war against Russia.

1999 – In East Timor Australian peacekeepers killed 2 antiindependence militiamen near the West Timor border.

1999 – Philippine government officials and Muslim separatists agreed to halt a series of deadly clashes in at least 2 southern provinces, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, and to start formal peace talks.

2000 – Israel pulled troops from Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus in an effort to ease tensions.

2000 – In Serbia Slobodan Milosevic resigned and the opposition celebrated across the country. Milosevic conceded defeat to Vojislav Kostunica in Yugoslavia’s presidential elections, a day after protesters angry at Milosevic for clinging to power stormed parliament and ended his 13-year autocratic regime.

2001 – Pres. Bush warned Afghanistan’s rulers that time is running out. The Taliban said it would release 8 aid workers if the US “stops issuing threats” of military action.

2001 – US and British intelligence identified Mohammed Atef, a former Egyptian policeman and close aide to Osama bin Laden, as the key planner of the of the September 11th attacks.

2001 – In Afghanistan the Northern Alliance was building an airport outside Golbahar to allow a US-led coalition to funnel in military supplies.

2001 – In Saudi Arabia a bomb exploded in Khobar. 2 people were killed and 4 were injured. 2002 – In Colombia Jose Arroyave, a regional commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was among 7 rebels killed in a military offensive.

2003 – In southeastern Colombia FARC guerrillas assassinated two town mayors, Orlando Hoyos and Jaime Zambrano, after they met with rebels in a mountain hideout.

2003 – Roadside bombings in central Iraq killed three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded six other service members.

2003 – In Pakistan gunmen assassinated Maulana Azam Tariq, a hardline Sunni Muslim politician and four other people, spraying their car with automatic weapon -fire before fleeing.

2004 – Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons hunter, reported that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year.

2004 – Followers of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to a cease-fire with Iraq’s interim government aimed at ending weeks of fighting in the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City.

2004 – A car bomb exploded at an Iraqi military camp northwest of Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding more than 20.

2006 – President Bush declared space to be essential to US defense in a new National Space Policy document. Not only has the United States declared that it has rights in space, but, if necessary, it will deny its adversaries access to space if those adversaries seek to impede those rights.

2008 – The MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second pass of the planet Mercury.

2014 – ISIS prepares to establish itself in Libya and reports emerge that they are already in the city of Derna.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

POND, JAMES B.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company C, 3d Wisconsin Cavalry. Place and date: At Baxter Springs, Kans., 6 October 1863. Entered service at: Janesville, Rock County, Wis. Birth: Allegany, N.Y. Date of issue: 30 March 1898. Citation: While in command of 2 companies of Cavalry, was surprised and attacked by several times his own number of guerrillas, but gallantly rallied his men, and after a severe struggle drove the enemy outside the fortifications. 1st Lt. Pond then went outside the works and, alone and unaided, fired a howitzer 3 times, throwing the enemy into confusion and causing him to retire.

*BLECKLEY, ERWIN R. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 130th Field Artillery, observer 50th Aero Squadron, Air Service. Place and date. Near Binarville, France, 6 October 1918. Entered service at: Wichita, Kans. Birth: Wichita, Kans. G.O. No.: 56, W.D., 1922. Citation: 2d Lt. Bleckley, with his pilot, 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettler, Air Service, left the airdrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division, which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of his mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from the ground, resulting in fatal wounds to 2d Lt. Bleckley, who died before he could be taken to a hospital. In attempting and performing this mission 2d Lt. Bleckley showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage, and valor.

*GOETTLER, HAROLD ERNEST (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, pilot, U.S. Army Air Corps, 50th Aero Squadron, Air Service. Place and date: Near Binarville, France, 6 October 1918. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born: 21 July 1890, Chicago, Ill. G.O. No.: 56, W.D., 1922. Citation: 1st. Lt. Goettler, with his observer, 2d Lt. Erwin R. Bleckley, 130th Field Artillery, left the airdrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of this mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from the ground, resulting in the instant death of 1st. Lt. Goettler. In attempting and performing this mission 1st. Lt. Goettler showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage and valor.

PECK, ARCHIE A.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company A, 307th Infantry, 77th Division. Place and date: In the Argonne Forest, France, 6 October 1918. Entered service at: Hornell, N.Y. Birth: Tyrone, N.Y. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: While engaged with 2 other soldiers on patrol duty, he and his comrades were subjected to the direct fire of an enemy machinegun, at which time both his companions were wounded. Returning to his company, he obtained another soldier to accompany him to assist in bringing in the wounded men. His assistant was killed in the exploit, but he continued on, twice returning safely bringing in both men, being under terrific machinegun fire during the entire journey.

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7 October

3761 BC – The epoch reference date epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar.

1492 – Columbus missed Florida when he changed course.

1542 – Explorer Cabrillo discovered Catalina Island off the Southern California coast.

1691 – The English royal charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued.

1728 – Caesar Rodney (d.1784), Delaware, judge and signer (Declaration of Independence), was born in Dover, Delaware. He led opposition to British laws for many years while serving in the provincial assembly. He was elected to the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. In 1777, he commanded the Delaware militia, and the next year he was elected president of the state for a three -year term. Rodney on horseback represents Delaware, the first of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution, on a new .25 -cent piece.

1763 – George III of Great Britain issued Proclamation of 1763, closing lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlement. The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 was a cause for great celebration in the colonies, for it removed several ominous barriers and opened up a host of new opportunities for the colonists. The French had effectively hemmed in the British settlers and had, from the perspective of the settlers, played the “Indians” against them. The first thing on the minds of colonists was the great western frontier that had opened to them when the French ceded that contested territory to the British. The royal proclamation of 1763 did much to dampen that celebration. The proclamation, in effect, closed off the frontier to colonial expansion. The King and his council presented the proclamation as a measure to calm the fears of the Indians, who felt that the colonists would drive them from their lands as they expanded westward. Many in the colonies felt that the object was to pen them in along the Atlantic seaboard where they would be easier to regulate. No doubt there was a large measure of truth in both of these positions. However the colonists could not help but feel a strong resentment when what they perceived to be their prize was snatched away from them. The proclamation provided that all lands west of the heads of all rivers which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest were off-limits to the colonists. This excluded the rich Ohio Valley and all territory from the Ohio to the Mississippi rivers from settlement.

1765 – Delegates from nine of the American colonies met in New York to discuss the Stamp Act Crisis and colonial response to it. This “Stamp Act Congress” went on to draft resolutions condemning the Stamp and Sugar Acts, trial without jury and taxation without representation as contrary to their rights as Englishmen. Throughout the Northern colonies, associations on the basis of forcible resistance to the Stamp Act, under the name of “Sons of Liberty,” sprang suddenly into existence. Persons of influence and consideration, though they might favor the object, kept aloof, however, from so dangerous a combination, which consisted of the young, the ardent, those who loved excitement and had nothing to lose. The history of these “Sons of Liberty” is very obscure; but they seem to have spread rapidly from Connecticut and New York into Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and to have taken up as their special business the intimidation of the stamp officers. In all the colonies these officers were persuaded or compelled to resign; and such stamps as arrived either remained unpacked, or else were seized and burned.

