This Date in Military History:

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1956 – Following nearly two weeks of protest and political instability in Hungary, Soviet tanks and troops viciously crush the protests. Thousands were killed and wounded, and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country. The problems in Hungary had begun in October, when thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding a more democratic political system and freedom from Soviet oppression. In response, Communist Party officials appointed Imre Nagy, (a former premier who had been dismissed from the party for his criticisms of Stalinist policies), as the new premier. Nagy tried to restore peace and asked the Soviets to withdraw their troops. The Soviets did so, but Nagy then tried to push the Hungarian revolt forward by abolishing one-party rule. He also announced that Hungary was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet bloc’s equivalent of NATO).

On November 4, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to stop Hungary’s movement away from the communist bloc. Vicious street fighting broke out, but the Soviets’ greater power insured the doom of the rebels. After the deaths and injuries of thousands of Hungarians, the protests were finally put down. Nagy was captured shortly thereafter and was executed two years later. The Soviet action stunned many people in the West. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had pledged a retreat from the Stalinist policies and repression of the past, but the violent actions in Budapest suggested otherwise. Inaction on the part of the United States angered and frustrated many Hungarians. Voice of America radio broadcasts and speeches by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had recently suggested that the United States supported the “liberation” of “captive peoples” in communist nations. Yet, as Soviet tanks bore down on the protesters, the United States did nothing beyond issuing public statements of sympathy for their plight.

1962 – In a test of the Nike Hercules air defense missile, Shot Dominic-Tightrope is successfully detonated 69,000 feet above Johnston Atoll. It would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States.

1969 – In the biggest battle in four months, South Vietnamese infantry, supported by U.S. planes and artillery, clash with North Vietnamese troops for 10 hours near Duc Lop near the Cambodian border. Eighty communist troops were reported killed. South Vietnamese losses included 24 killed and 38 wounded.

1970 – The United States hands over an air base in the Mekong Delta to the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) as part of the Vietnamization program. President Richard Nixon initiated this program in 1969 to increase the fighting capability of South Vietnam so they could assume more responsibility for the war. It included the provision of new equipment and weapons and an intensified advisory effort. Secretary of the Air Force Robert Seamans and Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam, attended the ceremony. The air base became the home of two South Vietnamese helicopter squadrons, with the United States providing 62 aircraft, 31 of which were turned over along with the air base. By 1973, after additional equipment and aircraft transfers had been made to VNAF, the air base had a fleet of 1,700 aircraft, including more than 500 helicopters.

1971 – USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636) launches a Poseidon C-3 missile in first surface launch of Poseidon missile.

1976 – The first Marine Corps Marathon kicked off in Washington, DC.

1978 – Iranian troops fired on anti-Shah student protesters by Tehran University.

1979 – Student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini send shock waves across America when they storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The radical Islamic fundamentalists took 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the United States for medical treatment and they threatened to murder hostages if any rescue was attempted. Days later, Iran’s provincial leader resigned, and the Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s fundamentalist revolutionaries, took full control of the country–and the fate of the hostages. Two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the United States government. The remaining 52 captives were left at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations finally began between the United States and Iran. On January 20, 1981–the day of Reagan’s inauguration–the United States freed almost $3 billion in frozen Iranian assets and promised $5 billion more in financial aid. Minutes after Reagan was sworn in, the hostages flew out of Iran on an Algerian airliner, ending their 444-day ordeal. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet them on their way home.

1980 – Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th president of the United States. He beat President Carter by a wide margin. In the campaign of 1980 there were very clear issues dividing the candidates. Carter supported the Equal Rights Amendment, while Reagan opposed it. Reagan opposed S.A.L.T. II, while Carter supported it. Carter called for a national health insurance program. Ultimately, however, it was not these issues but the twin issues of the American Hostages in Iran and what the Republicans called the misery index (inflation plus unemployment) ended Carter’s chance of being re-elected.

1984 – In a ceremony at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, President Reagan signed a measure providing for U.S. participation in an anti-genocide treaty signed by President Truman in 1948.

1988 – The CGC Northwind seizes the P/C Alexi I off Jamaica for carrying 20 tons of marijuana, becoming the first icebreaker to make a narcotics seizure.

1989 – Iran marked the 10th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.

1990 – Secretary of State James Baker visited US troops in the Saudi Arabian desert.

1990 – Iraq issued a new broadside, saying it was prepared to fight a “dangerous war” rather than give up Kuwait.

1992 – Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency announced the arrest of American businessman Milton Meier, who had lived in Iran for 17 years, on charges of illegal business dealings and espionage.

1997 – Iraq agreed to postpone the expulsion of American weapons inspectors until after U.N. envoys finished their mission.

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1997 – US sanctions against Sudan were tightened due to the Iran-allied government’s support for int’l. terrorism and abysmal human-rights record. After lobbying by US trade associations the sanctions excluded US imports for gum arabic, a key ingredient for soft drinks, and other goods as an emulsifier.

1998 – A federal grand jury in Manhattan returned a 238-count indictment that charged Osama bin Laden for the US embassy bombings in Africa.

1999 – Some ten-thousand Iranian students rallied outside the former US Embassy in Tehran to mark the 20th anniversary of its seizure by Islamic militants.

2000 – President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leaking of government secrets.

2001 – The US moved more special operations forces into Afghanistan and continued air strikes on the Taliban front lines. The Air Force dropped a 15,000 pound fuel-air explosion bomb called a Daisy Cutter that was last used in the Vietnam War. Thousands of foreign volunteers were reported moving to the Taliban front lines.

2001 – The US reached a tentative agreement with Tajikistan for military cooperation in exchange for tens of millions of dollars.

2001 – It was reported that both Poland and the Czech Republic would send military forces to assist the US in Afghanistan.

2001 – It was reported that the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur cited bin Laden as possibly possessing an arsenal of biochemical weapons. US intelligence sources were cited that bin Laden purchased laboratories from the former Yugoslavia, Ebola virus from former Soviet stockpiles, botulism from the Czech Republic, anthrax from North Korea and the assistance of chemists and biologists from the Ukraine.

2004 – In Iraq US jets pounded parts of Fallujah, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.

2004 – In Iraq SCIRI (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) militants dressed as police abducted and executed 12 Iraqi National Guards traveling home to Najaf.

2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.

2011 – U.S. General John R. Allen, the head of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, sacks Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller for making inappropriate comments about Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*OKUBO, JAMES K.
Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 28 and 29 October and 4 November 1944, in the Foret Domaniale de Champ, near Biffontaine, eastern France. On 28 October, under strong enemy fire coming from behind mine fields and roadblocks, Technician Fifth Grade Okubo, a medic, crawled 150 yards to within 40 yards of the enemy lines. Two grenades were thrown at him while he left his last covered position to carry back wounded comrades. Under constant barrages of enemy small arms and machine gun fire, he treated 17 men on 28 October and 8 more men on 29 October. On 4 November, Technician Fifth Grade Okubo ran 75 yards under grazing machine gun fire and, while exposed to hostile fire directed at him, evacuated and treated a seriously wounded crewman from a burning tank, who otherwise would have died. Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

*PHILLIPS, LEE H.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Company E, 2d Battalion, 7 Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Korea, 4 November 1950. Entered service at: Ben Hill, Ga. Born: 3 February 1930, Stockbridge, Ga. Cpl. Phillips was killed in action 27 November 1950. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader of Company E, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Assuming the point position in the attack against a strongly defended and well-entrenched numerically superior enemy force occupying a vital hill position which had been unsuccessfully assaulted on 5 separate occasions by units of the Marine Corps and other friendly forces, Cpl. Phillips fearlessly led his men in a bayonet charge up the precipitous slope under a deadly hail of hostile mortar, small-arms, and machine gun fire.

Quickly rallying his squad when it was pinned down by a heavy and accurate mortar barrage, he continued to lead his men through the bombarded area and, although only 5 members were left in the casualty ridden unit, gained the military crest of the hill where he was immediately subjected to an enemy counterattack. Although greatly outnumbered by an estimated enemy squad, Cpl. Phillips boldly engaged the hostile force with hand grenades and rifle fire and, exhorting his gallant group of marines to follow him, stormed forward to completely overwhelm the enemy. With only 3 men now left in his squad, he proceeded to spearhead an assault on the last remaining strongpoint which was defended by 4 of the enemy on a rocky and almost inaccessible portion of the hill position. Using 1 hand to climb up the extremely hazardous precipice, he hurled grenades with the other and, with 2 remaining comrades, succeeded in annihilating the pocket of resistance and in consolidating the position. Immediately subjected to a sharp counterattack by an estimated enemy squad, he skillfully directed the fire of his men and employed his own weapon with deadly effectiveness to repulse the numerically superior hostile force. By his valiant leadership, indomitable fighting spirit and resolute determination in the face of heavy odds, Cpl. Phillips served to inspire all who observed him and was directly responsible for the destruction of the enemy stronghold. His great personal valor reflects the highest credit upon himself and enhances and sustains the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

*POYNTER, JAMES I.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Sudong, Korea, 4 November 1950. Entered service at: Downey, Calif. Born: 1 December 1916, Bloomington, Ill. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader in a rifle platoon of Company A, in action against enemy aggressor forces during the defense of Hill 532, south of Sudong, Korea. When a vastly outnumbering, well-concealed hostile force launched a sudden, vicious counterattack against his platoon’s hasty defensive position, Sgt. Poynter displayed superb skill and courage in leading his squad and directing its fire against the onrushing enemy.

With his ranks critically depleted by casualties and he himself critically wounded as the onslaught gained momentum and the hostile force surrounded his position, he seized his bayonet and engaged in bitter hand-to-hand combat as the breakthrough continued. Observing 3 machineguns closing in at a distance of 25 yards, he dashed from his position and, grasping hand grenades from fallen marines as he ran, charged the emplacements in rapid succession, killing the crews of 2 and putting the other out of action before he fell, mortally wounded. By his self-sacrificing and valiant conduct, Sgt. Poynter inspired the remaining members of his squad to heroic endeavor in bearing down upon and repelling the disorganized enemy, thereby enabling the platoon to move out of the trap to a more favorable tactical position. His indomitable fighting spirit, fortitude, and great personal valor maintained in the face of overwhelming odds sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.


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5 November

1639 – 1st post office in the colonies opened in Massachusetts.

1653 – The Iroquois League signed a peace treaty with the French, vowing not to wage war with other tribes under French protection.

1768 – William Johnson, the northern Indian Commissioner, signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Iroquois Indians to acquire much of the land between the Tennessee and Ohio rivers for future settlement.

1780 – French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.

1782 – The Continental Congress elected John Hanson of Maryland its chairman, giving him the title of “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.” Hanson was born in Charles county, Maryland, in 1715; died in Oxen Hills, Prince George County, Maryland, 22 November, 1783. He received an English education, and was a member of the Maryland house of delegates nearly every year from 1757 till 1781. He removed to Frederick county in 1773, was an active patriot, and in 1775 was treasurer of the county. About that time he was commissioned by the Maryland convention to establish a gun-lock factory at Frederick. On 9 October, 1776. he was one of a committee to go to the camp of the Maryland troops in New Jersey, “with power to appoint officers and to encourage the re-enlistment of the Maryland militia.”, he was a delegate to the United States in Congress Assembled from 1781 till his death.

President Hanson served one year as the US President and in that capacity gave Washington the thanks of congress for the victory at Yorktown. President Hanson was the first to utilize the title President of the United States in Congress Assembled. As the President of United States in Congress Assembled, Hanson was responsible for initiating a number of programs that helped American gain a world position. During his tenure the first consular service was established, a post office department was initiated, a national bank was chartered, progress was made towards taking the first census, and a uniform system of coinage was adopted. As “President,” Hanson also signed a treaty with Holland affirming the indebtedness of the United States for a loan from that country. In addition, he signed all laws, regulations, official papers, and letters.

1814 – Having decided to abandon the Niagara frontier, the American army blew up Fort Erie and withdrew to Buffalo.

1818 – Benjamin Franklin (“Beast”) Butler (d.1893), Maj. General (Union volunteers), was born. American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Deerfield, N.H. He moved to Lowell, Mass., as a youth and later practiced law there and in Boston. He was elected to the state legislature in 1852 and 1858 and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1859 and 1860. Butler was a Democrat but a strong Unionist. At the beginning of the Civil War his contingent of Massachusetts militia was one of the first to reach Washington. He restored order (May, 1861) in secessionist Baltimore and was given command at Fort Monroe. He commanded the troops that accompanied Admiral Farragut in taking New Orleans and was made military governor of the city. There his highhanded rule (May–Dec., 1862) infuriated the people of New Orleans and the South and earned him the name “Beast.” The government, severely criticized both at home and abroad for his actions, finally removed him. In May, 1864, as commander of the Army of the James, Butler was defeated by Beauregard at Drewry’s Bluff and was bottled up at Bermuda Hundred until Grant crossed the James in June.

After he failed to take Fort Fisher in Dec., 1864, he was removed from active command. From 1867 to 1875 Butler, by then a rabid radical Republican, was in Congress. He was one of the House managers who conducted the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson, and he ardently advocated the party’s Reconstruction policy. He was said to have great influence with President Grant. Butler was (1877–79) an independent Greenbacker in Congress. After several unsuccessful attempts to secure the governorship of Massachusetts, he was elected by the Greenbackers and Democrats in 1882. In 1884 he received the nominations of the Anti-Monopoly and Greenback parties for President. Regarded by many as an unprincipled demagogue of great ability, Butler aroused intense antagonisms and was nearly always in controversy.

1831 – Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia.

1862 – In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of raping and murdering Anglo settlers and are sentenced to hang. A month later, President Abraham Lincoln commuted all but 39 of the death sentences. One of the Indians was granted a last-minute reprieve, but the other 38 were hanged simultaneously on December 26 in a bizarre mass execution witnessed by a large crowd of approving Minnesotans. The Santee Sioux were found guilty of joining in the so-called “Minnesota Uprising,” which was actually part of the wider Indian wars that plagued the West during the second half of the nineteenth century. For nearly half a century, Anglo settlers invaded the Santee Sioux territory in the beautiful Minnesota Valley, and government pressure gradually forced the Indians to relocate to smaller reservations along the Minnesota River. At the reservations, the Santee were badly mistreated by corrupt federal Indian agents and contractors; during July 1862, the agents pushed the Indians to the brink of starvation by refusing to distribute stores of food because they had not yet received their customary kickback payments. The contractors callously ignored the Santee’s pleas for help.

Outraged and at the limits of their endurance, the Santee finally struck back, killing Anglo settlers and taking women as hostages. The initial efforts of the U.S. Army to stop the Santee warriors failed, and in a battle at Birch Coulee, Santee Sioux killed 13 American soldiers and wounded another 47 soldiers. However, on September 23, a force under the leadership of General Henry H. Sibley finally defeated the main body of Santee warriors at Wood Lake, recovering many of the hostages and forcing most of the Indians to surrender. The subsequent trials of the prisoners gave little attention to the injustices the Indians had suffered on the reservations and largely catered to the popular desire for revenge. However, President Lincoln’s commutation of the majority of the death sentences clearly reflected his understanding that the Minnesota Uprising had been rooted in a long history of Anglo abuse of the Santee Sioux.

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1862 – President Abraham Lincoln relieved General George McClellan of command of the Union armies and named Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside commander of the Army of the Potomac. A tortured relationship ends when President Lincoln removes General George B. McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan ably built the army in the early stages of the war but was a sluggish and paranoid field commander who seemed unable to muster the courage to aggressively engage General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan was a promising commander who served as a railroad president before the war. In the early stages of the conflict, troops under McClellan’s command scored several important victories in the struggle for western Virginia. Lincoln summoned “Young Napoleon,” as some called the general, to Washington to take control of the Army of the Potomac a few days after its humiliating defeat at the Battle of First Bull Run in July. Over the next nine months, McClellan capably built a splendid army, drilling his troops and assembling an efficient command structure. He also developed extreme contempt for the president, and he often dismissed Lincoln’s suggestions out of hand. In 1862, McClellan led the army down Chesapeake Bay to the James Peninsula, southeast of the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. During this campaign, he exhibited the timidity and sluggishness that later doomed him.

During the Seven Days’ battles, McClellan was poised near Richmond but retreated when faced with a series of attacks by Lee. McClellan always believed that he was vastly outnumbered, though he actually had the numerical advantage. He spent the rest of the summer camped on the peninsula while Lincoln began moving much of his command to General John Pope’s Army of Virginia. After Lee defeated Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run in late August, he invaded Maryland. With the Confederates crashing into Union territory, Lincoln had no choice but to turn to McClellan to gather the reeling Yankee forces and stop Lee. On September 17, 1962, McClellan and Lee battled to a standstill along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg. Lee retreated back to Virginia and McClellan ignored Lincoln’s constant urging to pursue him. For six weeks, Lincoln and McClellan exchanged angry messages, but McClellan stubbornly refused to march after Lee. In late October, McClellan finally began moving across the Potomac in feeble pursuit of Lee, but he took nine days to complete the crossing. Lincoln had seen enough. Convinced that McClellan could never defeat Lee, Lincoln notified the general on November 4 of his removal. A few days later, Lincoln named General Ambrose Burnside to be the commander of the Army of the Potomac. After his removal, McClellan battled with Lincoln once more-for the presidency in 1864. McClellan won the Democratic nomination but was easily defeated by his old boss.

1872 – Ulysses S. Grant was re-elected US president. Incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant was easily elected to a second term in office despite a split within the Republican Party that resulted in a defection of many key Republicans to opponent Horace Greeley. On November 29, 1872, after the popular vote but before the electoral college was convened, Greeley died. As a result, electors previously committed to Greeley voted for four different candidates for President, and eight different candidates for Vice President. Despite the absence of life, Greeley himself still received three electoral votes, but these votes were disallowed by Congress. Henry Wilson, who was chosen by the Republicans to succeed Schuyler Colfax as Vice President, died on November 22, 1875.

1895 – George B. Selden received a patent for his gasoline-powered automobile, first conceived of when he was an infantryman in the American Civil War. After 16 years of delay, United States Patent No. 549,160 was finally issued to Selden for a machine he originally termed a “road-locomotive” and later would call a “road engine.” His design resembled a horse-drawn carriage, with high wheels and a buckboard, and was described by Selden as “light in weight, easy to control and possessed of sufficient power to overcome any ordinary incline.” With the granting of the patent, Selden, whose unpractical automotive designs were generally far behind other innovators in the field, nevertheless won a monopoly on the concept of combining an internal combustion engine with a carriage. Although Selden never became an auto manufacturer himself, every other automaker would have to pay Selden and his licensing company a significant percentage of their profits for the right to construct a motor car, even though their automobiles rarely resembled Selden’s designs in anything but abstract concept. In 1903, the newly created Ford Motor Company, which refused to pay royalties to Selden’s licensing company, was sued for infringement on the patent. Thus began one of the most celebrated litigation cases in the history of the automotive industry, ending in 1909 when a New York court upheld the validity of Selden’s patent. Henry Ford and his increasingly powerful company appealed the decision, and in 1911, the New York Court of Appeals again ruled in favor of Selden’s patent, but with a twist: the patent was held to be restricted to the particular outdated construction it described. In 1911, every important automaker used a motor significantly different from that described in Selden’s patent, and major manufacturers like the Ford Motor Company never paid Selden another dime.

1912 – Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th president of the United States, with Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. In a landslide Democratic victory, Wilson won 435 electoral votes against the eight won by Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and the 88 won by Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The presidential election was the only one in American history in which two former presidents were defeated by another candidate. Highlights of Wilson’s two terms as president included his leadership during World War I, his 14-point proposal to end the conflict, and his championing of the League of Nations–an international organization formed to prevent future armed conflict.

1913 – After pleas for help from city leaders following continued rioting on Election Day, Governor Samuel Ralston called out the Indiana National Guard and put the city of Indianapolis under martial law. The Indianapolis Streetcar Strike of 1913 and the subsequent police mutiny and riots was a breakdown in public order in Indianapolis, Indiana. The events began as a workers strike by the union employees of the Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company and their allies on Halloween night, October 31, 1913. The company was responsible for public transportation in Indianapolis, the capital city and transportation hub of the U.S. State of Indiana. The unionization effort was being organized by the Amalgamated Street Railway Employees of America who had successfully enforced strikes in other major United States cities. Company management suppressed the initial attempt by some of its employees to unionize and rejected an offer of mediation by the United States Department of Labor, which led to a rapid rise in tensions, and ultimately the strike.

