This Date in Military History:

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*AGERHOLM, HAROLD CHRIST
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 29 January 1925, Racine, Wis. Accredited to: Wisconsin. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, 2d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, 7 July 1944. When the enemy launched a fierce, determined counterattack against our positions and overran a neighboring artillery battalion, Pfc. Agerholm immediately volunteered to assist in the efforts to check the hostile attack and evacuate our wounded. Locating and appropriating an abandoned ambulance jeep, he repeatedly made extremely perilous trips under heavy rifle and mortar fire and single-handedly loaded and evacuated approximately 45 casualties, working tirelessly and with utter disregard for his own safety during a grueling period of more than 3 hours. Despite intense, persistent enemy fire, he ran out to aid 2 men whom he believed to be wounded marines but was himself mortally wounded by a Japanese sniper while carrying out his hazardous mission. Pfc. Agerholm’s brilliant initiative, great personal valor and self-sacrificing efforts in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

*BAKER, THOMAS A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them.

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

*MOTO, KAORU
Private First Class Kaoru Moto distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 July 1944, near Castellina, Italy. While serving as first scout, Private First Class Moto observed a machine gun nest that was hindering his platoon’s progress. On his own initiative, he made his way to a point ten paces from the hostile position, and killed the enemy machine gunner. Immediately, the enemy assistant gunner opened fire in the direction of Private First Class Moto. Crawling to the rear of the position, Private First Class Moto surprised the enemy soldier, who quickly surrendered. Taking his prisoner with him, Private First Class Moto took a position a few yards from a house to prevent the enemy from using the building as an observation post. While guarding the house and his prisoner, he observed an enemy machine gun team moving into position. He engaged them, and with deadly fire forced the enemy to withdraw. An enemy sniper located in another house fired at Private First Class Moto, severely wounding him. Applying first aid to his wound, he changed position to elude the sniper fire and to advance. Finally relieved of his position, he made his way to the rear for treatment. Crossing a road, he spotted an enemy machine gun nest. Opening fire, he wounded two of the three soldiers occupying the position. Not satisfied with this accomplishment, he then crawled forward to a better position and ordered the enemy soldier to surrender. Receiving no answer, Private First Class Moto fired at the position, and the soldiers surrendered. Private First Class Moto’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.

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

On 28 June 1944, while his platoon was attempting to take a bitterly defended high ridge in the vicinity of Donnay, Lt. Col. O’Brien arranged to capture the ridge by a double envelopment movement of 2 large combat battalions. He personally took control of the maneuver. Lt. Col. O’Brien crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush alone to arrive at a point where 1 of his platoons was being held up by the enemy. Leaving some men to contain the enemy he personally led 4 men into a narrow ravine behind, and killed or drove off all the Japanese manning that strongpoint. In this action he captured S machineguns and one 77-mm. fieldpiece. Lt. Col. O’Brien then organized the 2 platoons for night defense and against repeated counterattacks directed them. Meanwhile he managed to hold ground. On 7 July 1944 his battalion and another battalion were attacked by an overwhelming enemy force estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese. With bloody hand-to-hand fighting in progress everywhere, their forward positions were finally overrun by the sheer weight of the enemy numbers. With many casualties and ammunition running low, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to leave the front lines. Striding up and down the lines, he fired at the enemy with a pistol in each hand and his presence there bolstered the spirits of the men, encouraged them in their fight and sustained them in their heroic stand. Even after he was seriously wounded, Lt. Col. O’Brien refused to be evacuated and after his pistol ammunition was exhausted, he manned a .50 caliber machinegun, mounted on a jeep, and continued firing. When last seen alive he was standing upright firing into the Jap hordes that were then enveloping him. Some time later his body was found surrounded by enemy he had killed. His valor was consistent with the highest traditions of the service

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*TANOUYE, TED T.
Technical Sergeant Ted T. Tanouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 July 1944, near Molino A Ventoabbto, Italy. Technical Sergeant Tanouye led his platoon in an attack to capture the crest of a strategically important hill that afforded little cover. Observing an enemy machine gun crew placing its gun in position to his left front, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crept forward a few yards and opened fire on the position, killing or wounding three and causing two others to disperse. Immediately, an enemy machine pistol opened fire on him. He returned the fire and killed or wounded three more enemy soldiers. While advancing forward, Technical Sergeant Tanouye was subjected to grenade bursts, which severely wounded his left arm. Sighting an enemy-held trench, he raked the position with fire from his submachine gun and wounded several of the enemy. Running out of ammunition, he crawled 20 yards to obtain several clips from a comrade on his left flank. Next, sighting an enemy machine pistol that had pinned down his men, Technical Sergeant Tanouye crawled forward a few yards and threw a hand grenade into the position, silencing the pistol. He then located another enemy machine gun firing down the slope of the hill, opened fire on it, and silenced that position. Drawing fire from a machine pistol nest located above him, he opened fire on it and wounded three of its occupants. Finally taking his objective, Technical Sergeant Tanouye organized a defensive position on the reverse slope of the hill before accepting first aid treatment and evacuation. Technical Sergeant Tanouye’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.

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8 July

1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.

1755 – Britain broke off diplomatic relations with France as their disputes in the New World intensified.

1758 – The British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New York, was foiled by the French.

1760 – The Battle of Restigouche, a naval battle fought during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi’kmaq militias. The French vessels had been sent to relieve New France after the fall of Quebec. Supplies were extraordinarily important because France ran their colonies such that the colonies were wholly dependent on products and manufacturing of the motherland. The loss of the Battle of Restigouche and the consequent inability to supply the troops, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America, and it severely curtailed any hopes for a lengthy resistance to the British by the French forces that remained. The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi’kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi’kmaq and the British.

1775 – The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, was signed by members of the Continental Congress. The petition was a final attempt to avoid a full-blown war between the Thirteen Colonies that the Congress represented, and Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected in fact, although not having been received by the king before declaring the Congress-supporting colonists traitors.

1776 – In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall), summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, by Colonel John Nixon. On July 4, the historic document was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress meeting in the State House. However, the Liberty Bell, which bore the apt biblical quotation, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof,” was not rung until the Declaration of Independence returned from the printer on July 8. In 1751, to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Pennsylvania’s original constitution, the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly ordered the 2,000-pound copper and tin bell constructed. After being cracked during a test, and then recast twice, the bell was hung from the State House steeple in June 1753. Rung to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together and to summon people for special announcements and events, it was also rung on important occasions, such as when King George III ascended to the throne in 1761 and to call the people together to discuss Parliament’s controversial Stamp Act of 1765. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in April 1775, the bell was rung to announce the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Its most famous tolling was on July 8, 1776, when it summoned Philadelphia citizens for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. As the British advanced toward Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, the bell was removed from the city and hidden in Allentown to save it from being melted down by the British and used for cannons. After the British defeat in 1781, the bell was returned to Philadelphia, which was the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800. In addition to marking important events, the bell tolled annually to celebrate George Washington’s birthday on February 22, and Independence Day on July 4. In 1839, the name “Liberty Bell” was first coined in a poem in an abolitionist pamphlet. The question of when the Liberty Bell acquired its famous fracture has been the subject of a good deal of historical dispute.

In the most commonly accepted account, the bell suffered a major break while tolling for the funeral of the chief justice of the United States, John Marshall, in 1835, and in 1846 the crack expanded to its present size while in use to mark Washington’s birthday. After that date, it was regarded as unsuitable for ringing, but it was still ceremoniously tapped on occasion to commemorate important events. On June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded France, the sound of the bell’s dulled ring was broadcast by radio across the United States. In 1976, the Liberty Bell was moved to a new pavilion about 100 yards from Independence Hall in preparation for America’s bicentennial celebrations.

1778 – George Washington headquartered his Continental Army at West Point.

1778 – Allied French fleet under Comte d’Estaing arrives in America.

1835 – The US Liberty Bell in Philadelphia cracked while being tolled for Chief Justice John Marshall. It was never rung again.

1853 – Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but under threat of attack by the superior American ships they accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since it had been declared closed to foreigners two centuries before. Only the Dutch and the Chinese were allowed to continue trade with Japan after 1639, but this trade was restricted and confined to the island of Dejima at Nagasaki. After giving Japan time to consider the establishment of external relations, Commodore Perry returned to Tokyo with nine ships in March 1854. On March 31, he signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan. In April 1860, the first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power in over 200 years reached Washington, D.C., and remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks, discussing expansion of trade with the United States. Treaties with other Western powers followed soon after, contributing to the collapse of the shogunate and ultimately the modernization of Japan.

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1863 – Port Hudson, the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, falls to Nathaniel Banks’ Union force. Less than a week after the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Confederate garrison’s surrender at Port Hudson cleared another obstacle for the Federals on the Mississippi River. In late 1862, Banks was given orders to clear the river as far north as possible. He seemed hesitant, however, even with David Farragut’s naval forces at his disposal. After much prodding, Banks finally began to move in February 1863. But by March, Farragut had failed to move past Port Hudson; he lost one ship and the others retreated back down the river. So Banks delayed action against Port Hudson until May. At first unsure whether to join Ulysses S. Grant’s force up at Vicksburg or attack Port Hudson, Banks opted to attack the fort. On May 27, Federal cannons and riverboats opened fire on Port Hudson, but Banks directed a poorly coordinated attack against the stronghold, which was defended by General Franklin Gardner and a force of 3,500 men. Although the tiny Confederate force was able to hold off the Union assault in May, Banks had Port Hudson surrounded. The garrison held out through June, but word of Vicksburg’s surrender convinced Gardner that further resistance was futile.

1863 – Lieutenant Commander Fitch, U.S.S. Moose, received word at Cincinnati that General Morgan, CSA, was assaulting Union positions and moving up the banks of the Ohio River. He had also captured steamers John T. McCombs and Alice Dean (see 7 July). Fitch immediately notified the ships under his command stationed along the river, and got underway himself with U.S.S. Victory in company Next day the ships converged on Brandenburg, Kentucky, only to find that Morgan’s troops, 6,000 strong, had just beaten them to the river and crossed into Indiana. “Not knowing which direction Morgan had taken,” Fitch reported, “I set the Fairfield and Silver Take to patrol from Leavenworth, [Indiana] up to Brandenburg during the night, and the Victory and Springfield to patrol from Louisville down [to Brandenburg].”

By thus deploying his forces, Fitch was able to cover the river for some 40 miles. The morning of 10 July Fitch learned the Confederates were moving northward and, joined by U.S.S. Reindeer and Naumkeag, ascended the Ohio, “keeping as near Morgan’s right flank as I possibly could.” The chase, continuing until 19 July, was conducted by U.S.S. Moose, Reindeer, Victory, Springfield, Naumkeag, and steamer Alleghany Belle. U.S.S. Fairplay and Silver Lake remained to patrol between Louisville and Cannelton, Indiana.

1864 – Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston retreated into Atlanta to prevent being flanked by Union General William T. Sherman.

1865 – C.E. Barnes of Lowell, MA, patented the machine gun.

1876 – White terrorists attacked Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC, and killed 5.

1879 – The steamship USS Jeannette under Lt. George W. De Long departed San Francisco on an expedition to reach the North Pole.

1898 – US battle fleet under Adm. Dewey occupied Isla Grande at Manila.

1918 – Ernest Hemingway is severely wounded while carrying a companion to safety on the Austro-Italian front during World War I. Hemingway, working as a Red Cross ambulance driver, was decorated for his heroism and sent home. Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Before joining the Red Cross, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. After the war, he married the wealthy Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where they met other American expatriate writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. With their help and encouragement, Hemingway published his first book of short stories, in the U.S. in 1925, followed by the well-received The Sun Also Rises in 1926. Hemingway would marry three more times, and his romantic and sporting epics would be followed almost as closely as his writing. During the 1930s and ’40s, the hard-drinking Hemingway lived in Key West and then in Cuba while continuing to travel widely. He wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, his first major literary work in nearly a decade. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The same year, Hemingway was wounded in a plane crash, after which he became increasingly anxious and depressed. Like his father, he eventually committed suicide, shooting himself in 1961 in his home in Idaho.

1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.

1941 – Twenty B-17s flew in their first mission with the Royal Air Force over Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

1943 – American B-24 bombers struck Japanese-held Wake Island for the first time. An obscure U.S. Navy fighter did yeoman duty when times were toughest early in World War II.

1943 – On New Georgia, US forces make some gains near the Barike River.

1943 – US invasion fleet passed Bizerta, Tunisia.

1944 – The US 1st Army is reinforced with 2 divisions arriving from Britain. There is heavy fighting along the road from Carentan to Periers.

1944 – Japanese kamikaze attacked US lines at Saipan.

1944 – Naval bombardment of Guam begins.

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1945 – At Camp Salina, Utah, an American guard (Clarence V. Bertucci) opens fire on German prisoners of war. During the night, the 23-year-old army private climbed the guard tower with a .30 caliber machine gun. He looked across the tent city where the 250 Germans slept. Then, for the next 15 seconds, he riddled the 43 tents from left to right. The shooting stopped only when the gun ran out of ammunition. Eight Germans were killed and twenty more were wounded. The victims were laid to rest at Fort Douglas and given a proper military funeral. Bertucci showed no remorse for what he done. He said he hated Germans, and wanted to kill them. This is considered the worst massacre at a POW camp in the history of the USA.

1945 – On Mindanao, fighting continues in the Sarangani Bay area. Filipino guerrillas under American leadership engage the Japanese.

1947 – Demolition work began in New York City to make way for the new permanent headquarters of the United Nations.

1947 – In New Mexico the Roswell Daily Record reported the military’s capture of a flying saucer. It became know as the Roswell Incident. Officials later called the debris a “harmless, high-altitude weather balloon. In 1994 the Air Force released a report saying the wreckage was part of a device used to spy on the Soviets.

1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).

1949 – Vietta M. Bates became the first enlisted woman sworn into the U.S. Army when legislation was passed making the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps part of the regular Army.

1950 – The day after the U.N. Security Council recommended that all U.N. forces in Korea be placed under the command of the U.S. military, General Douglas MacArthur, the hero of the war against Japan, is appointed head of the United Nations Command by President Harry S. Truman. MacArthur, the son of a top-ranking army general who fought in the Civil War, was commissioned as an army lieutenant in 1903. During World War I, MacArthur served as a commander of the famed 84th Infantry Brigade. During the 1920s, he was stationed primarily in the Philippines, a U.S. commonwealth, and in the first half of the 1930s he served as U.S. Army chief of staff. In 1935, with Japanese expansion underway in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed MacArthur military adviser to the government of the Philippines. In 1941, five months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, he was named commander of all U.S. armed forces in the Pacific. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, he conducted the defense of the Philippines against great odds. In March 1942, with Japanese victory imminent, Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to Australia, but the American general famously promised the Philippines “I shall return.” Five months later, the great U.S. counteroffensive against Japan began. On October 20, 1944, after advancing island by island across the South Pacific, MacArthur waded onto the Philippines’ shores. Eleven months later, he officiated the Japanese surrender and then served as the effective ruler of Japan during a productive five-year occupation.

After North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, MacArthur was appointed supreme commander of the U.S.-led U.N. force sent to aid the South. In September, he organized a risky but highly successful landing at Inchon, and by October North Korean forces had been driven back across the 38th parallel. With President Truman’s approval, U.N. forces crossed into North Korea and advanced all the way to the Yalu River–the border between North Korea and communist China–despite warnings that this would provoke Chinese intervention. When China did intervene, forcing U.N. forces into a desperate retreat, MacArthur pressed for permission to bomb China. President Truman, fearing the Cold War implications of an expanded war in the Far East, refused. MacArthur then publicly threatened to escalate hostilities with China in defiance of Truman’s stated war policy, leading Truman to fire him on April 11, 1951. For his action against General MacArthur, the celebrated hero of the war against Japan, Truman was subjected to a torrent of attacks, and some Republicans called for his impeachment. On April 17, MacArthur returned to U.S. soil for the first time since before World War II and was given a hero’s welcome. Two days later, he announced the end of his military career before a joint meeting of Congress, declaring, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” After unsuccessfully running for the Republican presidential nomination in 1952, MacArthur did indeed fade from public view. He died in 1964.

1951 – The communists offered an armistice if the U.N. Command repatriated all Chinese prisoners. The U.N. Command declined.

1954 – Col. Carlos Castillo Armas is elected president of the junta that overthrew the administration of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in late June 1954. The election of Castillo Armas was the culmination of U.S. efforts to remove Arbenz and save Guatemala from what American officials believed to be an attempt by international communism to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere. In 1944, Guatemala went through a revolution that saw the removal of a long-time dictator and the establishment of the first democratically elected government in the nation’s history. In 1950, Guatemala witnessed another first with the peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected president, Arbenz. Officials in the United States had watched the developments in Guatemala with growing concern and fear. The Guatemalan government, particularly after Arbenz came to power in 1950, had launched a serious effort at land reform and redistribution to Guatemala’s landless masses. When this effort resulted in the powerful American-owned United Fruit Company losing many acres of land, U.S. officials began to believe that communism was at work in Guatemala. By 1953 and into 1954, the U.S. government was intent on removing Arbenz from power and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was given this task by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The CIA established a multifaceted covert operation (code named PBSUCCESS).