The Assembly of Pennsylvania unanimously adopted a series of resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act as “unconstitutional, and subversive of their dearest rights.” Public meetings to protest against it were held throughout the colonies. The holding of such meetings was quite a new incident, and formed a new era in colonial history. On the day appointed by Massachusetts for the meeting of the First Colonial Congress, committees from nine colonies met in New York. Various reasons prevented the others from joining. In the course of a three weeks’ session, a Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonies was agreed to. All the privileges of Englishmen were claimed by this declaration as the birthright of the colonists,–among the rest, the right of being taxed only by their own consent. Since distance and local circumstances made a representation in the British Parliament impossible, these representatives, it was maintained, could be no other than the several colonial Legislatures. Thus was given a flat negative to a scheme lately broached in England by Pownall and others for allowing to the colonies a representation in Parliament, a project to which both Otis and Franklin seem at first to have leaned. A petition to the king and memorials to each House of Parliament were also prepared, in which the cause of the colonies was eloquently pleaded. . . . The several colonial Assemblies, at their earliest sessions, gave to the proceedings a cordial approval.

1777 – The second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. During the battle General Benedict Arnold was shot in the leg. Another bullet killed his horse, which fell on Arnold, crushing his leg. The “Boot Monument” sits close to the spot where Arnold was wounded, and is a tribute to the general’s heroic deeds during that battle. Although Arnold’s accomplishments are described on the monument, it pointedly avoids naming the man best known for betraying his country. The British forces, under Gen. John Burgoyne, surrendered 10 days later. After waiting several weeks for developments from General Henry Clinton’s campaign along the Hudson River, British commander Lieutenant General John Burgoyne finally took the offensive on 7 October 1777. Like the First Battle of Saratoga, his plan focused upon a reconnaissance in force of three columns. The three British columns moved out from their Freeman’s Farm fortifications in order to gain more information about the rebel positions at Bemis Heights. American General Horatio Gates, assumed to be acting upon the suggestion of Colonel Daniel Morgan, decided to assault the British forces in a three winged attack. With Morgan’s Rifle Corps attacking from the west and Poor’s Brigade from the east, Learned’s Continental Brigade moved towards the center of the British line.

The attack began at roughly 3 PM, and the Americans repeatedly broke through the British line and pushed the enemy back, only to be repelled once the British leaders rallied their scattered forces to stage a counter-offensive. British Brigadier General Simon Fraser was mortally wounded while attempting to cover the British withdrawal. Benedict Arnold, who had been removed from command by Gates, saw an opportunity to press the advantage of the weakened British line and rode forward on his horse to take charge of Learned’s Continental Brigade. He led them towards the center of the British forces in an effort to separate the units and flank them, forcing a general withdrawal of the British forces into their fortified positions at Freeman’s Farm. At that point, Arnold led Learned’s men to attack the British fortified in Balcarres Redoubt. After several failed attempts to overcome the defenses there, Arnold urged his horse northwest across the battlefield to join an assault on Breymann Redoubt. With superior numbers on their side, the Americans were able to breach the breastworks of the redoubt and force the British forces to withdraw to the Great Redoubt, their final line of defense, as night fell.

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1780 – The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The battle took place nine miles south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina in rural York County, South Carolina, where the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. Ferguson had arrived in North Carolina in early September 1780 with the purpose of recruiting for the Loyalist militia and protecting the flank of Lord Cornwallis’ main force. Ferguson issued a challenge to the rebel militias to lay down their arms or suffer the consequences. In response, the Patriot militias led by James Johnston, William Campbell, John Sevier, Joseph McDowell and Isaac Shelby rallied for an attack on Ferguson. Receiving intelligence on the oncoming attack, Ferguson decided to retreat to the safety of Lord Cornwallis’ army. However, the Patriots caught up with the Loyalists at Kings Mountain on the border with South Carolina.

Achieving a complete surprise, the Patriot militiamen attacked and surrounded the Loyalists, inflicting heavy casualties. After an hour of battle, Ferguson was fatally shot while trying to break the rebel line, after which his men surrendered. Eager to avenge Banastre Tarleton’s alleged massacre of the militiamen at the Battle of Waxhaws, the Patriots gave no quarter until the rebel officers re-established control over their men. Although victorious, the Patriots had to retreat quickly from the area for fear of Cornwallis’ advance. The battle was a pivotal moment in the Southern campaign. The surprising victory over the American Loyalist militia came after a string of rebel defeats at the hands of Lord Cornwallis, and greatly raised the Patriots’ morale. With Ferguson dead and his Loyalist militia destroyed, Cornwallis was forced to abandon his plan to invade North Carolina and retreated into South Carolina.

1800 – Gabriel, slave revolt leader in Virginia, was hanged. Gabriel Prosser had mounted a slave rebellion. Gabriel Prosser, the slave of Thomas H. Prosser, was about 25 years old when he came to the attention of Virginia authorities late in August 1800. Little is known of his childhood or family background. He had two brothers and a wife, Nanny, all slaves of Prosser. Gabriel Prosser learned to read and was a serious student of the Bible, where he found inspiration in the accounts of Israel’s delivery from slavery. Prosser possessed shrewd judgment, and his master gave him much latitude. He was acknowledged as a leader by many slaves around Richmond. With the help of other slaves, especially Jack Bowler and George Smith, Prosser designed a scheme for a slave revolt. They planned to seize control of Richmond by slaying all whites (except for Methodists, Quakers, and Frenchmen) and then to establish a kingdom of Virginia with Prosser as king. The recent, successful American Revolution and the revolutions in France and Haiti–with their rhetoric of freedom, equality, and brotherhood–supplied examples and inspiration for Prosser’s rebellion.

In the months preceding the attack Prosser skillfully recruited supporters and organized them into military units. Authorities never discovered how many slaves were involved, but there were undoubtedly several thousand, many armed with swords and pikes made from farm tools by slave blacksmiths. The plan was to strike on the night of Aug. 30, 1800. Men inside Richmond were to set fire to certain buildings to distract whites, and Prosser’s force from the country was to seize the armory and government buildings across town. With the firearms thus gained, the rebels would supposedly easily overcome the surprised whites. On the day of the attack the plot was disclosed by two slaves who did not want their masters slain; then Virginia governor James Monroe alerted the militia. That night, as the rebels began congregating outside Richmond, the worst rainstorm in memory flooded roads, washed out bridges, and prevented Prosser’s army from assembling. Prosser decided to postpone the attack until the next day, but by then the city was too well defended. The rebels, including Prosser, dispersed. Some slaves, in order to save their own lives, testified against the ringleaders, about 35 of whom were executed. Prosser himself managed to escape by hiding aboard a riverboat on its way to Norfolk. In Norfolk, however, he was betrayed by other slaves, who claimed the large reward for his capture on September 25. Returned to Richmond, Prosser, like most of the other leaders, refused to confess to the plot or give evidence against other slaves. He was tried and found guilty on Oct. 6, 1800.

1835 – Brigadier General William H. Jackson, one of the most prominent soldiers of Tennessee, was born at Paris, TN. At twenty -one years he was graduated at the United States military academy (1856), and assigned as brevet second lieutenant to the mounted riflemen. In December of the same y ear he was commissioned second lieutenant while serving at the cavalry school for practice at Carlisle, Pa. he was on frontier duty at Fort Bliss, Tex., 1857, and in December of that year was engaged in a skirmish against the Kiowa Indians near Fort Craig, N.M. In 1859 he was engaged in the scouting in the Navajo country, and took part in the Comanche and Kiowa expedition of 1860. On May 16, 1861, in obedience to the command of his State, he resigned his commission in the United States army and entered the service of the Confederate States as captain of artillery. In the battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861, he acted as aide on the staff of General Pillow, and was seriously wounded while executing that officer’s orders. His name is flatteringly mentioned in the reports of Generals Polk and Pillow and of Col. S. F. Marks, who, at the request of Colonel Barrow, tendered the thanks of the Eleventh Louisiana regiment to Capt. Wm. H. Jackson for valuable and gallant service rendered them. This gallant young officer was in the field again early in 1862 as colonel of the First Tennessee cavalry, winning compliments from his superior officers in every affair in which he was engaged. His name is mentioned in all the reports, and by his merit as chief of cavalry in Pemberton’s department he richly earned the commission of brigadier – general, which was bestowed upon him December 29, 1862. He had acted as chief of cavalry for Van Dorn and Price in the campaign which culminated in the battle of Corinth. On the retreat from that disastrous field he had well protected the rear of the Confederate army.