Government response to the strike was politically charged, as the strike began during the week leading up to public elections. The strike effectively shut down mass transit in the city and caused severe interruptions of statewide rail transportation and the 1913 city elections. A riot that lasted four days broke out on November 2 when strikebreakers attempted to restart transit services. At its height, eight to ten thousand rioters flooded downtown Indianapolis and vandalized the city’s main business district. Numerous workers, strikebreakers, policemen, and bystanders were injured. Two strikebreakers and four union members were killed. The city police were unable to control the situation and refused orders to combat the rioters as the violence worsened.

1915 – In AB-2 flying boat, LCDR Henry C. Mustin makes first underway catapult launch from a ship, USS North Carolina, at Pensacola Bay, Florida.

1915 – Marines under Major Smedley D. Butler captured the stronghold at Fort Capois, Haiti. Butler led a reconnaissance force of twenty-six volunteers in pursuit of a Caco force that had killed ten Marines. Like the Cacos in the mountains, he and his men lived for days off the orange groves. For over a hundred miles they followed a trail of peels, estimating how long before the Cacos had passed by the dryness of the peels. A native guide they picked up helped them locate the Cacos’ headquarters, a secret fort called Capois, deep in the mountain range. Studying the mountaintop fort through field glasses, Butler made out thick stone walls, with enough activity to suggest they were defended by at least a regiment. He decided to return to Cape Haitien for reinforcements and capture it.

On the way back they were ambushed by a force of Cacos that outnumbered them twenty to one. Fortunately it was a pitch-black night, and Butler was able to save his men by splitting them up to crawl past the Cacos’ lines through high grass. Just before dawn he reorganized them into three squads of nine men each. Charging from three directions as they yelled wildly and fired from the hip, they created such a fearful din that the Cacos panicked and fled, leaving seventy-five killed. The only Marine casualty was one man wounded. When he was able to return with reinforcements, spies had alerted the Cacos, and Butler took a deserted Fort Capois without firing a shot.

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1917 – German submarine torpedoes USS Alcedo off French coast. Alcedo, a 981 gross ton steam yacht built in 1895 at Glasgow, Scotland, was purchased by the U.S. Navy in June 1917 and placed in commission as USS Alcedo (SP-166) late in July. She crossed the Atlantic the next month to join the patrol forces fighting enemy U-boats in the waters off western Europe. In the early hours while she was escorting a convoy en route to Brest, France, Alcedo was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-71.
Twenty-one of her crew were lost with their ship.

1918 – Americans cross Meuse at Brieulles and Clery-le-Petit and take Beaumont.

1918 – Leading US units reach the hills overlooking Sedan. The First Army boundary is ordered to be shifted to the east to allow the French 4th Army the honor of capturing Sedan site of a defeat in 1870 and redirect 1st Armies route of advance.

1923 – Tests designed to prove the feasibility of launching a small seaplane from a submarine occur at Hampton Roads Naval Base. A Martin MS-1, stored disassembled in a tank on board USS S-1, was removed and assembled. Then the submarine submerged allowing the plane to float free and take off.

1939 – After plotting with General Franz Halder, Chief of the German General Staff, and retired General Ludwig Beck, former Chief of the General Staff, to arrest Hitler, unless he relents on the plan for a western offensive, the Commander in Chief of the German Army, Field Marshall Walter von Brauchitsch, meets Hitler to discuss the plans for an attack in the west. He argues very strongly that it should not take place as scheduled on November 12th because of weaknesses in the army. Hitler loses his temper during the meeting but is unconvinced by the arguments. Brauchitsch loses his nerve and returns to OKH (Army High Command) headquarters at Zossen, where the conspiracy collapses. Meanwhile, Colonel Hans Oster of the Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) — one of the Zossen conspirators — warns Colonel Sas, the Dutch military attache in Berlin, of the impending invasion of the Low Countries. Sas informs the Belgian military attache.

1939 – The German government lodges a protest against the release of the interned US merchant ship City of Flint and the German prize crew. The protest is rejected.

1940 – President Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office, beating Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie along with Surprise Party challenger Gracie Allen. Roosevelt was elected to a third term with the promise of maintaining American neutrality as far as foreign wars were concerned: “Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely talk of American people sending its armies to European fields.” But as Hitler’s war spread, and the desperation of Britain grew, the president fought for passage of the Lend-Lease Act in Congress, in March 1941, which would commit financial aid to Great Britain and other allies. In August, Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to proclaim the Atlantic Charter, which would become the basis of the United Nations; they also drafted a statement to the effect that the United States “would be compelled to take countermeasures” should Japan further encroach in the southwest Pacific. Despite ongoing negotiations with Japan, that “further encroachment” took the form of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor-“a day that would live in infamy.” The next day Roosevelt requested, and received, a declaration of war against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Certain wartime decisions by Roosevelt proved controversial, such as the demand of unconditional surrender of the Axis powers, which some claim prolonged the war. Another was the acquiescence to Joseph Stalin of certain territories in the Far East in exchange for his support in the war against Japan. Roosevelt is often accused of being too naive where Stalin was concerned, especially in regard to “Uncle Joe’s” own imperial desires.

1941 – Japanese marine staff officers Suzuki and Maejima left Pearl Harbor.

1941 – The Japanese government decides to attempt to negotiate a settlement with the United States, setting a deadline of the end of November. The US rejects the offer because the Japanese will not repudiate the Tripartite Agreement with Italy and Germany and because the Japanese wish to maintain bases in China. The US code breaking service continues to intercept all Japanese diplomatic communication.

1942 – Admiral Tanaka takes command of the “Toyko Express,” the destroyer flotilla supplying Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.

1942 – American General Eisenhower arrives in Africa from Gibraltar to set up his headquarters for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. American General Doolittle and British Air Marshall Welsh will command the air forces. British General Anderson will lead the British 1st Army which comprises the main ground force.

1943 – US Task Force 38 (Admiral Sherman) with the carriers Saratoga and Princeton launches an attack on the Japanese naval squadron led by Admiral Kurita. A total of 107 American planes attack, resulting in damage to 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 2 destroyers. Only 10 American planes are lost. Later in the day, land-based Liberator bombers of the US 5th Air Force strike Rabaul and the Japanese squadron.

1943 – On Bougainville, the US 3rd Marine Division defeats a counterattack by the Japanese 23rd Regiment. Few of the large Japanese garrison (17th Army) oppose the landing because it is believed to be another diversion.

1943 – In Italy, the US 5th Army launches an assault on the German-held Reinhard Line. The German 14th Panzer Corps (Hube) defending here prevents significant gains. The defense is made easier by the difficult terrain and poor weather. Nonetheless, the offensive continues.

1944 – Three groups of US Task Force 38 (Admiral McCain) strike Japanese targets on Luzon and in the nearby waters. American losses are listed as 25 planes and the aircraft carrier USS Lexington is badly damaged by Kamikaze attacks. The Japanese losses are estimated at about 400 planes, 1 cruiser sunk (by an American submarine) and another cruiser badly damaged and beached.

1945 – Ensign Jake C. West (VF-41) makes first jet landing on board a carrier, USS Wake Island (CVE-65).

1949 – First Marine Corps enlisted pilots to fly “Shooting Star” begin training at El Toro.

1950 – General Douglas MacArthur ordered a heavy air offensive over North Korea, including the Yalu River bridges at Sinuiju. This order was in violation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff directive forbidding bombing within five miles of the Yalu River.

1950 – The 452nd Bombardment Wing (Light) sent its B-26s on their first combat mission. The 452nd was the first all-reserve Air Force unit to enter combat in Korea.

1950 – The 3rd Infantry Division, joined by the Puerto Rico’s famed 65th Infantry Regiment already in Korea, landed at Wonsan on the East Coast.

1961 – In the wake of the Soviet Union’s continued construction of the Berlin Wall which they started in August 1961, and a fear of possible conflict in Germany, on October 1st President John F. Kennedy mobilized selected reserve components units including elements of the Army and Air National Guard. To prove his determination to protect Germany along with the other NATO allies, he authorized the deployment of eleven Air Guard fighter squadrons to bases in Germany, France and Spain (a non-NATO ally). The first of these squadrons arrived in late October, less than a month after mobilization. By this date several, including Missouri’s 110th and New Jersey’s 141st tactical fighter squadrons, had their ground service personnel join them and they became fully operational. They soon began flying patrols along the border dividing East from West Germany. No Army Guard units were deployed overseas although two divisions and numerous non-divisional units were on active duty in the U.S. Fortunately, no war erupted and by the summer of 1962 all the Guard units were released from active duty.

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1968 – Winning one of the closest elections in U.S. history, Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Because of the strong showing of third-party candidate George Wallace, neither Nixon nor Humphrey received more than 50 percent of the popular vote; Nixon beat Humphrey by less than 500,000 votes. Nixon campaigned on a platform designed to reach the “silent majority” of middle class and working class Americans. He promised to “bring us together again,” and many Americans, weary after years of antiwar and civil rights protests, were happy to hear of peace returning to their streets. Foreign policy was also a major factor in the election. Humphrey was saddled with a Democratic foreign policy that led to what appeared to be absolute futility and agony in Vietnam. Nixon promised to find a way to “peace with honor” in Vietnam, though he was never entirely clear about how this was to be accomplished. The American people, desperate to find a way out of the Vietnam quagmire, were apparently ready to give the Republican an opportunity to make good on his claim. During his presidency, Nixon oversaw some dramatic changes in U.S. Cold War foreign policy, most notably his policy of detente with the Soviet Union and his 1972 visit to communist China. His promise to bring peace with honor in Vietnam, however, was more difficult to accomplish. American troops were not withdrawn until 1973, and South Vietnam fell to communist forces in 1975.

1970 – U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam reports the lowest weekly death toll in five years. Twenty-four Americans died in combat during the last week of October, the fifth consecutive week that the U.S. death toll was under 50. Although the numbers of American dead were down, 431 were wounded during the reported period, mostly from mines, booby traps, and mortar and sniper fire. The reduced number of U.S. casualties reflected the gradual transfer of the responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese under President Nixon’s Vietnamization program. While U.S. troops were still conducting combat operations, more and more of them were being withdrawn from Vietnam and the nature of their operations became more defensive.

1979 – Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini declared US “The Great Satan.”

1986 – USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China – the first US Naval visit to China since 1949.

1990 – Meir Kahane, an American-born rabbi and founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead in New York City. Egyptian El Sayyid Nosair was later charged with the murder but acquitted in a state trial. The federal government later decided that the killing was part of a larger terrorist conspiracy and thus claimed the right to retry Nosair. In 1995, he was convicted of killing Kahane during the conspiracy trial of Brooklyn-based Arab militants led by Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Nosair was sentenced to life imprisonment. Kahane, a charismatic Jewish leader who advocated expelling all Arabs from Israel, found followers in Israel and the United States. He formed the Jewish Defense League in the United States in the 1960s and in 1971 moved to Israel, where he founded the Kach Party. Because of its racist platform, Kach was forbidden from participating in Israeli elections after 1988, but it continued to be supported by extremist Jewish settlers in Israel’s occupied territories. In 1994, after a Jewish settler once affiliated with the Kach movement gunned down more than 30 Arabs worshipping in a mosque in the West Bank town of Hebron, Israel completely outlawed the organization.

1994 – Space probe Ulysses completed its 1st passage behind the Sun.

1996 – Pres. William Jefferson Clinton was re-elected in the US but voters kept Congress in Republican control. Without meaningful primary opposition, Clinton was able to focus on the general election early, while Dole was forced to move to the right and spend his campaign reserves fighting off challengers. As a result, Clinton could run a campaign through the summer defining his opponent as an aged conservative far from the mainstream before Dole was in a position to respond. Throughout the runup to the general election, Clinton maintained comfortable leads in the polls over Dole and Perot. The televised debates featured only Dole and Clinton, locking out Perot and Nader from the discussion. Perot, who had been allowed to participate in the 1992 debates, would eventually take his case to court, seeking damages from not being in the debate, as well as citing unfair coverage from the major media outlets. In the end, Clinton won with a clear lead over Dole and Perot won less than half as many votes as he had in 1992, although Clinton was narrowly denied the absolute majority of votes he had hoped for.

1997 – A UN inspector claimed that Iraq was taking advantage of the inspection halt and had moved sensitive machinery out of camera view at certain weapons sites.

1998 – The UN Security Council unanimously demanded that Iraq resume cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.

2000 – In Iraq passenger flights resumed in the no-fly zones in a challenge to US and British imposed sanctions.

2001 – US bombing continued to hit Taliban front lines and attacks concentrated on caves and tunnels. About 2 dozen US commandos were reported to be in Afghanistan.

2001 – Six U.S. Navy Cyclone-Class patrol coastal warships were assigned to Operation Noble Eagle on 5 November 2001. This was the first time that U.S. Navy ships were employed jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard to help protect our nation’s coastline, ports and waterways from terrorist attack.

2004 – The US government said intelligence agencies had tripled their estimate of shoulder fired surface-to-air missile systems to be at large worldwide. At least 4,000 of the weapons from Iraq’s pre-war arsenal could not be accounted for.

2004 – In Afghanistan Islamic militants holding 3 UN workers hostage set a new, fifth deadline for their execution.

2004 – US warplanes pounded Fallujah in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected assault.

2005 – Operation Steel Curtain was a military endeavor executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to reduce the flow of foreign insurgents crossing the border and joining the Iraqi insurgency. The operation was important in that it was the first large scale deployment of the New Iraqi Army. This offensive was part of the larger Operation Sayeed (Hunter), designed to prevent al Qaeda in Iraq from operating in the Euphrates River Valley and throughout Al Anbar and to establish a permanent Iraqi Army presence in the Al Qa’im region. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines and 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines began their assault on insurgent-held Karabilah, and had cleared the city four days later. Then on 6 November the coalition forces began to attack the city of Husaybah and pursue any insurgents who fled Karabilah. After four more days of fighting in Husaybah, the coalition troops launched another phase of the operation into the city of Ubaydi, an insurgent haven and site of the earlier Operation Matador. The fortified city fell to coalition forces after seven days of fighting, bringing a conclusion to Operation Steel Curtain. The assault on Sadah and a small portion of Karabilah was known as “Operation: Iron Fist”. The assault of Husaybah and Karabilah was “Operation: Steel Curtain”. So named because the resident leader of anti-coalition forces, al-Zarqawi, said they would hold onto Husaybah with an “iron fist”. Named by Coalition Commanders, “Operation Steel Curtain”, was a hardened sweep and clear mission hence “steel curtain” because American and New Iraqi Army flooded the two cities, and closed and secured the objective like a curtain made of steel.

2006 – Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi’a Muslims in 1982. Reactions to the verdicts against Saddam and his compatriots vary with approval from some areas, particularly Iran and Shi’a regions of Iraq, but condemnation of the trial and process from some other quarters of the Muslim world. United States officials called it “a good day for the Iraqi people”. The European Union, while welcoming the guilty verdicts, expresses its opposition to the imposition of the death penalty on humanitarian grounds.

2009 – US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 and wounds 29 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a US military installation.

2010 – The Government of Norway demands an explanation from the US Government on reports that the US embassy in Oslo conducted illegal surveillance on Norwegian citizens for more than ten years.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

COMFORT, JOHN W.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company A, 4th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Staked Plains, Tex., 5 November 1874. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 13 October 1875. Citation: Ran down and killed an Indian.

CONDON, CLARENCE M.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Battery G, 3d U.S. Artillery. Place and date: Near Calulut, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 5 November 1899. Entered service at: ——. Birth: South Brooksville, Maine. Date of issue: 11 March 1902. Citation: While in command of a detachment of 4 men, charged and routed 40 entrenched insurgents, inflicting on them heavy loss.

WEAVER, AMOS
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Between Calubus and Malalong, Philippine Islands, 5 November 1899. Entered service at: San Francisco, Calif. Born: 13 June 1869, Niles Township, Delaware County, Ind. Date of issue: 15 March 1902. Citation: Alone and unaided, charged a body of 15 insurgents, dislodging them, killing 4 and wounding several.

ALLWORTH, EDWARD C.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, 60th Infantry, 5th Division. Place and date: At Clery-le-Petit, France, 5 November 1918. Entered service at: Corvallis, Oreg. Born: 6 July 1887, Crawford, Wash. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: While his company was crossing the Meuse River and canal at a bridgehead opposite Clery-le-Petit, the bridge over the canal was destroyed by shell fire and Capt. Allworth’s command became separated, part of it being on the east bank of the canal and the remainder on the west bank. Seeing his advance units making slow headway up the steep slope ahead, this officer mounted the canal bank and called for his men to follow. Plunging in he swam across the canal under fire from the enemy, followed by his men. Inspiring his men by his example of gallantry, he led them up the slope, joining his hard-pressed platoons in front. By his personal leadership he forced the enemy back for more than a kilometer, overcoming machinegun nests and capturing 100 prisoners, whose number exceeded that of the men in his command. The exceptional courage and leadership displayed by Capt. Allworth made possible the re-establishment of a bridgehead over the canal and the successful advance of other troops.

CANN, TEDFORD H.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 3 September 1897, Bridgeport, Conn. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 366, 1918. Citation: For courageous conduct while serving on board the U.S.S. May, 5 November 1917. Cann found a leak in a flooded compartment and closed it at the peril of his life, thereby unquestionably saving the ship.

*RED CLOUD, MITCHELL, JR.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U S. Army, Company E, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Chonghyon, Korea, 5 November 1950. Entered service at: Merrilan Wis. Born: 2 July 1924, Hatfield, Wis. G.O. No.: 26, 25 April 1951. Citation: Cpl. Red Cloud, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. From his position on the point of a ridge immediately in front of the company command post he was the first to detect the approach of the Chinese Communist forces and give the alarm as the enemy charged from a brush-covered area less than 100 feet from him. Springing up he delivered devastating pointblank automatic rifle fire into the advancing enemy.

His accurate and intense fire checked this assault and gained time for the company to consolidate its defense. With utter fearlessness he maintained his firing position until severely wounded by enemy fire. Refusing assistance he pulled himself to his feet and wrapping his arm around a tree continued his deadly fire again, until he was fatally wounded. This heroic act stopped the enemy from overrunning his company’s position and gained time for reorganization and evacuation of the wounded. Cpl. Red Cloud’s dauntless courage and gallant self-sacrifice reflects the highest credit upon himself and upholds the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.

BAKER, JOHN F., JR.
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Pfc.), U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 5 November 1966. Entered service at: Moline, Ill. Born: 30 October 1945, Davenport, Iowa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. En route to assist another unit that was engaged with the enemy, Company A came under intense enemy fire and the lead man was killed instantly. Sgt. Baker immediately moved to the head of the column and together with another soldier knocked out 2 enemy bunkers. When his comrade was mortally wounded, Sgt. Baker, spotting 4 Viet Cong snipers, killed all of them, evacuated the fallen soldier and returned to lead repeated assaults against the enemy positions, killing several more Viet Cong. Moving to attack 2 additional enemy bunkers, he and another soldier drew intense enemy fire and Sgt. Baker was blown from his feet by an enemy grenade. He quickly recovered and single-handedly destroyed 1 bunker before the other soldier was wounded.

Seizing his fallen comrade’s machine gun, Sgt. Baker charged through the deadly fusillade to silence the other bunker. He evacuated his comrade, replenished his ammunition and returned to the forefront to brave the enemy fire and continue the fight. When the forward element was ordered to withdraw, he carried 1 wounded man to the rear. As he returned to evacuate another soldier, he was taken under fire by snipers, but raced beyond the friendly troops to attack and kill the snipers. After evacuating the wounded man, he returned to cover the deployment of the unit. His ammunition now exhausted, he dragged 2 more of his fallen comrades to the rear. Sgt. Baker’s selfless heroism, indomitable fighting spirit, and extraordinary gallantry were directly responsible for saving the lives of several of his comrades, and inflicting serious damage on the enemy. His acts were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

FOLEY, ROBERT F.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Quan Dau Tieng, Republic of Vietnam, 5 November 1966. Entered service at: Newton, Mass. Born: 30 May 1941, Newton, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Foley’s company was ordered to extricate another company of the battalion. Moving through the dense jungle to aid the besieged unit, Company A encountered a strong enemy force occupying well concealed, defensive positions, and the company’s leading element quickly sustained several casualties. Capt. Foley immediately ran forward to the scene of the most intense action to direct the company’s efforts. Deploying 1 platoon on the flank, he led the other 2 platoons in an attack on the enemy in the face of intense fire. During this action both radio operators accompanying him were wounded. At grave risk to himself he defied the enemy’s murderous fire, and helped the wounded operators to a position where they could receive medical care. As he moved forward again 1 of his machine gun crews was wounded.