Beginning in June 1954, the CIA saturated Guatemala with propaganda over the radio and through leaflets dropped over the country, and also began small bombing raids using unmarked airplanes. It also organized and armed a small force of “freedom fighters”–mostly Guatemalan refugees and mercenaries–headed by Castillo Armas. This force, which never numbered more than a few hundred men, had little impact on subsequent events. By late June, the Arbenz government, diplomatically and economically isolated by the United States, came to the conclusion that resistance against the “giant of the north” was futile, and Arbenz resigned on June 27. A short time later, Castillo Armas and his “army” marched into Guatemala City and established a ruling junta. On July 8, 1954, Castillo Armas was elected president of the junta. For the United States, the election of Castillo Armas was the culmination of a successful covert operation against international communism. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declared that Guatemala had been saved from “communist imperialism.” The overthrow of Arbenz had added “a new and glorious chapter to the already great tradition of the American states.” Many Guatemalans came to have a different perspective. The new regime rounded up thousands of suspected communists, and executed hundreds of prisoners. Labor unions, which had flourished since 1944, were crushed, and United Fruit’s lands were restored. Castillo Armas, however, did not long enjoy his success. He was assassinated in 1957. Guatemalan politics then degenerated into a series of coups and countercoups, coupled with brutal repression of the country’s people.

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1959 – Maj. Dale R. Ruis and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand become the first Americans killed in the American phase of the Vietnam War when guerrillas strike a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles northeast of Saigon. The group had arrived in South Vietnam on November 1, 1955, to provide military assistance. The organization consisted of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps personnel who provided advice and assistance to the Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff, corps and division commanders, training centers, and province and district headquarters.

1960 – The Soviet Union charged Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the country, with espionage.

1962 – Members of the 49th Armored Division from Texas, currently serving on active duty since October 1, 1961, use their full-time training experience to teach Guardsmen in non-mobilized units coming to Ft. Polk for their annual training the finer points of combat readiness. The 49th, along with 32nd Infantry Division from Wisconsin and 264 non-divisional Army Guard units and 163 Air Guard units were mobilized by President John Kennedy in response to the Soviet Union building the Berlin Wall marking an increase in tension in Europe. These units brought more than 66,000 Guard personnel on active duty for up to one year. As tensions cooled by summer’s end the units began returning home. No Army Guard units or personnel had been sent overseas. However, eleven Air Guard fighter squadrons had been deployed to France, Britain and Spain during the crisis. In fact, their movement across the Atlantic was the largest deployment of jet aircraft to date.

1963 – US banned all monetary transactions with Cuba.

1965 – President Johnson decrees that a Vietnam Service Medal be awarded to Americans serving in Vietnam, even though there had been no official declaration of war. There were 16,300 U.S. troops in South Vietnam at the end of 1964. With Johnson’s decision to send U.S. combat units, total U.S. strength in South Vietnam would reach 184,300 by the end of 1965.

1974 – Reverend Alice M. Henderson became the first woman to officially serve in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. Henderson was sworn in at U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) at Fort McPherson, Ga. and went on to serve the nation for 13 years.

1987 – Lt. Col. Oliver North became a daytime TV star as the Iran-Contra hearings were televised throughout the U.S.

1988 – Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said his nation would not seek revenge against the United States for shooting down an Iranian jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing 290 people.

1991 – Reversing earlier denials, Iraq disclosed for the first time that it was carrying out a nuclear weapons program, including the production of enriched uranium.

1994 – The space shuttle “Columbia” blasted off on a two-week mission.

1994 – Kim Il Sung, the communist dictator of North Korea since 1948, dies of a heart attack at the age of 82. In the 1930s, Kim fought against the Japanese occupation of Korea and was singled out by Soviet authorities, who sent him to the USSR for military and political training. He became a communist and fought in the Soviet Red Army in World War II. In 1945, Korea was divided into Soviet and American spheres, and in 1948 Kim became the first leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). Hoping to reunify Korea by force, Kim launched an invasion of South Korea in June 1950, thereby igniting the Korean War, which ended in a stalemate in 1953. During the next four decades, Kim led his country into a deep isolation from even its former communist allies, and relations with South Korea remained tense. Repressive rule and a personality cult that celebrated him as the “Great Leader” kept him in power until his death in 1994. He was succeeded as president by his son, Kim Jong Il.

1995 – Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu was arrested in China and charged with obtaining state secrets. He was later convicted of espionage and deported.

1995 – A Marine tactical recovery team from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit stationed on board the USS Kearsarge rescued a downed U.S. pilot, Captain Scott O’Grady, USAF, from Bosnian-Serb territory in Bosnia.

1996 – The Shuttle Columbia landed after a record flight of 16 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes and 30 seconds.

1997 – A US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed at Fort Bragg, NC, and killed 8 soldiers.

1997 – NATO issued formal membership invitations to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

1998 – The US and European countries demanded an immediate cease fire in Kosovo and called for a crackdown on the flow of funds to ethnic Albanian rebels.

1998 – In Afghanistan the Taliban decreed that television was corrupting Afghan society and issued an edict that banned televisions, videocassette recorders, videos and satellite dishes.

1999 – An Air Force cargo jet took off from Seattle on a dangerous mission to Antarctica to drop medicine for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center who had discovered a lump in her breast. The mission was successful; Nielsen was evacuated the following October.

1999 – Astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad Junior, the third man to walk on the moon, died after a motorcycle accident near Ojai, California; he was 69.

2000 – The Pentagon’s missile defense project suffered its latest setback when a rocket that had taken off from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific failed to intercept a target missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

2003 – In Iraq Mizban Khadr Hadi (No. 23), a high-ranking member of the Baath Party regional command was taken into custody.

2003 – US military experts arrived in Liberia to assess the need for help in the local civil war.

2010 – An article tilted, “The Runaway General”, appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, in which General Stanley McChrystal and his staff mocked civilian government officials, including Joe Biden, National Security Advisor James L. Jones, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. McChrystal was not quoted as being directly critical of the president or the president’s policies, but several comments from his aides in the article reflected their perception of McChrystal’s disappointment with Obama on the first two occasions of their meeting. This leads to McChrystal’s resignation and replacement as Commander of US forces in Afghanistan by General David Petraeus.

2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

CARNEY, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. Place and date: At Fort Wagner, S.C., 18 July 1863. Entered service at: New Bedford, Mass. Birth: Norfolk, Va. Date of issue: 23 May 1900. Citation: When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.

CO-RUX-TE-CHOD-ISH (Mad Bear)
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Pawnee Scouts, U.S. Army. Place and date: At Republican River, Kans., 8 July 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Nebraska. Date of issue: 24 August 1869. Citation: Ran out from the command in pursuit of a dismounted Indian; was shot down and badly wounded by a bullet from his own command.

KYLE, JOHN
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company M, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Republican River, Kans., 8 July 1869. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Cincinnati, Ohio. Date of issue: 24 August 1869. Citation: This soldier and 2 others were attacked by 8 Indians, but beat them off and badly wounded 2 of them.

*TIMMERMAN, GRANT FREDERICK
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 14 February 1919, Americus, Kans. Accredited to: Kansas. Other Navy award: Bronze Star Medal. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as tank commander serving with the 2d Battalion, 6th Marines, 2d Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, on 8 July 1944. Advancing with his tank a few yards ahead of the infantry in support of a vigorous attack on hostile positions, Sgt. Timmerman maintained steady fire from his antiaircraft sky mount machinegun until progress was impeded by a series of enemy trenches and pillboxes. Observing a target of opportunity, he immediately ordered the tank stopped and, mindful of the danger from the muzzle blast as he prepared to open fire with the 75mm., fearlessly stood up in the exposed turret and ordered the infantry to hit the deck. Quick to act as a grenade, hurled by the Japanese, was about to drop into the open turret hatch, Sgt. Timmerman unhesitatingly blocked the opening with his body holding the grenade against his chest and taking the brunt of the explosion. His exception valor and loyalty in saving his men at the cost of his own life reflect the highest credit upon Sgt. Timmerman and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

*SHEA, RICHARD T., JR.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 6 to 8 July 1953. Entered service at: Portsmouth, Va. Born: 3 January 1927, Portsmouth, Va. G.O. No.: 38, 8 June 1955. Citation: 1st Lt. Shea, executive officer, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. On the night of 6 July, he was supervising the reinforcement of defensive positions when the enemy attacked with great numerical superiority. Voluntarily proceeding to the area most threatened, he organized and led a counterattack and, in the bitter fighting which ensued, closed with and killed 2 hostile soldiers with his trench knife. Calmly moving among the men, checking positions, steadying and urging the troops to hold firm, he fought side by side with them throughout the night. Despite heavy losses, the hostile force pressed the assault with determination, and at dawn made an all-out attempt to overrun friendly elements. Charging forward to meet the challenge, 1st Lt. Shea and his gallant men drove back the hostile troops. Elements of Company G joined the defense on the afternoon of 7 July, having lost key personnel through casualties.

Immediately integrating these troops into his unit, 1st Lt. Shea rallied a group of 20 men and again charged the enemy. Although wounded in this action, he refused evacuation and continued to lead the counterattack. When the assaulting element was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire, he personally rushed the emplacement and, firing his carbine and lobbing grenades with deadly accuracy, neutralized the weapon and killed 3 of the enemy. With forceful leadership and by his heroic example, 1st Lt. Shea coordinated and directed a holding action throughout the night and the following morning. On 8 July, the enemy attacked again. Despite additional wounds, he launched a determined counterattack and was last seen in close hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. 1st Lt. Shea’s inspirational leadership and unflinching courage set an illustrious example of valor to the men of his regiment, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the noble traditions of the military service.

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9 July

1755 – General Edward Braddock was mortally wounded when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia, which was on its way to attack France’s Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Gen. Braddock’s troops were decimated at Fort Duquesne, where he refused to accept Washington’s advice on frontier style fighting. British Gen’l. Braddock gave his bloody sash to George Washington at Fort Necessity just before he died on July 13th.

1776 – The Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington’s troops in New York.

1776 – New York was the 13th colony to ratify the Declaration of Independence.

1795 – James Swan paid off the $2,024,899 US national debt.

1846 – An American naval captain occupies the small settlement of Yerba Buena, a site that will later be renamed San Francisco. Surprisingly, Europeans did not discover the spectacular San Francisco Bay until 1769, although several explorers had sailed by it in earlier centuries. When Spanish explorers finally found the bay in that year, they immediately recognized its strategic value. In 1776, the Spanish built a military post on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula and founded the mission of San Francisco de Asis (the Spanish name for Saint Francis of Assisi) nearby. The most northern outpost of the Spanish, and later Mexican, empire in America, the tiny settlement remained relatively insignificant for several decades. However, the potential of the magnificent harbor did not escape the attention of other nations. In 1835, the British Captain William Richardson established a private settlement on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove, several miles to the east of the Mexican mission.

That same year the U.S. government offered to purchase the bay, but the Mexicans declined to sell. In retrospect, the Mexicans should have sold while they still had the chance. A little more than a decade later, a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over western Texas led to war. Shortly after the Mexican War began, U.S. Captain John Montgomery sailed his warship into San Francisco Bay, anchoring just off the settlement of Yerba Buena. On this day in 1846, Montgomery led a party of marines and sailors ashore. They met no resistance and claimed the settlement for the United States, raising the American flag in the central plaza. The following year, the Americans renamed the village San Francisco. When the Mexicans formally ceded California to the United States in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe, San Francisco was still a small town with perhaps 900 occupants. That same year, however, gold was discovered at the nearby Sutter’s Fort. San Francisco became the gateway for a massive gold rush, and by 1852, the town was home to more than 36,000.

1850 – Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, dies suddenly from an attack of cholera morbus. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Raised in Kentucky with little formal schooling, Zachary Taylor received a U.S. Army commission in 1808. He became a captain in 1810 and was promoted to major during the War of 1812 in recognition of his defense of Fort Harrison against attack by Shawnee chief Tecumseh. In 1832, he became a colonel and served in the Black Hawk War and in the campaigns against the Seminole Indians in Florida, winning the nickname of “Old Rough and Ready” for his informal attire and indifference to physical adversity. Sent to the Southwest to command the U.S. Army at the Texas border, Taylor crossed the Rio Grande with the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846. In May, Taylor defeated the Mexicans at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and in September he captured the city of Monterrey. In February 1847, he achieved his crowning military victory at the Battle of Buena Vista, where his force triumphed despite being outnumbered three to one. This victory firmly established Taylor as a popular hero, and in 1848, despite his lack of a clear political platform, he was nominated the Whig presidential candidate. Elected in November, Taylor soon fell under the influence of William H. Seward, a powerful Whig senator, and in 1849 he supported the Wilmot Proviso, which would exclude slavery from all the territory acquired as a result of the Mexican War. His inflexible responses to Southern criticisms of this policy aggravated the nation’s North-South conflict and revealed his political inexperience. Matters were at a stalemate when he died suddenly on July 9, 1850.

1861 – Confederate cavalry led by John Morgan captured Tompkinsville, Kentucky. “The Yankees will never take me a prisoner again,” vowed Confederate General John Hunt Morgan.

1864 – Confederate General Jubal Early brushes a Union force out of his way as he heads for Washington. Early’s expedition towards the Union capital was designed to take pressure off Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia around Petersburg. Beginning in early May, Ulysses S. Grant’s Union army had continually attacked Lee and drove the Confederates into trenches around the Richmond-Petersburg area. In 1862, the Confederates faced a similar situation around Richmond, and they responded by sending General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to the Shenandoah Valley to occupy Federal forces. The ploy worked well, and Jackson kept three separate Union forces away from the Confederate capital. Now, Lee sent Early on a similar mission. Early and his force of 14,000 marched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac into Maryland, and then veered southeast toward Washington. Union General Lew Wallace, commander of the Middle Department and stationed in Baltimore, patched together a force of 6,000 local militiamen and soldiers from various regiments to stall the Confederates while a division from Grant’s army around Petersburg arrived to protect Washington. Wallace placed his makeshift force along the Monocacy River near Frederick. '

Early in the morning of July 9th, Early’s troops easily pushed a small Federal guard from Frederick before encountering the bulk of Wallace’s force along the river. Wallace protected three bridges over the river. One led to Baltimore, the other to Washington, and the third carried the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Early’s first attack was unsuccessful. A second assault, however, scattered the Yankees. The Union force retreated toward Baltimore, and the road to Washington was now open to Early and his army. Union losses for the day stood at 1,800, and Early lost 700 of his men. However, the battle delayed Early’s advance to Washington and allowed time for the Union to bring reinforcements from Grant’s army.

1892 – A stray 500-pound shell from the Sandy Hook, New Jersey, testing range sank the schooner Henry R. Tilton.

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1900 – Marines helped in the capture of Tientsin Arsenal.

1941 – Crackerjack British cryptologists break the secret code used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. British experts had already broken many of the Enigma codes for the Western front. Enigma was the Germans’ most sophisticated coding machine, necessary to secretly transmitting information. The Enigma machine, invented in 1919 by Hugo Koch, a Dutchman, looked like a typewriter and was originally employed for business purposes. The Germany army adapted the machine for wartime use and considered its encoding system unbreakable. They were wrong. The Brits had broken their first Enigma code as early as the German invasion of Poland and had intercepted virtually every message sent through the occupation of Holland and France. Britain nicknamed the intercepted messages Ultra. Now, with the German invasion of Russia, the Allies needed to be able to intercept coded messages transmitted on this second, Eastern, front. The first breakthrough occurred on July 9, regarding German ground-air operations, but various keys would continue to be broken by the Brits over the next year, each conveying information of higher secrecy and priority than the next. (For example, a series of decoded messages nicknamed “Weasel” proved extremely important in anticipating German anti-aircraft and antitank strategies against the Allies.) These decoded messages were regularly passed to the Soviet High Command regarding German troop movements and planned offensives, and back to London regarding the mass murder of Russian prisoners and Jewish concentration camp victims.

1942 – CGC McLane and the Coast Guard-manned patrol craft USS YP-251 reportedly sank the Japanese submarine RO-32 off Sitka, Alaska. However, the Navy Department did not officially credit either with the sinking. The RO-32 was actually stricken from the Japanese Navy rolls in April, 1942 as obsolete and Japanese records indicated that no Japanese submarine was lost or damaged in Alaskan waters on that date.

1943 – Operation Husky: The invasion of Sicily begins. The landing force is concentrated around Malta. There are 1200 transports and 2000 landing craft which will land elements of 8 divisions. In the evening, there are airborne landings by the US 82nd Airborne Division and British units which cause disruption in the Axis defenses, although they do not manage to seize their objectives. The Italian 6th Army (General Guzzoni) is responsible for the defense of Sicily. There are a total of about 240,000 troops (a quarter of which are Germans).

1943 – On New Georgia American forces attack toward Munda. Heavy Japanese resistance limits the advance. Meanwhile, Americans send reinforcements to Rendova and the Japanese send reinforcements to Kolombangara.

1944 – The US 1st Army continues attacks toward St. Lo in France.