He increased his already high reputation throughout the Vicksburg campaign, and after its disastrous close he was indefatigable in his labors and rendered invaluable assistance to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. In the Meridian campaign of February, 1864, Jackson commanded the cavalry of Polk’s army, hanging upon the flanks of the enemy and compelling his foragers to keep close to the main line. During the Atlanta campaign, Jackson commanded the cavalry corps of the army of the Mississippi, which participated in all the arduous labors and many brilliant successes of the cavalry arm of the Confederate service. When, after the brilliant cavalry victory at Newnan, Wheeler moved into the rear of Sherman’s army, Jackson’s cavalry shared in the movements that defeated Kilpatrick’s raid against the Macon road. He led his division of cavalry through the Nashville and Murfreesboro campaign, and then retiring to Mississippi, was there, in February, 1865, assigned to command of all Tennessee cavalry in Forrest’s department, with other brigades, to form Jackson’s division, one of the two provided for in Forrest’s reorganization. His last military service was the cutting off of Croxton’s brigade from the main body of Wilson’s expedition, April, 1865. Since the close of the war General Jackson has engaged in stock raising, and is proprietor of the celebrated Belle Meade stock farm near Nashville, Tenn.

1837 – Robert Gould Shaw was born to a prominent abolitionist family. He became commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first unit of black soldiers in the Civil War. He was later asked by the governor of Massachusetts to organize the first regiment of black troops in a Northern state. Shaw recruited free blacks from all over New England. On May 13, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment was mustered into service in the Union Army with Shaw as its commanding officer. After leading the regiment in a handful of smaller actions, Shaw and the 54th joined two brigades of white troops in an assault on Confederates holding Battery Wagner on the South Carolina coast. Although the action was unsuccessful and Shaw himself died leading the charge, the courage of black troops under fire was proven beyond any doubt.

1864 – General Phil Sheridan wired General Ulysses Grant that he had destroyed so much between Winchester and Staunton that the area “will have little in it for man or beast.”

1864 – USS Wachusett illegally captures the CSS Florida Confederate raider while in port in Bahia, Brazil in violation of Brazilian neutrality.

1864 – Oct 7 -13, Battle of Darbytown Road, Va. More a protracted series of skirmishes than a battle. Responding to the loss of Fort Harrison and the increasing Federal threat against Richmond, Gen. Robert E. Lee directed an offensive against the Union far right flank. After routing the Federal cavalry from their position covering Darbytown Road, Field’s and Hoke’s divisions assaulted the main Union defensive line along New Market Road and were repulsed. Confederate Gen. John Gregg of the Texas brigade was killed. The Federals were not dislodged, and Lee withdrew into the Richmond defenses.

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1885 – Nils Bohr, Danish physicist who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for physics and later worked on the first atom bomb, was born. Nils Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 7th October, 1885. The son of a physiology professor he got his PhD in physics from the University of Copenhagen in 1911. Bohr worked with Ernest Rutherford in Manchester (1912-16) where he developed a model of atomic structure and helped to establish the validity of quantum theory. In 1920 Bohr became director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen. Several leading physicists went to work with Bohr including Edward Teller and Werner Heisenberg. In 1922 he won the Nobel Prize for physics. Otto Frisch, a young scientist who fled from Nazi Germany worked closely with Bohr in Copenhagen. In 1938 Frisch introduced Bohr to Lise Meitner, a Jewish refugee from Germany. Meitner explained her theory of uranium fission and argued that by splitting the atom it was possible to use a few pounds of uranium to create the explosive and destructive power of many thousands of pounds of dynamite.

At a conference held in Washington in January, 1939, Bohr explained the possibility of creating nuclear weapons. After working with Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, Bohr showed that only the isotope uranium-235 would undergo fission with slow neutrons. Bohr continued with his research after Denmark was invaded by the German Army. With the help of the British Secret Service he escaped to Sweden in 1943. He then moved on to the USA where he joined Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, David Bohm, James Franck, James Chadwick, Otto Frisch, Emilio Segre, Eugene Wigner, Felix Bloch, Leo Szilard and Klaus Fuchs on the Manhattan Project. Over the next two years Bohr helped develop the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the Second World War Bohr returned to Denmark where he argued for strict controls on the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Nils Bohr died in Copenhagen on 18th November, 1962.

1900 – Heinrich Himmler, chicken farmer who became the head of the German Gestapo in Hitler’s Germany, was born.

1943 – Approximately 100 U.S. prisoners of war remaining on Wake Island were executed by the Japanese.

1950 – The United Nations General Assembly approved an advance by UN forces north of the 38th Parallel in the Korean Conflict. Eighth Army, including British, Australian and Philippine units, relieved X Corps of tactical responsibility for the Seoul area. This action freed X Corps for operations on Korea’s East Coast.

1958 – The U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury. Originally it was called Project Astronaut, but President Dwight Eisenhower thought that it gave too much attention to the pilot. Instead, the name Mercury was chosen from Greco-Roman mythology, which already lent names to rockets like the Atlas and Jupiter. It absorbed military projects with the same aim such as the Air Force Man-in-Space-Soonest.

1963 – President Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a limited nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union. Testing was outlawed in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space.

1975 – President Gerald Ford signs law allowing admission of women into service academies (Public Law 94 -106).

1981 – Egypt’s parliament named Vice President Hosni Mubarak to succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat. He tolerated the Muslim Brotherhood.

1985 – The United States announced it would no longer automatically comply with World Court decisions. This was in response to a June 25, 1985, World Court ruling that U.S. involvement in Nicaragua violated international law. The ruling stemmed from a suit brought in April 1984 after revelations that the CIA had directed the mining of Nicaraguan ports. The U.S. later vetoed two U.N. resolutions calling for compliance to the World Court ruling.

1985 – Four Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians held by Israel. 413 people were held hostage for 2 days in the seizure that was masterminded by Mohammed Abul Abbas. American Leon Klinghoffer was shot while sitting in his wheelchair and thrown overboard. A case was filed against the PLO and settled in 1997. The hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities and were turned over to Italy which let Abbas slip out of the country. Abbas was captured in Baghdad in 2003.

1990 – Israel began handing out gas masks to its citizens.

1993 – President Clinton ordered more troops, heavy armor and naval firepower to Somalia, but also announced he would pull out all Americans by the end of March 1994.

1994 – Iraqi troops moved south toward Kuwait. President Clinton dispatched a carrier group, 54,000 troops and warplanes to the gulf area after Iraqi troops were spotted moving south toward Kuwait. The Iraqis pulled back.

1996 – In Lisburn, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army detonated two car bombs inside the British army’s headquarters, wounding 31 people. Two bombs of 500 and 1000 pounds exploded near Thiepval Barracks and near the base hospital.