Seizing the weapon, he charged forward firing the machine gun, shouting orders and rallying his men, thus maintaining the momentum of the attack. Under increasingly heavy enemy fire he ordered his assistant to take cover and, alone, Capt. Foley continued to advance firing the machine gun until the wounded had been evacuated and the attack in this area could be resumed. When movement on the other flank was halted by the enemy’s fanatical defense, Capt. Foley moved to personally direct this critical phase of the battle. Leading the renewed effort he was blown off his feet and wounded by an enemy grenade. Despite his painful wounds he refused medical aid and persevered in the forefront of the attack on the enemy redoubt. He led the assault on several enemy gun emplacements and, single-handedly, destroyed 3 such positions. His outstanding personal leadership under intense enemy fire during the fierce battle which lasted for several hours, inspired his men to heroic efforts and was instrumental in the ultimate success of the operation. Capt. Foley’s magnificent courage, selfless concern for his men and professional skill reflect the utmost credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.

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6 November

1528 – A Spanish barge under Don Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca landed in East Texas. The survivors of 2 barges spent the winter on an island they named Isla de Malhado, “The Island of Misfortune.” By the spring of 1529 there were 15 castaways left and half the native population was dead from disease.

1827 – Marines prepared to fight pirates at Andros, Greece.1850 – The San Francisco Bay Yerba Buena and Angel islands were reserved for military use.

1851 – U.S. Navy expedition under command of LT William Lewis Herndon, on a mission to explore the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, reaches Iquitos in the jungle region of the upper Amazon after their departure from Lima, Peru.

1854 – John Philip Sousa, “The March Master,” American bandmaster, composer and the king of American march music, was born in Washington, D.C. He later wrote 5 novels. Among his 140 marches are “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.” 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois. Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative to Congress, first gained national stature during his campaign against Stephen Douglas of Illinois for a U.S. Senate seat in 1858. The senatorial campaign featured a remarkable series of public encounters on the slavery issue, known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery, while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or slave. Lincoln lost the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party.

In 1860, Lincoln won the party’s presidential nomination. In the November 1860 election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. The announcement of Lincoln’s victory signaled the secession of the Southern states, which since the beginning of the year had been publicly threatening secession if the Republicans gained the White House. By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began when Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In 1863, as the tide turned against the Confederacy, Lincoln emancipated the slaves and in 1864 won reelection. In April 1865, he was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after the American Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. For preserving the Union and bringing an end to slavery, and for his unique character and powerful oratory, Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents.

1861 – Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. He ran without opposition, and the election simply confirmed the decision that had been made by the Confederate Congress earlier in the year. Like his Union counterpart, Abraham Lincoln, Davis was a native of Kentucky, born in 1808. He attended West Point and graduated in 1828. After serving in the Black Hawk War of 1832, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of General (and future President) Zachary Taylor, and the couple settled on the Brierfield plantation in Mississippi. Tragically, Sarah contracted malaria and died within two months of their marriage. Davis then married Varina Howells in 1845, but he maintained close ties to his former father-in-law. Davis was a close advisor to Taylor during the Mexican War, during which he was seriously wounded. After the war, he was appointed to fill a vacant U.S. senate seat from Mississippi, and he served as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce.

When the Southern states began seceding after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the winter of 1860 and 1861, Davis suspected that he might be the choice of his fellow Southerners to be their interim president. When the newly seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861, they decided just that. He expressed great fear about what lay ahead. “Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.” On November 6, Davis was elected to a six-year term as established by the Confederate constitution.

1863 – Battle of Droop Mountain, in West Virginia. In early November, Brig. Gens. W.W. Averell and Alfred Napoleon Alexander Duffié embarked on a raid into southwestern Virginia to disrupt the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. While Duffié’s column destroyed military property en route, Averell encountered and defeated a Confederate brigade under Brig. Gen. John Echols at Droop Mountain. The Union columns reunited at Lewisburg the next day but were in no condition to continue their raid. After this battle, Confederate resistance in West Virginia collapsed. Droop Mountain Battlefield is the site of the last significant Civil War battle in West Virginia. The battle was fought November 6, 1863, between the Federal army of General William Averell and the Confederate army of General John Echols. After eight hours of fighting and 275 casualties, Echol’s Confederate army was driven South into Virginia and was never able to regain control in West Virginia. Federal Casualties were 119.

1863 – Faced with the problem of passing through the maze of complicated Confederate obstructions near Fort Sumter if the capture of Charleston was to be effected from the sea, the North experimented with another innovation by John Ericsson, celebrated builder of U.S.S. Monitor. U.S.S. Patapsco, Commander Stevens, tested Ericsson’s anti-obstruction torpedo. The device, which was a cast-iron, shell some 23 feet long and 10 inches in diameter containing 600 pounds of powder, was suspended from a raft which was attached to the ironclad’s bow and held in position by two long booms. The demonstration was favorable, for the shock of the explosion was “hardly perceptible” on board Patapsco and, though a “really fearful” column of water was thrown 40 or 50 feet into the air, little of the water fell on the ironclad’s deck. Even in the calm water in which the test was conducted, however, the raft seriously interfered with the ship’s maneuverability. Rear Admiral Dahlgren noted significantly that “perfectly smooth water” was “a miracle here. . . .” Stevens expressed the view that the torpedo was useful only against fixed objects but that for operations against ironclads “the arrangement and attachment are too complicated” and that “something in the way of a torpedo which can be managed with facility” was needed.

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1888 – Benjamin Harrison of Indiana won the presidential election, beating incumbent Grover Cleveland on electoral votes, 233-168, although Cleveland led in the popular vote. Tammany Hall helped carry New York for the GOP. The Republicans in 1888 sensed an opportunity to regain the White House because President Cleveland had offended so many sectors of the electorate. James G. Blaine, the unsuccessful candidate in 1884, refused to run again. Benjamin Harrison, a former senator from Indiana and grandson of the hero of Tippecanoe, became the nominee. His prime assets were his famous name, a sterling record in the Civil War, popularity among former Union soldiers and his strength in the swing states of Indiana and Ohio. The Democrats re-nominated the incumbent, whose principled actions had upset many voters, including: The Democratic professional politicians who opposed civil service reform: Union war veterans, represented by the G.A.R., who resented the veto of pension legislation; Industrial leaders who opposed the president’s call for tariff reduction; Farmers and debtors who disliked Cleveland’s adherence to the gold standard. As if these weren’t sufficient to ruin his chances, Cleveland further destroyed his support in pivotal swing states by returning captured Confederate battle flags to the Southern states; Union veterans were incensed. The campaign in 1888 set a new standard for corruption. Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania used large sums of money to buy votes, which may have provided the margin for the Harrison victory. Cleveland won a majority of the popular votes, but failed to carry either Pennsylvania or his home state of New York.

1891 – Comanche, the only 7th Cavalry horse to survive George Armstrong Custer’s “Last Stand” at the Little Bighorn, died at Fort Riley, Kansas.

1900 – President McKinley was re-elected, beating Democrat William Jennings Bryan. The election in 1900 was strikingly similar to its predecessor; the major candidates, issues and results were much the same. William McKinley, the incumbent, was easily re-nominated. A new vice-presidential nominee was needed: Garret Hobart had died. McKinley expressed no preference and left the matter in the convention’s hands. Theodore Roosevelt, governor of New York and hero of the Spanish-American War, was selected, bringing youth and vigor to the ticket. The Republicans portrayed themselves as the party of the “full dinner pail,” an appeal to working men in a time of prosperity. Not all in the Democratic Party were anxious to provide a second opportunity for William Jennings Bryan. These conservatives contacted Cmd. George Dewey, another hero of the recent war, who initially declined in the grounds of insufficient background. He changed his mind and thoughtlessly wrote to his backers, “I am convinced that the office of the president is not such a very difficult one to fill.” Word of Dewey’s statement became public and his support evaporated. Bryan was easily nominated by the convention. During the campaign, the Democrats ran primarily on anti-imperialism and opposition to the gold standard.

Unfortunately, the silver issue was exhausted by 1900 and did little to increase Democratic popularity. Bryan probably had a valid point earlier in his career when he argued that there were insufficient supplies of gold to conduct the world’s business. However, this was not the case following gold strikes in the Klondike, South Africa and Australia. Bryan was undeterred and conducted another demanding campaign, traveling throughout the country and delivering more than 600 speeches. Once again, McKinley did not campaign actively. The strong economy spoke volumes about Republican leadership and their victory was more convincing than four years previously. Bryan was unable to broaden his appeal; anti-imperialism and silver failed to move the voters.

1913 – After days of rioting and the declaration of martial law, an angry crowd surrounded the Indiana Statehouse, listed their grievances, demanded the military leave the city, and threatened more violence if their demands were not met. Ralston addressed the crowd to promise concessions if the workers would return to work. His speech was credited by the press with ending the strike. After three days of peace, the military withdrew from the city. The Indiana General Assembly met later that month and enacted Indiana’s first minimum wage laws, regular working hours, workplace safety requirements, and began projects to improve the city’s tenement slums. Arbitration between the company and its employees by the Indiana Public Service Commission resulted in a decision mostly favoring the company. The employees were permitted to unionize, guaranteed wage increases, a minimum monthly salary, and certain days off work. The company, however, was permitted to continue hiring non-union employees and to bar union membership solicitation on the company’s property.

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1917 – Bolshevik “October Revolution” (October 25 on the old Russian calendar), led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, seized power in Petrograd. Led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d’ýtat against Russia’s ineffectual Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and within two days had formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world’s first Marxist state. Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up practice in Petrograd, where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles.

In 1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the “Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class,” which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years. After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he published a pamphlet titled What Is to Be Done? which argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia. In 1903, he met with other Russian Marxists in London and established the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDWP). However, from the start there was a split between Lenin’s Bolsheviks (Majoritarians), who advocated militarism, and the Mensheviks (Minoritarians), who advocated a democratic movement toward socialism. These two groups increasingly opposed each other within the framework of the RSDWP, and Lenin made the split official at a 1912 conference of the Bolshevik Party.

After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution, which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in 1907 Lenin was again forced into exile. Lenin opposed World War I, which began in 1914, as an imperialistic conflict and called on proletariat soldiers to turn their guns on the capitalist leaders who sent them down into the murderous trenches. For Russia, World War I was an unprecedented disaster: Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Meanwhile, the Russian economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort, and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule.

In the aftermath of the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the weak Provisional Government and the soviets, or “councils,” of soldiers’ and workers’ committees. After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the Provisional Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a “German agent” by the government’s leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for “peace, land, and bread” met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd soviet.

In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 6-8 the Bolshevik-led Red Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule. Lenin became the virtual dictator of the first Marxist state in the world. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land, but beginning in 1918 had to fight a devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin’s death, in early 1924, his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle for succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

1918 – Sedan, France falls to the advancing US forces in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Further progress will be made in the next five days and end with the signing of the armistice on the 11th.

1918 – U.S.A. promises to exercise influence to secure for Romania political and territorial rights.

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1928 – In a first, presidential election results were flashed on an electronic sign outside the New York Times building; Herbert Hoover beat Alfred E. Smith. Norman Thomas was the presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. In August 1927, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge announced to the nation: “I do not choose to run for president in 1928.” That blunt statement opened the doors to a number of Republican hopefuls, but none approached the public esteem enjoyed by Herbert Hoover, the current secretary of commerce and possessor of a long record of humanitarian service. The Republicans assembled in Kansas City the following June and easily nominated Hoover on the first ballot. The vice-presidential nod went to Senator Charles Curtis of Nebraska to soothe feelings of disappointed Midwesterners who backed the presidential ambitions of Frank Lowden, the former governor of Illinois.

The platform of 1928 was devoted largely to self-congratulation as the Republicans claimed full credit for the nation’s prosperity and pledged to: continue opposition to the McNary-Haugen farm bill, favoring instead the creation of farmer-owned stabilization corporations as a means to increase farm prices; support the strict enforcement of the 18th Amendment (prohibition); maintain a high protective tariff for the benefit of American farmers and manufacturers; carry on Coolidge-era foreign policy initiatives. Later in June, the Democrats began their convention in Houston, meeting in a Southern city for the first time since the Civil War. Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York, was also nominated on the first ballot. Smith was the product of the Tammany Hall machine, a Roman Catholic and an avowed “wet” (backing repeal) on prohibition. An effort was made to balance the ticket by nominating Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, a Protestant and a “dry,” for vice president.

The Democratic platform called for the following: a farm policy that would give American farmers government support commensurate with that provided to other industries, but avoided an endorsement of the contentious McNary-Haugen bill; enforcement of prohibition laws, but it was clear to all observers that the Democratic nominee was opposed to this position; this effort to take both sides of a nettlesome issue would cost the party heavily in the Bible Belt; opposition to the blanket use of injunctions and support for collective bargaining rights for American workers; a change in the heavy-handed Coolidge foreign policy and, in particular, the granting of immediate independence to the Philippines; a transformation in government to escape the scandals of Republican leadership; the Democrats deftly avoided reference to the nation’s prosperity and instead tried to dredge up memories of Harding’s corrupt cronies.

The Democrats, for once, chose not to include a strong plank opposing the protective tariff, a move made in deference to strong farm support for those measures. The campaign of 1928 marked a change from the staid front-porch efforts of earlier years to a more active style. Radio played a surprisingly important role. Hoover, who was not an impressive public speaker, came across to listeners as measured and thoughtful. Smith, however, was an inspiring speaker, but his New York accent and regional pronunciation of words grated on the ears of many Westerners and Southerners. In late October, Hoover delivered what came to be known as his “rugged individualism” speech to an audience in New York. He criticized the Democrats for their socialistic policies and preached the virtues of open competition and private enterprise. Capitalizing on a continuing strong economy, Hoover promised the voters “a chicken for every pot and a car in every garage.”

Many Americans came to regard Hoover, who had never previously run for elective office, as a new type of politician — a highly successful businessman, but with the added attribute of a social conscience. Huge numbers of voters turned out on November 6 and handed Hoover and the Republicans a resounding victory. The Democrats lost by more than six million votes, but carried a dozen of the nation’s largest cities. Their hold on the so-called “Solid South” was broken, however; Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Texas voted Republican. In a nutshell, the nation did not feel a compelling need to make a change in leadership in 1928. The fact that Smith was a Catholic, a wet, a machine politician and sounded strange when he spoke made the decision of many voters an easy one.

1935 – Edwin Armstrong presents his paper “A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation” to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

1939 – The American cargo ship, City of Flint, is returned to her captain, Joseph H. Gainard in Haugesund. Since October 9th, the ship has journeyed under the command of a German prize crew from the Deutschland.1941 – USA lent Soviet Union $1 million.

1941 – On Neutrality Patrol, USS Omaha (CL-4) and USS Somers (DD-381) intercept the German blockade runner Odenwald. The smuggler is carrying a cargo of rubber from Japan, disguised as U.S. freighter, board her after the German crew abandoned the ship, and brought the ship to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the boarding party was awarded salvage shares.

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1944 – Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility and subsequently used in the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

1945 – The first landing of a jet on a carrier took place on the USS Wake Island when an FR-1 Fireball touched down.

1950 – A Chinese offensive was halted at Chongchon River, North Korea. General Douglas MacArthur charged the Chinese with unlawful aggression.

1956 – The Eisenhower-Nixon Republican ticket won the presidential elections beating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson. The Democrats won a majority in both houses of Congress. Eisenhower was immediately nominated for re-election by the Republicans in San Francisco. The only question was whether Nixon would remain on the ticket. Eisenhower decided in favor of keeping him on the ticket. Adlai Stevenson was re-nominated by the Democrats in Chicago. Stevenson faced almost insurmountable odds in opposing the very popular President. He attempted to contrast his vigor with Eisenhower’s health problems. Stevenson made proposals on senior citizens, health, education, natural resources, and ecnonomic policies. He also called for the end of the draft with the creation of a professional army, He further called for a test ban treaty on Atomic weapons with the Soviet efforts. Stevenson’s efforts were totally unsuccessful and Eisenhower won a landslide victory.

1956 – Pressure from the US and USSR effected a cease-fire in the Middle-East. The UN created an emergency force (UNEF) to supervise a cease fire.

1963 – In the aftermath of the November 1 coup that resulted in the murder of President Ngo Dinh Diem, Gen. Duong Van Minh, leading the Revolutionary Military Committee of the dissident generals who had conducted the coup, takes over leadership of South Vietnam. U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge cabled President Kennedy, “We could neither manage nor stop [the coup] once it got started…It is equally certain that the ground in which the coup seed grew into a robust plant was prepared by us, and that the coup would not have happened [as] it did without our permission.” Lodge’s words were more than a little disingenuous since he had long been a proponent of removing Diem from power. Following Diem’s death, a Buddhist named Nguyen Ngoc Tho became premier, but the real power was held by the Revolutionary Military Committee headed by General Minh. The new government earned U.S. approval in part by pledging not to become a dictatorship and announcing, “The best weapon to fight communism is democracy and liberty.” However, Minh was unable to form a viable government and he himself was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Gen. Nguyen Khanh in January 1964.

1968 – Richard Nixon was elected 37th pres of US, defeating Hubert Humphrey. Richard Nixon entered the Republican convention as the front runner. He won the nomination on the first ballot. In his acceptance speech he stated:” When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in Vietnam with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world cannot manage its economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented racial violence, when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad, or to any major city at home, then itäs time for new leadership for the United States.” The Democrats went through a grueling primary campaign. Eugene McCarthy, an early opponent of the war in Vietnam, almost upset President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. This convinced Johnson not to run for re-election. At that point Vice President Humphrey announced his candidacy for the nomination.

A primary battle followed, with Robert Kennedy pulling in the lead until his assassination. At this point Humphrey was able to sew up the nomination. He was nominated on the first ballot at a tumultuous convention in Chicago. The rioting and the police actions outside the convention hall dominated the news coverage and did not get the Humphrey campaign off to a good start. Nixon began the campaign as the front runner, with a clear lead. He campaigned against rising crime and claimed he would restore “law and order”. Nixon also instituted the Southern policy, taking advantage of Southern voters resentments at civil rigths legislation passed by the Johnson administration it successful received support from what had been a solidly democratic south. Toward the end of the campaign as Humphrey became more critical of Johnson’s handling of the war, the lead narrowed. It did not narrow enough to stop a Nixon victory however.

1970 – South Vietnamese forces launch a new offensive into Cambodia, advancing across a 100-mile-wide front in southeastern Cambodia. The new offensive was aimed at cleaning out border sanctuaries and blocking North Vietnamese forces from moving through Cambodia into South Vietnam. The 6,000-man South Vietnamese task force pulled out on November 11 after failing to find new Communist troop sanctuaries. Forty-one enemy soldiers were reportedly killed in the operation.

1971 – The US Atomic Energy Commission exploded a 5-megaton bomb beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska, just 87 miles from the Petropavlovsk Russian naval base. It registered as a magnitude-7 earthquake.

1973 – The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) assassinated Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster and wounded Robert Blackburn, his assistant. The SLA warned against a proposed student ID program. Russell Little and Joseph Remiro were arrested following a shootout in Jan, 1974. Little’s eventual conviction was reversed Feb 28, 1979, due to errant jury instructions. Remiro was sentenced to life in prison.

1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini took over in Iran.

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1984 – President Ronald Reagan was re-elected. President Reagan faced no opposition to his renomination as the Republican nomination for President. Senator Walter Mondale Jimmy Carter’s Vice President was the front runner throughout the election campaign. His most serious opposition was Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who ran on a theme of new ideas. Other opponents included Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, and Reverand Jesse Jackson, the first serious Black candidate for President. Mondale was nominated on the first ballot at the Democratic convention in San Francisco. He selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate. Ferraro became the first women to be nominated by a major party.