1944 – Elements of US 5th Army advance. The US 88th Division captures Volterra and elements of the French Expeditionary Corps reach Poggibonsi.

1944 – On Saipan, US forces reach Point Marpi and the last organized Japanese resistance is overcome. An estimated 27,000 Japanese have been killed and 1780 are prisoners, both figures include civilians. US forces have lost 3400 killed and 13,000 wounded.

1945 – American bombers strike two airfields near Tokyo.

1945 – Chinese forces capture the Tanchuk airbase. Chinese forces advancing rapidly eastward in southern Kwangsi province have severed the last link between the Japanese army in China and the garrison in Indochina. With Nanning and Luichow recaptured, Chinese units now again control the three US 14th Army Air Force bases lost last year.

1946 – Sixteen Coast Guardsmen were killed when their C-54 transport aircraft crashed into Mount Tom, Massachusetts. These Coast Guardsmen were all returning from duty in Greenland.

1947 – In a ceremony held at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, General Dwight D. Eisenhower appoints Florence Blanchfield to be a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, making her the first woman in U.S. history to hold permanent military rank. A member of the Army Nurse Corps since 1917, Blanchfield secured her commission following the passage of the Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947 by Congress. Blanchfield had served as superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps during World War II and was instrumental in securing passage of the Army-Navy Nurse Act, which was advocated by Representative Frances Payne Bolton. In 1951, Blanchfield received the Florence Nightingale Award from the International Red Cross. In 1978, a U.S. Army hospital in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was named in her honor.

1951 – President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.

1952 – The 18th Return Draft departed Itami to board the USNS General M. C. Meigs at Kobe, Japan.

1960 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev trade verbal threats over the future of Cuba. In the following years, Cuba became a dangerous focus in the Cold War competition between the United States and Russia. In January 1959, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew the long-time dictator Fulgencio Batista. Although the United States recognized the new Castro regime, many members of the Eisenhower administration harbored deep suspicions concerning the political orientation of the charismatic new Cuban leader. For his part, Castro was careful to avoid concretely defining his political beliefs during his first months in power. Castro’s actions, however, soon convinced U.S. officials that he was moving to establish a communist regime in Cuba. Castro pushed through land reform that hit hard at U.S. investors, expelled the U.S. military missions to Cuba, and, in early 1960, announced that Cuba would trade its sugar to Russia in exchange for oil. In March 1960, Eisenhower gave the CIA the go-ahead to arm and train a group of Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro regime. It was in this atmosphere that Eisenhower and Khrushchev engaged in some verbal sparring in July 1960. Khrushchev fired the first shots during a speech in Moscow. He warned that the Soviet Union was prepared to use its missiles to protect Cuba from U.S. intervention. “One should not forget,” the Soviet leader declared, “that now the United States is no longer at an unreachable distance from the Soviet Union as it was before.” He charged that the United States was “plotting insidious and criminal steps” against Cuba.

In a statement issued to the press, Eisenhower responded to Khrushchev’s speech, warning that the United States would not countenance the “establishment of a regime dominated by international communism in the Western Hemisphere.” The Soviet Premier’s threat of retaliation demonstrated “the clear intention to establish Cuba in a role serving Soviet purposes in this hemisphere.” The relationship between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly after the Eisenhower-Khrushchev exchange. The Castro regime accelerated its program of expropriating American-owned property. In response, the Eisenhower administration severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1960. A little more than a year later, in April 1961, the CIA-trained force of Cuban refugees launched an assault on Cuba in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. The invaders were killed or captured, the Castro government cemented its control in Cuba, and the Soviet Union became Cuba’s main source of economic and military assistance.

1966 – The Soviet Union sends a note to the U.S. embassy in Moscow charging that the air strikes on the port of Haiphong endangered four Soviet ships that were in the harbor. The United States rejected the Soviet protest on July 23, claiming, “Great care had been taken to assure the safety of shipping in Haiphong.” The Soviets sent a second note in August charging that bullets had hit a Russian ship during a raid on August 2, but the claim was rejected by the U.S. embassy on August 5. The Soviets complained on a number of occasions during the war, particularly when the bombing raids threatened to inhibit their ability to resupply the North Vietnamese.

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1971 – Four miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), about 500 U.S. troops of the 1st Brigade, 5th Mechanized Division turn over Fire Base Charlie 2 to Saigon troops, completing the transfer of defense responsibilities for the border area. On the previous day, nearby Fire Base Alpha 4 had been turned over to the South Vietnamese. This was part of President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization policy, which had been announced at a June 1969 conference at Midway Island. Under this program, the United States initiated a comprehensive effort to increase the combat capabilities of the South Vietnamese armed forces. As the South Vietnamese became more capable, responsibility for the fighting was gradually transferred from U.S. forces. Concurrent with this effort, there was a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces.

1987 – In his third day of testimony on Capitol Hill, Lt. Col. Oliver North said he had shredded evidence as part of a planned cover-up of his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

1991 – Former CIA officer Alan D. Fiers pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in the Iran-Contra affair.

1992 – The space shuttle Columbia landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending a two-week mission.

1996 – The Bosnian federation approved the merger of the Muslim and Croat armies. This clears the way for the US to begin training and shipping arms to Bosnian troops.
1997 – Leaders of 16 NATO nations met with 25 other countries in an unprecedented security summit in Madrid, Spain.

1999 – In Kosovo NATO peacekeepers identified a site in Ljubenic containing the remains of as many as 350 victims.

2000 – In Afghanistan Mary MacMakin was arrested for violating the Taliban ban on employing women. She led the ngo: “Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan,” (PARSA). MacMakin was released 3 days later ordered to leave the country with accusations of spying and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

2002 – Philippine officials said they had arrested a Filipino Muslim suspected of helping to procure more than a ton of explosives for al Qaeda-linked Islamic radicals accused of plotting to bomb U.S. targets in Singapore. A U.S-trained Philippine soldier and an undetermined number of Muslim rebels were killed in fierce fighting on southern Jolo island.

2002 – NATO troops arrested Radovan Stankovic (33), a former member of an elite Serb paramilitary unit, for allegedly running a house where women and girls were raped during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

2003 – It was reported that occupation authorities had eliminated all import taxes in Iraq and accelerated the closure of hundreds of local factories unable to compete with foreign goods. At the same time hundreds of millions of dollars was pumped in as cash payments to government workers.

2004 – A US Senate committee report said that flawed prewar intelligence fueled the Bush administration position that Saddam Hussein’s regime posed a serious threat to the US.

2004 – Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (24)arrived in Germany night from Lebanon, where he turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut a day earlier. He had been missing since June 20 from his base near the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah.

2004 – In Baghdad, Iraq, 2 insurgent mortar shells targeting a hotel housing foreigners in the capital hit a house instead, killing a child and wounding three others.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

DAVIS, GEORGE E.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company D, 10th Vermont Infantry. Place and date: At Monocacy, Md., 9 July 1864. Entered service at: Burlington, Vt. Birth: Dunstable, Mass. Date of issue: 27 May 1892. Citation: While in command of a small force, held the approaches to the 2 bridges against repeated assaults of superior numbers, thereby materially delaying Early’s advance on Washington.

HAND, ALLEXANDER
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1836, Delaware. Accredited to: Delaware. G.O. No.: 11 , 3 April 1 863. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Ceres in the fight near Hamilton, Roanoke River, 9 July 1862. Fired on by the enemy with small arms, Hand courageously returned the raking enemy fire and was spoken of for “good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fire,” by the commanding officer.

KELLEY, JOHN
Rank and organization: Second Class Fireman, U.S. Navy. Birth: Ireland. Accredited to: Ireland. G.O. No.: 11, 3 April 1863. Citation: Served as second-class fireman on board the U.S.S. Ceres in the fight near Hamilton, Roanoke River, 9 July 1862. When his ship was fired on by the enemy with small arms, Kelley returned the raking fire, courageously carrying out his duties through the engagement and was spoken of for “good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fires,” by the commanding officer.

SCOTT, ALEXANDER
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company D, 10th Vermont Infantry. Place and date: At Monocacy, Md., 9 July 1864. Entered service at: Winooski, Vt. Birth: Canada. Date of issue: 28 September 1897. Citation: Under a very heavy fire of the enemy saved the national flag of his regiment from capture.

BELL, JAMEJ
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 7th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Big Horn, Mont., 9 July 1875. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 2 December 1876. Citation: Carried dispatches to Gen. Crook at the imminent risk of his life.

EVANS, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 7th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Big Horn, Mont., 9 July 1876. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 2 December 1876. Citation: Carried dispatches to Brig. Gen. Crook through a country occupied by Sioux.

STEWART, BENJAMIN F.
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 7th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Big Horn River, Mont., 9 July 1876. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Norfolk, Va. Date of issue: 2 December 1876. Citation: Carried dispatches to Gen. Crook at imminent risk of his life.

STEWART, BENJAMIN F.
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 7th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Big Horn River, Mont., 9 July 1876. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Norfolk, Va. Date of issue: 2 December 1876. Citation: Carried dispatches to Gen. Crook at imminent risk of his life.

LUCY, JOHN
Rank and organization: Second Class Boy, U.S. Navy. Born: 1859, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 214, 27 July 1876. Citation: Displayed heroic conduct while serving on board the U.S. Training Ship Minnesota on the occasion of the burning of Castle Garden at New York, 9 July 1876.

*PUCKET, DONALD D. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 98th , Bombardment Group. Place and date: Ploesti Raid, Rumania, 9 July 1944. Entered service at: Boulder, Colo. Birth: Longmont, Colo. G.O. No.: 48, 23 June 1945. Citation: He took part in a highly effective attack against vital oil installation in Ploesti, Rumania, on 9 July 1944. Just after “bombs away,” the plane received heavy and direct hits from antiaircraft fire. One crewmember was instantly killed and 6 others severely wounded. The airplane was badly damaged, 2 were knocked out, the control cables cut, the oxygen system on fire, and the bomb bay flooded with gas and hydraulic fluid. Regaining control of his crippled plane, 1st Lt. Pucket turned its direction over to the copilot. He calmed the crew, administered first aid, and surveyed the damage. Finding the bomb bay doors jammed, he used the hand crank to open them to allow the gas to escape. He jettisoned all guns and equipment but the plane continued to lose altitude rapidly. Realizing that it would be impossible to reach friendly territory he ordered the crew to abandon ship. Three of the crew, uncontrollable from fright or shock, would not leave. 1st Lt. Pucket urged the others to jump. Ignoring their entreaties to follow, he refused to abandon the 3 hysterical men and was last seen fighting to regain control of the plane. A few moments later the flaming bomber crashed on a mountainside. 1st Lt. Pucket, unhesitatingly and with supreme sacrifice, gave his life in his courageous attempt to save the lives of 3 others.

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10 July

1775 – Gen Horatio Gates, issued an order excluding blacks from Continental Army.

1776 – The statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.

1778 – In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declared war on England.

1797 – 1st US frigate, the “United States,” was launched in Philadelphia.

1820 – The Revenue cutter Gallatin captured 19 men illegally recruited for the Columbian privateer Wilson and chased that vessel and her Spanish prize, Santiago, to sea from the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina.

1850 – Millard Fillmore (Whig) was sworn in as the 13th president following the death of Zachary Taylor.

1861 – The new Confederate States of America and the Creek Indians conclude a treaty, one of several such alliances made during the war.

1863 – Union troops land on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina, and prepare for a siege on Battery Wagner, a massive sand fortress on the island. In the summer of 1863, Union General Quincy Gillmore waged an unsuccessful campaign to capture Charleston. Although the city was an important port for the Confederates early in the war, the attempt to capture Charleston was largely symbolic since a Union blockade of Confederate ports earlier on had bottled up Charleston Harbor anyway. Gillmore planned to approach it from the south by capturing Morris Island.

On July 10th, Gillmore’s troops quickly secured most of the island. The only barrier left was Battery Wagner, an imposing fortress that guarded Charleston Harbor’s southern rim. The fort was 30 feet high, nearly 300 feet from north to south, and over 600 feet from east to west. Inside were 1,600 Confederates, 10 heavy cannons, and a mortar for hitting ships off the coast. Gillmore attacked on July 11, but the attack was easily repulsed. A much larger assault was made on July 18 with heavy Union losses. After the July 18 battle, Gillmore settled in for a long siege. The Confederates finally evacuated the fort on September 7, 1863.

1863 – Under Rear Admiral Dahlgren, ironclads U.S.S. Catskill, Commander G.W. Rodgers; Montauk, Commander Fairfax; Nahant, Commander Downes; and Weehawken, Commander Colhoun, bombarded Confederate defenses on Morris Island, Charleston harbor, supporting and covering a landing by Army troops under Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore. Close in support of the landing was rendered by small boats, under Lieutenant Commander Francis M. Bunce, armed with howitzers, from the blockading ships in Light House Inlet, The early morning assault followed the plan outlined by General Gillmore a week earlier in a letter to Rear Admiral Du Pont: “I cannot safely move without assistance from the Navy. We must have that island or Sullivan’s Island as preliminary to any combined military and naval attack on the interior defenses of Charleston harbor. . . . I consider a naval force abreast of Morris Island as indispensable to cover our advance upon the Island and restrain the enemy’s gunboats and ironclads.”

1864 – During the siege of Petersburg, General Ulysses S. Grant established a huge supply center, called City Point, at the confluence of the James and Appomattox rivers. After nearly 10 months of trench warfare, Confederate resistance at Petersburg, Va., suddenly collapsed. Desperate to save his army, Robert E. Lee called on his soldiers for one last miracle.

1890 – Wyoming became the 44th State to enter the Union.

1898 – The First Marine Battalion, commanded by LtCol Robert W. Huntington, landed on the eastern side of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next day, Lt Herbert L. Draper hoisted the American flag on a flag pole at Camp McCalla where it flew during the next eleven days. LtCol Huntington later sent the flag with an accompanying letter to Colonel Commandant Charles Heywood noting that “when bullets were flying, …the sight of the flag upon the midnight sky has thrilled our hearts.”

1919 – President Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate and urged its ratification.

1919 – A submarine chaser was turned over to the Corps with the first all-Marine crew.

1940 – The Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. After the occupation of France by Germany, Britain knew it was only a matter of time before the Axis power turned its sights across the Channel. And on July 10, 120 German bombers and fighters struck a British shipping convoy in that very Channel, while 70 more bombers attacked dockyard installations in South Wales. Although Britain had far fewer fighters than the Germans-600 to 1,300-it had a few advantages, such as an effective radar system, which made the prospects of a German sneak attack unlikely. Britain also produced superior quality aircraft.

Its Spitfires could turn tighter than Germany’s ME109s, enabling it to better elude pursuers; and its Hurricanes could carry 40mm cannon, and would shoot down, with its American Browning machine guns, over 1,500 Luftwaffe aircraft. The German single-engine fighters had a limited flight radius, and its bombers lacked the bomb-load capacity necessary to unleash permanent devastation on their targets. Britain also had the advantage of unified focus, while German infighting caused missteps in timing; they also suffered from poor intelligence. But in the opening days of battle, Britain was in immediate need of two things: a collective stiff upper lip–and aluminum. A plea was made by the government to turn in all available aluminum to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. “We will turn your pots and pans into Spitfires and Hurricanes,” the ministry declared. And they did.

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1941 – Roosevelt submits new appropriations measures to Congress. He asks for $4,770,000,000 for the army.

1943 – Operation Husky: The Allied landings begin. Patton’s 7th Army lands in the Gulf of Gela between Licata and Scoglitti. Assault elements of the 180th and 157th Infantry regiments, both part of the 45th Infantry Division (AZ, CO, OK) storm ashore as part of the invasion of Sicily. They meet little resistance and quickly move to secure the British right flank as it moves north to take Messina, the island’s closest point to the Italian mainland. This operation marked the first time any Allied force attacked an Axis power on its home ground. The Italians soon overthrow their dictator, Benito Mussolini and asked the Allies for peace. However, the Germans quickly moved large numbers of troops into the country and fought the Allies all the way back to the Alps, not surrendering until the end of the war on May 8th, 1945.

1943 – The American attack on New Georgia is held by the Japanese. American troops are having difficulty receiving supplies.

1943 – A further linking up of Australian and American forces cuts off the Japanese forces in Mubo from Salamaua.

1945 – The German submarine U-530, missing since the end of April, surfaces at Mar del Plata, south of Buenos Aires, sparking off speculation that it ferried high-ranking Nazi officials to sanctuary in South America.

1945 – US Task Force 38 aircraft, 1022 in all, raid 70 air bases in the Tokyo area, destroying 173 Japanese planes. Only light anti-aircraft fire is encountered. This is the first time that elements of the US 3rd Fleet have attacked Tokyo. Included in the task force carrying out the raids are the aircraft carriers Lexington, Essex, Independence and San Jacinto, the battleships Indiana, Massachusetts, South Dakota and Iowa, the cruisers Chicago, San Juan, Springfield and Atlanta and 14 destroyers. Tokyo radio refers to the “dark shadow of invasion” in mention of the raid.

