June 7th ~ 1498 – Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration. 1712 – The Pennsylvania Assembly banned the importation of slaves. 1769 – Daniel Boone first began to explore the present-day Kentucky. 1775 – The United Colonies changed their name to United States. 1776 – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress the resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence: that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States…” Congress delayed the vote on the resolution until July 1st. 1819 – LT John White on merchant ship Franklin, anchored off Vung Tau is first U.S. naval officer to visit Vietnam. 1828 – A party led by Jebediah Smith completed a journey down the Klamath River and were on the verge of starvation when they were visited by Indians who brought food. Smith’s party proceeded north to Oregon and most of the party was killed by Umpqua Indians. Smith was killed in 1831 by Comanches on the Cimarron River. Smith’s party were the 1st white people to see Lake Earl, the biggest lagoon on the West Coast. 1862 – U.S.S. Wachusett, Commander W. Smith, U.S.S. Chocura, and Sebago escorted Army transports up the York River, supported the landing at West Point, Virginia, and countered a Confederate attack with accurate gunfire. U.S.S. Currituck, Acting Master William F. Shankland, sent on a reconnaissance of the Pamunkey River by Smith on the 6th, captured American Coaster and Planter the next day. Shankland reported that some twenty schooners had been sunk and two gunboats burned by the Confederates above West Point. 1862 – William Mumford became the 1st US citizen to be hanged for treason. New Orleanian William Mumford was hanged by occupying commander General Benjamin Butler for lowering the Union flag that flew over the New Orleans branch of the United States Mint. 1863 – A Confederate attempt to rescue Vicksburg and a Rebel garrison held back by Union forces to the east of the city fails when Union troops turn back the attack. By late May 1863, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had surrounded Vicksburg, the last major Confederate possession on the Mississippi River. In one of the more remarkable campaigns of the war, Grant had slipped his army around the city, dove toward the middle of Mississippi, and then bottled up Vicksburg from the east. He held off one Confederate army while pinning another, commanded by John C. Pemberton, in the city. Grant then laid siege and waited for surrender. Since Grant’s army was holding off Rebel forces to the east of Vicksburg, the Confederates would have to come from across the Mississippi to stage a rescue attempt. General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the South’s Trans-Mississippi Department, dispatched a force under Richard Taylor to attack Federal supply lines on the western side of the river. Taylor aimed the assault at Milliken’s Bend, once a key supply point for the Union forces, just north of Vicksburg. Unfortunately for the Confederates, the Yankees had already moved the supply point several miles away. Before dawn on June 7, the advancing Confederates encountered Union pickets and began driving them back toward the river. But once the Yankee defenders were backed up to the Mississippi, U.S.S. Choctaw, Lieutenant Commander Ramsay, and U.S.S. Lexington, Lieutenant Commander Bache, defended Union troops, blasting the Rebels with grapeshot and canister. The Confederates withdrew, while Federal gunboats broke up nearby attacks before they could materialize. Confederate losses stood at 44 killed, 131 wounded, and 10 missing; the Union suffered much heavier losses: 101 killed, 285 wounded, and 266 missing. Hardest hit were the newly formed African-American regiments that were made up of freed slaves from captured areas in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The 9th Louisiana lost 45 percent of its force.