The election campaign revolved mostly around the issues of deficit and tariff barriers. The traditional role of the Democratic and Republican party were reversed, with the Democrats attacking the Republicans for budget deficits, and the Democrats also calling for more tariff protection. On the personal level Reagan won his debates with Mondale by using humor to successfully pary one of Mondale criticisms- that he was too old, by stating during the debate that he would not use age as issue- he would not criticize Mondale’s youth and inexperience. Reagan won the election with an 18 point margin.

1984 – The Coast Guard accepted operational control from the Navy of the SES-200, a Surface Effect Ship, for five months of operations evaluations.

1991 – Kuwait celebrated the dousing of the last oil fires ignited by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. Iraqi forces had blown up an estimated 732 Kuwaiti oil wells.

1995 – The US Air Force launched the most powerful unmanned rocket, Titan 4, with a $1 bil. Milstar communications satellite for the defense dept.

1997 – The Clinton administration warned Iraq it could face military action or economic sanctions if it continued to bar U.N. weapons inspections.

1997 – In Belgrade former Serb soldier and convict, Slobodan Misic, was arrested after he told reporters that he had killed up to 80 Croats and Muslims near Vukovar in eastern Croatia and in the Bratunac-Shrebrenica area of eastern Bosnia in 1991.

1998 – Pres. Clinton decided to lift most of the sanctions against India and Pakistan for their nuclear tests in May, as a reward for steps taken toward nuclear control agreements.

2001 – President Bush met with France’s Pres. Chirac and addressed an anti-terrorism meeting in Poland via satellite.

2002 – A new U.S. draft resolution on Iraq set off a final diplomatic push for tough new weapons inspections, backed by threats of force if Saddam Hussein continues to skirt his disarmament obligations.

2003 – President Bush signed the $87.5 billion Iraq spending bill.

2003 – Two American soldiers were killed near Baghdad and along the Syrian border. Polish forces suffered their first combat death when a Polish major was fatally wounded in an ambush south of the capital.

2004 – Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40. Over 50 people were killed across central Iraq including nearly 2 dozen Americans.

2004 – In an open letter to the Iraqi people and posted on the Internet, 26 Saudi scholars and religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by militant Iraqi groups on U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq were “legitimate” resistance.

2009 – Ambassador Eikenberry wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Sending additional forces will delay the day when Afghans will take over, and make it difficult, if not impossible, to bring our people home on a reasonable timetable. An increased U.S. and foreign role in security and governance will increase Afghan dependence, at least in the short-term.”

2012 – The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico votes for a non-binding resolution to become a U.S. state. If previous procedure is followed, Congress will now request that Puerto Rico establish a state constitution. Then, Congress would vote to approve it as a state, which it usually does. However, Congress is not obligated to follow this procedure, and by its vote, it ultimately must decide, which is not yet certain. Obama and Romney had both pledged to support the result of the referendum and to work with Congress on the issue.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*LEONARD, TURNEY W.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company C, 893d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Kommerscheidt, Germany, 4-6 November 1944. Entered service at: Dallas, Tex. Birth: Dallas, Tex. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: He displayed extraordinary heroism while commanding a platoon of mobile weapons at Kommerscheidt, Germany, on 4, 5, and 6 November 1944. During the fierce 3-day engagement, he repeatedly braved overwhelming enemy fire in advance of his platoon to direct the fire of his tank destroyer from exposed, dismounted positions. He went on lone reconnaissance missions to discover what opposition his men faced, and on 1 occasion, when fired upon by a hostile machinegun, advanced alone and eliminated the enemy emplacement with a hand grenade. When a strong German attack threatened to overrun friendly positions, he moved through withering artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, reorganized confused infantry units whose leaders had become casualties, and exhorted them to hold firm. Although wounded early in battle, he continued to direct fire from his advanced position until he was disabled by a high-explosive shell which shattered his arm, forcing him to withdraw. He was last seen at a medical aid station which was subsequently captured by the enemy. By his superb courage, inspiring leadership, and indomitable fighting spirit, 1st Lt. Leonard enabled our forces to hold off the enemy attack and was personally responsible for the direction of fire which destroyed 6 German tanks.

*REEM, ROBERT DALE
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company H, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Chinhung-ni, Korea, 6 November 1950. Entered service at: Elizabethtown, Pa. Born: 20 October 1925, Lancaster, Pa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a platoon commander in Company H, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Grimly determined to dislodge a group of heavy enemy infantry units occupying well-concealed and strongly fortified positions on commanding ground overlooking unprotected terrain. 2d Lt. Reem moved slowly forward up the side of the ridge with his platoon in the face of a veritable hail of shattering hostile machine gun, grenade, and rifle fire. Three times repulsed by a resolute enemy force in achieving his objective, and pinned down by the continuing fury of hostile fire, he rallied and regrouped the heroic men in his depleted and disorganized platoon in preparation for a fourth attack. Issuing last-minute orders to his noncommissioned officers when an enemy grenade landed in a depression of the rocky ground in which the group was standing, 2d Lt. Reem unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, springing upon the deadly missile, absorbed the full impact of the explosion in his body, thus protecting others from serious injury and possible death. Stouthearted and indomitable, he readily yielded his own chance of survival that his subordinate leaders might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. His superb courage, cool decisiveness, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon 2d Lt. Reem and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

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7 November

1775 – John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore’s Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters in order to fight with Murray and the British.

1805 – Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Their survival over the ‘04-’05 winter was attributed to the help of the Nez Perce Indians.

1811 – Gen. William Henry Harrison won a battle against the Shawnee Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in the Indiana territory. Tenskwatawa, the brother of Shawnee leader Tecumseh, was engaged in the Battle of the Wabash, aka Battle of Tippecanoe, in spite of his brother’s strict admonition to avoid it. The battle near the Tippecanoe River with the regular and militia forces of Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison, took place while Tecumseh was out of the area seeking support for a united Indian movement. The battle, which was a nominal victory for Harrison’s forces, effectively put an end to Tecumseh’s dream of a pan-Indian confederation. Harrison’s leadership in the battle also provided a useful campaign slogan for his presidential bid in 1840. The Indians attacked Harrison’s men before daybreak. Harrison’s army had approximately a thousand troops, including infantry and cavalry.

The American army defeated the Indians, but they suffered heavy losses: sixty-two men killed and 126 wounded. The Indian’s losses are impossible to know because they carried off most of their dead and wounded. Harrison guessed that at least forty Indians were killed. This battle became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. The American army drove off the Indians and burned Prophetstown to the ground. Most Indians no longer believed in the Prophet. Many returned to their own villages after the defeat. Tecumseh tried to resurrect his confederation, but many natives refused to join him again. Unfortunately for Tecumseh, to gain followers he allied himself with his brother. The Prophet, by making such bold statements before the battle, led Tecumseh’s followers to reject the alliance. Divided, it was now only a matter of time before the Indians fell to the Americans.

1814 – Andrew Jackson attacked and captured Pensacola, Florida, without authorization from his superiors. His aim was to end a threat posed by a small British garrison that had caused trouble in the area. Unknown to Jackson, Major General Sir Edward Pakenham had prepared 3,000 soldiers in Jamaica and was sailing to New Orleans to open a British offensive in the South. Pakenham’s army was supplemented by other soldiers brought from England. The opposing armies met in the famed January 1815 Battle of New Orleans.

1848 – General Zachary Taylor was elected president of US. Zachary Taylor, the Amercian general who led the war against the Mexican, as a war hero, was a clear favorite at the Whig convention in June of 1848. He received the needed two thirds of the votes on the fourth ballot. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass as their presidential candidate. The major issue in the election campaign was slavery, and this centered on the issue of whether to allow the areas acquired because of the Mexican War to allow slavery. Taylor said very little on the matter, but he himself owned 200 slaves. Cass, on the other hand, supported the idea that each territory should decide for itself whether to allow slavery. Van Buren ran as a third party candidate on the Free Soil ticket in opposition totally to the expansion of slavery. Although Van Buren did not carry any states the 10% of the vote that he received was enough to insure Taylor’s victory. Taylor won 139,000 more votes then Casss. His victory was national carrying both Northern and Southern states.

1861 – Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp at Belmont, Missouri, but are forced to flee when additional Confederate troops arrive. Although Grant claimed victory, the Union gained no ground and left the Confederates in firm control of that section of the Mississippi. This engagement was part of Grant’s plan to capture the Confederate stronghold at Columbus, Kentucky, just across the river from Belmont, by first driving away the Confederate garrison at Belmont. General Leonidas Polk, Confederate commander at Columbus, had posted about 1,000 men around Belmont to protect both sides of the river. On the evening of November 6, Grant sailed 3,000 troops down the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois. They landed early on November 7, just three miles above the Belmont, and proceeded to attack. Upon hearing noise from the battle, Polk sent another 2,500 troops across the river to provide relief for his beleaguered Rebels. The Yankees routed the arriving reinforcements and scattered them along the river. At that point, the Union troops began to celebrate their victory and loot the Confederate camp. Grant had ordered a small Union force under General Charles Smith to advance from Paducah, which lay to the northeast, to provide a diversion and keep Polk from sending any more reinforcements to Belmont. Grant hoped that Polk would believe that Smith’s advance was the primary attack and that Belmont was the diversion.

Polk did not buy it, and he dispatched additional reinforcements to Belmont. Five Confederate regiments arrived as Grant ordered his men to return to the boats. Grant himself narrowly escaped capture, but he was able to get most of his force back on the river. The Yankees retreated to Cairo. Grant lost 120 dead and 487 wounded or captured, while the Confederates lost 105 dead and 536 wounded or captured. Although he gained no ground, Grant demonstrated that, unlike many other Union generals, he was willing to mount a campaign using the resources at hand rather than calling for reinforcements. This trait served Grant well during the war, and it eventually carried him to the top of the Union army. U.S.S.Tyler, Commander Walke, and U.S.S. Lexington, Commander Stembel, supported the 3000 Union troops and engaged Confederate batteries along the Mississippi River. The arrival of Confederate reinforcements had compelled Grant to withdraw under pressure. Grape, canister, and shell from the gunboats scattered the Confederates, enabling Union troops to re-embark on their transports. Grant, with characteristic restraint, reported that the gunboats’ service was “most efficient,” having “protected our transports throughout.”

1861 – Naval forces under Flag Officer Du Pont captured Port Royal Sound. While Du Pont’s ships steamed in boldly, the naval gunners poured a withering fire into the defending Forts Walker and Beauregard with extreme accuracy. The Confederate defenders abandoned the Forts, and the small Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall could offer only harassing resistance but did rescue troops by ferrying them to the mainland from Hilton Head. Marines and sailors were landed to occupy the Forts until turned over to Army troops under General T. W. Sherman. Careful planning and skillfull execution had given Du Pont a great victory and the Union Navy an important base of operations. The Confederates were compelled to withdraw coastal defenses inland out of reach of naval gunfire. Du Pont wrote: “It is not my temper to rejoice over fallen foes, but this must be a gloomy night in Charleston.”

1863 – Battle of Rappahannock Station and Kelly’s Ford, Virginia.

1864 – Upon learning that Confederate officers were quartered in a house on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River near Island 68, Acting Lieutenant Frederic S. Hill led an expedition from U.S.S. Tyler to capture them. However, they had departed. The mother of one of them boldly showed Hill her permit to transport cotton up the Mississippi and a request, officially endorsed by Major General Cadwallader C. Washburn, USA; for gunboat protection. Hill reluctantly complied with the request, remarking to Rear Admiral Lee: “. . . in the face of all these documents, as I was upon the spot and a steamer then at hand ready to take the cotton, I considered it proper to give her the required protection, although with a very bad grace. Permit me, admiral, respectfully to call your attention to the anomaly of using every exertion to capture rebel officers at 2 a.m., whose cotton I am called upon to protect in its shipment to a market at 10 a.m. of the same day, thus affording them the means of supplying themselves with every comfort money can procure ere they return to their brother rebels in arms with Hood.”


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1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes was elected 19th president of the US. Both major political parties were influenced by the Grant era corruption and sought to nominate candidates who could win the public trust. The Democrats turned to Samuel J. Tilden, who had established an enviable record as the reform-minded governor of New York. Tilden was on record as favoring the removal of the remaining federal occupation soldiers from the South, a position regarded favorably by his supporters in that region. The Republicans passed over the frontrunner, James G. Blaine, because of his participation in some questionable dealings. The nomination was eventually given to the respected governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes. While the platform called for taking steps to assure black equality, Hayes was skeptical at best. Attacks were made on Tilden’s questionable health and his ties to the railroads. Peter Cooper, 85 years of age, received the nomination from the National Greenback Party.

The election results left the nation in suspense. All agreed that Tilden had won the majority of the popular vote, but there was little agreement on what the electoral results should be. In order to win, a candidate needed 185 electoral votes. Tilden controlled 184 votes and Hayes 165; 20 votes, however, were in dispute in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida where Reconstruction Republican governments were still in control. (A single elector was challenged in Oregon.) Each of the states with disputed votes submitted two sets of electoral ballots, one favoring Tilden, the other Hayes. The Constitution had not foreseen this event and offered no remedy. Loose talk was heard in some quarters about the possibility of war breaking out. In the end, Congress opted to appoint an Electoral Commission to find a solution. An informal agreement between the two parties, sometimes called the “Compromise of 1877,” convinced the Democrats that they should accept the Commission’s 8-7 vote, which made Hayes the new president. Lemonade Lucy, wife of Pres. Hayes, later received the 1st Siamese cat in the US.

1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt recognized the new Panama republic.

1915 – The Austrian submarine U-38 shells and then torpedoes the liner, Ancona bound for New York from Italy. Among the 208 dead are 25 US citizens. The Austrian response to the protests of the US government is considered inadequate.

1916 – President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected over Charles Evans Hughes, but the race was so close that all votes had to be counted before an outcome could be determined, so the results were not known until November 11. President Woodrow Wilson was elected for a second term largely because he had successfully kept America out of the war that was raging in Europe since 1914. His campaign slogan was: “He kept us out of the war.” Wilson beat Charles Evans Hughes, a former Supreme Court Justice with an electoral college vote of 277-254. Wilson’s victory in California, 13 electoral votes, by 3,773 votes gave him 277 electoral votes to 254 for Hughes. Wilson carried the popular vote 9.1 million to 8.5 for Hughes.

1917 – (October 25 on the older Julian calendar then used by Russia), the provisional government of Premier Aleksandr Kerensky fell to the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He called his followers the Bolsheviks, meaning the majority, when they formed for a short period the majority of a revolutionary committee. The Bolsheviks became a majority of the ruling group, but they were only a small part of the total Russian population. Decades of czarist incompetence and the devastation of World War I had wrecked the Russian economy and in March 1917, Czar Nicholas II abdicated. Kerensky’s provisional government struggled to maintain power until Lenin’s Bolshevik followers stormed Petrograd and seized all government operations. Lenin and his lieutenant, Leon Trotsky, quickly confiscated land and nationalized industry and in March 1918, Russia withdrew from World War I by signing the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. Bloody civil war raged in Russia for the next two years as the anti-Bolshevik White Army battled the Communists for control.

1918 – Goddard demonstrated tube-launched solid propellant rockets.

1918 – French and Americans threaten Charleville-Mezieres.

1918 – Word that a peace agreement had been signed ending World War I put Wall Street in a festive mood. The New York Stock Exchange closed early and traders hit the streets to celebrate. The problem was that no one had actually signed a peace agreement– it was just a hopeful rumor that had made its way to the trading floor. One week later, the armistice became a reality and the war finally drew to a close.

1919 – The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, arresting over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists in twenty-three different U.S. cities. The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Though more than 500 foreign citizens were deported, including a number of prominent leftist leaders, Palmer’s efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor who had responsibility for deportations and who objected to Palmer’s methods. The Palmer Raids occurred in the larger context of the Red Scare, the term given to fear of and reaction against political radicals in the U.S. in the years immediately following World War I.

1941 – The Marine Corps Reserve of 23 battalions completed its mobilization.

1942 – French General Giraud is brought from Vichy France, by the British submarine Seraph, for talks with American General Eisenhower. The Allies wish his support to minimize the resistance of locals loyal to Vichy France after the invasion. General Giraud is under the impression that command of the operation will be given to him.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, American Marines, begin attacks to the east toward Koli Point. The Japanese stage landings after dark to the west of American holdings bringing elements of the 38th Infantry Division to shore.

1943 – US Task Force 38 with the carriers Saratoga and Princeton is attacked by 100 Japanese aircraft. The air attack fails to achieve any hits on the carriers. Meanwhile, on Bougainville Island, a Japanese battalion is landed to the north of the beachhead held by the US 3rd Marine Division. A battle ensues. The Japanese reinforce their garrison on Buka Island.

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1944 – Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected president of the United States for a record third time, handily defeating his Republican challenger, Wendell Wilkie, the governor of New York. Roosevelt, a fifth cousin to former president Theodore Roosevelt, first came to the White House in 1933 with a promise to lead America out of the Great Depression. Aided by a Democratic Congress, Roosevelt took prompt action, and most of his “New Deal” proposals, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, National Industrial Recovery Act, and creation of the Public Works Administration and Tennessee Valley Authority, were approved within his first 100 days in office. Although criticized by many in the business community, Roosevelt’s progressive legislation improved America’s economic climate, and in 1936 he easily won reelection.

During his second term, he became increasingly concerned with German and Japanese aggression and so began a long campaign to awaken America from its isolationist slumber. In 1940, with World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, Roosevelt agreed to run for an unprecedented third term. Reelected by Americans who valued his strong leadership, he proved a highly effective commander in chief after the December 1941 U.S. entrance into the war. Under Roosevelt’s guidance, America became, in his own words, the “great arsenal of democracy” and succeeded in shifting the balance of power in World War II firmly in the Allies’ favor. In 1944, with the war not yet won, he was reelected to a fourth term. Three months after his inauguration, while resting at his retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Following a solemn parade of his coffin through the streets of the nation’s capital, his body was buried in a family plot in Hyde Park, New York. Millions of Americans mourned the death of the man who had led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt’s unparalleled 13 years as president led to the passing of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which limited future presidents to a maximum of two consecutive elected terms in office.

1944 – On Leyte, the US 96th Division captures Bloody Ridge. Near the north coast, the American advance is held by Japanese defenses.1954 – A US spy plane was shot down North of Japan.

1956 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.

1957 – The final report from a special committee called by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to review the nation’s defense readiness indicates that the United States is falling far behind the Soviets in missile capabilities, and urges a vigorous campaign to build fallout shelters to protect American citizens. The special committee had been called together shortly after the stunning news of the success of the Soviet Sputnik I in October 1957. Headed by Ford Foundation Chairman H. Rowan Gaither, the committee concluded that the United States was in danger of losing a war against the Soviets. Only massive increases in the military budget, particularly an accelerated program of missile construction, could hope to deter Soviet aggression. It also suggested that American citizens were completely unprotected from nuclear attack and proposed a $30 billion program to construct nationwide fallout shelters. Although the committee’s report was supposed to be secret, many of its conclusions soon leaked out to the press, causing a minor panic among the American people.

President Eisenhower was less impressed. Intelligence provided by U-2 spy plane flights over Russia indicated that the Soviets were not the mortal threat suggested by the Gaither Report. Eisenhower, a fiscal conservative, was also reluctant to commit to the tremendously increased military budget called for by the committee. He did increase funding for the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and for civil defense programs, but ignored most of the other recommendations made in the report. Democrats instantly went on the attack, charging that Eisenhower was leaving the United States open to Soviet attack. By 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy was still hammering away at the supposed “missile gap” between the United States and much stronger Soviet stockpiles.

1964 – The latest U.S. intelligence analysis claims that Communist forces in South Vietnam now include about 30,000 professional full-time soldiers, many of whom are North Vietnamese. Before this, it was largely reported that the war was merely an internal insurgent movement in South Vietnam opposed to the government in Saigon. This information discredited that theory and indicated that the situation involves North and South Vietnam. In Saigon, the South Vietnamese government banned the sale of the current issue of Newsweek because it carried a photograph showing a Viet Cong prisoner being tortured by South Vietnamese army personnel.