1950 – At Taejon, Lieutenant Harold E. Morris demonstrated a T-6 trainer aircraft to be better suited for the airborne controller mission than liaison aircraft.

1950 – The first engagement between U.S. and North Korean tanks occurred near Chonui. One enemy T-34 was destroyed while two outclassed U.S. M-24 Chafee light tanks were lost. Near Pyongtaek, the Air Force achieved its greatest single-day destruction of enemy tanks and trucks during the war.

1951 – Armistice negotiations began at Kaesong.

1953 – American forces withdrew from Pork Chop Hill in Korea after heavy fighting.

1962 – The communications satellite Telstar was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beaming live television from Europe to the United States.

1965 – U.S. planes continue heavy raids in South Vietnam and claim to have killed 580 guerrillas. U.S. Phantom jets, escorting fighter-bombers in a raid on the Yen Sen ammunition depot northwest of Hanoi, engaged North Vietnamese MiG-17s. Capt. Thomas S. Roberts with his backseater Capt. Ronald C. Anderson, and Capt. Kenneth E. Holcombe and his backseater Capt. Arthur C. Clark shot down two MiG-17s with Sidewinder missiles. The action marked the first U.S. Air Force air-to-air victories of the Vietnam War.

1967 – Outnumbered South Vietnamese troops repel an attack by two battalions of the 141st North Vietnamese Regiment on a military camp five miles east of An Loc, 60 miles north of Saigon. Communist forces captured a third of the base camp before they were thrown back with the assistance of U.S. and South Vietnamese air and artillery strikes. Farther to the north, U.S. forces suffered heavy casualties in two separate battles in the Central Highlands. In the first action, about 400 men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade came under heavy fire from North Vietnamese machine guns and mortars during a sweep of the Dak To area near Kontum. Twenty-six Americans were killed and 49 were wounded. In the second area clash, 35 soldiers of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division were killed and 31 were wounded in fighting.

1987 – Lt. Col. Oliver North told the Iran-Contra committees that the late CIA director William J. Casey had embraced a fund created by arms sales to Iran because it could be used for secret operations other than supplying the Contras.

1992 – A federal judge in Miami sentenced former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, convicted of drug and racketeering charges, to 40 years in prison. However, a judge in March, 1998, cut Noriega’s sentence by ten years, meaning he could be eligible for parole in 2000.

1997 – President Clinton, visiting Poland, told a Warsaw square filled with cheering Poles that “never again will your fate be decided by others.” He announced a successful drive to bring Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO by 1999.

1997 – In Bosnia in Operation Tango NATO forces captured Milan Kovacevic, a physician who was the 2nd ranking officer in the Prijedor City Hall during the war. An attempt to capture Simo Drljaca, a leader of local “ethnic cleansing” led to a shootout and his death.

2000 – In Kosovo an Albanian boy (5) was killed when an American soldier’s rifle discharged accidentally.

2001 – For the second time in a month, a jury in New York rejected the death penalty for one of the men convicted in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, opting instead for life in prison without parole.

2001 – Kenneth Williams, an FBI agent in Phoenix, Arizona, issued a memorandum that requested detailed examination of US flight schools for al Qaeda terrorists. Mid-level officials rejected the request.

2001 – In North Carolina 3 Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near Camp Lejeune.

2003 – Cuba signed an operating agreement with the Port of Corpus Christi, an agreement that could help erode the long-standing US embargo of the island.

2004 – In Iraq US Marines clashed with insurgents in Ramadi, a city known as a stronghold of Saddam Hussein supporters, killing 3 of the attackers and wounding 5 others. Saboteurs attacked a natural gas pipeline that feeds into a northern power station.

2004 – NASCAR driver Justin Labonte, who was sponsored by the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Recruiting Command, won his first Busch Series victory in his stock car Coast Guard #44 at the Tropicana 300 in Joliet, Illinois.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*PARLE, JOHN JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve. Born: 26 May 1920, Omaha, Nebr. Accredited to: Nebraska. Citation: For valor and courage above and beyond the call of duty as Officer-in-Charge of Small Boats in the U.S.S. LST 375 during the amphibious assault on the island of Sicily, 9-10 July 1943. Realizing that a detonation of explosives would prematurely disclose to the enemy the assault about to be carried out, and with full knowledge of the peril involved, Ens. Parle unhesitatingly risked his life to extinguish a smoke pot accidentally ignited in a boat carrying charges of high explosives, detonating fuses and ammunition. Undaunted by fire and blinding smoke, he entered the craft, quickly snuffed out a burning fuse, and after failing in his desperate efforts to extinguish the fire pot, finally seized it with both hands and threw it over the side. Although he succumbed a week later from smoke and fumes inhaled, Ens. Parle’s heroic self-sacrifice prevented grave damage to the ship and personnel and insured the security of a vital mission. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

*SCHOONOVER, DAN D.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company A, 13th Engineer Combat Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 8 to 10 July 1953. Entered service at: Boise, Idaho. Born: 8 October 1933, Boise, Idaho. G.O. No.: 5, 14 January 1955. Citation: Cpl. Schoonover, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. He was in charge of an engineer demolition squad attached to an infantry company which was committed to dislodge the enemy from a vital hill. Realizing that the heavy fighting and intense enemy fire made it impossible to carry out his mission, he voluntarily employed his unit as a rifle squad and, forging up the steep barren slope, participated in the assault on hostile positions. When an artillery round exploded on the roof of an enemy bunker, he courageously ran forward and leaped into the position, killing 1 hostile infantryman and taking another prisoner.

Later in the action, when friendly forces were pinned down by vicious fire from another enemy bunker, he dashed through the hail of fire, hurled grenades in the nearest aperture, then ran to the doorway and emptied his pistol, killing the remainder of the enemy. His brave action neutralized the position and enabled friendly troops to continue their advance to the crest of the hill. When the enemy counterattacked he constantly exposed himself to the heavy bombardment to direct the fire of his men and to call in an effective artillery barrage on hostile forces. Although the company was relieved early the following morning, he voluntarily remained in the area, manned a machine gun for several hours, and subsequently joined another assault on enemy emplacements. When last seen he was operating an automatic rifle with devastating effect until mortally wounded by artillery fire. Cpl. Schoonover’s heroic leadership during 2 days of heavy fighting, superb personal bravery, and willing self-sacrifice inspired his comrades and saved many lives, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the honored traditions of the military service.

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11 July

1656 – Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, two Englishwomen, become the first Quakers to immigrate to the American colonies when the ship carrying them lands at Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The pair came from Barbados, where Quakers had established a center for missionary work. The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers, was a Christian movement founded by George Fox in England during the early 1650s. Quakers opposed central church authority, preferring to seek spiritual insight and consensus through egalitarian Quaker meetings. They advocated sexual equality and became some of the most outspoken opponents of slavery in early America. Shortly after arriving to Massachusetts, Austin and Fisher, whose liberal teachings enraged the Puritan colonial government, were arrested and jailed. After five years in prison, they were deported back to Barbados.

In October 1656, the Massachusetts colonial government enacted their first ban on Quakers, and in 1658 it ordered Quakers banished from the colony “under penalty of death.” Quakers found solace in Rhode Island and other colonies, and Massachusetts’ anti-Quaker laws were later repealed. In the mid-18th century, John Woolman, an abolitionist Quaker, traveled the American colonies, preaching and advancing the anti-slavery cause. He organized boycotts of products made by slave labor and was responsible for convincing many Quaker communities to publicly denounce slavery. Another of many important abolitionist Quakers was Lucretia Mott, who worked on the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, helping lead fugitive slaves to freedom in the Northern states and Canada. In later years, Mott was a leader in the movement for women’s rights.

1767 – John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States (1825-1829), was born in Braintree, Mass.

1786 – Morocco agreed to stop attacking American ships in the Mediterranean for a payment of $10,000.

1798 – President John Adams signed the bill that re-established the Marine Corps. The Continental Congress had disbanded the service in April of 1783 at the end of the American Revolution. The Marine Corps, however, recognizes its “official” birthday to be the date that the Second Continental Congress first authorized the establishment of the “Corps of Marines” on 10 November 1775. To add to the confusion of the Corps’ actual “historical” birthday, on 1 July 1797 Congress authorized the Revenue cutters to carry, in addition to their regular crew, up to “30 marines.” Congress directed the cutters to interdict French privateers operating off the coast during the Quasi-War with France and thought the additional firepower of 30 marines would be needed by the under-manned and under-gunned cutters. It is unknown if any “marines” were enlisted for service with the Revenue cutters during this time.

1804 – A duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton leaves Hamilton dead. Since New Jersey did not have a law against dueling at the time, Burr and Hamilton, both New Yorkers, crossed the Hudson to Weehawken, New Jersey. New York had banned the practice earlier, partly due to Hamilton’s own campaign efforts after his son was killed in a duel. Dueling was outlawed in the North much earlier than it was in the South. The state of Massachusetts declared it “detestable and infamous.” Duelists in that state could be punished even if they both survived the duel. A typical penalty would be to stand an hour with a rope around their neck at the gallows and then to spend a year in prison. Transgressors might also receive lashes from a whip. For duelists who died, there was still a civic penalty to be paid. The loser was buried without a coffin near the spot of the duel with a stake driven through his body. The winner could be prosecuted for murder, executed, and buried in the same manner.

Even the mere threat of a duel had serious consequences: In 1818, George Norton challenged someone to a duel in New York for insulting his honor and was sentenced to a month in prison for his dare. In the South, dueling was much more popular and accepted, especially among upper-class society. The practice was so common that legislators were asked to take an oath to declare that they had never been in a duel. Even after dueling became illegal, the law was rarely enforced. The Burr-Hamilton duel was not the last high-profile case. In 1809, future senator Henry Clay and Humphrey Marshall were arguing over legislation in Kentucky’s state house when Clay called Marshall a demagogue and Marshall responded by calling Clay a liar. Their subsequent duel was fought with pistols at a length of ten paces. Luckily for both, neither was a good shot (nor were the weapons particularly accurate), and they both recovered from their injuries.

1818 – The Revenue Cutter Dallas seized and libeled the Venezuelan privateer Cerony off Savannah for having violated the nation’s neutrality laws.

1846 – The “Grizzly Bear” flag proclaiming the “California Republic” is lowered to be replaced by the Unites States flag as the former Mexican colony comes under American control. The ‘bear’ flag was adopted by the California Battalion organized in Sacramento in mid June by Major John C. Fremont, a Regular Army officer and famed western explorer. As soon as he received word that the U.S. and Mexico were at war, he quickly enrolled local Anglo settlers, mostly recent immigrants from Missouri and Iowa, into a militia force. Numbering about 500 men, Fremont moved the battalion south toward Los Angeles. He soon took the city without a fight. In fact, except for one small engagement of Mexican cavalry against a force of Army Regulars lead by General Stephen Kearny, coming into California from New Mexico, the rest of the colony willingly accepted American control.

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1861 – Union troops under General George B. McClellan score another major victory in the struggle for western Virginia at the Battle of Rich Mountain. The Yankee success secured the region and ensured the eventual creation of West Virginia. Western Virginia was a crucial battleground in the early months of the war. The population of the region was deeply divided over the issue of secession, and western Virginia was also a vital east-west link for the Union because the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran through its mountains. After McClellan scored a series of small victories in western Virginia in June and early July, Confederate General Robert Garnett and Colonel John Pegram positioned their forces at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill to block two key roads and keep McClellan from penetrating any further east. McClellan crafted a plan to feign an attack against Garnett at Laurel Hill while he sent the bulk of his force against Pegram at Rich Mountain. Part of McClellan’s force, led by General William Rosecrans, followed a rugged mountain path to swing around behind the Rebels’ left flank. McClellan had promised to attack the Confederate front when he heard gunfire from Rosecrans’s direction. After a difficult march through a drenching rain, Rosecrans struck the Confederate wing. It took several attempts, but he was finally able to drive the Confederates from their position. McClellan shelled the Rebel position, but did not make the expected assault. Each side suffered around 70 casualties. Pegram was forced to abandon his position, but Rosecrans was blocking his escape route. Two days later, he surrendered his force of 555. Although McClellan became a Union hero as a result of this victory, most historians agree that Rosecrans deserved the credit. Nonetheless, McClellan was on his way to becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac.

1862 – President Abraham Lincoln appointed General Henry Halleck as general in chief of the Federal army.

1863 – Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, stationed gunboats around Manhattan to assist in maintaining order during the Draft Riots.

1864 – Confederate General Jubal Early’s army arrived in Silver Spring, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., and began to probe the Union line. Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an invasion of Washington, D.C., turning back the next day.

1864 – Landing party from U.S.S. James L. Davis, Acting Master Griswold, destroyed Confederate salt works near Tampa, Florida. The works were capable of producing some 150 bushels of salt per day. On 16 July a similar raid near Tampa was carried out in which a salt work consisting of four boilers was destroyed.

1869 – Tall Bull, a prominent leader of the Cheyenne Dog Soldier warrior society, is killed during the Battle of Summit Springs in Colorado. Tall Bull was the most distinguished of several Cheyenne warriors who bore this hereditary name. He was a leader of the Dog Soldiers, a fierce Cheyenne society of warriors that had initially fought against other Indian tribes. In the 1860s, though, the Dog Soldiers increasingly became one of the most implacable foes of the U.S. government in the bloody Plains Indian Wars. In October 1868, Tall Bull and his Dog Soldiers badly mauled an American cavalry force in Colorado. He confronted General Philip Sheridan’s forces the following winter in Oklahoma. Near the Washita River, Sheridan’s Lieutenant Colonel George Custer attacked a peaceful Cheyenne village under Chief Black Kettle. The Cheyenne suffered more than 100 casualties, and Custer’s soldiers brutally butchered more than 800 of their horses. However, Custer was forced to flee when Tall Bull and other chiefs camped in nearby villages began to mass for attack. Custer’s attack had badly damaged the Cheyenne, but Tall Bull refused to surrender to the Americans.

In the spring of 1869, Tall Bull and his Dog Soldiers took their revenge, staging a series of successful attacks against soldiers who were searching for him. Determined to destroy the chief, the U.S. Army formed a special expeditionary force under the command of General Eugene Carr. On this day in 1869, Carr surprised Tall Bull and his warriors in their camp at Summit Springs, Colorado. In the ensuing battle, Tall Bull was killed and the Dog Soldiers were overwhelmed. Without the dynamic leadership of their chief, the surviving Dog Soldiers’ resistance was broken. Although other Cheyenne continued to fight the American military for another decade, they did so without the aid of their greatest warrior society and its leader.

1916 – In a White House ceremony, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act, the first grant-in-aid enacted by Congress to help states build roads. In 1916, roads throughout America were generally poor and most were susceptible to weather. The advent of the Ford Model T brought on new interests in higher standards for roads, and by the early 1900s, motorist clubs like the American Automobile Association (AAA) had rallied around the call for federally funded long-distance highways. Farmers balked at the idea, arguing that paying taxes so city people could go on car tours was unfair. As the car became more important to farmers, however, the ground became fertile for legislation to raise the quality or roads across the country. In 1907, the legal issue of the federal government’s role in road-building was settled in the Supreme Court case Wilson vs. Shaw. Justice David Brewer wrote that the federal government could “construct interstate highways” because of their constitutional right to regulate interstate commerce.

By 1912, bills concerning federal funding of the highways were considered on the House floor, although a split in constituencies had divided the advocates. Farmers wanted sturdy, all-weather postal roads, and urban motorists wanted paved long-distance highways. Many state officials claim that any federal-funding package would only be used as a “pork barrel” to interfere with the operations of the state. In the end, a bill was passed that included the stipulation that all states have a highway agency staffed by professional engineers who would administer the federal funds as they saw fit. The bill on offer leaned in the favor of the rural populations by focusing on rural postal roads rather than interstate highways. The cause of interstate highways would not be addressed until many years later during President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, but the Federal Aid Road Act was the cornerstone for today’s highway system and the precedent for all highway legislation to come. The rural road improvement that happened as a result of the act helped rural Americans participate more efficiently in the national economy.

1918 – Enrico Caruso joined the war effort and recorded “Over There”, the patriotic song written by George M. Cohan.

1934 – President Roosevelt became the first chief executive to travel through the Panama Canal while in office.

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1941 – Congress reconfirmed the military “status” of the Coast Guard, stating: “The Coast Guard shall be a military service and constitute a branch of the land and naval forces of the United States at all times and shall operate under the Treasury Department in time of peace and operate as part of the Navy, subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Navy, in time of war or when the President shall so direct.” (14 U.S.C. 1)

1941 – Roosevelt appoints William Donovan to head a new civilian intelligence agency with the title “coordinator of defense information.” This appointment will lead to the creation of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which in turn will develop into the modern CIA.

1942 – MCAS El Centro, California activated.

1942 – U .S. Maritime Service was transferred back to the War Shipping Administration after being under Coast Guard administration since February 28, 1942.

1943 – The British advance almost unopposed. Palazzolo is taken. On the coast, there is a halt late in the day at Priolo. The American forces encounter resistance in their advance. The German Panzer Division “Hermann Goring” strikes toward American held Gela from its positions around Caltagirone. Allied naval bombardment forces the German forces to retire.