June 7th ~ {continued...} 1864 – Suspecting that Confederates were using cotton to erect breastworks on the banks of the Suwannee River, Florida, boat expedition commanded by Acting Ensign Louis R. Chester, composed of men from U.S.S. Clyde and Sagamore, proceeded upriver. They captured over 100 bales of cotton in the vicinity of Clay Landing. 1868 – The American flag was raised over Fort Wrangell, formerly known as Fort Stikine and Fort Dionysius. 1900 – Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China. 1912 – US army tested the 1st machine gun mounted on a plane. 1912 – Company A, 1st Marines landed at Santiago, Cuba. 1914 – The first vessel passed through the Panama Canal. 1915 – The resignation of William Jennings Bryan as Woodrow Wilson‘s secretary of state, was prompted by the “second Lusitania note.” Bryan, who had signed the first Lusitania note demanding that Germany stop unrestricted submarine warfare, disavow the sinking of the Lusitania and make reparations for the loss of U.S. lives, declined to sign a second note out of fear it might involve the U.S. in World War I. The second note, which demanded certain pledges from Germany, was dispatched on June 9th over the signature of Bryan‘s replacement, Robert Lansing. A third note, dispatched on July 2st1, was a virtual ultimatum warning that repetition of such acts as the sinking of Lusitania would be regarded as “deliberately unfriendly.” 1917 – U.S. subchasers arrive at Corfu for anti-submarine patrols. 1918 – French and Americans capture Veuilly-la-Poterie and Vinly (west of Chateau-Thierry), Bouresches and Hill 204 (west of Chateau-Thierry). 1932 – Over 7,000 war veterans march on Washington, D.C. demanding their bonuses for service in WW I. 1940 – A crew of 25 workmen began construction of Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage. In 1960, a memorial to the late Capt. M. Elmendorf was dedicated. Elmendorf was killed at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio while testing a new type of pursuit plane. 1942 – The Battle of Midway–one of the most decisive U.S. victories in its war against Japan–comes to an end. In the four-day sea and air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers with the loss of only one of its own, the Yorktown, thus reversing the tide against the previously invincible Japanese navy. In six months of offensives, the Japanese had triumphed in lands throughout the Pacific, including Malaysia, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and numerous island groups. The United States, however, was a growing threat, and Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto sought to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet before it was large enough to outmatch his own. A thousand miles northwest of Honolulu, the strategic island of Midway became the focus of his scheme to smash U.S. resistance to Japan’s imperial designs. Yamamoto’s plan consisted of a feint toward Alaska followed by an invasion of Midway by a Japanese strike force. When the U.S. Pacific Fleet arrived at Midway to respond to the invasion, it would be destroyed by the superior Japanese fleet waiting unseen to the west. If successful, the plan would eliminate the U.S. Pacific Fleet and provide a forward outpost from which the Japanese could eliminate any future American threat in the Central Pacific. Unfortunately for the Japanese, U.S. intelligence broke the Japanese naval code, and the Americans anticipated the surprise attack. Three heavy aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were mustered to challenge the four heavy Japanese carriers steaming toward Midway.
June 7th ~ {continued...} 1942 – The Battle of Midway - {continued...} In early June, U.S. command correctly recognized a Japanese movement against Alaska’s Aleutian Islands as a diversionary tactic and kept its forces massed around Midway. On June 3rd, the Japanese occupation force was spotted steaming toward the island, and B-17 Flying Fortresses were sent out from Midway to bomb the strike force but failed to inflict damage. Early in the morning on June 4th, a PBY Catalina flying boat torpedoed a Japanese tanker transport, striking the first blow of the Battle of Midway. Later that morning, an advance Japanese squadron numbering more than 100 bombers and Zero fighters took off from the Japanese carriers to bomb Midway. Twenty-six Wildcat fighters were sent up to intercept the Japanese force and suffered heavy losses in their heroic defense of Midway’s air base. Soon after, bombers and torpedo planes based on Midway took off to attack the Japanese carriers but failed to inflict serious damage. The first phase of the battle was over by 7:00 a.m. In the meantime, 200 miles to the northeast, two U.S. attack fleets caught the Japanese force entirely by surprise. Beginning around 9:30 a.m., torpedo bombers from the three U.S. carriers descended on the Japanese carriers. Although nearly wiped out, they drew off enemy fighters, and U.S. dive bombers penetrated, catching the Japanese carriers while their decks were cluttered with aircraft and fuel. The dive-bombers quickly destroyed three of the heavy Japanese carriers and one heavy cruiser. The only Japanese carrier that initially escaped destruction, the Hiryu, loosed all its aircraft against the American task force and managed to seriously damage the U.S. carrier Yorktown, forcing its abandonment. At about 5:00 p.m., dive-bombers from the U.S. carrier Enterprise returned the favor, mortally damaging the Hiryu. It was scuttled the next morning. Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto still had numerous warships at his command, but without his carriers and aircraft he was forced to abandon his Midway invasion plans and begin a westward retreat. On June 5th, a U.S. task force pursued his fleet, but bad weather saved it from further destruction. On June 6th, the skies cleared, and U.S. aircraft resumed their assault, sinking a cruiser and damaging several other warships. After the planes returned to their carriers, the Americans broke off from the pursuit. Meanwhile, a Japanese submarine torpedoed and fatally wounded the Yorktown, which was in the process of being salvaged. It finally rolled over and sank at dawn on June 7th, bringing an end to the battle. At the Battle of Midway, Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties. Japan’s losses hobbled its naval might–bringing Japanese and American sea power to approximate parity–and marked the turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II. In August 1942, the great U.S. counteroffensive began at Guadalcanal and did not cease until Japan’s surrender three years later. 1942 – Japanese soldiers occupy the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, as the Axis power continues to expand its defensive perimeter. Having been defeated at the battle of Midway–stopped by the United States from even landing on the Midway Islands–the Japanese nevertheless proved successful in their invasion of the Aleutians, which had been American territory since purchased from Russia in 1867. Killing 25 American troops upon landing in Attu, the Japanese proceeded to relocate and intern the inhabitants, as well as those at Kiska. America would finally invade and recapture the Aleutians one year later-killing most of the 2,300 Japanese troops defending it–in three weeks of fighting. 1943 – The worst of the L.A. Zoot Suit Riot violence occurs as soldiers, sailors, and marines from as far away as San Diego travel to Los Angeles to join in the fighting. Taxi drivers offer free rides to servicemen and civilians to the riot areas. Approximately 5,000 civilians and military men gather downtown. The riot spreads into the predominantly African American section of Watts.
June 7th ~ {continued...} 1944 – Construction of artificial harbors and sheltered anchorages begins off Normandy coast. 1944 – Allied forces attempt to link up the beachheads. Gold and Juno beach are already joined. Elements of US 7th Corps, on Utah beach, attempts to link up with the paratroops of 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and advances toward Carentan and Montebourg. The US 5th Corps, on Omaha, advances toward Isigny and Bayeux. Elements of the British 30th Corps cut the Caen-Bayeux road. The 50th Division captures Bayeux. Meanwhile, German reserves are concentrating on the right flank of the invasion against the British forces threatening Caen. 1944 – Elements of US 5th Army capture Bacciano and Civitavecchia. The port facilities are serviceable. Elements of British 8th Army advance as well. Subiaco is taken. The South African 6th Armored Division captures Civita Castellana and advances to Orvieto. 1944 – On Biak Island, elements of US 41st Division capture Mokmer Airfield. Japanese resistance continues. 1945 – On Luzon forces from US 1st Corps take Bambang and move northeast toward the Cagayan Valley. Other units are moving around the coast from the northwest to the north of the island. 1945 – On Okinawa, in the Oroku peninsula, Japanese forces hold attacks by the US 6th Marine Division while the US 1st Marine Division advances southward and isolates the peninsula defenders. The US 24th Corps is engaged in artillery bombardments. 1945 – All German citizens in the zone occupied by the western Allies are order to watch films of Belsen and Buchenwald — former Nazi concentration camps. 1953 – President Eisenhower announced that proposals for a Korean truce are acceptable to the US and appealed to South Korea to accept terms to stop the war. 1955 – President Eisenhower became the 1st president to appear on color TV. 1962 – Joseph A. Walker, NASA civilian test pilot, took the X-15 to 31,580 meters. 1963 – Diem’s sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, self-styled First lady of Vietnam, alleges the Buddhists are being manipulated by the Americans, publically contradicting Diem. This does nothing to improve the ‘Dragon Lady’ image that Madame Nhu has begun to acquire in the United States. Pressure form Deputy Ambassador William Trueheart forces Diem to create a cosmetic committee to investigate the Hue incident. 1964 – US officials report that Vietcong are blockading a 600-square-mile area south of Camau to starve the residents and to deprive South Vietnam of charcoal. 1965 – General Westmoreland requests a total of 35 battalions of combat troops, with another nine in reserve. This gave rise to the “44 battalion” debate within the Johnson administration, a discussion of how many U.S. combat troops to commit to the war. Westmoreland felt that the South Vietnamese could not defeat the communists alone and he wanted U.S. combat troops to go on the offensive against the enemy. His plan was to secure the coastlines, block infiltration of North Vietnamese troops into the south, and then wage a war of attrition with “search and destroy” missions into the countryside, using helicopters for rapid deployment and evacuation. Westmoreland had some supporters in the Johnson administration, but others of the president’s advisers did not support Westmoreland’s request for more troops, because they disagreed with what would be a fundamental change in the U.S. role in Vietnam. In the end, Johnson acquiesced to Westmoreland’s request; eventually there would be over 500,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam.