1972 – Richard Nixon defeats Senator George McGovern (D-South Dakota) and is re-elected President of the United States. With only 55 percent of the electorate voting, the lowest turnout since 1948, Nixon carried all states but Massachusetts, taking 97 percent of the electoral votes. During the campaign, Nixon pledged to secure “peace with honor” in Vietnam. Aided by the potential for a peace agreement in the ongoing Paris negotiations and the upswing in the American economy, Nixon easily defeated McGovern, an outspoken peacenik whose party was divided over several issues, not the least of which was McGovern’s extreme views on the war. McGovern had said during the campaign, “If I were President, it would take me twenty-four hours and the stroke of a pen to terminate all military operations in Southeast Asia.”

He said he would withdraw all American troops within 90 days of taking office, whether or not U.S. prisoners of war were released. To many Americans, including many Democrats, McGovern’s position was tantamount to total capitulation in Southeast Asia. Given this radical alternative, Nixon seemed a better choice to most voters. In other races, the Democrats widened their majority in Congress, picking up two Senate seats. Almost unnoticed during the presidential campaign was the arrest of five men connected with Nixon’s re-election committee who had broken into the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. The Watergate scandal ultimately proved to be Nixon’s undoing, and he resigned the presidency as a result of it in August 1974.

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1973 – Congress overrode President Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive’s power to wage war without congressional approval. The act requires the president to inform Congress within forty-eight hours of military action in a hostile area. Forces must be removed within sixty to ninety days unless Congress approves of the action or declares war. The resolution was prompted by the aggressive actions of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon without congressional approval or a declaration of war during the Vietnam War.

1983 – A bomb exploded in a public corridor near the Senate Republican Cloak Room, detonated at around 2300 EST with a time- delay device. The explosion damaged a wood-paneled conference room near the Senate Chamber and the offices of Senator Robert Byrd. No one was injured. A group calling itself the Armed Resistance Unit claimed responsibility, saying it was done in response to U.S. military action in Grenada. Three women pleaded guilty in the attack and were sentenced to prison for five to 20 years.

1995 – In a Japanese courtroom, three American military men admitted to the ambush-rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, an attack that outraged the Japanese and strained security ties between Japan and the US. The men later received prison sentences ranging from six and a-half to seven years.

1996 – NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a mission to map the surface of the Red Planet. It went into orbit around Mars in 2001.

1997 – In a rising war of words, the Clinton administration warned it was considering military options, including a cruise missile strike, if Iraq carried out its threat to shoot down U.N. surveillance planes.

1997 – In Iraq, Saddam Hussein rejected the efforts of UN envoys to resolve the dispute over weapons inspections.

1998 – The shuttle Discovery landed in Cape Canaveral, Fla. After 9 days in space. 77-year-old John Glenn returned to Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery, visibly weak but elated after the mission.

1999 – In Athens, Greece, a bomb exploded outside a Levi’s jeans store. This was the 5th recent attack and was thought to be linked to an upcoming Nov 13 visit by President Clinton.

2000 – In US elections Al Gore conceded to George Bush and then retracted his concession based on an early prediction of the vote in Florida, which was reversed as too close to call.

2001 – The Bush administration targeted Osama bin Laden’s multimillion-dollar financial networks, closing businesses in four states, detaining U.S. suspects and urging allies to help choke off money supplies in 40 nations. Federal agents raided 2 money transfer organizations, Al Barakaat and Al Taqwa that included 10 locations in 4 states.

2000 – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country’s largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.

2001 – At the White House, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, allies in the war on terrorism, confidently offered back-to-back pledges of victory, no matter how long it took.

2001 – Small numbers of US forces prepared to enter southern Afghanistan for special missions.

2001 – Italy pledged an aircraft carrier and 2,700 troops to help the American campaign in Afghanistan.

2001 – In Qatar Abdullah Mubarak al-Hajiri was killed after he opened fire on US and Qatari troops guarding the Al Udeid air base.

2002 – In his first news conference since the midterm elections, President Bush, charting an agenda for the new Republican Congress, said that homeland security came first and that an economic-recovery plan with new tax cuts would wait until the next year.

2003 – On the preceeding night, two full 10th Mountain Divison companies and one platoon of 2–22 IN (A Co, B Co and C Co’s 2nd Platoon) inserted by CH-47 Chinook helicopter into farm fields on the outskirts of Namgalam Village in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan. 1st and 3rd Platoon of C Co. 2–22 IN were held in reserve as a quick reaction force at BAF. B Co. 2–22 IN was the lead element, with A Co. 2–22 IN screening along B Co’s flank on the eastern ridgeline that formed the Waygal River Valley. Approximately 1 kilometer to the front of B Co. was a Scout/ Sniper team providing route reconnaissance and early warning. 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, established a fire base in the vicinity of the insertion landing zone (LZ), which would provide 105mm howitzer and 120mm mortar support as well as secure lines of communication and resupply. Due to the restrictive terrain, it became near impossible to conduct a tactical movement using formations other than single file.

The first half of the operation occurred over the course of five days, ending with the establishment of resupply LZ’s, with B Co. 2 kilometers north of the village of Tazagul Kala, and A Co. approximately 3 kilometers to the southeast near the village of Moladis. In the early evening of 10 November, B Co was ordered to cross the Waygal River and scale the mountain to the east, designated Objective Winchester, to confirm or deny the presence of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The Scout/ Sniper team was already moving across elevated terrain to the objective but had been delayed by an injury to a soldier who required aerial medical evacuation. Upon reaching Objective Winchester, several detainees were taken for questioning but evidence suggested that the majority of Anti-Coalition militants had fled to the north 1–2 days prior. B Co. remained on OBJ Winchester throughout the night. A Navy SEAL command and control team co-located on the resupply LZ at the base of the mountain directed AC 130 Specter Gunship fires onto enemy positions observed by the aircraft, but no battle damage assessment was able to be conducted from the ground due to the restrictive terrain. The next morning all 2–22 IN elements were extracted and returned to BAF.

2003 – The US and Russia signed an agreement under which Russia would retrieve, within the next 5 to 10 years, uranium from research reactors in 17 countries.

2003 – In Tikrit, Iraq, an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed, apparently shot down by insurgents, killing all six U.S. soldiers aboard. 2 other soldiers were killed near Mosul.

2004 – The Iraqi government declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country, as US and Iraqi forces prepared for an all-out assault on rebels in Fallujah.

2007 – Space Shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center, ending STS-120, a 15-day mission to the International Space Station.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BELL, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Captain of the Afterguard, U.S. Navy. Born: 12 March 1839, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Served as pilot of the U.S.S. Santee when that vessel was engaged in cutting out the rebel armed schooner Royal Yacht from Galveston Bay, 7 November 1861, and evinced more coolness, in passing the 4 forts and the rebel steamer General Rusk, than was ever before witnessed by his commanding officer. “Although severely wounded in the encounter, he displayed extraordinary courage under the most painful and trying circumstances.”

HALL, HENRY SEYMOUR
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company G, 27th New York Infantry; and Captain, Company F, 121st New York Infantry. Place and date. At Gaines Mill, Va., 27 June 1862. At Rappallannock Station, Va., 7 November 1863. Entered service at: New York. Birth: New York. Date of issue: 17 August 1891. Citation: Although wounded at Gaines Mill, Va., he remained on duty and participated in the battle with his company. At Rappahannock Station, Va., while acting as aide, rendered gallant and prompt assistance in reforming the regiments inside the enemy’s works.

MORRILL, WALTER G.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company B, 20th Maine Infantry. Place and date: At Rappahannock Station, Va., 7 November 1863. Entered service at: Brownville, Maine. Birth: Brownville, Maine. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: Learning that an assault was to be made upon the enemy’s works by other troops, this officer voluntarily joined the storming party with about 50 men of his regiment, and by his dash and gallantry rendered effective service in the assault.

ROBERTS, OTIS O.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 6th Maine Infantry. Place and date: At Rappanhannock Station, Va., 7 November 1863. Entered service at: Dexter, Maine. Birth: Sangerville, Maine. Date of issue: 28 December 1863. Citation: Capture of flag of 8th Louisiana Infantry (C.S.A.) in a hand_to_hand struggle with the color bearer.

THOMPSON, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Signal Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Birth: Cape May County, N.J. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: During action of the main squadron of ships against heavily defended Forts Beauregard and Walker on Hilton Head, 7 November 1861. Serving as signal quartermaster on board the U.S.S. Mohican, Thompson steadfastly steered the ship with a steady and bold heart under the batteries; was wounded by a piece of shell but remained at his station until he fell from loss of blood. Legs since amputated.

WILLIAMS, JOHN
Rank and organization: Boatswain’s Mate, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Elizabethtown, N.J. G.O. No: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Captain of an 11_inch gun aboard the U.S.S. Mohican during action of the main squadron of ships against the heavily defended Forts Beauregard and Walker on Hilton Head, and against ships of the Confederate Fleet, 7 November 1861. Cool and courageous at his battle station, Williams maintained steady fire against the enemy while under the fort batteries during a 4_hour engagement which resulted in silencing the batteries of the forts and in the rout of the rebel steamers.

*NISHIMOTO, JOE M.
Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 November 1944, near La Houssiere, France. After three days of unsuccessful attempts by his company to dislodge the enemy from a strongly defended ridge, Private First Class Nishimoto, as acting squad leader, boldly crawled forward through a heavily mined and booby-trapped area. Spotting a machine gun nest, he hurled a grenade and destroyed the emplacement. Then, circling to the rear of another machine gun position, he fired his submachine gun at point-blank range, killing one gunner and wounding another. Pursuing two enemy riflemen, Private First Class Nishimoto killed one, while the other hastily retreated. Continuing his determined assault, he drove another machine gun crew from its position. The enemy, with their key strong points taken, were forced to withdraw from this sector. Private First Class Nishimoto’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

*THOMAS, HERBERT JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 8 February 1918, Columbus, Ohio. Accredited to: West Virginia. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the battle at the Koromokina River, Bougainville Islands, Solomon Islands, on 7 November 1943. Although several of his men were struck by enemy bullets as he led his squad through dense jungle undergrowth in the face of severe hostile machinegun fire, Sgt. Thomas and his group fearlessly pressed forward into the center of the Japanese position and destroyed the crews of 2 machineguns by accurate rifle fire and grenades. Discovering a third gun more difficult to approach, he carefully placed his men closely around him in strategic positions from which they were to charge after he had thrown a grenade into the emplacement. When the grenade struck vines and fell back into the midst of the group, Sgt. Thomas deliberately flung himself upon it to smother the explosion, valiantly sacrificing his life for his comrades. Inspired by his selfless action, his men unhesitatingly charged the enemy machinegun and, with fierce determination, killed the crew and several other nearby-defenders. The splendid initiative and extremely heroic conduct of Sgt. Thomas in carrying out his prompt decision with full knowledge of his fate reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

*LEONARD, WILLIAM F.
Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant. U.S. Army. Company C, 30th Infantry. Place and Date: November 7, 1944, St. Die, France. Born: August 9, 1913, Lockport, NJ . Departed: Yes (08/04/1985). Entered Service At: Lockport, NJ . G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 03/18/2014. Accredited To: . Citation: Then-Pfc. William F. Leonard is being recognized for his valorous actions while serving as a squad leader with Company C, 30th Infantry, on Nov. 7, 1944, near St. Die, France. Leonard’s platoon was reduced to eight men by blistering artillery, mortar, machine-gun, and rifle power. Leonard led the survivors in an assault over a tree-and-shrub-covered hill, continuously swept by automatic fire. Killing two snipers at ranges of 50 and 75 yards, he disregarded bullets that pierced his back to engage and destroy a machine-gun with rifle grenades, killing its two-man crew. Stunned by an exploding bazooka shell, he continued his relentless advance to knock out a second a machine-gun and capture the roadblock objective.

*STRYKER, ROBERT F.
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Loc Ninh, Republic of Vietnam, 7 November 1967. Entered service at: Throop, N.Y. Born: 9 November 1944, Auburn, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Stryker, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while serving with Company C. Sp4c. Stryker was serving as a grenadier in a multicompany reconnaissance in force near Loc Ninh. As his unit moved through the dense underbrush, it was suddenly met with a hail of rocket, automatic weapons and small arms fire from enemy forces concealed in fortified bunkers and in the surrounding trees. Reacting quickly, Sp4c. Stryker fired into the enemy positions with his grenade launcher. During the devastating exchange of fire, Sp4c. Stryker detected enemy elements attempting to encircle his company and isolate it from the main body of the friendly force.

Undaunted by the enemy machinegun and small-arms fire, Sp4c. Stryker repeatedly fired grenades into the trees, killing enemy snipers and enabling his comrades to sever the attempted encirclement. As the battle continued, Sp4c. Stryker observed several wounded members of his squad in the killing zone of an enemy claymore mine. With complete disregard for his safety, he threw himself upon the mine as it was detonated. He was mortally wounded as his body absorbed the blast and shielded his comrades from the explosion. His unselfish actions were responsible for saving the lives of at least 6 of his fellow soldiers. Sp4c. Stryker’s great personal bravery was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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8 November

1731 – Benjamin Franklin opened the 1st US library. The first circulating library in America, the Library Company of Philadelphia, was founded by Benjamin Franklin and others.

1830 – Oliver Otis Howard (d.1909), Major General (Union volunteers), was born. Born in Leeds, Maine, Oliver O. Howard had graduated from Bowdoin College and was fourth in his class at West Point before teaching math at the military academy. At the outset of the Civil War, Howard, an abolitionist, was made a colonel in command of the 3d Maine Regiment. After leading a brigade at the 1st Battle of Bull Run, Howard was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in September 1861. At the June 1, 1862, Battle of Seven Pines, Howard led a brigade against superior numbers in a heated battle. The picture of bravery, Howard stayed in the thick of battle leading and animating his men. Even though two horses were shot from under him and his right arm was shattered by two bullets, he continued to spur on his men until the Confederates retreated. Howard’s arm was amputated and he eventually received the Medal of Honor for his bravery at Seven Pines. Howard was promoted to major general of volunteers in November 1862 after he led a division at Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. In charge of the XI Corps at Chancellorsville, Howard and his men were severely routed by Gen. Stonewall Jackson and his Rebel troops.

On July 1, 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg. Howard was briefly the overall commander. His troops were again forced back, but Howard had the presence of mind to select Cemetery Hill to retreat to and anchor Union forces. He commanded the 4th Corps in the Atlanta campaign, and the Army of the Tennessee in the devastating March to the Sea and through the Carolinas. On May 12, 1865, Howard was chosen to head the Freedmen’s Bureau. Though he was honest and a devout champion of former slaves, the agency was riddled with corruption. Howard faced a court of inquiry in 1874 because of his corrupt subordinates in the bureau, but he was cleared of all charges. Howard continued to serve the army as a commander and was also superintendent of West Point. He retired in 1894.

1861 – Union Captain Charles Wilkes of the sloop San Jacinto seized Confederate commissioners John Slidell and James M. Mason from the British mail ship Trent. Lincoln’s response to uproar: “One war at a time.” The incident turned into a major diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States until the diplomats were released nearly two months later.

1864 – Northern voters overwhelmingly endorse the leadership and policies of President Lincoln when they elect him to a second term. With his reelection, the fate of the Confederacy was sealed and any hope for a negotiated settlement vanished. In 1864, Lincoln faced many challenges to his presidency. The war was now in its fourth year, and many were questioning if the South could ever be fully conquered militarily. General Ulysses S. Grant mounted a massive campaign in the spring of that year to finally defeat the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee, but after sustaining horrifying losses at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, the Yankees bogged down around Petersburg. As the fall approached, Grant seemed no closer to defeating Lee than his predecessors. In the West, General William T. Sherman was planted outside of Atlanta, but he could not take that city. Some of the Radical Republicans were unhappy with Lincoln’s conciliatory plan for reconstruction of the South. And many Northerners had never been happy with Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, which converted the war from one of reunion to a crusade to destroy slavery.

Weariness with the war fueled calls for a compromise with the seceded states. The Democrats nominated George B. McClellan, the former commander of the Union Army of the Potomac. McClellan was widely regarded as brilliant in organizing and training the army, but he had failed to defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Virginia. He and Lincoln quarreled constantly during his tenure as general in chief of the army, and Lincoln replaced him when McClellan failed to pursue Lee into Virginia after the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. In the months leading up to the election, the military situation changed dramatically. While Grant remained stalled at Petersburg, Mobile Bay fell to the Federal navy in August, Sherman captured Atlanta in September, and General Philip Sheridan secured Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in October. On election day, Lincoln carried all but three states (Kentucky, New Jersey, and Deleware), and won 55 percent of the vote. He won 212 electoral votes to McCellan’s 21. Most significant, 78 percent of the Union troops voted for their commander in chief, including 71 percent of McClellan’s old command, the Army of the Potomac. Perhaps most important was the fact that the election was held at all.

Before World War II, no country had ever held elections during military emergencies. Lincoln himself said, “We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.” Five months after Lincoln’s reelection, the collapse of the Confederacy was complete.

1864 – Rear Admiral Farragut, writing Secretary Welles, expressed his deeply held conviction that effective seapower was not dependent so much on a particular kind of ship or a specific gun but rather on the officers and men who manned them: . . . I think the world is sadly mistaken when it supposes that battles are won by this or that kind of gun or vessel. In my humble opinion the Kearsarge would have captured or sunk the Alabama as often as they might have met under the same organization and officers. The best gun and the best vessel should certainly be chosen, but the victory three times out of four depends upon those who fight them. I do not believe that the result would have been different if the Kearsarge had had nothing but a battery of 8-inch guns and 100-pound chase rifle. What signifies the size and caliber of the gun if you do not hit your adversary?”

1864 – Acting Master Francis Josselyn, U.S.S. Commodore Hull, landed with a party of sailors at Edenton, North Carolina, under orders from Commander Macomb to break up a court session being held there. Josselyn described the unique expedition: “I landed with a detachment of men this afternoon at Edenton and adjourned sine die a county court which was in session in the court house at that place under so-called Confederate authority. This court, the first that has been held at Edenton since the breaking out of the war, the authorities had the impertinence to hold under my very guns."

1889 – Montana became the 41st state. The state’s name is derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, although none official, including “Big Sky Country” and “The Treasure State”, and slogans that include “Land of the Shining Mountains” and more recently “The Last Best Place”. The land in Montana east of the continental divide was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Subsequent to the Lewis and Clark Expedition American, British and French fur traders operated in both east and western portions of Montana. Until the Oregon Treaty (1846), land west of the continental divide was disputed between the British and U.S. and was known as the Oregon Country. The first permanent settlement in what today is Montana was St. Mary’s (1841) near present day Stevensville.

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1892 – Former President Cleveland beat incumbent Benjamin Harrison and became the first (and, to date, only) president to win non-consecutive terms in the White House. Benjamin Harrison, the sitting president, did not enjoy the Republican Party’s unified backing at the convention in 1892. The president had offended the political bosses by his forays into civil service reform as well as a large segment of the general public by his staunch support of the McKinley Tariff. Even Harrison’s cabinet found his personality icy and unappealing. Despite support for rivals James G. Blaine and William McKinley, Harrison managed to secure renomination on the first ballot. The Democrats turned again to Grover Cleveland, victor in 1884 and loser in 1888. The nominee, like his opponent, did not lead a unified party; southern and western elements agitated for support of silver programs, but did not prevail.

The primary plank in the democratic platform called for the enactment of a tariff for revenue only—an obvious reaction to the McKinley Tariff. A third party, the Populists (or People’s) Party, gave its nomination to General James B. Weaver. Its platform called for free and unlimited coinage of silver and government ownership of the railroads. Both of those positions were crafted to appeal to the miners and farmers. The campaign in 1892 was subdued, due largely to Cleveland’s insistence. He respected the fact that Harrison’s wife was seriously ill and made a minimum of appearances. Mrs. Harrison died two weeks before the election. Cleveland was returned to office. He enjoyed solid support in the South and the Swing States, and managed to draw a number of votes from Republicans who were unhappy with Harrison. Weaver and the Populists became the first third party since 1860 to register electoral votes.