1996 – Ethnic Tutsi rebels slaughtered 34 patients in eastern Zaire. The government has given the 200,000 Tutsis a week to leave Zaire. The Tutsi Banyamulenge arrived into Zaire some 200 years ago.

1997 – In Columbia leftist guerrillas killed three villagers near San Jose de Apartado, a pilot peace community that had declared neutrality in the civil conflicts.

1998 – In Serbia Milosevic’s government began preparing for a NATO attack.

1999 – It was reported that American fighter jets had begun using non -explosive concrete bombs to destroy military targets in northern Iraq.

1999 – Rwanda reported that army troops and Congolese allies had killed over 200 Rwandan Hutu rebels over a weeklong operation along the border where 4,000 Hutu rebels had been based.

2000 – Three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped on the Lebanon border. Un peacekeepers made a film 18 hours later that showed Hezbollah guerrillas, the vehicles used and other evidence of the abduction.

2000 – Palestinians tore up Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and Hezbollah guerrillas captured 3 Israeli soldiers. Prime Minister Ehud Barak threatened to use force and to halt the peace process unless the violence stopped.

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2001 – U.S. aerial bombing campaign began, President Bush said “Full warning had been given, and time is running out.” The State Department gave the Pakistani government one last message to the Taliban: Hand over all al-Qaeda leaders or “every pillar of the Taliban regime will be destroyed.” Airstrikes were reported in Kabul, at the airport, at Kandahar (home of Mullah Omar), and in the city of Jalalabad. On the ground, teams from the CIA’s Special Activities Division arrived first. They were soon joined by U.S. Army Special Forces from the 5th Special Forces Group and other units from United States Special Operations Command. At 17:00 UTC, President Bush confirmed the strikes and Prime Minister Blair addressed his nation. Bush stated that Taliban military sites and terrorist training grounds would be targeted. Food, medicine and supplies would be dropped to “the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan”.

2001 – The Al -Jazeera TV network from Qatar showed video footage of Osama bin Laden praising Allah for the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.

2001 – In Afghanistan the Northern Alliance moved its front line artillery and infantry units against the Taliban.

2001 – In Pakistan Muslim clerics called for a holy war to counter the attacks in Afghanistan. Fazlur Rehman, a top fundamentalist politician, was arrested. Most of the Arab world appeared relatively calm.

2001 – A Palestinian suicide bomber, Ahmed Daraghmeh (17), killed himself and 1 Israeli near the settlement of Kibbutz Shluhot.

2002 – In a somber address to the nation to support his action against Iraq, President Bush labeled Saddam Hussein a “homicidal dictator” and said the threat from Iraq was unique and imminent: “We refuse to live in fear.”

2002 – Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians in Gaza that included a missile strike that killed 11. Hamas vowed revenge attacks.

2003 – Yasser Arafat swore in new Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and a skeleton emergency Cabinet.

2003 – In the Philippines a detained Muslim terror suspect grabbed a guard’s rifle and opened fire at police headquarters in Manila, killing three officers and wounding three others before he was fatally shot.

2004 – A car bomb at Egypt’s Taba Hilton killed at least 35 people on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The attack was quickly followed by two more car bombings outside beach-bungalow camps south of Taba. The next day Israeli officials said they believe al-Qaida was probably behind 3 suicide car bomb attacks targeting Red Sea resorts filled with Israeli tourists. It was later reported that all 4 bombers who attacked the resorts escaped on foot minutes before their vehicles exploded.

2004 – US authorities, meanwhile, raised the security alert in the heavily guarded Green Zone after an improvised bomb was found in front of a restaurant there.

2014 – Kurds clash violently with Turkish police over failure to help Kurds under siege in the Syrian border city of Kobani under siege by ISIL forces. At least fourteen people have died in the clashes.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BELPITT, W. H.
Rank and organization: Captain of the Afterguard, U.S. Navy. Born: 1859, Sydney, Australia. (Letter No. 126, 27 October 1884, LCDR Iverson, U .S. Navy.) Citation: On board the U.S.S. Monocacy, Foochow, China, 7 October 1884. Jumping overboard from that vessel on the morning of this date, Belpitt sustained, until picked up, a Chinaman who had been thrown into the water by the capsizing of a canoe.

HILL, RALYN M.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company H, 129th Infantry, 33d Division. Place and date: Near Donnevoux, France, 7 October 1918. Entered service at: Oregon, Ill. Born: 6 May 1899, Lindenwood, Ill. G.O. No.: 34, W.D., 1919. Citation: Seeing a French airplane fall out of control on the enemy side of the Meuse River with its pilot injured, Cpl. Hill voluntarily dashed across the footbridge to the side of the wounded man and, taking him on his back, started back to his lines. During the entire exploit he was subjected to murderous fire of enemy machineguns and artillery, but he successfully accomplished his mission and brought his man to a place of safety, a distance of several hundred yards.

TALLEY, EDWARD R.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company L, 117th Infantry, 30th Division. Place and date: Near Ponchaux, France, 7 October 1918. Entered service at: Russellville, Tenn. Born: 8 September 1890, Russellville, Tenn. G.O. No.: 50, W.D., 1919. Citation: Undeterred by seeing several comrades killed in attempting to put a hostile machinegun nest out of action, Sgt. Talley attacked the position single -handed. Armed only with a rifle, he rushed the nest in the face of intense enemy fire, killed or wounded at least 6 of the crew, and silenced the gun. When the enemy attempted to bring forward another gun and ammunition he drove them back by effective fire from his rifle.

WHITTLESEY, CHARLES W.
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army, 308th Infantry, 77th Division. Place and date: Northeast of Binarville, in the forest of Argonne France, 2 -7 October 1918. Entered service at: Pittsfield, Mass. Birth. Florence, Wis. G.O. No.: 118, W.D., 1918. Citation: Although cut off for 5 days from the remainder of his division, Maj. Whittlesey maintained his position, which he had reached under orders received for an advance, and held his command, consisting originally of 46 officers and men of the 308th Infantry and of Company K of the 307th Infantry, together in the face of superior numbers of the enemy during the 5 days. Maj. Whittlesey and his command were thus cut off, and no rations or other supplies reached him, in spite of determined efforts which were made by his division. On the 4th day Maj. Whittlesey received from the enemy a written proposition to surrender, which he treated with contempt, although he was at the time out of rations and had suffered a loss of about 50 percent in killed and wounded of his command and was surrounded by the enemy.

*HARRIS, JAMES L.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 756th Tank Battalion. Place and date: At Vagney, France, 7 October 1944. Entered service at: Hillsboro, Tex. Birth: Hillsboro, Tex. G.O. No.: 32, 23 April 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 7 October 1944, in Vagney, France. At 9 p.m. an enemy raiding party, comprising a tank and 2 platoons of infantry, infiltrated through the lines under cover of mist and darkness and attacked an infantry battalion command post with hand grenades, retiring a short distance to an ambush position on hearing the approach of the M -4 tank commanded by 2d Lt. Harris. Realizing the need for bold aggressive action, 2d Lt. Harris ordered his tank to halt while he proceeded on foot, fully 10 yards ahead of his 6 -man patrol and armed only with a service pistol, to probe the darkness for the enemy.

Although struck down and mortally wounded by machinegun bullets which penetrated his solar plexus, he crawled back to his tank, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and, too weak to climb inside it, issued fire orders while lying on the road between the 2 contending armored vehicles. Although the tank which he commanded was destroyed in the course of the fire fight, he stood the enemy off until friendly tanks, preparing to come to his aid, caused the enemy to withdraw and thereby lose an opportunity to kill or capture the entire battalion command personnel. Suffering a second wound, which severed his leg at the hip, in the course of this tank duel, 2d Lt. Harris refused aid until after a wounded member of his crew had been carried to safety. He died before he could be given medical attention.