1944 – German forces counterattack the US 1st Army. The German Panzerlehr Division spearheads the assault against US 9th Division southwest of St. Jean de Daye. US forces hold.

1944 – American forces around Aitape pull back from the Driniumor River under pressure from Japanese forces.

1944 – President Roosevelt announces that the US will recognize the French Provisional Government, led by de Gualle, as the de facto authority for the civil administration of liberated territory in France. Roosevelt also tells a press conference that he will run for president again if the Democratic Party nominates him. He say, “If the people command me to continue in office… I have as little right as a soldier to leave his position in the line.”

1945 – Fulfilling agreements reached at various wartime conferences, the Soviet Union promises to hand power over to British and U.S. forces in West Berlin. Although the division of Berlin (and of Germany as a whole) into zones of occupation was seen as a temporary postwar expedient, the dividing lines quickly became permanent. The divided city of Berlin became a symbol for Cold War tensions. During a number of wartime conferences, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union agreed that following the defeat of Germany, that nation would be divided into three zones of occupation. Berlin, the capital city of Germany, would likewise be divided. When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, however, Soviet troops were in complete control of eastern Germany and all of Berlin. Some U.S. officials, who had come to see the Soviet Union as an emerging threat to the postwar peace in Europe, believed that the Soviets would never relinquish control over any part of Berlin.

However, on July 11, 1945, the Russian government announced that it would hand over all civilian and military control of West Berlin to British and American forces. This was accomplished, without incident, the following day. (The United States and Great Britain would later give up part of their zones of occupation in Germany and Berlin to make room for a French zone of occupation.) In the years to come, West Berlin became the site of some notable Cold War confrontations. During 1948 and 1949, the Soviets blocked all land travel into West Berlin, forcing the United States to establish the Berlin Airlift to feed and care for the population of the city. In 1961, the government of East Germany constructed the famous Berlin Wall, creating an actual physical barrier to separate East and West Berlin. The divided city came to symbolize the animosities and tensions of the Cold War. In 1989, with communist control of East Germany crumbling, the Berlin Wall was finally torn down. The following year, East and West Germany formally reunited.

1945 – The redeployment of 2118 4-engined bombers of the US 8th Air Force, to the USA (en route for the Pacific theater) begins. It is completed in 51 days.

1945 – Napalm was first used. On Luzon, Americans forces drop thousands of napalm bombs on Japanese pockets on the Sierra Madre and in the Kiangan area.

1950 – A 10-man demolition party of sailors and Marines led by Commander William B. Porter conducted the first naval commando operation of the Korean War.

1952 – Far East Air Force established a one-day record by flying 1,330 sorties.

1953 – Lieutenant Colonel John F. Bolt became the 37th Korean War ace and the only U.S. Marine Corps pilot to qualify as an ace during the Korea War. He also has the distinction of being the only jet ace in Marine Corps history and the only U.S. Marine to become an ace in two wars (World War II and Korea). Bolt was flying an F-86 Sabre, “Darling Dottie,” attached to the Air Force’s 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing.

1955 – The new US Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base in Colorado.

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1962 – The Telstar I satellite carried the first transatlantic TV transmission. It picked up broadcast signals from France and bounced them down to an antenna in Maine, delivering the first live television picture from Europe to America.

1969 – South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, in a televised speech, makes a “comprehensive offer” for a political settlement. He challenged the National Liberation Front to participate in free elections organized by a joint electoral commission and supervised by an international body. Following the speech, South Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tran Chanh Thanh, seeking to clarify the Thieu proposal, said communists could never participate in elections in South Vietnam “as communists” nor have any role in organizing elections–only by the South Vietnamese government could organize the elections.

1972 – American forces broke the 95-day siege at An Loc in Vietnam.

1974 – House Judiciary Committee released evidence on the Watergate inquiry.

1979 – Parts of Skylab, America’s first space station, come crashing down on Australia and into the Indian Ocean five years after the last manned Skylab mission ended. No one was injured. Launched in 1973, Skylab was the world’s first successful space station. The first manned Skylab mission came two years after the Soviet Union launched Salynut 1, the world’s first space station, into orbit around the earth. However, unlike the ill-fated Salynut, which was plagued with problems, the American space station was a great success, safely housing three separate three-man crews for extended periods of time. Originally the spent third stage of a Saturn 5 moon rocket, the cylindrical space station was 118 feet tall, weighed 77 tons, and carried the most varied assortment of experimental equipment ever assembled in a single spacecraft to that date. The crews of Skylab spent more than 700 hours observing the sun and brought home more than 175,000 solar pictures. They also provided important information about the biological effects of living in space for prolonged periods of time. Five years after the last Skylab mission, the space station’s orbit began to deteriorate–earlier than was anticipated–because of unexpectedly high sunspot activity. On July 11, 1979, Skylab made a spectacular return to earth, breaking up in the atmosphere and showering burning debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

1980 – American hostage Richard I. Queen, freed by Iran after eight months of captivity because of poor health, left Tehran for Switzerland.

1986 – President Ronald Reagan placed the Contras, who were fighting the government of Nicaragua, under CIA jurisdiction.

1995 – Two decades after the fall of Saigon, President Bill Clinton establishes full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, citing Vietnamese cooperation in accounting for the 2,238 Americans still listed as missing in the Vietnam War. Normalization with America’s old enemy began in early 1994, when President Clinton announced the lifting of the 19-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam. Despite the lifting of the embargo, high tariffs remained on Vietnamese exports pending the country’s qualification as a “most favored nation,” a U.S. trade status designation that Vietnam might earn after broadening its program of free-market reforms. In July 1995, Clinton established diplomatic relations. In making the decision, Clinton was advised by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, an ex-navy pilot who had spent five years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Brushing aside criticism of Clinton’s decision by some Republicans, McCain asserted that it was time for America to normalize relations with Vietnam.

In May 1996, Clinton terminated the combat zone designation for Vietnam and nominated Florida Representative Douglas “Pete” Peterson to become the first ambassador to Vietnam since Graham Martin was airlifted out of the country by helicopter in late April 1975. Peterson himself had served as a U.S. Air Force captain during the Vietnam War and was held as a prisoner of war for six and a half years after his bomber was shot down near Hanoi in 1966. Confirmed by Congress in 1997, Ambassador Peterson presented his credentials to communist authorities in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, in May 1997. In November 2000, Peterson greeted Clinton in Hanoi in the first presidential visit to Vietnam since Richard Nixon’s 1969 trip to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

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1996 – An Air Force F-16 jet trying to make an emergency landing slammed into a house in Pensacola, Fla., setting the home on fire, killing a 4-year-old boy and badly burning his mother. The pilot ejected safely.

1997 – President Clinton was cheered by tens of thousands of people in Bucharest, Romania, where he raised hopes for NATO membership.

1998 – Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, a casualty of the Vietnam War, was laid to rest near his Missouri home after the positive identification of his remains, which had been enshrined at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Va.

1999 – A US Air Force cargo jet, braving Antarctic winter, swept down over the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center to drop off emergency medical supplies for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the center who had discovered a lump in her breast.

1999 – In London 2 Egyptian associates of Osama bin Laden were arrested. The fingerprints of Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous (42) and Adel Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Bary (39) were found on statements taking responsibility for the attacks against US embassies in Africa last August.

2001 – Iraq resumes oil exports, ending a 5-week halt in protest of a U.S. and British-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution that would have overhauled U.N. sanctions, after this resolution did not come to a vote. The oil-for-food program will be extended for five months.

2002 – Lawmakers balked at moving the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency into a new Homeland Security Department despite pleas from senior Cabinet officials to stick to President Bush’s blueprint. Both agencies did end up being included in the new department.

2003 – CIA Director George Tenet took blame for Pres. Bush’s State of the Union discredited claim that uranium from Africa had been shipped to Iraq.

2003 – Spain, a leading U.S. ally during the war to oust Saddam Hussein, agreed to send 1,300 soldiers to Iraq.

2004 – It was reported that Jonathan Keith Idema, former US special operations soldier, was recently arrested with 2 other Americans for running a vigilante anti-terrorism campaign in Kabul. They had posed as government officials and imprisoned innocent Afghan men.

2004 – An Anti-Coalition Militia bomb exploded on a bustling street of Herat, Afghanistan, killing five people, and injuring 29.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

BRATLING, FRANK
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company C, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Fort Selden, N. Mex., 8-11 July 1873. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 12 August 1875. Citation: Services against hostile Indians.

HUMPHREY, CHARLES F.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 4th U.S. Artillery. Place and date: At Clearwater, Idaho, 11 July 1877. Entered service at: ——. Birth: New York. Date of issue: 2 March 1897. Citation: Voluntarily and successfully conducted, in the face of a withering fire, a party which recovered possession of an abandoned howitzer and 2 Gatling guns Iying between the lines a few yards from the Indians.

LYTLE, LEONIDAS S.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Fort Selden, N. Mex., 8-11 July 1873. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Warren County, Pa. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Services against hostile Indians.

MORRIS, JAMES L.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company C, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Fort Selden, N. Mex., 8-11 July 1873. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 12 August 1875. Citation: Services against hostile Indians.

SHEERIN, JOHN
Rank and organization: Blacksmith, Company C, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Fort Selden, N. Mex., 8-11 July 1873. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Camden County, N.J. Date of issue: 12 August 1875. Citation: Services against hostile Indians.

WILLS, HENRY
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near Fort Selden, N. Mex., 8-11 July 1873. Entered service at. Pennsylvania. Birth: Gracon, Pa. Date of issue: 12 August 1875. Citation: Services against hostile Indians.

*CRAIG, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 15th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Favoratta, Sicily, 11 July 1943. Entered service at: Toledo, Ohio. Birth: Scotland. G.O. No.: 41, 26 May 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, on 11 July 1943 at Favoratta, Sicily. 2d Lt. Craig voluntarily undertook the perilous task of locating and destroying a hidden enemy machinegun which had halted the advance of his company. Attempts by 3 other officers to locate the weapon had resulted in failure, with each officer receiving wounds. 2d Lt. Craig located the gun and snaked his way to a point within 35 yards of the hostile position before being discovered. Charging headlong into the furious automatic fire, he reached the gun, stood over it, and killed the 3 crew members with his carbine. With this obstacle removed, his company continued its advance. Shortly thereafter while advancing down the forward slope of a ridge, 2d Lt. Craig and his platoon, in a position devoid of cover and concealment, encountered the fire of approximately 100 enemy soldiers. Electing to sacrifice himself so that his platoon might carry on the battle, he ordered his men to withdraw to the cover of the crest while he drew the enemy fire to himself. With no hope of survival, he charged toward the enemy until he was within 25 yards of them. Assuming a kneeling position, he killed 5 and wounded 3 enemy soldiers. While the hostile force concentrated fire on him, his platoon reached the cover of the crest. 2d Lt. Craig was killed by enemy fire, but his intrepid action so inspired his men that they drove the enemy from the area, inflicting heavy casualties on the hostile force.

*ENDL, GERALD L.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U S. Army, 32d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Anamo, New Guinea, 11 July 1944. Entered service at: Janesville, Wis. Birth: Ft. Atkinson, Wis. G.O. No.: 17, 13 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Anamo, New Guinea, on 11 July 1944. S/Sgt. Endl was at the head of the leading platoon of his company advancing along a jungle trail when enemy troops were encountered and a fire fight developed. The enemy attacked in force under heavy rifle, machinegun, and grenade fire. His platoon leader wounded, S/Sgt. Endl immediately assumed command and deployed his platoon on a firing line at the fork in the trail toward which the enemy attack was directed. The dense jungle terrain greatly restricted vision and movement, and he endeavored to penetrate down the trail toward an open clearing of Kunai grass. As he advanced, he detected the enemy, supported by at least 6 light and 2 heavy machineguns, attempting an enveloping movement around both flanks. His commanding officer sent a second platoon to move up on the left flank of the position, but the enemy closed in rapidly, placing our force in imminent danger of being isolated and annihilated. Twelve members of his platoon were wounded, 7 being cut off by the enemy.

Realizing that if his platoon were forced farther back, these 7 men would be hopelessly trapped and at the mercy of a vicious enemy, he resolved to advance at all cost, knowing it meant almost certain death, in an effort to rescue his comrades. In the face of extremely heavy fire he went forward alone and for a period of approximately 10 minutes engaged the enemy in a heroic close-range fight, holding them off while his men crawled forward under cover to evacuate the wounded and to withdraw. Courageously refusing to abandon 4 more wounded men who were Iying along the trail, 1 by 1 he brought them back to safety. As he was carrying the last man in his arms he was struck by a heavy burst of automatic fire and was killed. By his persistent and daring self-sacrifice and on behalf of his comrades, S/Sgt. Endl made possible the successful evacuation of all but 1 man, and enabled the 2 platoons to withdraw with their wounded and to reorganize with the rest of the company.

ROBERTS, GORDON R.
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Sp4c.), U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Place and date: Thua Thien Province, Republic of Vietnam, 11 July 1969. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Born: 14 June 1950, Middletown, Ohio. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Roberts distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman in Company B, during combat operations. Sgt. Roberts’ platoon was maneuvering along a ridge to attack heavily fortified enemy bunker positions which had pinned down an adjoining friendly company. As the platoon approached the enemy positions, it was suddenly pinned down by heavy automatic weapons and grenade fire from camouflaged enemy fortifications atop the overlooking hill. Seeing his platoon immobilized and in danger of failing in its mission, Sgt. Roberts crawled rapidly toward the closest enemy bunker. With complete disregard for his safety, he leaped to his feet and charged the bunker, firing as he ran. Despite the intense enemy fire directed at him, Sgt. Roberts silenced the 2-man bunker. Without hesitation, Sgt. Roberts continued his l-man assault on a second bunker. As he neared the second bunker, a burst of enemy fire knocked his rifle from his hands. Sgt. Roberts picked up a rifle dropped by a comrade and continued his assault, silencing the bunker. He continued his charge against a third bunker and destroyed it with well-thrown hand grenades.

Although Sgt. Roberts was now cut off from his platoon, he continued his assault against a fourth enemy emplacement. He fought through a heavy hail of fire to join elements of the adjoining company which had been pinned down by the enemy fire. Although continually exposed to hostile fire, he assisted in moving wounded personnel from exposed positions on the hilltop to an evacuation area before returning to his unit. By his gallant and selfless actions, Sgt. Roberts contributed directly to saving the lives of his comrades and served as an inspiration to his fellow soldiers in the defeat of the enemy force. Sgt. Roberts’ extraordinary heroism in action at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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12 July

1630 – New Amsterdam’s governor bought Gull Island from Indians for cargo and renamed it Oyster Island. It later became Ellis Island.

1774 – Citizens of Carlisle, Pennsylvania passed a declaration of independence.

1804 – Alexander Hamilton (47), US Sec. of Treasury, died of wounds from a pistol duel with VP Aaron Burr. In 1920 Frederick Scott Oliver authored a Hamilton biography. In 2002 Stephen Knott authored “Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth.” In 2004 Ron Chernow authored the biography “Alexander Hamilton.” Lawyer Ambrose Spencer (1765-1848) said Hamilton “more than any man, did the thinking of his time.”

1812 – United States forces led by General William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. However, Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit. Madison had called for 50,000 volunteers to invade Canada but only 5,000 signed up.

1836 – Commissioning of Charles H. Haswell as first regularly appointed Engineer Officer.

1861 – Special commissioner Albert Pike completes treaties with the members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, giving the new Confederate States of America several allies in Indian Territory. Some members of the tribes also fought for the Confederacy. A Boston native, Pike went west in 1831 and traveled with fur trappers and traders. He settled in Arkansas and became a noted poet, author, and teacher. He bought a plantation and operated a newspaper, the Arkansas Advocate. By 1837 he was practicing law and often represented Native Americans in disputes with the federal government. Pike was opposed to secession but nonetheless sided with his adopted state when it left the Union. As ambassador to the Indians, he was a fortunate addition to the Confederacy, which was seeking to form alliances with the tribes of Indian Territory. Besides the agreements with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, Pike also engineered treaties with the Creek, Seminole, Comanche, and Caddos, among others. Ironically, many of these tribes had been expelled from the Southern states in the 1830s and 1840s but still chose to ally themselves with those states during the war. The grudges they held against the Confederate states were offset by their animosity toward the federal government. Native Americans were also bothered by Republican rhetoric during the 1860 election. Some of Abraham Lincoln’s supporters, such as William Seward, argued that the land of the tribes in Indian Territory should be appropriated for distribution to white settlers.

When the war began in 1861, Secretary of War Simon Cameron ordered all posts in Indian Territory abandoned to free up military resources for use against the Confederacy, leaving the area open to invasion by the Confederates. By signing these treaties, the tribes severed their relationships with the federal government, much in the way the southern states did by seceding from the Union. They were accepted into the Confederates States of America, and they sent representatives to the Confederate Congress. The Confederate government promised to protect the Native American’s land holdings and to fulfill the obligations such as annuity payments made by the federal government.Some of these tribes even sent troops to serve in the Confederate army, and one Cherokee, Stand Watie, rose to the rank of brigadier general.