1898 – The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, the only instance of an attempted coup d’état in American history. The Wilmington Coup d’Etat of 1898, also known as the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina starting on November 10, 1898 and continued for several days. It is considered a turning point in post-Reconstruction North Carolina politics. The event is credited as ushering in an era of severe racial segregation and disfranchisement throughout the South. Laura Edwards wrote in Democracy Betrayed (2000), “What happened in Wilmington became an affirmation of white supremacy not just in that one city, but in the South and in the nation as a whole.” Originally described by whites as a race riot (suggesting blacks were at fault), the events are now classified as a coup d’etat, as white Democratic insurgents overthrew the legitimately elected local government. A mob of nearly 2000 men attacked the only black newspaper in the state, and persons and property in black neighborhoods, killing an estimated 15 to more than 60 victims. Two days after the election of a Fusionist white mayor and biracial city council, two-thirds of which was white, Democratic Party white supremacists illegally seized power and overturned the elected government.

Led by Alfred Waddell, who was defeated in 1878 as the congressional incumbent by Daniel L. Russell (elected governor in 1896), more than 2000 white men participated in an attack on the black newspaper, Daily Record, burning down the building. They ran officials and community leaders out of the city, and killed many blacks in widespread attacks, especially destroying the Brooklyn neighborhood. They took photographs of each other during the events. The Wilmington Light Infantry (WLI) and federal Naval Reserves, ordered to quell the riot, became involved, using rapid-fire weapons and killing several black men in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Both black and white residents later appealed for help after the coup to President William McKinley, but his administration did not respond, as Governor Russell had not requested aid. After the riot, more than 2,100 blacks left the city permanently, having to abandon their businesses and properties, turning it from a black-majority to a white-majority city.

1904 – Theodore Roosevelt (R), vice-president under McKinley, was elected president. He defeated Alton B. Parker (D). Theodore Roosevelt succeeded William McKinley, who was assassinated in September 1901. Roosevelt became the odds-on favorite for the Republican nomination in 1904. However, a disgruntled segment of the party voiced their view that Roosevelt’s actions were too liberal. They favored instead the nomination of Mark Hanna. Hanna had advised Roosevelt for a few months after the assassination, but then lost influence in the administration. His death in 1904 probably averted a heated contest over what direction the Republican Party would take. With the contender gone, the convention nominated Roosevelt by acclamation. The Democrats passed over William Jennings Bryan and settled on the nomination of Alton B. Parker, a conservative Appeals Court judge in New York. Parker was a firm advocate of the gold standard, embodying the Democrats’ desire to distance themselves from the shelf-worn silver issue. Bryan overcame his distaste for the nominee, campaigned dutifully in the farm belt and stressed popular progressive ideas of the day.

Conservative Democrats blasted Roosevelt for his trust-busting activities and inviting Booker T. Washington, a prominent black leader, to the White House. Roosevelt won a convincing victory in November. Significant Democratic support was visible only in the South. Following his triumph, Roosevelt unwisely announced his decision to not seek a third term, a statement he would come to regret. The 1904 election witnessed a strong showing by Eugene V. Debs and the Socialists, and a notable presence by the Prohibition Party. The Populists were in steep decline and would disappear from the national scene after the next presidential election.

1916 – U.S.A. S.S. “Columbian” sunk by German submarine near Cape Finisterre.

1917 – American Mission under “Colonel” House arrives in London. Despite House’s abundant self-belief in his diplomatic abilities, he was to be found wanting in these at the Paris Peace Conference following the armistice. He was inclined to side with the European Allies when placed under pressure, rather more so than Wilson who proved less open to compromise.

1918 – Marshal Foch receives German armistice delegates at Rethondes (four miles from Compiegne), refuses request for provisional armistice, terms of armistice to be accepted or refused by 11 am on 11th of November.

1923 – Adolf Hitler, president of the far-right Nazi Party, launches the Beer Hall Putsch, his first attempt at seizing control of the German government. After World War I, the victorious allies demanded billions of dollars in war reparations from Germany. Efforts by Germany’s democratic government to comply hurt the country’s economy and led to severe inflation. The German mark, which at the beginning of 1921 was valued at five marks per dollar, fell to a disastrous four billion marks per dollar in 1923. Meanwhile, the ranks of the nationalist Nazi Party swelled with resentful Germans who sympathized with the party’s bitter hatred of the democratic government, leftist politics, and German Jews.

In early November 1923, the government resumed war-reparation payments, and the Nazis decided to strike. Hitler planned a coup against the state government of Bavaria, which he hoped would spread to the dissatisfied German army, which in turn would bring down the central, democratic government in Berlin. On the evening of November 8, Nazi forces under Hermann Goering surrounded the Munich beer hall where Bavarian government officials were meeting with local business leaders. A moment later, Hitler burst in with a group of Nazi storm troopers, discharged his pistol into the air, and declared that “the national revolution has begun.” Threatened at gunpoint, the Bavarian leaders reluctantly agreed to support Hitler’s new regime.

In the early morning of November 9, however, the Bavarian leaders repudiated their coerced support of Hitler and ordered a rapid suppression of the Nazis. At dawn, government troops surrounded the main Nazi force occupying the War Ministry building. A desperate Hitler responded by leading a march toward the center of Munich in a last-ditch effort to rally support. Near the War Ministry building, 3,000 Nazi marchers came face to face with 100 armed policemen. Shots were exchanged, and 16 Nazis and three policemen were killed. Hermann Goering was shot in the groin, and Hitler suffered a dislocated elbow but managed to escape. Three days later, Hitler was arrested. Convicted of treason, he was given the minimum sentence of five years in prison. He was imprisoned in the Landsberg fortress and spent his time writing his autobiography, Mein Kampf, and working on his oratorical skills. Political pressure from the Nazis forced the Bavarian government to commute Hitler’s sentence, and he was released after serving only nine months. In the late 1920s, Hitler reorganized the Nazi Party as a fanatical mass movement that was able to gain a majority in the Reichstag in 1932. By 1934, Hitler was the sole master of a nation intent on war and genocide.

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1932 – New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover for the presidency. Roosevelt became the 32nd president with about 87% of the Electoral College. Roosevelt came into the Democratic convention in Chicago as the front runner. His main opposition was Alfred Smith. Roosevelt secured the nomination on the third ballot. Roosevelt ignored tradition by coming to Chicago to personally accept the nomination. The campaign took place against the background of great depression. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously to prove that despite his disability he could vigorously undertake the job of President. Hoover had at first planned to stay in the White House working during the crisis, but Roosevelt’s ads brought Hoover out on the campaign trail. Hoover tried to depict Roosevelt as an extremist who would bring ruin to the country. His dour campaigning compared to Roosevelt’s more positive apporach worked against him. With 1/4 of work force unemployed, Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory.

1933 – In 1933, the United States was struggling through the Depression. The major economic indices were sagging and the unemployment rolls seemed to be growing fatter by the day. With winter looming on the horizon, President Roosevelt and Henry Hopkins, one of the architects of the New Deal, moved to offer relief. They unveiled the Civil Works Administration (CWA), a program designed to secure temporary work for people who would otherwise have to endure a winter of unemployment. The CWA provided a mix of white and blue-collar jobs that promised to pay normal wages for a limited schedule of work. Though grounded more in compassion than careful planning, the program succeeded not only in helping workers through the winter, but also in giving the country a badly needed infusion of cash. According to the New York Times, the CWA had pumped $1 billion into the economy by May 1934. Roosevelt, however, never intended the CWA to be a permanent solution to the unemployment problem-he attempted to curtail the program in December 1933. So, by the spring of ’34, the CWA was retired and the government began to look for new ways to keep the nation working.

1939 – On the 16th anniversary of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, a bomb explodes just after Hitler has finished giving a speech. He was unharmed. Hitler had made an annual ritual on the anniversary of his infamous 1923 coup attempt, (Hitler’s first grab at power that ended in his arrest and the virtual annihilation of his National Socialist party), of regaling his followers with his vision of the Fatherland’s future. On this day, he had been addressing the Old Guard party members, those disciples and soldiers who had been loyal to Hitler and his fascist party since the earliest days of its inception. Just 12 minutes after Hitler had left the hall, along with important Nazi leaders who had accompanied him, a bomb exploded, which had been secreted in a pillar behind the speaker’s platform. Seven people were killed and 63 were wounded. The next day, the Nazi Party official paper, the Voelkischer Beobachter, squarely placed the blame on British secret agents, even implicating Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain himself. This work of propaganda was an attempt to stir up hatred for the British and whip the German people into a frenzy for war. But the inner-Nazi Party members knew better-they knew the assassination attempt was most probably the work of a German anti-Nazi military conspiracy.

In an ingenious scheme to shift blame, while getting closer to the actual conspirators, Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo chief, sent a subordinate, Walter Schellenberg, to Holland to make contact with British intelligence agents. The pretext of the meeting was to secure assurances from the British that in the event of an anti-Nazi coup, the British would support the new regime. The British agents were eager to gain whatever inside information they could about the rumored anti-Hitler movement within the German military; Schellenberg, posing as “Major Schaemmel,” was after whatever information British intelligence may have had on such a conspiracy within the German military ranks. But Himmler wanted more than talk-he wanted the British agents themselves. So on November 9, SS soldiers in Holland kidnapped, with Schellenberg’s help, two British agents, Payne Best and R.H. Stevens, stuffing them into a Buick and driving them across the border into Germany. Himmler now proudly announced to the German public that he had captured the British conspirators.

The man who actually planted the bomb at their behest was declared to be Georg Elser, a German communist who made his living as a carpenter. While it seems certain that Elser did plant the bomb, who the instigators were-German military or British intelligence-remains unclear. All three “official” conspirators spent the war in Sachsenhausen concentration camp (Elser was murdered by the Gestapo on April 16, 1945-so he could never tell his story). Hitler dared not risk a public trial, as there were just too many holes in the “official” story.

1942 – Operation Torch. The Allies land in French North Africa. There are three main task forces: The Western Task Force, commanded by General Patton, is comprised of 35,000 troops. It is supported by naval forces under Admiral Hewitt (two battleships, one fleet carrier, four escort carriers and numerous cruisers and destroyers); the Central Task Force, commanded by General Fredendall is comprised of 39,000 American troops. Commodore Toubridge commands its naval support force (two escort carriers and many smaller ships); the Eastern Task Force, contains 52 warships and 33,000 soldiers, led by General Ryder and Admiral Burroughs. The British contingent, 87th Division is supported by Admiral Syfret commanding British Force H, comprised of three battleships, three fleet carriers and a strong force of cruisers and destroyers. The Western Task force lands at three places along a 200 mile front around Casablanca. The Central is to land in and around Oran and the Eastern Task force lands in Algiers. The Eastern force at Algiers makes good early progress and quickly captures the town. A prize prisoner is found in Admiral Darlan, a prominent leader of the Vichy government, who is there on private business. At Oran, the Central Force is not as quickly successful and two destroyers are lost in an attempt to rush the harbor.

By night, however the landings are well established and the airfield at Tafaraiu is in Allied hands. An American manned Spitfire force is ready to begin operations. The Western Task force at Casablanca runs into the greatest opposition. The French battleship Jean Bart, at anchor but armed fights a gun battle with the USS Massachusetts. The French destroyer flotilla in the port fights as well but are driven off or sunk. Landings at Port Lyautey face fierce fighting, those at Safi go well. In total there are 1800 casualties. The landings receive some help from Free French supporters. This is most effective at Algiers where General Mast limits the French reaction so that the landings are not hindered. Both Mast and the Allied leaders are surprised to find Admiral Darlan a prisoner and negotiations for an armistice begin with him immediately. In Casablanca, support for the invasion is lower as General Nogues is less sympathetic to the Allied cause and Admiral Michelier, head of the naval forces there, is virulently anti-British. The Allies take care to present Operation Torch to the French as an American operation to minimize the anti-British feeling prevalent with many French officials. The British have been responsible for allaying Spanish fears to enlist their support against a possible German move through Gibraltar. Both the American and the British assure Spain her neutrality will be respected.

1942 – Vichy-France dropped diplomatic relations with US. Prime Minister Laval gives permission to the Germans to use airfields in Tunisia. Marshal Petain, while publicly denouncing the invasion, privately sends encouragement to Admiral Darlan to negotiate with the Allies.

1944 – The US 3rd Army begins a new offensive around Metz and to the south. During the day, the Seille River is crossed, and Normony captured.

1944 – 1st Lt. Edward R. “Buddy” Haydon, 357th Fighter Group killed Major Walter Nowotny, commander of Kommando Nowotny, flying the Me-262 jet fighter. This event almost caused Hitler to kill the jet fighter program.

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1945 – In the wake of World War II, America needed to convert its economy back to peacetime conditions. The passage of the Revenue Act of 1945 on November 8 was a key step in rolling back the heavy taxes which had been implemented to help wage the war. Along with cutting $6 billion in taxes, the Revenue Act initiated an extensive post-war revision of the nation’s entire tax system.

1950 – During the Korean conflict the first all-jet air combat took place over Korea as U.S. Air Force Lieut. Russell J. Brown, piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shot down two North Korean MiG-15s. It lasted about 30 seconds.

1950 – President Harry Truman lifted the ban on bombing within five miles of the Yalu River, and the bridges at Sinuiju were struck. Seventy-nine B-29s along with naval aircraft carried out the mission.

1950 – The Korean Service Medal was authorized by Executive Order 10179. Some 1.7 million U.S. service members were eventually awarded this medal for service in Korea and its contiguous waters between June 27, 1950, to July 27, 1954.

1956 – Navy Stratolab balloon (LCDRs Malcolm D. Ross and M. Lee Lewis) better world height record soaring to 76,000 feet over Black Hills, SD, on flight to gather meteorological, cosmic ray, and other scientific data.

1960 – Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy was elected 35th president by 118,550 popular votes. He defeated Richard Nixon in the US pres. elections. Popular legend later held that the political machine of Richard Daley in Chicago provided the necessary votes for Kennedy to win Illinois (27 electoral votes) and the elections. The Electoral College result was 303 to 219.

1965 – The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Viet Cong at the Battle of Gang Toi.

1974 – Charges were dropped against eight Ohio National Guardsmen for their role in the deaths of four anti-war protestors at Kent State University. A federal grand jury had indicted 8 National Guardsmen for the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings.

1975 – Over 100 Sailors and Marines from USS Inchon (LPH-12) and USS Bagley (DE-1069) fight a fire aboard a Spanish merchant vessel at Palma.

1988 – Republican Vice President George Bush was elected the 41st president. He defeated Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Vice President Bush recovered from an early third place showing in the Iowa’s Caucuses, behind Senator Dole and Reverend Pat Robertson, to force all his opponents to withdraw from the race. He thus was unopposed at the Republican convention in New Orleans. The only major issue at the convention was his decision to have Senator Quayle be his running mate, a decision that was widely criticized. Governor Dukakis of Massachusetts quickly became the front-runner after Gary Hart withdrew do to allegations of sexual improprieties, and Mario Cuomo of New York refused to run. One by one, Dukakis’ opponents withdrew, until only Jesse Jackson was left when the convention took place in Atlanta. Dukakis won on the first ballot after receiving 2,876 votes as opposed to Jackson 1218. Dukakis chose Senator Loyd Benson of Texas as his running mate. When the campaign began Governor Dukakis held a clear lead over Vice President Bush. The Republicans successfully attacked Dukakis in a number of ways.

One of the most notable was an attack on Dukakis surrounding the furlough release of Willie Horton an African American convicted of murder who was released on a weekend furlough from prison while Dukakis was governor. Bush stated ” don’t let murders out on vacation to terrorize innocent people…Dukakis owes the people an explanation of why he supported this outrageous program”. The Republicans then went on to sponsor a series of television ads with picutres of Horton and the crime scenes claiming that it was Dukakis who had let that happen. The fact that the program was started by Dukakis’s Republican predecessor and that while President Reagan had been governor of California it had been instituted there was not mentioned. This and other attack ads were very effective and Bush won by a large margin.

1990 – President Bush ordered a new round of troop deployments in the Persian Gulf, adding up to 150-thousand soldiers to the multinational force facing off against Iraq.

1990 – In Iraq Saddam Hussein fired his army chief and threatened to destroy the Arabian peninsula.

1992 – Volunteers began reading aloud the 58,183 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as part of a tribute marking the 10th anniversary of the monument.

1995 – Retired General Colin Powell embraced the Republican Party, but said he would not run for president or any other political office in 1996 because it was “a calling that I do not yet hear.”

1998 – Four Navy fliers were lost at sea and presumed dead after their EA-6B Prowler struck an S-3 Viking aircraft on the carrier Enterprise during nighttime landing practice off of Virginia. 2 crewmen landed safely on the deck.

1999 – Former President Bush was honored in Germany for his role in the fall of the Berlin Wall ten years earlier.

2000 – A statewide recount began in Florida, which emerged as critical in deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election. 19,000 votes were reported disqualified in West Palm Beach. Early that day, Vice President Al Gore telephoned Texas Gov. George W. Bush to concede, but called back about an hour later to retract his concession.

2000 – Saudi Arabia opened its border with Iraq and signed export contracts to nearly $600 million under exceptions to US sanctions.

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2001 – In a prime-time address, President called on Americans to defy acts of terror by strengthening their communities, comforting their neighbors and remaining vigilant in the face of further threats.

2001 – U.S. jets struck Taliban targets across northern Afghanistan and fierce fighting was reported around the Taliban-held city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

2002 – President Bush said the new resolution presented the Iraqi regime “with a final test.”

2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously approved a tough new Iraq resolution, aimed at forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences.” Iraq has until Nov. 15 to accept its terms and pledge to comply. Iraq has until December 8th to provide weapons inspectors and the Security Council with a complete declaration of all aspects of its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Weapons inspectors have until Dec. 23 to resume their work in Iraq. Weapons inspectors are to report to the Security Council 60 days after the start of their work. If inspectors resume their work on Dec. 23, the latest they would be able to report to the council would be February 21, 2003.


2003 – In Iraq insurgents killed two US paratroopers and wounded another west of Baghdad. In Tikrit US F-16s battered suspected targets. 5 Iraqis were killed and 16 taken custody in “Operation Ivy Cyclone.”

2004 – In Iraq some 10,000 US and Iraqi troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah. A car bomb hit a civilian convoy belonging to coalition forces on the main highway to Baghdad’s airport.

2004 – U.S. Federal District Judge James Robertson rules that the system of tribunals set up by the United States military to try and sentence prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay is illegal.

2006 – Amid criticism, Donald Rumsfeld resigns as Secretary of Defense. The President will later announce the selection of former Director of Central Intelligence, Robert Gates to succeed Rumsfeld.

2014 – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “Caliph” of ISIS is critically wounded during an US airstrike at al-Qaim.

2014 – North Korea releases American detainees Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BALDWIN, FRANK D.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company D, 19th Michigan Infantry; First Lieutenant, 5th U.S. Infantry. SECOND AWARD
Place and date: At McClellans Creek, Tex., 8 November 1874. Citation: Rescued, with 2 companies, 2 white girls by a voluntary attack upon Indians whose superior numbers and strong position would have warranted delay for reinforcements, but which delay would have permitted the Indians to escape and kill their captives.

HATLER, M. WALDO
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Pouilly, France, 8 November 1918. Entered service at: Neosho, Mo. Born: 6 January 1894, Bolivar, Mo. G.O. No.: 74, W.D., 1919. Citation: When volunteers were called for to secure information as to the enemy’s position on the opposite bank of the Meuse River, Sgt. Hatler was the first to offer his services for this dangerous mission. Swimming across the river, he succeeded in reaching the German lines, after another soldier, who had started with him, had been seized with cramps and drowned in midstream. Alone he carefully and courageously reconnoitered the enemy’s positions, which were held in force, and again successfully swam the river, bringing back information of great value.