June 7th ~ {continued...} 1965 – Gemini 4 completed 62 orbits. 1968 – In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam. 1968 – Tuy Hoa Air Base, Vietnam — New Mexico’s 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) arrives, becoming the third Air National Guard unit to serve in Vietnam. Combined on June 14th with New York’s newly arrived 136th TFS into the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, both squadrons immediately began flying close ground support missions for American troops. These two units are the only Guard units, Air or Army to actually be assigned to the same operational headquarters while serving in Vietnam. During the course of its tour the 188th will fly 6,029 sorties and lose three pilots in combat, including two missing in action and later declared killed. The 136th flew nearly as many sorties and fortunately lost no members to combat although it did have three pilots killed in stateside training. One member of the 188th, Sergeant Melvyn S. Montano, will become a commissioned officer after the unit returns home and in December 1994 he is appointed the Adjutant General of New Mexico; the only known enlisted Guardsman serving in Vietnam War to later achieve this position in any state. 1971 – In an unusual secret US Senate session to review the American military role in Laos, including some $350 million annually in aid, regular raids by B-52 bombers, and 4,800 CIA financed Thai troops, Stuart Symington (D-MO), J. William Fullbright (D-AR), and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) attack the Nixon administration’s policies. The State Department defends the use of ‘volunteer’ Thais predating the 1970 congressional ban on the use of mercenaries. 1981 – Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq at Osirak, Iraq, before it went into operation, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons. Pilot Ilan Ramon flew the last of the 8 planes that bombed the reactor. 1998 – CNN and Time magazine reported that a secret 1970 raid called Operation Tailwind by a Special Forces unit called the Studies and Observations Group (SOG) used the nerve gas sarin in Laos to kill American armed service members who had defected. CNN and Time magazine later recanted the story due to insufficient evidence. Reporter April Oliver and senior producer Jack Smith were fired. 1999 – The FBI put alleged terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden on the bureau’s list of the Ten Most Wanted fugitives.
June 7th ~ {continued...} 1999 – NATO dropped cluster bombs on an estimated 800-1,200 Yugoslav troops near the Kosovo-Albanian border. An estimated 650 sorties were flown in the last 24 hours. 1999 – Russia balked at a UN peace deal for Kosovo because it did not want its troops under NATO control. 2001 – The US and China agreed on a final plan for the removal of the US spy plane from Hainan Island. 2001 – A federal judge refused to stop plans for a World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 2002 – In El Salvador Mauricio Gonzalez (68), retired dental hygienist from San Ramon, Ca., was kidnapped near Sonsonate. A demand for $500,000 was made. This was the 4th kidnapping of a US citizen here since Jan 1st, 2000. 2002 – In the Philippines Martin Burnham, an American missionary, was killed along with Philippine nurse Ediborah Yap when troops stormed an Abu Sayyaf outpost on Mindanao. Burnham’s wife, Gracia Burnham, was wounded. 2003 – The Saudi interior minister linked last month’s Riyadh bombings to the al-Qaida terror network in an interview, and his ministry identified 12 of the attackers. 2004 – In Iraq 9 militias agreed to disband in exchange for veteran’s pensions, jobs and other rewards. The Mahdi Army of al-Sadr was not included. 2004 – US and South Korean officials announced plans to withdraw a third of 37,000 US troops from South Korea by the end of next year. 2006 – Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is confirmed killed by US airstrikes on a safe house north of Baghdad.