1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, in the name of Congress, “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection.” The previous December, Lincoln had approved a provision creating a U.S. Navy Medal of Valor, which was the basis of the Army Medal of Honor created by Congress in July 1862. The first U.S. Army soldiers to receive what would become the nation’s highest military honor were six members of a Union raiding party who in 1862 penetrated deep into Confederate territory to destroy bridges and railroad tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia. In 1863, the Medal of Honor was made a permanent military decoration available to all members, including commissioned officers, of the U.S. military. It is conferred upon those who have distinguished themselves in actual combat at risk of life beyond the call of duty. Since its creation, during the Civil War, almost 3,400 men and one woman have received the Medal of Honor for heroic actions in U.S. military conflict.

The Web site for the US Army Center of Military History: www2.army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm.

1864 – President Abraham Lincoln became the first standing president to witness a battle as Union forces repelled Jubal Early’s army on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

1864 – U.S.S. Whitehead, Acting Ensign George W. Barrett, and U.S.S. Ceres, Acting Master Foster, in company with transport steamer Ella May, conducted a joint expedition up the Scuppernong River to Columbia, North Carolina. Whitehead, a small tinclad, and Ceres, a 140-ton paddle- wheeler, landed troops near Columbia, and the soldiers succeeded in destroying a bridge and a quantity of grain.

1916 – Battleship USS North Carolina is the first Navy ship to carry and operate aircraft.

1921 – Congress creates Bureau of Aeronautics to be in charge of all matter pertaining to naval aeronautics.

1940 – Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley jumped out of a Travelair plane to fight the a forest fire in Idaho’s Nez Perce national Forest. They were the first smoke-jumpers.

1943 – The Panzer Division “Hermann Goring” resumes attacks on American positions in the morning but withdraws to face the more threatening British advance in the afternoon. The German 15th Panzergrenadier Division proceeds to pressure the Americans after arriving from the west of the island. The British continue to advance toward Augusta, in spite of Italian and German resistance, and capture Lentini.

1943 – Off Kolombangara, Admiral Ainsworth’s Task Force (3 cruisers and 10 destroyers) encounter a Japanese squadron (1 cruiser and 9 destroyers) under the command of Admiral Izaki. The Japanese cruiser obliterated by the radar-directed gunfire of the American cruisers but the Japanese sink one destroyer and damage two cruisers with torpedo attacks.

1943 – The US submarine Pampanito was christened in New Hampshire. In 1982 the sub opened to the public at Pier 45 in San Francisco.

1944 – Allied air attacks against the Po bridges begin. Elements of the US 5th Army advance. The US 88th Division takes Lajatico.

1944 – The US 1st Army offensive toward St. Lo reaches within 2 miles of the town but faces heavy resistance from German forces. Hill 192, east of the town, is captured.

1945 – Targets on the Japanese home islands of Shikoku and Honshu are heavily bombed.

1948 – The Marshall Plan Conference convened in Paris. It was attended by 16 European nations and established the Committee for European Economic Cooperation.

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1950 – In a series of desperate battles, the 21st Infantry Regiment fought delaying actions from Chonui to Chochiwon. Not only did the two under strength rifle battalions of the “Gimlet” Regiment delay two of the best North Korean People’s Army divisions, but they turned in the best battle performance of U.S. troops in the war to that date.

1950 – The first Distinguished Service Cross of the Korean War was awarded posthumously to Colonel Robert R. Martin who single-handedly attacked an enemy tank with a rocket launcher. Martin had just arrived in Korean and had been commander of the battered 34th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division for one day when he was killed in action on July 8th.

1950 – Photographs of seven American soldiers found shot through the head by the communists shocked the world.

1953 – United Nations Fleet launches heavy air and sea attack on Wonsan.

1966 – The National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) and American socialist Norman Thomas appeal to North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh on behalf of captured American pilots. The number of American captives was on the increase due to the intensification of Operation Rolling Thunder, the U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam. On July 15, 18 senators opposed to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam policy signed a statement calling on North Vietnam to “refrain from any act of vengeance against American airmen.” The next day, the United Nations Secretary General also urged North Vietnam to exercise restraint in the treatment of American prisoners of war. On July 19, North Vietnamese ambassadors in Beijing and Prague asserted that the captured Americans would go on trial as war criminals. However, Ho Chi Minh subsequently gave assurances of a humanitarian policy toward the prisoners, in response, he said, to the appeal he received from SANE and Norman Thomas. Despite Ho’s assurances, the American POWs were routinely mistreated and tortured. They were released in 1973 as part of the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords that were signed on January 27, 1973.

1967 – The Newark Riot of 1967 began with the arrest of a cab driver named John Smith, who allegedly drove around a double-parked police car at the corner of 7th St. and 15th Avenue. He was subsequently stopped, interrogated, arrested and transported to the 4th precinct headquarters, during which time he was severely beaten by the arresting officers. As news of the arrest spread, a crowd began to assemble in front of the precinct house, located directly across from a high-rise public housing project. When the police allowed a small group of civil rights leaders to visit the prisoner, they demanded that Mr. Smith be taken to a hospital. Emerging from the building, these civil rights leaders begged the crowd to stay calm, but they were shouted down. Rumor spread that John Smith had died in police custody, despite the fact he had been taken out the back entrance and transported to a local hospital. Soon a volley of bricks and bottles was launched at the precinct house and police stormed out to confront the assembly. As the crowd dispersed they began to break into stores on the nearby commercial thoroughfares. Eventually violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods of Newark’s Central Ward to Downtown Newark, and the New Jersey State Police were mobilized. Within 48 hours, National Guard troops entered the city. With the arrival of these troops the level of violence intensified. At the conclusion of six days of rioting 23 people lay dead, 725 people were injured and close to 1500 people had been arrested.

1974 – President Richard Nixon’s aides G. Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman and two others were convicted of conspiracy and perjury in connection with the Watergate scandal. They were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg’s former psychiatrist.

1988 – The PHOBOS 2 Flyby and lander failed within 480 miles of Mar’s moon Phobos.

1988 – SECDEF approves opening Navy’s Underwater Construction Teams, fleet oiler, ammunition ships, and combat stores ships to women.

1990 – Commander Rosemary B. Mariner becomes first woman to command an operational aviation squadron (VAQ-34).

1993 – 17 US helicopters conduct an attack on Aidid compound-at least 13 Somalis are killed.

1996 – The EU warned that it would freeze US assets and impose visa requirements on Americans if European companies are penalized for investing in Cuba.

1999 – The United Nations Compensation Commission, charged with assessing Iraq’s liability for damages resulting from the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, issues a judgement of liability for $2.8 billion dollars to oil companies and oilfield service providers whose operations were disrupted. The largest share, $2.2 billion, is to go to the Kuwaiti Oil Company. American firms which are owed payments include Saudi Arabian Texaco, a subsidiary of Texaco, National-Oilwell, OGE Drilling Company, and the Halliburton Company.

1999 – In Zimbabwe the trial for 3 American held on sabotage and weapons charges was scheduled. They were found guilty on Sep 10 and were sentenced to 1-year prison terms. They were released on Nov 6 and sent home.

2001 – The US space shuttle Atlantis took off with a crew of 5 to deliver a portal for spacewalks to the Int’l. Space Station Alpha.

2002 – The UN Security Council agreed to exempt US peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution for a year, ending a threat to UN peacekeeping operations.

2003 – Pres. Bush met with Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo in Nigeria. They discussed the circumstances under which Liberian President Charles Taylor will live in exile in Nigeria, Wrapping up a five-day tour of Africa, President Bush said he would not allow terrorists to use the continent as a base “to threaten the world.”

2003 – The USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Va.

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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. Place and date: At Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 12 July 1864. Entered service at: Constantine, Mich. Birth: Michigan. Date of issue: 3 December 1891. Second award. Citation: Led his company in a countercharge at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 12 July 1864, under a galling fire ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy’s line, capturing and bringing back 2 commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.

WRAY, WILLIAM J.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 1st Veteran Reserve Corps. Place and date: At Fort Stevens, D.C., 12 July 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 15 December 1892. Citation: Rallied the company at a critical moment during a change of position under fire.

CONNOR, JOHN
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

ELDRIDGE, GEORGE H.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Sacketts Harbor, N.Y. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

*GIVEN, JOHN J.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Birth: Daviess County, Ky. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Bravery in action.

KERRIGAN, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

KIRK, JOHN
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: York, Pa. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MAY, JOHN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

NEAL, SOLON D.
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Hanover, N.H. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

PORTER, SAMUEL
Rank and organization: Farrier, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Montgomery County, Md. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

SMITH, CHARLES E.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Auburn, N.Y. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

STOKES, ALONZO
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at:——. Birth: Logan County, Ohio. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

STOKES, ALONZO
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company H, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at:——. Birth: Logan County, Ohio. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

WATSON, JAMES C.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company I., 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at. ——. Birth: Cochecton, N.Y. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

WINDUS, CLARON A.
Rank and organization: Bugler, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Janesville, Wis. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

WINTERBOTTOM, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company A, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wichita River, Tex., 12 July 1870. Entered service at: ——. Birth: England. Date of issue: 25 August 1870. Citation: Gallantry in action.

MITCHELL, JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Gunner’s Mate First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 27 November 1876, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 12 July 1900, Mitchell distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

STANLEY, ROBERT HENRY
Rank and organization: Hospital Apprentice, U.S. Navy. Place and date: China, 13, 20, 21, and 22 June 1900. Entered service: Aboard U.S.S. Vermont. Born: 2 May 1881, Brooklyn N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: For distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy in volunteering and carrying messages under fire at Peking, China, 12 July 1900.

*HARMON, ROY W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 362d Infantry, 91st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Casaglia, Italy, 12 July 1944. Entered service at: Pixley, Calif. Birth: Talala, Okla. G.O. No.: 83, 2 October 1945. Citation: He was an acting squad leader when heavy machinegun fire from enemy positions, well dug in on commanding ground and camouflaged by haystacks, stopped his company’s advance and pinned down 1 platoon where it was exposed to almost certain annihilation. Ordered to rescue the beleaguered platoon by neutralizing the German automatic fire, he led his squad forward along a draw to the right of the trapped unit against 3 key positions which poured murderous fire into his helpless comrades. When within range, his squad fired tracer bullets in an attempt to set fire to the 3 haystacks which were strung out in a loose line directly to the front, 75, 150, and 250 yards away. Realizing that this attack was ineffective, Sgt. Harmon ordered his squad to hold their position and voluntarily began a 1-man assault. Carrying white phosphorus grenades and a submachine gun, he skillfully took advantage of what little cover the terrain afforded and crept to within 25 yards of the first position. He set the haystack afire with a grenade, and when 2 of the enemy attempted to flee from the inferno, he killed them with his submachine gun. Crawling toward the second machinegun emplacement, he attracted fire and was wounded; but he continued to advance and destroyed the position with hand grenades, killing the occupants. He then attacked the third machinegun, running to a small knoll, then crawling over ground which offered no concealment or cover. About halfway to his objective, he was again wounded. But he struggled ahead until within 20 yards of the machinegun nest, where he raised himself to his knees to throw a grenade. He was knocked down by direct enemy fire. With a final, magnificent effort, he again arose, hurled the grenade and fell dead, riddled by bullets. His missile fired the third position, destroying it. Sgt. Harmon’s extraordinary heroism, gallantry, and self-sacrifice saved a platoon from being wiped out, and made it possible for his company to advance against powerful enemy resistance.

*REASONER, FRANK S.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company A, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: near Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam, 12 July 1965. Entered service at: Kellogg, Idaho. Born: 16 September 1937, Spokane, Wash. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. The reconnaissance patrol led by 1st Lt. Reasoner had deeply penetrated heavily controlled enemy territory when it came under extremely heavy fire from an estimated 50 to 100 Viet Cong insurgents. Accompanying the advance party and the point that consisted of 5 men, he immediately deployed his men for an assault after the Viet Cong had opened fire from numerous concealed positions. Boldly shouting encouragement, and virtually isolated from the main body, he organized a base of fire for an assault on the enemy positions. The slashing fury of the Viet Cong machinegun and automatic weapons fire made it impossible for the main body to move forward. Repeatedly exposing himself to the devastating attack he skillfully provided covering fire, killing at least 2 Viet Cong and effectively silencing an automatic weapons position in a valiant attempt to effect evacuation of a wounded man. As casualties began to mount his radio operator was wounded and 1st Lt. Reasoner immediately moved to his side and tended his wounds. When the radio operator was hit a second time while attempting to reach a covered position, 1st Lt. Reasoner courageously running to his aid through the grazing machinegun fire fell mortally wounded. His indomitable fighting spirit, valiant leadership and unflinching devotion to duty provided the inspiration that was to enable the patrol to complete its mission without further casualties. In the face of almost certain death he gallantly gave his life in the service of his country. His actions upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service.

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13 July

1585 – A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reached Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Roanoke Island near North Carolina became England’s first foothold in the New World. Sir Walter Raleigh sent a detachment of 108 men to build a fort on the island. The detachment included two scientists, Thomas Hariot, a surveyor, mathematician, astronomer and oceanographer, and Joachim Gans, a metallurgist.

1755 – Edward Braddock, British general, died in battle at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh).

1787 – Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacted the Northwest Ordinance, establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.

1821 – Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest was born in Tennessee’s Bedford County.

1854 – US forces shelled and burned San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua.

1861 – Union General George B. McClellan distinguishes himself by routing Confederates under General Robert Garnett at Corrick’s Ford in western Virginia. The battle ensured Yankee control of the region, secured the Union’s east-west railroad connections, and set in motion the events that would lead to the creation of West Virginia. Two days before Corrick’s Ford, Union troops under General William Rosecrans flanked a Confederate force at nearby Rich Mountain. The defeat forced Garnett to retreat from his position on Laurel Hill, while part of McClellan’s force pursued him across the Cheat River. A pitched battle ensued near Corrick’s Ford, in which Garnett was killed—the first general officer to die in the war. But losses were otherwise light, with only 70 Confederate, and 10 Union, casualties.

The Battle of Corrick’s Ford was a significant victory because it cleared the region of Confederates, but it is often overlooked, particularly because it was overshadowed by the Battle of Bull Run, which occurred shortly thereafter on July 21. However, the success made McClellan a hero, even though his achievements were inflated. Two weeks later, McClellan became commander of the Army of the Potomac, the primary Federal army in the east. Unfortunately for the Union, the small campaign that climaxed at Corrick’s Ford was the zenith of McClellan’s military career.

1862 – Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated a Union army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

1863 – Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days. Antiabolitionist Irish longshoremen rampaged against blacks in the deadly Draft Riots in New York City in response to Pres. Lincoln’s announcement of military conscription. Mobs lynched a black man and torched the Colored Orphan Asylum.

1863 – USS Wyoming battled Japanese warlord’s forces.

1864 – Gen Jubal Early retreated from the outskirts of Washington back to Shenandoah Valley.

1866 – Great Eastern began a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States. Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus W. Field first proposed laying a 2,000-mile copper cable along the ocean bottom from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1854, but the first three attempts ended in broken cables and failure. Field’s persistence finally paid off in July 1866, when Great Eastern, the largest ship then afloat, successfully laid the cable along the level, sandy bottom of the North Atlantic. As messages traveled between Europe and America in hours rather than weeks, Cyrus Field was showered with honors. Among the honors was this commemorative print referring to the cable as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

1866 – Colonel Henry Carrington begins construction on Fort Phil Kearny, the most important army outpost guarding the Bozeman Trail. In 1863, a Georgia-born frontiersman named John Bozeman blazed a wagon road that branched off from the Oregon Trail and headed northwest to the gold fields of western Montana. The trail passed through the traditional hunting grounds of the Sioux, and Chief Red Cloud attacked several wagon trains to try to stop the violation of Indian Territory. Despite the questionable legality of the Bozeman Trail, the U.S. government decided to keep it open and began building a series of protective army forts along the route. Colonel Henry Carrington was assigned the task of designing and building the largest and most important of these outposts, Fort Phil Kearny. A talented strategist and designer, Carrington planned the fort with care. He selected a site in northern Wyoming that was near a source of water and commanded a view over a good section of the Bozeman Trail. He began building on this day in 1866, setting up a timbering operation and sawmill to supply the thousands of logs needed for construction.

By fall, Carrington had erected an imposing symbol of American military power. A tall wooden palisade surrounded a compound the size of three football fields. Inside the walls, Carrington built nearly 30 buildings, including everything from barracks and mess halls to a stage for the regimental band. Only the most massive and determined Indian attack would have been capable of taking Fort Phil Kearny. Unfortunately, Carrington’s mighty fortress had one important flaw: the nearest stands of timber lay several miles away. To obtain the wood essential for heating and further construction, a detachment had to leave the confines of the fort every day. The Indians naturally began to prey on these “wood trains.” In December, a massive Indian ambush wiped out a force of 80 soldiers under the command of Captain William Fetterman. Despite this weakness, Fort Phil Kearny was still a highly effective garrison. Nonetheless, the U.S. Army found it nearly impossible to halt completely the Indian attacks along the trail. In 1868, the government agreed to abandon all of the forts and close the trail in exchange for peace with the Indians. Immediately after the soldiers left, the Indians burned Carrington’s mighty fortress to the ground.