*CRAW, DEMAS T.
Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date. Near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, 8 November 1942. Entered service at: Michigan. Born: 9 April 1900, Traverse City, Mich. G.O. No.: 11, 4 March 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, Col. Craw volunteered to accompany the leading wave of assault boats to the shore and pass through the enemy lines to locate the French commander with a view to suspending hostilities. This request was first refused as being too dangerous but upon the officer’s ins1stence that he was qualified to undertake and accomplish the mission he was allowed to go. Encountering heavy fire while in the landing boat and unable to dock in the river because of shell fire from shore batteries, Col. Craw, accompanied by 1 officer and 1 soldier, succeeded in landing on the beach at Mehdia Plage under constant low-level strafing from 3 enemy planes. Riding in a bantam truck toward French headquarters, progress of the party was hindered by fire from our own naval guns. Nearing Port Lyautey, Col. Craw was instantly killed by a sustained burst of machinegun fire at pointblank range from a concealed position near the road.

HAMILTON, PIERPONT M.
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, 8 November 1942. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 3 August 1898, Tuxedo Park, N.Y. G.O. No.: 4, 23 January 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, Lt. Col. Hamilton volunteered to accompany Col. Demas Craw on a dangerous mission to the French commander, designed to bring about a cessation of hostilities. Driven away from the mouth of the Sebou River by heavy shelling from all sides, the landing boat was finally beached at Mehdia Plage despite continuous machinegun fire from 3 low-flying hostile planes. Driven in a light truck toward French headquarters, this courageous mission encountered intermittent firing, and as it neared Port Lyautey a heavy burst of machinegun fire was delivered upon the truck from pointblank range, killing Col. Craw instantly. Although captured immediately, after this incident, Lt. Col. Hamilton completed the mission .

WILBUR, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Army, Western Task Force, North Africa. Place and date: Fedala, North Africa, 8 November 1942. Entered service at: Palmer, Mass. Birth: Palmer, Mass. G.O. No.: 2, 13 January 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. Col. Wilbur prepared the plan for making contact with French commanders in Casablanca and obtaining an armistice to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. On 8 November 1942, he landed at Fedala with the leading assault waves where opposition had developed into a firm and continuous defensive line across his route of advance. Commandeering a vehicle, he was driven toward the hostile defenses under incessant fire, finally locating a French officer who accorded him passage through the forward positions. He then proceeded in total darkness through 16 miles of enemy-occupied country intermittently subjected to heavy bursts of fire, and accomplished his mission by delivering his letters to appropriate French officials in Casablanca. Returning toward his command, Col. Wilbur detected a hostile battery firing effectively on our troops. He took charge of a platoon of American tanks and personally led them in an attack and capture of the battery. From the moment of landing until the cessation of hostile resistance, Col. Wilbur’s conduct was voluntary and exemplary in its coolness and daring.

*WILSON, ALFRED L.
Rank and organization: Technician Fifth Grade, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 328th Infantry, 26th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Bezange la Petite, France, 8 November 1944. Entered service at: Fairchance, Pa. Birth: Fairchance, Pa. G.O. No.: 47, 18 June 1945. Citation: He volunteered to assist as an aid man a company other than his own, which was suffering casualties from constant artillery fire. He administered to the wounded and returned to his own company when a shellburst injured a number of its men. While treating his comrades he was seriously wounded, but refused to be evacuated by litter bearers sent to relieve him. In spite of great pain and loss of blood, he continued to administer first aid until he was too weak to stand. Crawling from 1 patient to another, he continued his work until excessive loss of blood prevented him from moving. He then verbally directed unskilled enlisted men in continuing the first aid for the wounded. Still refusing assistance himself, he remained to instruct others in dressing the wounds of his comrades until he was unable to speak above a whisper and finally lapsed into unconsciousness. The effects of his injury later caused his death. By steadfastly remaining at the scene without regard for his own safety, Cpl. Wilson through distinguished devotion to duty and personal sacrifice helped to save the lives of at least 10 wounded men.

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[SHOOTER13]

JOEL, LAWRENCE
Rank and organization: Specialist Sixth Class (then Sp5c), U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 8 November 1965, Entered service at: New York City, N.Y. G.O. No.: 15, 5 April 1967. Born: 22 February 1928, Winston-Salem, N.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp6c. Joel demonstrated indomitable courage, determination, and professional skill when a numerically superior and well-concealed Viet Cong element launched a vicious attack which wounded or killed nearly every man in the lead squad of the company. After treating the men wounded by the initial burst of gunfire, he bravely moved forward to assist others who were wounded while proceeding to their objective. While moving from man to man, he was struck in the right leg by machine gun fire. Although painfully wounded his desire to aid his fellow soldiers transcended all personal feeling. He bandaged his own wound and self-administered morphine to deaden the pain enabling him to continue his dangerous undertaking. Through this period of time, he constantly shouted words of encouragement to all around him.

Then, completely ignoring the warnings of others, and his pain, he continued his search for wounded, exposing himself to hostile fire; and, as bullets dug up the dirt around him, he held plasma bottles high while kneeling completely engrossed in his life saving mission. Then, after being struck a second time and with a bullet lodged in his thigh, he dragged himself over the battlefield and succeeded in treating 13 more men before his medical supplies ran out. Displaying resourcefulness, he saved the life of 1 man by placing a plastic bag over a severe chest wound to congeal the blood. As 1 of the platoons pursued the Viet Cong, an insurgent force in concealed positions opened fire on the platoon and wounded many more soldiers. With a new stock of medical supplies, Sp6c. Joel again shouted words of encouragement as he crawled through an intense hail of gunfire to the wounded men. After the 24 hour battle subsided and the Viet Cong dead numbered 410, snipers continued to harass the company. Throughout the long battle, Sp6c. Joel never lost sight of his mission as a medical aid man and continued to comfort and treat the wounded until his own evacuation was ordered. His meticulous attention to duty saved a large number of lives and his unselfish, daring example under most adverse conditions was an inspiration to all. Sp6c. Joel’s profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

*RUBIO, EURIPIDES
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, RVN. Place and date: Tay Ninh Province, Republic of Vietnam, 8 November 1966. Entered service at: Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Born: 1 March 1938, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Rubio, Infantry, was serving as communications officer, 1st Battalion, when a numerically superior enemy force launched a massive attack against the battalion defense position. Intense enemy machinegun fire raked the area while mortar rounds and rifle grenades exploded within the perimeter. Leaving the relative safety of his post, Capt. Rubio received 2 serious wounds as he braved the withering fire to go to the area of most intense action where he distributed ammunition, re-established positions and rendered aid to the wounded.

Disregarding the painful wounds, he unhesitatingly assumed command when a rifle company commander was medically evacuated. Capt. Rubio was wounded a third time as he selflessly exposed himself to the devastating enemy fire to move among his men to encourage them to fight with renewed effort. While aiding the evacuation of wounded personnel, he noted that a smoke grenade which was intended to mark the Viet Cong position for air strikes had fallen dangerously close to the friendly lines. Capt. Rubio ran to reposition the grenade but was immediately struck to his knees by enemy fire. Despite his several wounds, Capt. Rubio scooped up the grenade, ran through the deadly hail of fire to within 20 meters of the enemy position and hurled the already smoking grenade into the midst of the enemy before he fell for the final time. Using the repositioned grenade as a marker, friendly air strikes were directed to destroy the hostile positions. Capt. Rubio’s singularly heroic act turned the tide of battle, and his extraordinary leadership and valor were a magnificent inspiration to his men. His remarkable bravery and selfless concern for his men are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on Capt. Rubio and the U.S. Army.

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[SHOOTER13]

9 November

1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

1764 – Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, is turned over to British forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet. Mary Campbell (later Mary Campbell Willford) was an American colonial settler, taken captive as a child by Native Americans during the French and Indian War. Later rescued, she is believed to have been the first white child to travel to the Western Reserve.

1780 – In the Battle of Fishdam Ford a force of British and Loyalist troops fail in a surprise attack against the South Carolina Patriot militia under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter. The Battle of Fishdam Ford was an attempted surprise attack by British forces under the command of Major James Wemyss against an encampment of Patriot militia around 1 am, late in the American Revolutionary War. Wemyss was wounded and captured in the attack, which failed because of heightened security in Sumter’s camp and because Wemyss did not wait until dawn to begin the attack.

1817 – Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, Major General (Union volunteers), was born. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was born in Platt’s Landing, Kentucky. He and his parents moved to Indiana, from which young Canby was appointed to West Point. Canby graduated in 1835, and served in the Seminole War. He later led major engagements in the Mexican War, and was brevetted twice for gallantry. When the Civil War began, Canby was fighting Native Americans a Fort Defiance, in New Mexico Territory. He was then appointed commander of the Department of New Mexico. Under Brig. Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley, Canby led efforts to repel Confederate attempts to invade the New Mexico Territory. He succeeded, with the help of Colorado volunteers, in defeating the Confederates at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, sometimes called the “Gettysburg of the West.”

Within a week of the battle, Canby was made a brigadier general. He served as assistant adjutant general in Washington, D.C. for two years, and commanded troops in New York City during the drafts riots of July 1863. On May 7, 1864, he was appointed a major general, leading the Military Division of West Mississippi. In 1865, he captured Mobile, Alabama, and accepted the surrender of the last Confederate army in the field in May of 1865. After the war, Canby was given the permanent rank of brigadier general. He was appointed commander of the Pacific Coast’s Department of the Columbia in 1870. On April 11, 1873, while leading a peace mission in California, Canby was killed by Modoc Indians.

1822 – The Action of 9 November 1822 between USS Alligator and a squadron of pirate schooners off the coast of Cuba. Fifteen leagues from Matanzas, Cuba, a large band of pirates captured several vessels and held them for ransom. Upon hearing of the pirate attacks, the Alligator under Lieutenant William Howard Allen rushed to the scene to rescue the vessels and seize the pirates. Upon arriving at the bay where the pirates were said to be, USS Alligator dispatched boats to engage the enemy vessels, as the water was too shallow for the American warship to engage them herself. With Allen personally commanding one of the boats, the Americans assaulted the piratical schooner Revenge. Although the Americans were able to force the pirates into abandoning Revenge, the buccaneers managed to fight their way out of the bay and inflict heavy casualties among the Americans, including Allen. With their commander mortally wounded, the Americans ceased pursuit of the pirates but managed to recover the vessels that had been held in the bay.

1825 – Ambrose Powell Hill (d.1865), Lt Gen (Confederate 3rd Army Corp), was born. Known for his red battle shirt and his hard-hitting attacks at the head of the famed Light Division, Ambrose P. Hill proved to be an example of the Peter principle. A West Pointer (1847) and veteran artilleryman, he resigned as a first lieutenant on March 1, 1861, and joined the South, where his services included: colonel, 13th Virginia (spring 1861); brigadier general, CSA (February 26, 1862); commanding brigade, Longstreet’s Division, Department of Northern Virginia (ca. February 26 – May 27, 1862); major general, CSA (May 26, 1862); commanding Light Division (in lst Corps from June 29 and 2nd Corps from July 27, 1862), Army of Northern Virginia (May 27, 1862 – May 2, 1863); commanding 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (May 2 and 6-30, 1863); lieutenant general, CSA (May 24, 1863); and commanding 3rd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (May 30, 1863-May 7, 1864 and May 21, 1864-April 2, 1865). In reserve at lst Bull Run, he fought at Yorktown and Williamsburg before being given command of a division. On the day he assumed command he directed the fight at Hanover Court House. He then took part in the Seven Days, distinguishing himself. After fighting at Cedar Mountain, 2nd Bull Run, and the capture of Harpers Ferry, he launched powerful counterattacks at the right moment at both Antietam and Fredericksburg.

At Chancellorsville he was on Jackson’s famed march around the Union right flank. When Jackson was wounded, Hill took command of the corps but was wounded carrying out his chief’s orders to “press right in.” At the end of the month he was given command of the new 3rd Corps, which he led to Gettysburg where, suffering from a now unidentifiable illness, he put in a lackluster performance. He was responsible for the disaster at Bristoe Station that fall and, again ill, was virtually circumvented at the Wilderness when Lee in effect took over command of the corps. He relinquished command temporarily after the battle and missed Spotsylvania but returned for the North Anna and Cold Harbor. Taking part in the siege of Petersburg, he was again ill during part of the winter of 186465. With the lines around the city collapsing on April 2, 1865, he was shot and killed in an encounter with a stray group of federal soldiers. Interestingly enough, both Stonewall Jackson and Lee called for Hill and his division in their dying delirium. It must have been the old Hill they were recalling.

1861 – Gunboats of Flag Officer Du Pont’s force took possession of Beaufort, South Carolina, and, by blocking the mouth of Broad River, cut off this communication link between Charleston and Savannah. Major General Robert E. Lee wrote Confederate Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin regarding the effects of the Union Navy’s victory at Port Royal: “The enemy having complete possession of the water and inland navigation, commands all the islands on the coast and threatens both Savannah and Charleston, and can come in his boats, within 4 miles of this place [Lee’s headquarters, Coosawhatchie, South Carolina]. His sloops of war and large steamers can come up Broad River to Mackay’s Point, the mouth of the Pocotaligo, and his gunboats can ascend some distance up the Coosawhatchie and Tulifinny. We have no guns that can resist their batteries, and have no resources but to prepare to meet them in the field.”

1862 – General US Grant issued orders to bar Jews from serving under him. The order was quickly rescinded.

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1862 – General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Union Army of the Potomac following the removal of George B. McClellan. This was a difficult time in the army. McClellan was beloved by many soldiers, and he had a loyal following among some in the command structure. But others detested him, and his successor would have a difficult time reconciling the pro- and anti-McClellan factions within the army’s leadership. Furthermore, Ambrose Burnside was not the obvious choice for his replacement. Many favored General Joseph Hooker, who, like Burnside, commanded a corps in the army. Hooker had a strong reputation as a battlefield commander but had several liabilities: a reputation for drinking and cavorting with prostitutes and an acrimonious history with Henry Halleck, the general in chief of the Union armies. Halleck urged President Lincoln to name Burnside to head the Union’s premier fighting force. Burnside was a solid corps commander, but by his own admission was not fit to command an army. The Indiana native graduated from West Point in 1847, 18th in a class of 20.

After serving for five years in the military, Burnside entered private business. He worked to develop a new rifle, but his firm went bankrupt when he refused to pay a bribe to secure a contract to sell his weapon to the U.S. army. Burnside then worked as treasurer for the Illinois Central Railroad under McClellan, who was president of the line. When the war erupted, Burnside became a colonel in charge of the First Rhode Island volunteers. He fought without distinction at First Bull Run but then headed an expeditionary force that captured Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in February 1862. Burnside returned to the Army of the Potomac and was given command of the Ninth Corps, which fought hard at Antietam in September. Now, he was tapped for the top position in the army over his own protestations. He reluctantly assumed command and proceeded to plan an attack on Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. In December, his army moved toward Lee at Fredericksburg. Several delays did not, unfortunately, deter Burnside from his plan. He attacked Lee’s entrenched troops on December 13 and suffered horrendous loses. Within one month, officers began to mutiny against Burnside’s authority, and Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac on January 25. After the war, he served as Governor of Rhode Island and as a U.S. Senator before his death in 1881.

1864 – Sherman designed his “March to the Sea.”

1875 – Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins submits a report to Washington, D.C., stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States. In so doing, Watkins set into motion a series of events that led to the Battle of the Little Big Born in Montana the following year. Seven years before the Watkins report, a portion of the Teton Sioux, who lived with Chief Red Cloud, made peace with the U.S. in exchange for a large reservation in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. However, some Sioux refused the offer of confinement on a reservation, and instead united around Chief Sitting Bull and his leading warrior, Crazy Horse. The wisdom of their resistance seemed confirmed in 1874 when the discovery of gold in the Black Hills set off an invasion of Anglo miners into the Sioux reservation. When the U.S. did nothing to stop this illegal violation of lands promised to the Sioux by treaty, more Indians left the reservation in disgust and joined Sitting Bull to hunt buffalo on the plains of Wyoming and Montana.

In November 1875, Watkins reported that the free-roaming Indians were hostile. The government responded by ordering that the Indians “be informed that they must remove to a reservation before the 31st of January, 1876,” and promised that if they refused, “they would be turned over to the War Department for punishment.” However, by the time couriers carried the message to the Sioux it was already winter, and traveling 200 miles to the reservation across frozen ground with no grass for their ponies or food for themselves was an impossible request. When, as expected, the Sioux missed the deadline, the matter was turned over to the War Department. In March 1876, the former Civil War hero General Phillip Sheridan ordered a large force of soldiers to trap the Sioux and force them back to the reservations. Among the officers leading the force was George Armstrong Custer, who later that year lead his famous “last stand” against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

1887 – The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1906 – On the first foreign trip by a U.S. president, President Theodore Roosevelt departs the United States for Panama aboard the battleship Louisiana. The visit came three years after Roosevelt gave tacit U.S. military support to the Panamanian revolt against Colombian rule. Panamanian independence allowed American engineers to begin work on the Panama Canal project–an effort to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a U.S.-administered canal across the Isthmus of Panama. During his four days in Panama, Roosevelt visited the project site, where construction preparations were underway. After leaving Panama, Roosevelt traveled to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico and then returned to the United States on November 26th.

1914 – The “Geier”, a German cruiser, was interned by U.S.A. at Honolulu.

1918 – The abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II is announced. He goes into exile in the Netherlands the next day. The victorious powers request, halfheartedly, that he be tried as a war criminal. A member of the chancellor’s cabinet, Philipp Scheidmann, announces the creation of a republic. A new government and chancellor, Friedrich Ebert, are appointed the next day. Germany will remain politically unstable, with various left and right wing factions vying for control.

1921 – USS Olympia arrives at the Washington Navy Yard from France carrying the body of the Unknown Soldier for internment at Arlington National Cemetery. Today the ship is a floating museum docked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1923 – In Munich, armed policeman and troops loyal to Germany’s democratic government crush the Beer Hall Putsch, the first attempt by the Nazi Party at seizing control of the German government. After World War I, the victorious allies demanded billions of dollars in war reparations from Germany. Efforts by Germany’s democratic government to comply hurt the country’s economy and led to severe inflation. The German mark, which at the beginning of 1921 was valued at five marks per dollar, fell to a disastrous four billion marks per dollar in 1923. Meanwhile, the ranks of the nationalist Nazi Party swelled with resentful Germans who sympathized with the party’s bitter hatred of the democratic government, leftist politics, and German Jews. In early November 1923, the government resumed war reparation payments, and the Nazis decided to strike. Hitler planned a coup against the state government of Bavaria, which he hoped would spread to the dissatisfied German army, which in turn would bring down the central, democratic government. Same question as above.

On the evening of November 8, Nazi forces under Hermann Goering surrounded the Munich beer hall where Bavarian government officials were meeting with local business leaders. A moment later, Hitler burst in with a group of Nazi storm troopers, discharged his pistol into the air, and declared that “the national revolution has begun.” Threatened at gunpoint, the Bavarian leaders reluctantly agreed to support Hitler’s new regime. In the early morning of November 9, however, the Bavarian leaders repudiated their coerced support of Hitler and ordered a rapid suppression of the Nazis. At dawn, government troops surrounded the main Nazi force occupying the War Ministry building. A desperate Hitler responded by leading a march toward the center of Munich in a last-ditch effort to rally support. Near the War Ministry building, 3,000 Nazi marchers came face to face with 100 armed policemen. Shots were exchanged, and 16 Nazis and three policemen were killed. Hermann Goering was shot in the groin, and Hitler suffered a dislocated elbow but managed to escape.

Three days later, Hitler was arrested. Convicted of treason, he was given the minimum sentence of five years in prison. He was imprisoned in the Landsberg fortress and spent his time writing his autobiography, Mein Kampf, and working on his oratorical skills. Political pressure from the Nazis forced the Bavarian government to commute Hitler’s sentence, and he was released after serving only nine months. In the late 1920s, Hitler reorganized the Nazi Party as a fanatical mass movement that was able to gain a majority in the Reichstag in 1932. By 1934, Hitler was the sole master of a nation intent on war and genocide.

1925 – German Nazis formed the SS (Schutzstaffel- elite special forces).

1935 – Japanese troops invaded Shanghai, China. They commit horrible atrocities on the civilian population.