June 8th ~ 632 – In Medina, located in present-day Saudi Arabia, Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and political leaders in history, dies in the arms of Aishah, his third and favorite wife. Born in Mecca of humble origins, Muhammad married a wealthy widow at 25 years old and lived the next 15 years as an unremarkable merchant. In 610, in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca, he had a vision in which he heard God, speaking through the angel Gabriel, command him to become the Arab prophet of the “true religion.” Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which he and others collected as the Qur’an. These revelations provided the foundation for the Islamic religion. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and he adopted the theology of these older religions while introducing new doctrines. His inspired teachings also brought unity to the Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia, an event that had sweeping consequences for the rest of the world. By the summer of 622, Muhammad had gained a substantial number of converts in Mecca, leading the city’s authorities, who had a vested interest in preserving the city’s pagan religion, to plan his assassination. Muhammad fled to Medina, a city some 200 miles north of Mecca, where he was given a position of considerable political power. At Medina, he built a model theocratic state and administered a rapidly growing empire. In 629, Muhammad returned to Mecca as a conqueror. During the next two and a half years, numerous disparate Arab tribes converted to his religion. By his death on June 8, 632, he was the effective ruler of all southern Arabia, and his missionaries, or legates, were active in the Eastern Empire, Persia, and Ethiopia. During the next century, vast conquests continued under Muhammad’s successors and allies, and the Muslim advance was not halted until the Battle of Tours in France in 732. By this time, the Muslim empire, among the largest the world had ever seen, stretched from India across the Middle East and North Africa, and up through Western Europe’s Iberian peninsula. The spread of Islam continued after the end of the Arab conquest, and many cultures in Africa and Asia voluntarily adopted the religion. Today, Islam is the world’s second-largest religion. 1813 – David D. Porter, Union Admiral, was born. 1830 – Sloop-of-war Vincennes becomes first U.S. warship to circle the globe. 1845 – Seventh President Andrew Jackson dies. Born in South Carolina in 1767, Jackson gained his first military experience at the age of 15 when, as a member of a local militia company, he helped to repel a British raiding party in 1782. Later he served in the Tennessee militia, rising to the rank of major general. He was affectionately known by his troops as “Old Hickory” because of his hard but fair discipline. During the War of 1812 he commanded a combined force of Regulars and militiamen in suppressing the Creek Indians in Alabama. His determined leadership soon led to his appointment as a major general in the Regular Army in 1814, just in time to lead a combined Regular and militia force in the defense of New Orleans against a British attack in January 1815. In 1818-1819 he lead a combined army of Regulars and militia in his invasion of western Florida chasing raiding Indians who sought sanctuary in the then Spanish colony. In fact, his action helped induce the Spanish government to sell Florida to the US. Jackson was elected president in 1828. In 1918, the 30th Division, composed of National Guard soldiers from the Carolina’s and Tennessee, proudly adopted a division shoulder patch that featured the Roman numerals “XXX” indicating the division’s designation surrounded by the letters “OH” for “Old Hickory” in honor of Jackson.