*WATKINS, LEWIS G.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company I, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Korea, 7 October 1952. Entered service at: Seneca, S.C. Born. 6 June 1925, Seneca, S.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a guide of a rifle platoon of Company I, in action against enemy aggressor forces during the hours of darkness on the morning of 7 October 1952. With his platoon assigned the mission of retaking an outpost which had been overrun by the enemy earlier in the night, S/Sgt. Watkins skillfully led his unit in the assault up the designated hill. Although painfully wounded when a well -entrenched hostile force at the crest of the hill engaged the platoon with intense small -arms and grenade fire, he gallantly continued to lead his men. Obtaining an automatic rifle from 1 of the wounded men, he assisted in pinning down an enemy machine gun holding up the assault. When an enemy grenade landed among S/Sgt. Watkins and several other marines while they were moving forward through a trench on the hill crest, he immediately pushed his companions aside, placed himself in a position to shield them and picked up the deadly missile in an attempt to throw it outside the trench. Mortally wounded when the grenade exploded in his hand, S/Sgt. Watkins, by his great personal valor in the face of almost certain death, saved the lives of several of his comrades and contributed materially to the success of the mission. His extraordinary heroism, inspiring leadership, and resolute spirit of self -sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.


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8 October

1775 – Officers decided to bar slaves and free blacks from Continental Army. This decision will be formalized by the Continental Congress in November.

1793 – John Hancock, US merchant and signer of the Declaration of Independence, died at 56. He was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, always lived in that state, and died at Quincy. Hancock was graduated at Harvard in 1754. He learned the business of an importing merchant in the counting house of an uncle, who left him money with which to carry on the business. Samuel Adams was without a dollar. Hancock was the wealthiest merchant in the city. It is difficult to say which was the more determined opponent of Great Britain. Both were members of the Massachusetts General Court. Both sat in the Provincial Congress. Both were honored by General Gage as the two rebels “whose offenses are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration but that of condign punishment.” Both were expressly omitted by name from an act of general amnesty with which the British government sought to conciliate the colonies in 1775. From the beginning, Hancock was in the thick of the contest. He owned the sloop Liberty, whose seizure brought on the riot of 1768. He demanded the removal of troops after the so-called Boston massacre. Hancock delivered a fiery address at the funeral of the victims of that affair. He was president of the Continental Congress, and his bold signature appeared prominently on the Declaration of Independence. He was the first governor of the state of Massachusetts. Hancock had faults enough, no doubt, vanity and jealousy, it is said, but none doubted his patriotism and strong common sense. His wealth, education, social standing, determined character, and reputation for strict integrity were of incalculable service to the American cause.

1812 – Boat party under Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captures HMS Detroit and Caledonia in Niagara River. Adams-a newly constructed 200-ton brig-was purchased during the summer of 1812 by General William Hull, the Army commander at Detroit (now in Michigan) to add to the defenses of that forward outpost. However, before the ship could be armed Hull sur rendered her along with Detroit on 16 August 1812. The British armed the prize and commissioned her as HMS Detroit. She and HMS Caledonia gave the British undisputed control of Lake Erie. All changed early in the morning when a boat expedition commanded by Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captured the two vessels right under the muzzles of the guns at Fort Erie. Caledonia made it safely to the temporary American base at Black Rock, but Detroit, owing to light wind, was swept away by the Niagara River’s strong current and was forced to anchor within range of British guns. An artillery duel ensued. Elliott brought all his guns to his engaged side and continued the cannonade until his supply of ammunition was exhausted. Thereupon, he cut the cable; and the brig drifted down the river. She grounded on Squaw Island within range of both British and: American batteries. Elliott and his men abandoned her, and almost immediately, some two score British soldiers took brief possession of the brig. American guns soon drove them out with great loss, and both sides began pounding her with gunfire. The Americans finally set fire to and destroyed the battered hulk.

1842 – Commodore Lawrence Kearny in USS Constitution addresses a letter to the Viceroy of China, urging that American merchants in China be granted the same treaty privileges as the British. His negotiations are successful.

1862 – The Union was victorious at the Battle of Perryville, the largest Civil War combat to take place in Kentucky. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s autumn 1862 invasion of Kentucky had reached the outskirts of Louisville and Cincinnati, but he was forced to retreat and regroup. On October 7, the Federal army of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, numbering nearly 55,000, converged on the small crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky, in three columns. Union forces first skirmished with Rebel cavalry on the Springfield Pike before the fighting became more general, on Peters Hill, as the grayclad infantry arrived. The next day, at dawn, fighting began again around Peters Hill as a Union division advanced up the pike, halting just before the Confederate line. The fighting then stopped for a time. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back.

When more Confederate divisions joined the fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand, counterattacked, but finally fell back with some troops routed. Buell did not know of the happenings on the field, or he would have sent forward some reserves. Even so, the Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades, stabilized their line, and the Rebel attack sputtered to a halt. Later, a Rebel brigade assaulted the Union division on the Springfield Pike but was repulsed and fell back into Perryville. The Yankees pursued, and skirmishing occurred in the streets in the evening before dark. Union reinforcements were threatening the Rebel left flank by now. Bragg, short of men and supplies, withdrew during the night, and, after pausing at Harrodsburg, continued the Confederate retrograde by way of Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee. The Confederate offensive was over, and the Union controlled Kentucky.

1869 – Franklin Pierce (64), the 14th president (1853 -1857) of the United States, died in Concord, N.H. Pierce was born at Hillsboro, N.H., on Nov. 23, 1804. A Bowdoin graduate, lawyer, and Jacksonian Democrat, he won rapid political advancement in the party, in part because of the prestige of his father, Gov. Benjamin Pierce. By 1831 he was Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives; from 1833 to 1837, he served in the federal House and from 1837 to 1842 in the Senate. His wife, Jane Means Appleton, whom he married in 1834, disliked Washington and the somewhat dissipated life led by Pierce; in 1842 Pierce resigned from the Senate and began a successful law practice in Concord, N.H. During the Mexican War, he was a brigadier general. Thereafter Pierce continued to oppose antislavery tendencies within the Democratic Party. As a result, he was the Southern choice to break the deadlock at the Democratic convention of 1852 and was nominated on the 49th ballot. In the election, Pierce overwhelmed Gen. Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate. As president, Pierce followed a course of appeasing the South at home and of playing with schemes of territorial expansion abroad. The failure of his foreign and domestic policies prevented his renomination. He died in Concord in relative obscurity.

1890 – Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (d.1973) was born in Columbus, Ohio. He became America’s “Ace of Aces” in World War I with more than 20 kills. Rickenbacker was already a famous race car driver when he entered World War I at age 28. Although he was considered too old to become an aviator, “Rick,” ultimately won the Medal of Honor for his wartime exploits. “If a thing is old, it is a sign that it was fit to live. … The guarantee of continuity is quality.”

1899 – A force of 375 Marines under command of future Commandant George F. Elliott, attacked and captured the insurgent town of Novaleta, Luzon, Philippine Islands, and linked up with U.S. Army troops. There were 11 Marine casualties.