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1938 – This day saw the organized destruction of Jewish businesses and homes in Munich, as well as the beating and murder of Jewish men, women, and children. It was an exercise in terror that would be called “Kristallnacht,” or “the Night of Broken Glass,” because of the cost of broken glass in looted Jewish shops–5 million marks ($1,250,000). On November 7, in Paris, a 17-year-old German Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan, shot and killed the third secretary of the German embassy, Ernst vom Rath. Grynszpan had intended to avenge the deportation of his father to Poland and the ongoing persecution of Jews in Germany by killing the German ambassador. Instead, the secretary was sent out to see what the angry young man wanted and was killed. The irony is that Rath was not an anti-Semite; in fact, he was an anti-Nazi. As revenge for this shooting, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister of propaganda, and Reinhard Heydrich, second in command of the SS after Heinrich Himmler, ordered “spontaneous demonstrations” of protest against the Jewish citizens of Munich.

The order, in the form of a tele-typed message to all SS headquarters and state police stations, laid out the blueprint for the destruction of Jewish homes and businesses. The local police were not to interfere with the rioting storm troopers, and as many Jews as possible were to be arrested with an eye toward deporting them to concentration camps. In Heydrich’s report to Hermann Goering after Kristallnacht, the damage was assessed: “…815 shops destroyed, 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed…119 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed…20,000 Jews were arrested, 36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36….” The extent of the destruction was actually greater than reported. Later estimates were that as many as 7,500 Jewish shops were looted, and there were several incidents of rape. This, in the twisted ideology of Nazism, was worse than murder, because the racial laws forbade intercourse between Jews and gentiles. The rapists were expelled from the Nazi Party and handed over to the police for prosecution.

And those who killed Jews? They “cannot be punished,” according to authorities, because they were merely following orders. To add insult to massive injury, those Jews who survived the monstrous pogrom were forced to pay for the damage inflicted upon them. Insurance firms teetered on the verge of bankruptcy because of the claims. Hermann Goering came up with a solution: Insurance money due the victims was to be confiscated by the state, and part of the money would revert back to the insurance companies to keep them afloat. The reaction around the world was one of revulsion at the barbarism into which Germany was sinking. As far as Hitler was concerned, this only proved the extent of the “Jewish world conspiracy.”

1940 – Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.

1942 – The US forces at Casablanca secure their beachheads. At Port Lyautey there is heavy fighting between French tanks and General Truscott’s troops. Oran, target of the Center Task Force is still holding out, however General Anderson, who has landed to take command of 1st Army at Algiers in the east, is able to send armored columns rushing to the area for support. German troops begin to be flown into Tunisia. General Giraud arrives in Algiers. However, the Allies realize that Admiral Darlan will be better able to change French loyalty to the Allied cause and they continue to pressure him.

1943 – On Bougainville, the US 3rd Marine Division advances inland from their beachhead at Cape Tarokina, in Empress Augusta Bay. An encounter battle ensues with the main body of the Japanese 23rd Regiment on the jungle tracks. Meanwhile, a second wave of landings begin with the arrival of most of the US 37th Division.

1944 – The 455-foot Red Oak Victory ship was launched from Richmond, Ca. It was named after an Iowa town with the highest number of casualties per capita in WW II. The Victory ships were successors of the Liberty ships.

1944 – Elements of US 3rd Army cross the Moselle River around Metz. Further south, US 12th Corps continues advancing beyond the Seille River, capturing Chateau Salins.

1944 – On Leyte, another 2000 troops of the Japanese 26th Division arrive at Ormoc. The transporting warships are forced to withdraw before all the supplies can landed.

1945 – FBI agents staked out a house in Berkeley, Ca., to watch George Eltenton, a suspected Soviet spy. In 1946 Eltenton admitted that he had tried to obtain secret data on Berkeley’s radiation lab. Eltenton moved to Britain in 1947.

1950 – Task Force 77 makes first attack on the Yalu River bridges. In first engagement between MIG-15 and F9F jets (USS Philippine Sea), LCDR William T. Amen (VF-111) shoots down a MIG and becomes first Navy pilot to shoot down a jet aircraft.

1950 – Corporal Harry J. LaVene, a tail gunner on a RB-29 over Sinuiju, became the first aerial gunner to shoot down a MiG-15.

1967 – NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched Apollo 4 into orbit from Cape Kennedy with the first successful test of a Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V was the largest operational launch vehicle ever produced. Standing over 363 feet high with its Apollo Spacecraft payload, it produced over 7.5 million pounds of thrust at lift-off. These pages contain a mixture of photos of the three examples on display at the Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center and the Alabama Space and Rocket Center. Of these three, only the JSC vehicle is made up entirely of former flight-ready (although mismatched) components.

1970 – The Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge by the state of Massachusetts regarding the constitutionality of the Vietnam War. By a 6-3 vote, the justices rejected the effort of the state to bring a suit in federal court in defense of Massachusetts residents claiming protection under a state law that allowed them to refuse military service in an undeclared war.

1979 – In a nuclear false alarm, the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert is cancelled.

1980 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared holy war against Iran.

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1989 – East German officials today opened the Berlin Wall, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following day, celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down. One of the ugliest and most infamous symbols of the Cold War was soon reduced to rubble that was quickly snatched up by souvenir hunters. The East German action followed a decision by Hungarian officials a few weeks earlier to open the border between Hungary and Austria. This effectively ended the purpose of the Berlin Wall, since East German citizens could now circumvent it by going through Hungary, into Austria, and thence into West Germany. The decision to open the wall was also a reflection of the immense political changes taking place in East Germany, where the old communist leadership was rapidly losing power and the populace was demanding free elections and movement toward a free market system.

The action also had an impact on President George Bush and his advisors. After watching television coverage of the delirious German crowds demolishing the wall, many in the Bush administration became more convinced than ever that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s statements about desiring a new relationship with the West must be taken more seriously. Unlike 1956 and 1968, when Soviet forces ruthlessly crushed protests in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, respectively, Gorbachev actually encouraged the East German action. As such, the destruction of the Berlin Wall was one of the most significant actions leading to the end of the Cold War.

1997 – In Lansdowne, Pa., some 200 people picketed in front of the home of Jonas Stelmokas (81) to protest delays to his deportation. He was accused of being a former member of the Lithuanian police force that helped Nazis kill Jews during WW II.

1999 – With fireworks, concerts and a huge party at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, Germany celebrated the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

2000 – William Leonard Pickard (55) and Clyde Apperson (45) of California were indicted by a grand jury in Kansas City for running a massive LSD laboratory inside a decommissioned nuclear missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.

2001 – Northern Alliance forces, under the command of Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammed Noor, overcame resistance crossing the Pul-i-Imam Bukhri bridge, and seized the city of Mazar e Sharif’s main military base and airport. U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment A-595, CIA paramilitary officers and United States Air Force Combat Control Team on horseback and with close air support, took part in the push into Mazari Sharif. After a bloody 90-minute battle, Taliban forces withdrew after holding the city since 1998, triggering celebrations. The fall of the city was a “body blow” to the Taliban and ultimately proved to be a “major shock”, since the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had originally believed that the city would remain in Taliban hands well into the following year and any potential battle would require “a very slow advance”.

Following rumors that Mullah Dadullah was headed to recapture the city with as many as 8,000 fighters, a thousand American 10th Mountain Division personnel were airlifted into the city, providing the first solid position from which Kabul and Kandahar could be reached. While prior military flights had to be launched from Uzbekistan or aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea, the Americans now had an airport that allowed them to fly more sorties for resupply missions and humanitarian aid. These missions allowed shipments of humanitarian aid to be immediately shipped to Afghans facing starvation on the northern plain. American-backed forces began immediately broadcasting from Radio Mazar-i-Sharif, the former Taliban Voice of Sharia channel, including an address from former President Rabbani.

2001 – The Battle of Mazar-e Sharif may also mark the last use of hoseback mounted tactics by US troops. US Special Forces operators, blending modern and ancient, rode with Northern Alliance allies while using modern communications to direct air support.

2001 – A Pakistani newspaper published a Nov 7 interview with Osama bin Laden in which he claimed to have chemical and nuclear weapons.

2002 – President Bush said in his radio address that Saddam Hussein faced a final test to surrender weapons of mass destruction.

2003 – Art Carney (85) died in Chester, Conn. He played Jackie Gleason’s sewer worker pal Ed Norton in the TV classic “The Honeymooners” and went on to win the 1974 Oscar for best actor in “Harry and Tonto.”

2004 – Iraqi authorities imposed the first nighttime curfew in more than a year on Baghdad and surrounding areas. US Army and Marine units thrust through the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, fighting bands of guerrillas in the streets and conducting house-to-house searches on the second day of a major offensive. Some US artillery used white phosphorous rounds that melted skin. At least 10 American and 2 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the assault.

2004 – In a backlash over the Fallujah assault the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from the interim government and a leading group of Sunni clerics called for Iraqis to boycott nationwide elections.

2011 – A U.S. Federal investigation finds gross mismanagement of the remains of servicemen and women at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base.

2012 – Two Iranian Revolutionary Guard fighter jets fire on an unmanned American General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone in international airspace near Kuwait.

2012 – CIA Director David Petraeus submits his resignation to President Barack Obama, citing an extramarital affair he had.

2013 – The United States Navy christened the USS Gerald R. Ford – the $15.5 billion aircraft carrier is the most technologically advanced ship ever built.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

GALT, STERLING A.
Rank and organization: Artificer, Company F, 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Bamban, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 9 November 1899. Entered service at: Pawneytown, Md. Birth: Pawneytown, Md. Date of issue: 30 April 1902. Citation: Distinguished bravery and conspicuous gallantry in action against insurgents.

HUNTSMAN, JOHN A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company E, 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Bamban, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 9 November 1899. Entered service at: Lawrence, Kans. Birth: Oskaloosa County, lowa. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: For distinguished bravery and conspicuous gallantry in action against insurgents.

*BARKELEY, DAVID B.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company A, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Pouilly, France, 9 November 1918. Entered service at: San Antonio, Tex. Birth: Laredo, Tex. G.O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: When information was desired as to the enemy’s position on the opposite side of the Meuse River, Pvt. Barkeley, with another soldier, volunteered without hesitation and swam the river to reconnoiter the exact location. He succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, despite the evident determination of the enemy to prevent a crossing. Having obtained his information, he again entered the water for his return, but before his goal was reached, he was seized with cramps and drowned.

JOHNSTON, HAROLD I.
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Private First Class), U.S. Army, Company A, 356th Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Pouilly, France, 9 November 1918. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Kendell, Kans. C O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: When information was desired as to the enemy’s position on the opposite side of the Meuse River, Sgt. Johnston, with another soldier, volunteered without hesitation and swam the river to reconnoiter the exact location of the enemy. He succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, despite the evident determination of the enemy to prevent a crossing. Having obtained his information, he again entered the water for his return. This was accomplished after a severe struggle which so exhausted him that he had to be assisted from the water, after which he rendered his report of the exploit.

VAN IERSEL, LUDOVICUS M. M.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division. Place and date: At Mouzon, France, 9 November 1918. Entered service at: Glen Rock, N.J. Birth: Holland. G.O. No.: 34, W.D., 1919. Citation: While a member of the reconnaissance patrol, sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a damaged bridge, Sgt. Van Iersel volunteered to lead a party across the bridge in the face of heavy machinegun and rifle fire from a range of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the debris of the ruined bridge he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the water. In spite of the swift current he succeeded in swimming across the stream and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to the battalion commander.

*GOTT, DONALD J. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 729th Bomber Squadron, 452d Bombardment Group. Place and date: Saarbrucken, Germany, 9 November 1944. Entered service at: Arnett, Okla. Born: 3 June 1923, Arnett, Okla. G.O. No.: 38, 16 May 1945. Citation: On a bombing run upon the marshaling yards at Saarbrucken a B-17 aircraft piloted by 1st. Lt. Gott was seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire. Three of the aircraft’s engines were damaged beyond control and on fire; dangerous flames from the No. 4 engine were leaping back as far as the tail assembly. Flares in the cockpit were ignited and a fire raged therein, which was further increased by free-flowing fluid from damaged hydraulic lines. The interphone system was rendered useless. In addition to these serious mechanical difficulties the engineer was wounded in the leg and the radio operator’s arm was severed below the elbow. Suffering from intense pain, despite the application of a tourniquet, the radio operator fell unconscious. Faced with the imminent explosion of his aircraft, and death to his entire crew, mere seconds before bombs away on the target, 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot conferred.

Something had to be done immediately to save the life of the wounded radio operator. The lack of a static line and the thought that his unconscious body striking the ground in unknown territory would not bring immediate medical attention forced a quick decision. 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and then attempt to crash land. Bombs were released on the target and the crippled aircraft proceeded alone to Allied-controlled territory. When that had been reached, 1st. Lt. Gott had the copilot personally inform all crewmembers to bail out. The copilot chose to remain with 1st. Lt. Gott in order to assist in landing the bomber. With only one normally functioning engine, and with the danger of explosion much greater, the aircraft banked into an open field, and when it was at an altitude of 100 feet it exploded, crashed, exploded again and then disintegrated. All 3 crewmembers were instantly killed. 1st. Lt. Gott’s loyalty to his crew, his determination to accomplish the task set forth to him, and his deed of knowingly performing what may have been his last service to his country was an example of valor at its highest.

*GURKE, HENRY
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 6 November 1922, Neche, N. Dak. Accredited to: North Dakota. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and courage above and beyond the call of duty while attached to the 3d Marine Raider Battalion during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area on 9 November 1943. While his platoon was engaged in the defense of a vital road block near Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville Island. Pfc. Gurke, in company with another Marine, was delivering a fierce stream of fire against the main vanguard of the Japanese. Concluding from the increasing ferocity of grenade barrages that the enemy was determined to annihilate their small, 2-man foxhole, he resorted to a bold and desperate measure for holding out despite the torrential hail of shells. When a Japanese grenade dropped squarely into the foxhole, Pfc. Gurke, mindful that his companion manned an automatic weapon of superior fire power and therefore could provide more effective resistance, thrust him roughly aside and flung his own body over the missile to smother the explosion. With unswerving devotion to duty and superb valor, Pfc. Gurke sacrificed himself in order that his comrade might live to carry on the fight. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

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*SIJAN, LANCE P.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 4th Allied POW Wing, Pilot of an F-4C aircraft. Place and date: North Vietnam, 9 November 1967. Entered service at: Milwaukee, Wis. Born: 13 April 1942, Milwaukee, Wis. Citation: While on a flight over North Vietnam, Capt. Sijan ejected from his disabled aircraft and successfully evaded capture for more than 6 weeks. During this time, he was seriously injured and suffered from shock and extreme weight loss due to lack of food. After being captured by North Vietnamese soldiers, Capt. Sijan was taken to a holding point for subsequent transfer to a prisoner of war camp. In his emaciated and crippled condition, he overpowered 1 of his guards and crawled into the jungle, only to be recaptured after several hours. He was then transferred to another prison camp where he was kept in solitary confinement and interrogated at length. During interrogation, he was severely tortured; however, he did not divulge any information to his captors. Capt. Sijan lapsed into delirium and was placed in the care of another prisoner. During his intermittent periods of consciousness until his death, he never complained of his physical condition and, on several occasions, spoke of future escape attempts. Capt. Sijan’s extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed Forces.

TAYLOR, JAMES ALLEN
Rank and organization: Captain (then 1st Lt.), U.S. Army, Troop B, 1st Cavalry, Americal Division. Place and date: West of Que Son, Republic of Vietnam, 9 November 1967. Entered service at: San Francisco, Calif. Born: 31 December 1937, Arcata, Calif. Citation: Capt. Taylor, Armor, was serving as executive officer of Troop B, 1st Squadron. His troop was engaged in an attack on a fortified position west of Que Son when it came under intense enemy recoilless rifle, mortar, and automatic weapons fire from an enemy strong point located immediately to its front. One armored cavalry assault vehicle was hit immediately by recoilless rifle fire and all 5 crewmembers were wounded. Aware that the stricken vehicle was in grave danger of exploding, Capt. Taylor rushed forward and personally extracted the wounded to safety despite the hail of enemy fire and exploding ammunition. Within minutes a second armored cavalry assault vehicle was hit by multiple recoilless rifle rounds. Despite the continuing intense enemy fire, Capt. Taylor moved forward on foot to rescue the wounded men from the burning vehicle and personally removed all the crewmen to the safety of a nearby dike. Moments later the vehicle exploded.

As he was returning to his vehicle, a bursting mortar round painfully wounded Capt. Taylor, yet he valiantly returned to his vehicle to relocate the medical evacuation landing zone to an area closer to the front lines. As he was moving his vehicle, it came under machinegun fire from an enemy position not 50 yards away. Capt. Taylor engaged the position with his machinegun, killing the 3-man crew. Upon arrival at the new evacuation site, still another vehicle was struck. Once again Capt. Taylor rushed forward and pulled the wounded from the vehicle, loaded them aboard his vehicle, and returned them safely to the evacuation site. His actions of unsurpassed valor were a source of inspiration to his entire troop, contributed significantly to the success of the overall assault on the enemy position, and were directly responsible for saving the lives of a number of his fellow soldiers. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military profession and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army

YOUNG, GERALD O.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 37th ARS Da Nang AFB, Republic of Vietnam. Place and date: Khesanh, 9 November 1967. Entered service at: Colorado Springs, Colo. Born: 9 May 1930, Chicago, Ill. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Young distinguished himself while serving as a helicopter rescue crew commander. Capt. Young was flying escort for another helicopter attempting the night rescue of an Army ground reconnaissance team in imminent danger of death or capture. Previous attempts had resulted in the loss of 2 helicopters to hostile ground fire. The endangered team was positioned on the side of a steep slope which required unusual airmanship on the part of Capt. Young to effect pickup. Heavy automatic weapons fire from the surrounding enemy severely damaged 1 rescue helicopter, but it was able to extract 3 of the team. The commander of this aircraft recommended to Capt. Young that further rescue attempts be abandoned because it was not possible to suppress the concentrated fire from enemy automatic weapons. With full knowledge of the danger involved, and the fact that supporting helicopter gunships were low on fuel and ordnance, Capt. Young hovered under intense fire until the remaining survivors were aboard.

As he maneuvered the aircraft for takeoff, the enemy appeared at point-blank range and raked the aircraft with automatic weapons fire. The aircraft crashed, inverted, and burst into flames. Capt. Young escaped through a window of the burning aircraft. Disregarding serious burns, Capt. Young aided one of the wounded men and attempted to lead the hostile forces away from his position. Later, despite intense pain from his burns, he declined to accept rescue because he had observed hostile forces setting up automatic weapons positions to entrap any rescue aircraft. For more than 17 hours he evaded the enemy until rescue aircraft could be brought into the area. Through his extraordinary heroism, aggressiveness, and concern for his fellow man, Capt. Young reflected the highest credit upon himself, the U.S. Air Force, and the Armed Forces of his country.

WHITE, KYLE J.
Rank and Organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and Date: November 9, 2007, Aranas, Afghanistan. Born: March 27, 1987. Departed: No. Entered Service At: Seattle, Washington. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 05/13/2014. Accredited To: Washington. Citation: Specialist Kyle J. White 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 radio telephone operator with Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade, during combat operations against an armed enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007. On that day, Specialist White and his comrades were returning to Bella Outpost from a shura with Aranas Village elders. As the soldiers traversed a narrow path surrounded by mountainous, rocky terrain, they were ambushed by enemy forces from elevated positions. Pinned against a steep mountain face, Specialist White and his fellow soldiers were completely exposed to enemy fire. Specialist White returned fire and was briefly knocked unconscious when a rocket-propelled grenade impacted near him. When he regained consciousness, another round impacted near him, embedding small pieces of shrapnel in his face. Shaking off his wounds, Specialist White noticed one of his comrades lying wounded nearby. Without hesitation, Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire in order to reach the soldier and provide medical aid.

After applying a tourniquet, Specialist White moved to an injured Marine, similarly providing aid and comfort until the Marine succumbed to his wounds. Specialist White then returned to the soldier and discovered that he had been wounded again. Applying his own belt as an additional tourniquet, Specialist White was able to stem the flow of blood and save the soldier’s life. Noticing that his and the other soldier’s radios were inoperative, Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire yet again in order to secure a radio from a deceased comrade. He then provided information and updates to friendly forces, allowing precision airstrikes to stifle the enemy’s attack and ultimately permitting medical evacuation aircraft to rescue him, his fellow soldiers, Marines and Afghan Army soldiers. Specialist Kyle J. White’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, Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade and the United States Army.

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