June 8th ~ {continued...} 1853 – Commodore Matthew Perry arrives at Uraga, Japan to begin negotiations for a treaty with Japan. 1861 – Tennessee voted to secede from the Union and joined the Confederacy. 1861 – U.S.S. Mississippi, Flag Officer Mervine, set blockade at Key West. 1862 – Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s notches another victory during the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Sent to the valley to relieve pressure on the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia, which had been pinned on the James Peninsula by Union General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, Jackson’s force staged one of the most stunning and brilliant campaigns of the war. On May 2th5, Jackson routed a Union force commanded by Nathaniel Banks at Winchester in the northern Shenandoah Valley. The defeat sent panic through Washington, D.C., because Jackson was now poised to invade the capital from the north. President Lincoln ordered Banks to regroup and head south into the valley, while an army under Irwin McDowell headed in from the east, and one under John C. Fremont moved in from the west to pinch Jackson’s troops and destroy his army. Jackson led the Yankees on a chase south through the valley, beating the Union forces to Port Republic, the site of a crucial bridge where the Federals could have united to defeat Jackson. He kept the bulk of his force at Port Republic and sent General Richard C. Ewell and 5,000 troops to nearby Cross Keys. On June 8th, Freemont’s troops advanced on Ewell’s and launched a halfhearted attack that failed to disrupt the Confederate lines. Fremont engaged only 5 of his 24 regiments, followed by a mild artillery bombardment. Casualties were relatively light, with Ewell losing 288 men to Fremont’s 684. Cross Keys was only a prelude to the larger Battle of Port Republic on June 9, but it was another Union failure in Jackson’s amazing 1862 Shenandoah campaign. 1862 – U.S.S. Monitor, Dacotah, Naugatuck, Seminole, and Susquehanna by direction of the President”-shelled Confederate batteries at Sewell’s Point, Virginia, as Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough reported, ”mainly with the view of ascertaining the practicability of landing a body of troops thereabouts” to move on Norfolk. Whatever rumors President Lincoln had received about Confederates abandoning Norfolk were now confirmed; a tug deserted from Norfolk and brought news that the evacuation was well underway and that C.S.S. Virginia, with her accompanying small gunboats, planned to proceed up the James or York River. It was planned that when Virginia came out, as she had on the 7th, the Union fleet would retire with U.S.S. Monitor in the rear hoping to draw the powerful but under engined warship into deep water where she might be rammed by high speed steamers. The bombardment uncovered reduced but considerable strength at Sewell’s Point. Virginia came out but not far enough to be rammed. Two days later President Lincoln wrote Flag Officer Goldsborough: “I send you this copy of your report of yesterday for the purpose of saying to you in writing that you are quite right in supposing the movement made by you and therein reported was made in accordance with my wishes verbally expressed to you in advance. I avail myself of the occasion to thank you for your courtesy and all your conduct, so far as known to me, during my brief visit here.” President Lincoln, acting as Commander-in-Chief in the field at Hampton Roads, also directed Flag Officer Goldsborough: “If you have tolerable confidence that you can successfully contend with the Merrimack without the help of the Galena and two accompanying gunboats, send the Galena and two gunboats up the James River at once” to support General McClellan. This wise use of power afloat by the President silenced two shore batteries and forced gunboats C.S.S. Jamestown and Patrick Henry to return up the James River.