1890 – John C. “Pathfinder” Fremont (76), US explorer, Governor of Arizona, died. He was buried in obscurity in Sparkill, NY. Fremont (b.1830) was the 1st Republican presidential candidate in 1856.

1900 – Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.

1916 – The first aero Company, New York National Guard, was called to Federal service during the border crisis with Mexico on July 13, 1916. This was the first time a National Guard aviation unit was mobilized. The unit was commanded by Capt. Raynal C. Bolling.

1916 – Guardsmen of the 4th South Dakota Infantry prepare to leave for San Benito, Texas, to take up their station as part of the partial mobilization to protect the Mexican border against bandit raids lead by Pancho Villa. When the 4th SD arrives in late July it will be placed into the First Separate Brigade along with the 22nd U.S. Infantry, the 1st Louisiana and 1st Oklahoma infantry regiments (these latter two both Guard units). During the seven months the 4th remains on the border it will take part in several large-scale maneuvers used to train both officers and men in case America is drawn into World War I (then raging in Europe). The 4th returned home in March 1917 and was released from active duty. During World War I it was broken up into several elements assigned to different divisions which later fought in France. In all, 158,664 Guardsmen served on active duty during the border crisis.

1921 – Major Sheldon H. Wheeler, former commander of Luke Field on Ford Island, died when his plane crashed during a demonstration. Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, was named in his honor.

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1939 – Appointment of RADM Richard Byrd as commanding officer of 1939-1941 Antarctic Expedition.

1943 – The 10 Mountain Division came into being on July 13, 1943, at Camp Hale, Colorado as the 10th Light Division (Alpine). The combat power of the Division was contained in the 85th, 86th, and 87th Infantry Regiments. The Division’s year training at the 9,200 foot high Camp Hale honed the skills of its soldiers to fight and survive under the most brutal mountain conditions.

1943 – During Battle of Kolombangara in Solomon Islands, U.S. lost USS Gwin. (DD-433) while Japanese lost light cruiser Jintsu. American reinforcements arrive on Rendova and New Georgia. The attack on New Georgia makes more progress against, continued, heavy Japanese resistance.

1944 – The US 1st Army makes no progress in its attack toward St. Lo. A formal assault on the German defenses to the east of the town is now considered.

1944 – The French Expeditionary Corps (part of US 5th Army) is attacking around Poggibonsi and Castellina, about 20 miles south of Florence.

1944 – Around Aitape, the US 128th Regiment falls back to the Driniumor River. On Numfoor the final pockets of Japanese resistance are being cleared.

1945 – At a hastily arranged meeting between the Japanese ambassador, Naotake Sato, and the Soviet commissar for foreign affairs, Molotov, it is believed that a request was made to the Soviet Union to sound out Britain and the United States about negotiations for surrender.

1945 – In Berlin, the municipal council officially confiscates all property held by members of the NSDAP, the Nazi Party. Meanwhile, on the eve of the dissolution of SHAEF, General Eisenhower issues a farewell message to all members of the Allied Expeditionary Force. “No praise is too high,” says the message, “for the manner in which you surmounted every obstacle.”

1945 – The American government admits responsibility for sinking the Japanese relief ship Awa Maru in error.

1950 – Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker, commander of Eighth Army, assumed command of all ground forces in Korea, establishing his headquarters at Taegu.

1950 – The newly arrived 22d and 92d Bombardment Groups launched a radar-directed attack against the marshaling yards and oil refinery at Wonsan. This mission marked the groups’ entry into combat and the first combat mission flown by Far East Air Forces Bomber Command.

1953 – The final communist offensive of the Korean war began.

1954 – The 3dMarDiv was placed on 48-hour alert in preparation to move in support of the French in Indochina. The alert was later cancelled.

1973 – Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.

1995 – Just six days after the space shuttle “Atlantis” returned, the shuttle “Discovery” blasted off on a nine-day mission.

1998 – Syria agrees to reopen an existing oil pipeline, linking Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields to the Mediterranean terminals of Banias in Syria and Tripoli in Lebanon. Syria closed the line in 1982 in support of Iran during the Iran/Iraq war. The pipeline has an estimated capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and is expected to be operational within a few months. Since Iraqi oil exports currently operate under the U.N. oil-for-food program, Iraq will need U.N. approval before the pipeline can be reopened.

2000 – It was reported that the US and Vietnam had completed a trade agreement for generally unfettered commerce between the two countries.

2001 – CGC Sherman became the second cutter to circumnavigate the globe when she returned to the United States from a six-month deployment to the Arabian Gulf in support of U.N. operations. She conducted 219 queries, 115 boardings, and five diverts. The Eastwind was the first cutter to circumnavigate the globe on a cruise in 1960-1961.

2002 – A unanimous UN Security Council vote to exempt American peacekeepers from prosecution by the new war crimes tribunal for a year ended a U.S. threat to halt U.N. peacekeeping but angered many court supporters.

2003 – In Iraq a 25-member interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) of prominent Iraqis from diverse political and religious backgrounds was named at an inaugural meeting, the first national body since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The council abolished a number of old holidays and established April 9, the fall of Baghdad and Saddam’s regime, as a new national holiday.

2004 – The Philippines said it would withdraw its tiny peacekeeping force from Iraq as soon as it can. The Philippine government made a direct appeal to insurgents holding a Filipino hostage, pleading with them to show mercy for the man they threatened to kill if the country did not agree to pull its troops from Iraq early.

2004 – Khaled al-Harbi, described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, turned himself in to authorities in Iran. Khaled al-Harbi is believed to have battled alongside bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. He was identified on a tape in late 2001, talking with bin Laden about the September 11th attacks. Al-Harbi apparently accepted the June Saudi Arabian offer of amnesty for al-Qaida members who surrender.

2011 – The U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan began when the first 650 U.S. troops left Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama’s planned drawdown. The units that left were the Army National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 134th Cavalry Regiment, based in Kabul, and the Army National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, which had been in neighboring Parwan province.


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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

HIBSON, JOSEPH C.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 48th New York Infantry. Place and date: Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 13 July 1863, Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 14 July 1863; Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 18 July 1863. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: England. Date of issue: 23 October 1897. Citation: While voluntarily performing picket duty under fire on 13 July 1863, was attacked and his surrender demanded, but he killed his assailant. The day following responded to a call for a volunteer to reconnoiter the enemy’s position, and went within the enemy’s lines under fire and was exposed to great danger. On 18 July voluntarily exposed himself with great gallantry during an assault, and received 3 wounds that permanently disabled him for active service.

GLYNN, MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., 13 July 1872. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 4 December 1874. Citation: Dtove off, singlehanded, 8 hostile Indians, killing and wounding 5.

NEWMAN, HENRY
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company F, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., 13 July 1872. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 4 December 1874. Citation: He and 2 companions covered the withdrawal of wounded comrades from the fire of an Apache band well concealed among rocks.

NIHILL, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 5th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., 13 July 1872. Entered service at: Brooklyn, N.Y. Born: 1850, Ireland. Date of issue: 4 December 1874. Citation: Fought and defeated 4 hostile Apaches located between him and his comrades.

ADAMS, JOHN MAPES
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 11 October 1871, Haverhill, Mass. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Adams distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

ADRIANCE, HARRY CHAPMAN
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 October 1864, Oswego, N.Y. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Adriance distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

BREWSTER, ANDRE W.
Rank and organization: Captain, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Hoboken, N.J. Date of issue: 15 September 1903. Citation: While under fire rescued 2 of his men from drowning.

COONEY, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 July 1860, Limerick, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Cooney distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

FOLEY, ALEXANDER JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 19 February 1866, Heckersville, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy in the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Foley distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

LAWTON, LOUIS B.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Auburn, N.Y. Birth: Independence, lowa. Date of i55ue: 11 March 1902. Citation: Carried a message and guided reinforcements across a wide and fireswept space, during which he was thrice wounded.

MATHIAS, CLARENCE EDWARD
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 12 December 1876, Royalton, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the advance on Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Mathias distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.

SUTTON, CLARENCE EDWIN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 18 February 1871, Middlesex County, Va. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In action during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Although under heavy fire from the enemy, Sutton assisted in carrying a wounded officer from the field of battle.

*VON SCHLICK, ROBERT H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: San Erancisco, Calif. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: Although previously wounded while carrying a wounded comrade to a place of safety, rejoined his command, which partly occupied an exposed position upon a dike, remaining there after his command had been withdrawn, singly keeping up the fire, and obliviously presenting himself as a conspicuous target until he was literally shot off his position by the enemy.

PITTS, RYAN M.
Rank and Organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and Date: July 13, 2008, Wanat ViIlage, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Entered Service At: Boston, MA. Accredited To: . Born: 1985 , LOWELL, MA. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 07/21/2014. Departed: No. Citation: Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of heroism at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Forward Observer in 2d Platoon, Chosen Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade during combat operations against an armed enemy at Vehicle Patrol Base Kahler in the vicinity of Wanat Village, Kunar Province, Afghanistan on July 13, 2008.

Early that morning, while Sergeant Pitts was providing perimeter security at Observation Post Topside, a well-organized Anti-Afghan Force consisting of over 200 members initiated a close proximity sustained and complex assault using accurate and intense rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire on Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. An immediate wave of rocket-propelled grenade rounds engulfed the Observation Post wounding Sergeant Pitts and inflicting heavy casualties. Sergeant Pitts had been knocked to the ground and was bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds to his arm and legs, but with incredible toughness and resolve, he subsequently took control of the Observation Post and returned fire on the enemy. As the enemy drew nearer, Sergeant Pitts threw grenades, holding them after the pin was pulled and the safety lever was released to allow a nearly immediate detonation on the hostile forces. Unable to stand on his own and near death because of the severity of his wounds and blood loss, Sergeant Pitts continued to lay suppressive fire until a two-man reinforcement team arrived. Sergeant Pitts quickly assisted them by giving up his main weapon and gathering ammunition all while continually lobbing fragmentary grenades until these were expended. At this point, Sergeant Pitts crawled to the northern position radio and described the situation to the Command Post as the enemy continued to try and isolate the Observation Post from the main Patrol Base.

With the enemy close enough for him to hear their voices and with total disregard for his own life, Sergeant Pitts whispered in the radio situation reports and conveyed information that the Command Post used to provide indirect fire support. Sergeant Pitts’ courage, steadfast commitment to the defense of his unit and ability to fight while seriously wounded prevented the enemy from overrunning the Observation Post and capturing fallen American soldiers, and ultimately prevented the enemy from gaining fortified positions on higher ground from which to attack Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts’ 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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14 July

1769 – An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà establishes a base in California and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).

1771 – Father Junipero Serra founded the Mission San Antonio de Padua in California.

1798 – The Sedition Act, the last of four pieces of legislation known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, was passed by Congress, making it unlawful to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. president and the U.S. government, among other things. Violations were made punishable by up to 2 years in jail and a fine of $2,000.

1798 – 1st direct federal tax in US states took effect on dwellings, land and slaves.

1813 – LT John M. Gamble was the first marine to command a ship in battle (prize vessel Greenwich in capture of British whaler Seringapatam).

1825 – The visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1824-1825 was in every sense a triumphal procession. The 2nd Battalion, 11th New York Artillery, was one of many militia turned out to welcome him. This unit decided to adopt the title “National Guard” in honor of Lafayette’s command of the Garde Nationale de Paris during the French Revolution. The 11th Battalion, later designated as the 7th Regiment, was prominent in the line of march on the occasion of Lafayette’s final passage through New York en route home to France. Taking note of the troops named for his old command he alighted from his carriage walked down the line clasping each officer by the hand as he proceeded. The 7th New York, with its designation “National Guard” went on to become one of the most famous of all Guard units well into the 20th century. Its nickname has come to represent all American militia for more than century.

1853 – Commodore Matthew Perry met with Prince Toda and Prince Ido at ceremony at Kurihama, Japan, and presented a letter from former Pres. Fillmore to Emperor Osahito requesting trade relations.

1861 – Union troops tried to force a crossing at Seneca Falls on the Potomac, northwest of Washington but were repulsed by the Confederates. A company of the Louisiana Tiger Rifles helped defend the line.

1861 – Gen McDowell advanced toward Fairfax Courthouse, VA, with 40,000 troops.

1861 – Naval Engagement at Wilmington, NC. USS Daylight established a blockade.

1862 – Congress passed an act stating that: ” . . . the spirit ration in the Navy of the United States shall forever cease, and . . . no distilled spiritous liquors shall be admitted on board vessels of war, except as medical stores . . . there shall be allowed and paid to each person in the Navy now entitled to the ration, five cents per day in commutation and lieu thereof, which shall be in addition to their present pay.” Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox and officers generally held that it was in the Navy’s best interest to abolish the spirit ration.

1863 – Naval forces under Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, including U.S.S. Sangamon, Lehigh, Mahaska, Morse, Commodore Barney, Commodore Jones, Shokokon, and Seymour, captured Fort Powhatan on the James River, Virginia. Acting on orders from Secretary Welles to threaten Richmond and assist mili-tary movements in the vicinity, Lee reported: “We destroyed two magazines . . . and twenty platforms for gun carriages today.” The last Confederate defense below Chaffin’s and Drewry’s Bluff had fallen.

1864 – Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest suffers his biggest defeat when Union General Andrew J. Smith routs his force in Tupelo, Mississippi. The battle came just a month after the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads, in which Forrest engineered a brilliant victory over a larger Union force from Memphis that was designed to keep him from threatening General William T. Sherman’s supply lines in Tennessee. Hoping to neutralize Forrest, Sherman sent Smith’s expedition to destroy Forrest and his cavalry. Smith left LaGrange, Tennessee, on June 22 with 14,000 troops. Forrest and his cavalry were part of a 10,000-man force commanded by General Stephen Lee, but Forrest and Lee shared command responsibilities. Forrest’s strategy at Tupelo was similar to his tactics at the Battle of West Point, Mississippi, five months earlier. In both battles, Forrest used part of his force to entice the Yankees into a trap. The plan worked well at West Point, but in Tupelo Smith did not take the bait. Instead of driving right at Forrest, Smith dug his troops in around Tupelo. Lee and Forrest were uneasy about attacking the Yankees, but they agreed to try to drive Smith out of Mississippi.

The assault began on the morning of July 14th. Smith’s Union troops were in an ideal position for fending off an attack. The Confederates had to fight uphill across nearly a mile of open terrain. Lee struck one flank and Forrest struck the other. Poor communication ruined the Rebels’ coordination, and after three hours they had not breached the Union line. Although Lee was the ranking Confederate, he had offered Forrest command of the battle. Forrest declined, but assigning blame for the defeat is difficult. Union losses stood at 674, while Forrest and Lee lost over 1,300 soldiers. Despite the Union victory, the overly cautious Smith had lost an opportunity to completely destroy Forrest and Lee’s army. He had not counterattacked, and the Confederates maintained a dangerous force in Mississippi.

1864 – Acting Master George R. Durand, U.S.S. Paul Jones, was captured while making an attempt in Ossabaw Sound, Georgia, to destroy C.S.S. Water Witch,’ a former Union ship which had been taken in June, 1864. Durand concealing himself and his men by day and moving by night, made his way toward the prize steamer only to be discovered and captured by a Confederate patrol.

1864 – Screw steamer U.S.S. Pequot, Lieutenant Commander Quackenbush, and converted ferryboat U.S.S. Commodore Morris, Acting Master Robert G. Lee, engaged Confederate batteries in the vicinity of Malvern Hill, James River, Virginia, for four hours, sustaining no serious damage. Two days later the batteries opened on U.S.S. Mendota, Commander Nichols, Pequot, and Commo-dore Morris. Mendota, a double-ender, sustained minor damage and several casualties. Presence of the battery below Four Mile Creek temporarily closed the navigation of the James River.

1864 – Gold was discovered in Helena, Montana. Four prospectors discovered gold in a small stream they called “Last Chance.” This marked the birth of Helena, future capital of Montana.

1877 – The Baltimore rail workers’ anger at their bosses finally bubbled over on this day in 1877 when members of various rail unions walked off the job to agitate for higher pay and fairer work conditions. By the summer of 1877, the long-simmering tensions between labor and management were set to come to a boil. The “Panic of 1873” lingered well into the decade, depressing the workers’ standard of living and take-home pay. Some of America’s corporate leaders exacerbated the situation, slashing their employee’s salaries in the name of maintaining profit margins. These problems were particularly pronounced on the nation’s rail lines, most notably the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, where laborers had suffered through two pay cuts since the start of the Panic. Over the ensuing week, workers managed to seize the local railroad station. Panicky officials for the company responded by calling in the Maryland militia to break the strike. The presence of the militia hardly eased the situation, however, and on July 20, they opened fire on a crowd of strikers, killing nine of the workers. Along with sparking four days of riots in Baltimore, the deaths of the rail strikers unleashed a torrent of labor activity: workers at other rail lines, as well as in other industries, called massive sympathy strikes, some of which were also marred by violence between strikers and State troopers. In the end, this summer of strikes had mixed results: while the wave of walkouts helped refuel the once-flagging labor movement, some workers–most notably the strikers at the Baltimore and Ohio company–were cowed into signing agreements that did little, if anything, to help their plight.