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1918 – Sgt. Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France. Corporal Alvin C. York’s platoon was advancing toward the Decauville railway when they were hit with machinegun fire from all sides. The doughboys captured one gun, but the noise drew the fire of the remaining German emplacements, killing six and seriously wounding three Americans. As the most senior of the remaining doughboys, York went out alone to engage the enemy with just his rifle and service revolver, picking off the machinegunners one by one. When the fighting was over, York had single-handedly eliminated 35 machine guns, killed more than 20 Germans and taken 132 members of a Prussian Guards regiment as prisoners. A modest man, York shrugged off his heroic actions, saying, “It’s over; let’s forget it.”

1942 – Fight at Matanikau River, Guadalcanal. This Third Battle of the Matanikau was a U.S. success: the Marines mauled a Japanese infantry regiment and disrupted their offensive by capturing assembly and artillery positions on the east bank of the Matanikau.
1944 – The Battle of Crucifix Hill occurs just outside Aachen. Capt. Bobbie Brown receives a Medal of Honor for his heroics in this battle. The Battle of Crucifix Hill took place on Crucifix Hill (Haarberg) (Hill 239), next to the village of Haaren in Germany and was a part of the U.S. 1st Division’s campaign to seize Aachen, Germany. The Battle of Aachen was part of the Drive to the Siegfried Line. The hill was named after a large crucifix mounted on the top of the hill. The objective of the battle was to gain control of the hill, which was laced with a maze of pillboxes and bunkers, so that the main objective of encircling Aachen could be completed. The hill was held by units of the German 246. Volksgrenadier Division.

1945 – President Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

1950 – Chinese Premier Mao Tse-tung secretly ordered Chinese “volunteers” to “resist the attacks of U.S. imperialism.”

1952 – The Chinese began an offensive in Korea.

1952 – Operation RED COW, a joint Navy -Air Force mission against enemy positions near Kaesong, was conducted with Navy F2H Banshee fighter jets from Task Force 77 providing fighter escort for Air Force B -29 Super Fortress bombers. This was one of only two instances in the war in which Navy fighters escorted Air Force bombers.

1955 – The aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was launched at Brooklyn. The fifth Saratoga (CV 3) was laid down on 25 September 1920 as Battle Cruiser #3 by the New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N.J.; ordered converted to an aircraft carrier and reclassified CV-3 on 1 July 1922 in accordance with the Washington Treaty limiting naval armaments. The ship was launched on 7 April 1925, sponsored by Mrs. Curtis D. Wilbur, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned on 16 November 1927, Capt. Harry E. Yarnell in command. Saratoga, the first fast carrier in the United States Navy, quickly proved the value of her type. She sailed from Philadelphia on 6 January 1928 for shakedown, and, on 11 January, her air officer, the future World War II hero, Marc A. Mitscher, landed the first aircraft on board. In an experiment on 27 January, the rigid airship Los Angeles (ZR-3) moored to Saratoga’s stern and took on fuel and stores. The same day Saratoga sailed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal. She was diverted briefly between 14 and 16 February to carry Marines to Corinto, Nicaragua, and finally joined the Battle Fleet at San Pedro, Calif., on 21 February. The rest of the year was spent in training and final machinery shakedown.

On 15 January 1929, Saratoga sailed from San Diego with the Battle Fleet to participate in her first fleet exercise, Fleet Problem IX. In a daring move Saratoga was detached from the fleet with only a single cruiser as escort to make a wide sweep to the south and “attack” the Panama Canal, which was defended by the Scouting Fleet and Saratoga’s sister ship, USS Lexington (CV 2). She successfully launched her strike on 26 January, and despite being “sunk” three times later in the day, proved the versatility of a fast task force centered around a carrier. The idea was incorporated into fleet doctrine and reused the following year in Fleet Problem X in the Caribbean. This time, however, Saratoga and carrier, USS Langley (CV 1), were “disabled” by a surprise attack from Lexington, showing how quickly air power could swing the balance in a naval action. Following the fleet concentration in the Caribbean Saratoga took part in the Presidential Review at Norfolk in May and returned to San Pedro on 21 June 1930.

During the remaining decade before World War II Saratoga exercised in the San Diego-San Pedro area, except for the annual fleet problems and regular overhauls at the Bremerton Navy Yard. In the fleet problems, Saratoga continued to assist in the development of fast carrier tactics, and her importance was recognized by the fact that she was always a high priority target for the opposing forces. The fleet problem for 1932 was planned for Hawaii, and, by coincidence occurred during the peak of the furor following the “Manchurian incident” in which Japan started on the road to World War II. Saratoga exercised in the Hawaii area from 31 January to 19 March and returned to Hawaii for fleet exercises the following year between 23 January and 28 February 1933. On the return trip to the west coast, she launched a successful air “attack” on the Long Beach area.

Exercises in 1934 took Saratoga to the Caribbean and the Atlantic for an extended period, from 9 April to 9 November, and were followed by equally extensive operations with the United States Fleet in the Pacific the following year. Between 27 April and 6 June 1936, she participated in a fleet problem in the Canal Zone, and she then returned with the fleet to Hawaii for exercises from 16 April to 28 May 1937. On 15 March 1938, Saratoga sailed from San Diego for Fleet Problem XIX, again conducted off Hawaii. During the second phase of the problem, Saratoga launched a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor from a point 100 miles off Oahu, setting a pattern that the Japanese copied in December 1941. During the return to the west coast, Saratoga and Lexington followed this feat with “strikes” on Mare Island and Alameda. Saratoga was under overhaul during the 1939 fleet concentration, but, between 2 April and 21 June 1940, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last to be held due to the deepening world crisis. Between 14 and 29 October 1940, Saratoga transported a draft of military personnel from San Pedro to Hawaii, and, on 6 January 1941, she entered the Bremerton Navy Yard for a long deferred modernization, including widening her flight deck forward and fitting a blister on her starboard side and additional small antiaircraft guns. Departing Bremerton on 28 April 1941, the carrier participated in a landing force exercise in May and made two trips to Hawaii between June and October as the diplomatic crisis with Japan came to a head.

When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Saratoga was just entering San Diego after an interim drydocking at Bremerton. She hurriedly got underway the following day as the nucleus of a third carrier force [Lexington and USS Enterprise (CV 6) were already at sea], carrying Marine aircraft intended to reinforce the vulnerable garrison on Wake Island. Presence of these aircraft on board made Saratoga the logical choice for the actual relief effort. She reached Pearl Harbor on 15 December and stopped only long enough to fuel. She then rendezvoused with USS Tangier (AV-8), which had relief troops and supplies on board, while Lexington and Enterprise provided distant cover for the operation.

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However, the Saratoga force was delayed by the low speed of its oiler and by a decision to refuel destroyers on 21 December. After receiving reports of Japanese carrier aircraft over the island and Japanese landings on it, the relief force was recalled on 22 December. Wake fell the next day. Saratoga continued operations in the Hawaiian Island region, but on 11 January 1942, when heading towards a rendezvous with Enterprise, 500 miles southwest of Oahu, she was hit without warning by a deep-running torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine, I-16. Although six men were killed and three fire rooms were flooded, the carrier reached Oahu under her own power. There, her 8-inch guns, useless against aircraft, were removed for installation in shore defenses, and the carrier proceeded to the Bremerton Navy Yard for permanent repairs and installation of a modern anti-aircraft battery. Saratoga departed Puget Sound on 22 May for San Diego. She arrived there on 25 May and was training her air group when intelligence was received of an impending Japanese assault on Midway. Due to the need to load planes and stores and to collect escorts, the carrier was unable to sail until 1 June and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 6th after the Battle of Midway had ended. She departed Pearl Harbor on 7 June after fueling; and, on 11 June, transferred 34 aircraft to USS Hornet (CV 8) and Enterprise to replenish their depleted air groups. The three carriers then turned north to counter Japanese activity reported in the Aleutians, but the operation was canceled and Saratoga returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June. Between 22 and 29 June 1942, Saratoga ferried Marine and Army aircraft to the garrison on Midway.

On 7 July, she sailed for the southwest Pacific; and, from 28 to 30 July, she provided air cover for landing rehearsals in the Fiji Islands in preparation for landings on Guadalcanal. As flagship of Real Admiral F. J. Fletcher, Saratoga opened the Guadalcanal assault early on 7 August when she turned into the wind to launch aircraft. She provided air cover for the landings for the next two days. On the first day, a Japanese air attack was repelled before it reached the carriers, but since further attacks were expected, the carrier force withdrew on the afternoon of 8 August towards a fueling rendezvous. As a result, it was too far away to retaliate after four Allied cruisers were sunk that night in the Battle of Savo Island. The carrier force continued to operate east of the Solomons, protecting the sea lanes to the beachhead and awaiting a Japanese naval counterattack. The counterattack began to materialize when a Japanese transport force was detected on 23 August 1942, and Saratoga launched a strike against it. The aircraft were unable to find the enemy, however, and spent the night on Guadalcanal. As they were returning on board the next day, the first contact report on enemy carriers was received. Two hours later, Saratoga launched a strike which sent Japanese carrier Ryujo to the bottom. Later in the afternoon, as an enemy strike from other carriers was detected, Saratoga hastily launched the aircraft on her deck, and these found and damaged the Japanese seaplane tender Chitose.

Meanwhile, due to cloud cover, Saratoga escaped detection by the Japanese aircraft, which concentrated their attack on, and damaged, Enterprise. The American force fought back fiercely and weakened enemy air strength so severely that the Japanese recalled their transports before they reached Guadalcanal. After landing her returning aircraft at night on 24 August, Saratoga refueled on the 25th and resumed her patrols east of the Solomons. A week later, a destroyer reported torpedo wakes heading toward the carrier, but the 888-foot flattop could not turn quickly enough. A minute later, a torpedo from I-26 slammed into the blister on her starboard side. The torpedo killed no one and only flooded one fireroom, but the impact caused short circuits which damaged Saratoga’s turbo-electric propulsion system and left her dead in the water. The cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA 36) took the carrier under tow while she flew her aircraft off to shore bases. By early afternoon, Saratoga’s engineers had improvised a circuit out of the burned wreckage of her main control board and had given her a speed of 10 knots.

After repairs at Tongatabu from 6 to 12 September, Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 September for permanent repairs. Saratoga sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 November 1942 and proceeded, via Fiji, to Noumea which she reached on 5 December. She operated in the vicinity of Noumea for the next twelve months, providing air cover for minor operations and protecting American forces in the eastern Solomons. Between 17 May and 31 July 1943, she was reinforced by the British carrier, HMS Victorious, and, on 20 October, she was joined by USS Princeton (CVL 23). As troops stormed ashore on Bougainville on 1 November, Saratoga’s aircraft neutralized nearby Japanese airfields on Buka. Then, on 5 November, in response to reports of Japanese cruisers concentrating at Rabaul to counterattack the Allied landing forces, Saratoga conducted perhaps her most brilliant strike of the war. Her aircraft penetrated the heavily defended port and disabled most of the Japanese cruisers, ending the surface threat to Bougainville. Saratoga, herself, escaped unscathed and returned to raid Rabaul again on 11 November. Saratoga and Princeton were then designated the Relief Carrier Group for the offensive in the Gilberts, and, after striking Nauru on 19 November, they rendezvoused on 23 November 1943 with the transports carrying garrison troops to Makin and Tarawa. The carriers provided air cover until the transports reached their destinations, and then maintained air patrols over Tarawa.

By this time, Saratoga had steamed over a year without repairs, and she was detached on 30 November to return to the United States. She underwent overhaul at San Francisco from 9 December 1943 to 3 January 1944, and had her antiaircraft battery augmented for the last time, receiving 60 40-millimeter guns in place of 36 20-millimeter guns. The carrier arrived at Pearl Harbor on 7 January 1944, and, after a brief period of training, sailed from Pearl Harbor on 19 January with light carriers, USS Langley (CV 27) and USS Princeton (CVL 23), to support the drive in the Marshalls. Her aircraft struck Wotje and Taroa for three days, from 29 to 31 January, and then pounded Engebi, the main island at Eniwetok, the 3d to the 6th and from the 10th to the 12th of February. Her planes delivered final blows to Japanese defenses on the 16th, the day before the landings, and provided close air support and CAP over the island until 28 February. Saratoga then took leave of the main theaters of the Pacific war for almost a year, to carry out important but less spectacular assignments elsewhere. Her first task was to help the British initiate their carrier offensive in the Far East.

On 4 March 1944, Saratoga departed Majuro with an escort of three destroyers, and sailed via Espiritu Santo; Hobart, Tasmania; and Fremantle, Australia, to join the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. She rendezvoused at sea on 27 March with the British force, composed of carrier, HMS Illustrious, and four battleships with escorts, and arrived with them at Trincomalee, Ceylon, on 31 March. On 12 April, the French battleship, Richelieu, arrived, adding to the international flavor of the force. During the next two days, the carriers conducted intensive training at sea during which Saratoga’s fliers tried to impart some of their experience to the British pilots. On 16 April, the Eastern Fleet, with Saratoga, sailed from Trincomalee, and, on the 19th, the aircraft from the two carriers struck the port of Sabang, off the northwest tip of Sumatra. The Japanese were caught by surprise by the new offensive, and much damage was done to port facilities and oil reserves. The raid was so successful that Saratoga delayed her departure in order to carry out a second. Sailing again from Ceylon on 6 May, the force struck at Soerabaja, Java, on 17 May with equally successful results. Saratoga was detached the following day, and passed down the columns of the Eastern Fleet as the Allied ships rendered honors to and cheered each other. Saratoga arrived at Bremerton, Wash., on 10 June 1944 and was under repair there through the summer.

On 24 September, she arrived at Pearl Harbor and commenced her second special assignment, training night fighter squadrons. Saratoga had experimented with night flying as early as 1931, and many carriers had been forced to land returning aircraft at night during the war; but, only in August 1944, did a carrier, USS Independence (CVL 22), receive an air group specially equipped to operate at night. At the same time, Carrier Division 11, composed of Saratoga and USS Ranger (CV-4), was commissioned at Pearl Harbor to train night pilots and develop night flying doctrine. Saratoga continued this important training duty for almost four months, but as early as October, her division commander was warned that “while employed primarily for training, Saratoga is of great value for combat and is to be kept potentially available for combat duty.”

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The call came in January 1945. Light carriers like Independence had proved too small for safe night operations, and Saratoga was rushed out of Pearl Harbor on 29 January 1945 to form a night fighter task group with Enterprise for the Iwo Jima operation. Saratoga arrived at Ulithi on 7 February and sailed three days later, with Enterprise and four other carrier task groups. After landing rehearsals with Marines at Tinian on 12 February, the carrier force carried out diversionary strikes on the Japanese home islands on the night of 16 and 17 February before the landings on Iwo Jima. Saratoga was assigned to provide fighter cover while the remaining carriers launched the strikes on Japan, but, in the process, her fighters raided two Japanese airfields. The force fueled on 18 and 19 February; and, on 21 February 1945, Saratoga was detached with an escort of three destroyers to join the amphibious forces and carry out night patrols over Iwo Jima and night heckler missions over nearby Chi-chi Jima. However, as she approached her operating area at 1700 on the 21st, an air attack developed, and taking advantage of low cloud cover and Saratoga’s insufficient escort, six Japanese planes scored five hits on the carrier in three minutes. Saratoga’s flight deck forward was wrecked, her starboard side was holed twice and large fires were started in her hangar deck, while she lost 123 of her crew dead or missing. Another attack at 1900 scored an additional bomb hit.