1882 – Sailors and Marines from 4 U.S. ships land to help restore order at Alexandria, Egypt.

1900 – Armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion.

1911 – Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright Brothers lands his airplane at the South Lawn of the White House. He is later awarded a Gold medal from U.S. President William Howard Taft for this feat.

1913 – Gerald Ford, 41st vice-president and 38th president of the United States, was born as Leslie King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, and achieved his highest prominence as the 38th president of the Untied States. He became president upon Richard Nixon’s resignation from office. Gerald Rudolph Ford was age two when his mother divorced his father and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She remarried Gerald Ford, Sr., who adopted the young boy and gave him his name. Ford assumed the presidency on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.

1914 – 1st patent for liquid-fueled rocket design was granted to Dr. R. Goddard.

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1921 – Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted for the May 5, 1920 killing of a paymaster and guard at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Many claimed there was unsubstantial evidence and that the two were tried for their radical views rather than any crime. A defense committee secured a stay of their death sentences and the cause of Sacco and Vanzetti grew around the world. In 1927 a commission appointed by the governor of Massachusetts examined the conduct and evidence of the trial and sustained the verdict. Sacco and Vanzetti were put to death in the electric chair on August 23, 1927.

1926 – The first radio-beacon established in Alaska, at Cape Spencer, was placed in commission.

1933 – All German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed.

1941 – Vichy French Foreign Legionaries signed an armistice in Damascus, allowing them to join the Free French Foreign Legion.

1943 – The main British and American forces continue to advance evenly along the entire front. American units capture Biscani airfield and Niscemi. British units capture Vizzini.

1944 – The French Expeditionary Corps (part of US 5th Army) captures Poggibonsi.

1944 – Task Force 74 (Commodore Collins) bombards Japanese positions near Aitape, between Yakamul and But.

1945 – Over 1000 US naval aircraft raid Hokkaido and the port of Kamaishi. Also, the American battleships South Dakota, Indiana and Massachusetts, as well as 2 heavy cruisers and 4 destroyers, bombard the Kamaishi steel works in the first naval gunfire directed against the Japanese home islands.

1945 – In Konigsee, General Eisenhower announces the closure of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) and eases some of the restrictions on private contact between American soldiers and German civilians. The carefully-defined limits to fraternization are part of a scheme prepared by Eisenhower, to be presented as part of an Allied plan for unified control of the country. Fraternization is forbidden in the British Army. Meanwhile, the French flag was formally unfurled today at the summit of the Victory Column in Berlin which commemorates the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.
1946 – Heart Mountain, Wyoming, Japanese-American draft resisters were released from McNeil Island.

1950 – U.S. Marines sail from San Diego for Korean Conflict.

1950 – The week long Battle of Taejon begins. This was an early battle between American and North Korean forces during the Korean War. Forces of the United States Army attempted to defend the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division. The 24th Infantry Division was overwhelmed by numerically superior forces of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) at the major city and transportation hub of Taejon. The 24th Infantry Division’s regiments were already exhausted from the previous two weeks of delaying actions to stem the advance of the KPA. The entire 24th Division gathered to make a final stand around Taejon, holding a line along the Kum River to the east of the city. Hampered by lack of communication, equipment and shortage of heavy weapons to match KPA firepower, the American forces being outnumbered, ill-equipped and untrained were pushed back from the river bank after several days before fighting an intense urban battle to defend the city. After a fierce three-day struggle, the Americans withdrew. Although they could not hold the city, the 24th Infantry Division achieved a strategic advantage by delaying the North Koreans, providing time for other American divisions to establish a defensive perimeter around Pusan further south. The delay imposed at Taejon probably prevented an American rout during the subsequent Battle of the Pusan Perimeter. During the action the KPA captured Major General William F. Dean, the commander of the 24th Infantry Division, and highest ranking American prisoner during the Korean War.

1952 – Laying of keel of USS Forrestal, the first 59,900 ton aircraft carrier.

1964 – The United States sent 600 more troops to Vietnam.

1964 – U.S. military intelligence publicly charges that North Vietnamese regular army officers command and fight in so-called Viet Cong forces in the northern provinces, where Viet Cong strength had doubled in the past six months. Only the day before, South Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Khanh had referred to the “invasion” by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces. There would soon be other evidence that North Vietnamese troops were operating in South Vietnam. In August, South Vietnamese officials would claim that two companies from the North Vietnamese army had crossed the Demilitarized Zone in Quang Tri province. A battle ensued, but the North Vietnamese forces were defeated with heavy casualties. It became known later that Hanoi had ordered its forces to begin infiltrating to the South. This marked a major change in the tempo and scope of the war in South Vietnam and resulted in President Lyndon B. Johnson committing U.S. combat troops. North Vietnamese forces and U.S. troops clashed for the first time in November 1965, when units from the newly arrived 1st Cavalry Division engaged several North Vietnamese regiments in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands.

1965 – The Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.

1972 – the State Department criticized actress Jane Fonda for making antiwar radio broadcasts in Hanoi, calling them “distressing.”

1974 – U.S. Army General Carl Spaatz, fighter pilot and the first chief of staff of an independent U.S. Air Force, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 83. Spaatz was born in 1891 in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1914. He was a combat pilot during World War I, and at the outbreak of World War II went to England to help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the German military. (During the Blitz, the air raids on England by the German Luftwaffe, Spaatz would sit on rooftops to better observe German air tactics.) In July 1942, he became commander of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and inaugurated daylight bombing runs against German-occupied territory in Europe. Two years later, Spaatz was made commander of U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe and continued the practice of daylight bombing, the target now being Germany itself, especially its fuel-oil plants. Since Germany had already lost access to oil in Romania after that country’s occupation by the Soviet Union, the destruction of its native oil production proved particularly devastating to Germany’s ability to keep up aircraft production.

In 1945, with the war in the West over (Spaatz was present at the formal German surrender at Reims on May 8), his focus shifted to the Pacific and the Japanese. Although he initially opposed the use of atomic weapons against Japan, he eventually acquiesced and directed the bomb drops on order from President Truman. In fact, his telegraph to Washington stating that there were no Allied prisoner of war camps in Hiroshima resulted in that city becoming the first target of the atom bomb. In September 1947, General Spaatz, an illustrious combat career behind him, was named the first chief of staff of the now independent U.S. Air Force, which previously had been a unit of the Army. But a desk job was not for him. He retired in 1948.

1986 – Richard W. Miller became the 1st FBI agent convicted of espionage.

1987 – Lt. Col. Oliver North concluded six days of testimony before the Iran-Contra committees.

1987 – Taiwan ended 37 years of martial law.

1993 – The USS IWO JIMA was decommissioned after over 30 years of service in a ceremony at Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia. The ship was named for the World War II battle during which three Marine divisions ousted 20,000 entrenched Japanese troops. The Iwo Jima was commissioned 26 August 1961, and it was the first ship specifically designed as an amphibious assault ship from the keel up.

2000 – In Waco, Texas, a federal jury decided that federal agents were not responsible for the deaths of 80 Branch Davidians in 1993.

2001 – The US launched a prototype missile interceptor from the Marshall Islands and successfully struck a mock warhead launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 4,800 miles away. This was the 4th such Pentagon test. A $100 million prototype radar failed to detect the strike.

2001 – NASA launched an unmanned solar-powered plane named Helios over Hawaii.

2003 – Iraq’s new governing council, in its first full day on the job, voted to send a delegation to the U.N. Security Council and assert its right to represent Baghdad on the world stage.

2003 – It was reported that Kim Jong Il of North Korea maintained an unpublicized trading network and slush fund named Division 39 with a cash hoard as large as $5 billion. Its operations included counterfeiting, drug trafficking and trade in illicit weapons systems.

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Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

HIBSON, JOSEPH C.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 48th New York Infantry. Place and date: Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 13 July 1863, Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 14 July 1863; Near Fort Wagner, S.C., 18 July 1863. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: England. Date of issue: 23 October 1897. Citation: While voluntarily performing picket duty under fire on 13 July 1863, was attacked and his surrender demanded, but he killed his assailant. The day following responded to a call for a volunteer to reconnoiter the enemy’s position, and went within the enemy’s lines under fire and was exposed to great danger. On 18 July voluntarily exposed himself with great gallantry during an assault, and received 3 wounds that permanently disabled him for active service.

HOLTON, CHARLES M.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 7th Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Falling Waters, Va., 14 July 1863. Entered service at: Battle Creek, Mich. Born: 25 May 1838, Potter, N.Y. Date of issue: 21 March 1889. Citation: Capture of flag of 55th Virginia Infantry (C.S.A.). In the midst of the battle with foot soldiers he dismounted to capture the flag.

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15 July

1741 – Vitus Bering, a Danish mariner working for Russia, landed on the Alaskan coast.

1806 – Zebulon Pike, the U.S. Army officer who in 1805 led an exploring party in search of the source of the Mississippi River, sets off with a new expedition to explore the American Southwest. Pike was instructed to seek out headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to investigate Spanish settlements in New Mexico. Pike and his men left Missouri and traveled through the present-day states of Kansas and Nebraska before reaching Colorado, where he spotted the famous mountain later named in his honor. From there, they traveled down to New Mexico, where they were stopped by Spanish officials and charged with illegal entry into Spanish-held territory. His party was escorted to Santa Fe, then down to Chihuahua, back up through Texas, and finally to the border of the Louisiana Territory, where they were released. Soon after returning to the east, Pike was implicated in a plot with former Vice President Aaron Burr to seize territory in the Southwest for mysterious ends. However, after an investigation, Secretary of State James Madison fully exonerated him. The information he provided about the U.S. territory in Kansas and Colorado was a great impetus for future U.S. settlement, and his reports about the weakness of Spanish authority in the Southwest stirred talk of future U.S. annexation. Pike later served as a brigadier general during the War of 1812, and in April 1813 he was killed by a British gunpowder bomb after leading a successful attack on York, Canada.

1830 – 3 Indian tribes, Sioux, Sak & Fox, signed a treaty giving the US most of Minnesota, Iowa & Missouri.

1862 – U.S.S. Carondelet, Commander Walke, U.S.S. Tyler, Lieutenant Gwin, and ram Queen of the West, carrying Army sharp shooters on reconnaissance of the Yazoo River, engaged Confederate ironclad ram Arkansas, Lieutenant Isaac N. Brown. In a severe fight as Union ships withdrew, Arkansas partially disabled Carondelet and Tyler. Entering the Mississippi, Arkansas ran through fire from the Union fleet to refuge under the Vicksburg batteries in a heavily damaged condition and with many casualties. Farragut’s fleet pursued Arkansas, but, as the Flag Officer reported, “it was so dark by the time we reached the town that nothing could be seen except the flashes of the guns.” In the heavy cannonade as Farragut’s ships continued down river below Vicks-burg, U.S.S. Winona, Lieutenant Edward T. Nichols, and U.S.S. Sumter, Lieutenant Henry Erben, were substantially damaged. The daring sortie of Arkansas emphatically underscored the need to reduce Vicksburg. Major General Ear] Van Dorn, CSA, said that Lieutenant Brown had ”immortalized his single vessel, himself, and the heroes under his command, by an achievement, the most brilliant ever recorded in naval annals.” Secretary Mallory added: “Naval history records few deeds of greater heroism or higher professional ability than this achievement of the Arkansas.” Lieutenant Brown was promoted to Commander, and the Confederate Congress later expressed thanks to Brown and his men “for their signal exhibition of skill and gallantry. . . in the brilliant and successful engagement of the sloop of war Arkansas with the enemy’s fleet.”

1863 – Boat crews from U.S.S. Stars and Stripe and Somerset, under Lieutenant Commander Crosman, landed at Marsh’s Island, Florida, and destroyed some 60 bushels of salt and 50 salt boilers.

1863 – Batteries at Grimball’s Landing on the Stone River, South Carolina, opened a heavy fire on U.S.S. Pawnee, Commander Balch, and U.S.S. Marblehead, Lieutenant Commander Scott while Confederate troops assaulted a Union position on James Island under command of Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry. Though Pawnee, struck some 40 times by the accurate shorefire, and Marblehead were compelled to drop downriver, they nonetheless provided important support for the Union troops and were instrumental in forcing the Confederates to break off the attack. Brigadier General Terry reported that the ships “opened a most effective fire upon my left. The enemy, unable to endure the concentric fire to which they were exposed, fell back and retreated. . . I desire to express my obligations to Captain Balch, U.S. Navy, commanding the naval forces in the river, for the very great assistance he rendered to me. . .”

1870 – Georgia became the last of the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.

1870 – Act of Congress establishes Navy Pay Corps, which later becomes the Navy Supply Corps.

1918 – The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I. This is the last German offensive, up the Marne toward Epernay.

1918 – When German forces cross the Marne River they cut off two companies from the 109th Infantry and two companies of the 110th Infantry, 28th Division, all from Pennsylvania. These four companies found themselves surrounded and fought off repeated German assaults, as they fought their way south with the survivors regaining the division’s positions in the afternoon. They inflicted crippling losses on the enemy, but also lost heavily themselves. Out of about 500 men in the two companies of the 109th only about 150 men regained the safety of the rest of the division.

1941 – Master spy Juan Pujol Garcia, nicknamed “Garbo,” sends his first communique to Germany from Britain. The question was: Who was he spying for? Juan Garcia, a Spaniard, ran an elaborate multiethnic spy network that included a Dutch airline steward, a British censor for the Ministry of Information, a Cabinet office clerk, a U.S. soldier in England, and a Welshman sympathetic to fascism. All were engaged in gathering secret information on the British-Allied war effort, which was then transmitted back to Berlin. Garcia was in the pay of the Nazis. The Germans knew him as “Arabel,” whereas the English knew him as Garbo. The English knew a lot more about him, in fact, than the Germans, as Garcia was a British double agent. None of Garcia’s spies were real, and the disinformation he transmitted to Germany was fabricated-phony military “secrets” that the British wanted planted with the Germans to divert them from genuine military preparations and plans.

Among the most effective of Garcia’s deceptions took place in June 1944, when he managed to convince Hitler that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was just a “diversionary maneuver designed to draw off enemy reserves in order to make a decisive attack in another place”-playing right into the mindset of German intelligence, which had already suspected that this might be the case. (Of course, it wasn’t.) Among the “agents” that Garcia employed in gathering this “intelligence” was Donny, leader of the World Aryan Order; Dick, an “Indian fanatic”; and Dorick, a civilian who lived at a North Sea port. All these men were inventions of Garcia’s imagination, but they leant authenticity to his reports back to Berlin–so much so that Hitler, while visiting occupied France, awarded Garcia the Iron Cross for his service to the fatherland. That same year, 1944, Garcia received his true reward, the title of MBE-Member of the British Empire–for his service to the England and the Allied cause. This ingenious Spaniard had proved to be one of the Allies’ most successful counterintelligence tools.

1942 – The first supply flight from India to China over the ‘Hump’ was flown to help China’s war effort.

1942 – First photographic interpretation unit set up in the Pacific.

1943 – General Patton forms a provisional corps to advance on the west of the island while US 2nd Corps (Bradley) drives northward. In Catania the Axis forces retreat behind the Simeto River.

1943 – General Griswold replaces General Hester in command of operation in New Georgia. There is an air battle over Rendova in which the Americans lose 3 aircraft and claim to shoot down more than 40 Japanese planes.

1943 – President Roosevelt creates a new office of economic warfare, headed by Leo Crowley. It replaces the previous board.

1944 – Elements of the US 1st Army reach the outskirts of Lessay. From here to the Taute River, the advance is halted for regrouping. Heavy fighting takes place near St. Lo.

1944 – US 5th Army advances toward Leghorn. The French Expeditionary Corps capture Castellina.

1944 – Greenwich Observatory was damaged by German V1 rocket.

1945 – The West End lights up again, ending over 2000 days of blackout and dim-out.

1945 – American naval vessels bombard Muroran, the second biggest steel center in Japan, lying in Volcano Bay on the east side of the island of Hokkaido. Three battleships bombarded the Muroran and some 1000 carrier planes bombed the cities of Hakodati, Otaru, Abashiri, Kushiro, Asahigawa and Obihiro, all on Hokkaido.

1945 – American B-29 Superfortress bombers, based in the Marianna Islands, raided an oil refinery at Kudamatsu on Honshu Island while fighters and bombers from Okinawa attacked objectives on Kyushu and southern Honshu.

1948 – John J. Pershing (87), [Black Jack], US general ( Mexico, WW I ) died.

1950 – F-80s accounted for 85 percent of the enemy’s losses to air attack. Far East Air Forces Commander, Lieutenant General George E. Stratemeyer, stated that he wouldn’t trade the F-80 for all the F-47s and F-51s he could get. “It does a wonderful job in ground support and can take care of the top-side job if enemy jets appear.”

1953 – U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, qualified as the second and last “triple ace” of the war — 15 kills. He also was the second ranking jet ace of the war.

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