By 2015, the fires were under control and the carrier was able to recover aircraft, but she was ordered to Eniwetok and then to the west coast for repairs, and arrived at Bremerton on 16 March. On 22 May, Saratoga departed Puget Sound fully repaired, and she resumed training pilots at Pearl Harbor on 3 June. She ceased training duty on 6 September, after the Japanese surrender, and sailed from Hawaii on 9 September transporting 3,712 returning naval veterans home to the United States under Operation Magic Carpet. By the end of her Magic Carpet service, Saratoga had brought home 29,204 Pacific war veterans, more than any other individual ship. At the time, she also held the record for the greatest number of aircraft landed on a carrier, with a lifetime total of 98,549 landings in 17 years. With the arrival of large numbers of Essex-class carriers, Saratoga was surplus to postwar requirements, and she was assigned to Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll to test the effect of the atomic bomb on naval vessels. She survived the first blast, an air burst on 1 July, with only minor damage, but was mortally wounded by the second on 25 July, an underwater blast which was detonated under a landing craft 500 yards from the carrier. Salvage efforts were prevented by radioactivity, and seven and one-half hours after the blast, with her funnel collapsed across her deck, Saratoga slipped beneath the surface of the lagoon. She was struck from the Navy list on 15 August 1946. Saratoga received seven battle stars for her World War II service.

1957 – Jack Soble, confessed Soviet spy, was sentenced in NYC to a ridiculously short term of 7 years for espionage.

1960 – USS Constellation (CV-64) was launched, a Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the “new constellation of stars” on the flag of the United States. The contract to build her was awarded to the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, on 1 July 1956, and her keel was laid down 14 September 1957, at the New York Navy Yard. She was sponsored by Mary Herter (wife of Secretary of State Christian Herter), delivered to the Navy 1 October 1961, and commissioned 27 October 1961, with Captain T.J. Walker in command. At that time, she had cost about US$400 million. On 19 December 1960, fire swept through the USS Constellation while it was under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, injuring 150, killing 50, and doing $75 million worth of damage. When deployed to the Middle East as part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Constellation carried nine squadrons: VF-2 Bounty Hunters (ten F-14D Tomcats); VFA-137 Kestrels, VFA-151 Vigilantes, and VMFA-323 Death Rattlers (each with 12 F/A-18C Hornets); VAW-116 Sun Kings (four E-2C Hawkeyes); VAQ-131 Lancers (four EA-6B Prowlers); VS-38 Red Griffins (eight S-3B Vikings); HS-2 Golden Falcons (two SH-60F Seahawks and six HH-60H Pave Hawks); VRC-30 Providers Detachment 2 (two C-2A Greyhounds). In early 2003, plans are for Constellation to go into mothballs after she completes her deployment. Connie will be replaced by Ronnie, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76).

1968 – U.S. forces in Vietnam launched Operation Sealords, an attack on North Vietnamese supply lines and base areas. Concieved by Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., it was a joint operation between U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. SEALORD was intended to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines in and around the Mekong Delta. As a two-year operation, by 1971 all aspects of SEALORD had been turned over to the South Vietnam Navy. As U.S. forces prepared the South Vietnamese military to assume complete responsibility for the war, they also worked to keep pressure on the enemy. In fact, from 1968 to 1971, the allies exploited the Communists’ staggering battlefield losses during the Tet attacks by pushing the enemy’s large main force units out to the border areas, extending the government’s presence into Viet Cong strongholds, and consolidating control over population centers. The Navy in particular spearheaded a drive in the Mekong Delta to isolate and destroy the weakened Communist forces. The SEALORDS (Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy) program was a determined effort by U.S. Navy, South Vietnamese Navy, and allied ground forces to cut enemy supply lines from Cambodia and disrupt operations at his base areas deep in the delta. It was developed by Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., appointed COMNAVFORV (= Commander US Naval Forces Vietnam) in September 1968. When Admiral Zumwalt launched SEALORDS in October 1968 with the blessing of the new COMUSMACV (= Commander of US Military Assistance Command Vietnam), General Creighton Abrams, allied naval forces in South Vietnam were at peak strength. The U.S. Navy’s Coastal Surveillance Force operated 81 Swift boats, 24 Coast Guard WPBs, and 39 other vessels. The River Patrol Force deployed 258 patrol and minesweeping boats; the 3,700-man Riverine Assault Force counted 184 monitors, transports, and other armored craft; and Helicopter Attack Squadron Light (HAL) 3 flew 25 armed helicopters. This air component was soon augmented by the 15 fixed-wing OV-10 Bronco aircraft of Attack Squadron Light (VAL) 4, activated in April 1969. The lethal Bronco flown by the “Black Ponies” of VAL-4 carried 8 to 16 5- inch Zuni rockets, 19 2.75-inch rockets, 4 M-60 machine guns, and a 20-millimeter cannon. In addition, five SEAL platoons supported operations in the delta.

Complementing the American naval contingent were the Vietnamese Navy’s 655 ships, assault craft, patrol boats, and other vessels. To focus the allied effort on the SEALORDS campaign, COMNAVFORV appointed his deputy the operational commander, or “First SEALORD,” of the newly activated Task Force 194. Although continuing to function, the Game Warden, Market Time, and Riverine Assault Force operations were scaled down and their personnel and material resources increasingly devoted to SEALORDS. Task Force 115 PCFs mounted lightning raids into enemy-held coastal waterways and took over patrol responsibility for the delta’s larger rivers. This freed the PBRs for operations along the previously uncontested smaller rivers and canals. These intrusions into former Viet Cong bastions were possible only with the on-call support of naval aircraft and the heavily armed riverine assault craft. In the first phase of the SEALORDS campaign allied forces established patrol “barriers,” often using electronic sensor devices, along the waterways paralleling the Cambodian border. In early November 1968, PBRs and riverine assault craft opened two canals between the Gulf of Siam at Rach Gia and the Bassac River at Long Xuyen. South Vietnamese paramilitary ground troops helped naval patrol units secure the transportation routes in this operational area, soon named Search Turn. Later in the month, Swift boats, PBRs, riverine assault craft, and Vietnamese naval vessels penetrated the Giang Thanh-Vinh Te canal system and established patrols along the waterway from Ha Tien on the gulf to Chau Doc on the upper Bassac. As a symbol of the Vietnamese contribution to the combined effort, the allied command changed the name of this operation from Foul Deck to Tran Hung Dao I. Then in December U.S. naval forces pushed up the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers west of Saigon, against heavy enemy opposition, to cut infiltration routes from the “Parrot’s Beak” area of Cambodia. The Giant Slingshot operation, so named for the configuration of the two rivers, severely hampered Communist resupply in the region near the capital and in the Plain of Reeds. Completing the first phase of the SEALORDS program, in January 1969 PBRs, assault support patrol boats (ASPB), and other river craft established patrol sectors along canals westward from the Vam Co Tay to the Mekong River in Operation Barrier Reef. Thus, by early 1969 a patrolled waterway interdiction barrier extended almost uninterrupted from Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon to the Gulf of Siam.

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