June 8th ~ {continued...} 1862 – Landing party from U.S.S. Iroquois, Commander James S. Palmer, seized arsenal and took possession of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1863 – Residents of Vicksburg, Miss., fled into caves as Grant’s army began shelling the town. 1863 – Crew from a Confederate launch commanded by Master James Duke, CSN, boarded and captured steam tug Boston at Pass a l’Outre, Mississippi River, and put to sea, then capturing and burning Union barks Lenox and Texana. Duke carried Boston safely into Mobile on June 11th. 1864 – President Lincoln forwarded to Congress a dispatch from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton regarding the Enrollment Act, which instituted a military draft. Stanton suggested that Congress repeal the Act’s “three hundred… dollar clause,” which allowed draftees to get out of military service by paying $300. Stanton explained, “ample experience has now shown that the pecuniary exemption from service frustrates the object of the enrolment law, by furnishing money instead of men.” Lincoln informed Congress that he concurred with Stanton’s recommendation. 1864 – Lieutenant Commander Ramsay, U.S.S. Chillicothe, led an expedition up the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, accompanied by U.S.S. Neosho, Acting Lieutenant Howard, and U.S.S. Port Hindman, Acting Lieutenant Pearce, to silence a Confederate battery above Simmesport. The Union gun-boats, after a short engagement, forced the Southerners to abandon their position and a landing party captured the guns. 1874 – Chief Cochise, one of the great leaders of the Apache Indians in their battles with the Anglo-Americans, dies on the Chiricahua reservation in southeastern Arizona. Little is known of Cochise’s early life. By the mid-19th century, he had become a prominent leader of the Chiricahua band of Apache Indians living in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Like many other Chiricahua Apache, Cochise resented the encroachment of Mexican and American settlers on their traditional lands. Cochise led numerous raids on the settlers living on both sides of the border, and Mexicans and Americans alike began to call for military protection and retribution. War between the U.S. and Cochise, however, resulted from a misunderstanding. In October 1860, a band of Apache attacked the ranch of an Irish-American named John Ward and kidnapped his adopted son, Felix Tellez. Although Ward had been away at the time of the raid, he believed that Cochise had been the leader of the raiding Apache. Ward demanded that the U.S. Army rescue the kidnapped boy and bring Cochise to justice. The military obliged by dispatching a force under the command of Lieutenant George Bascom. Unaware that they were in any danger, Cochise and many of his top men responded to Bascom’s invitation to join him for a night of entertainment at a nearby stage station. When the Apache arrived, Bascom’s soldiers arrested them. Cochise told Bascom that he had not been responsible for the kidnapping of Felix Tellez, but the lieutenant refused to believe him. He ordered Cochise be kept as a hostage until the boy was returned. Cochise would not tolerate being imprisoned unjustly. He used his knife to cut a hole in the tent he was held in and escaped. During the next decade, Cochise and his warriors increased their raids on American settlements and fought occasional skirmishes with soldiers. Panicked settlers abandoned their homes, and the Apache raids took hundreds of lives and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damages. By 1872, the U.S. was anxious for peace, and the government offered Cochise and his people a huge reservation in the southeastern corner of Arizona Territory if they would cease hostilities. Cochise agreed, saying, “The white man and the Indian are to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread, and be at peace.” The great chief did not have the privilege of enjoying his hard-won peace for long. In 1874, he became seriously ill, possibly with stomach cancer. He died on this day in 1874. That night his warriors painted his body yellow, black, and vermilion, and took him deep into the Dragoon Mountains. They lowered his body and weapons into a rocky crevice, the exact location of which remains unknown. Today, however, that section of the Dragoon Mountains is known as Cochise’s Stronghold. About a decade after Cochise died, Felix Tellez–the boy whose kidnapping had started the war–resurfaced as an Apache-speaking scout for the U.S. Army. He reported that a group of Western Apache, not Cochise, had kidnapped him.
June 8th ~ {continued...} 1880 – Captain W. B. Remey was the first Marine appointed Judge Advocate of the Navy. 1904 – U.S. Marines landed in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S. citizens. 1918 – Prisoners of War Conference at the Hague opens. 1937 – Observation of total eclipse of the sun by U.S. Navy detachment commanded by CAPT J. F. Hellweg, USN, participating in the National Geographic Society – United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. 1943 – Senior military officials bring the Zoot Suit Riot under control by declaring Los Angeles off-limits to all sailors, soldiers, and marines. The Shore Patrol is under orders to arrest any disorderly personnel. The Los Angeles City Council passes a resolution banning the wearing of zoot suits in public, punishable by a 50-day jail term. 1944 – A second wave of Allied troops has landed. Elements of the US 7th Corps, from Utah beach, advance toward Cherbourg. The 4th Division engages in heavy fighting near Azeville. Elements of the US 5th Corps, on Omaha beach, capture Isigny but cannot establish a link with the American forces on Utah. A link is established between Omaha and Gold beach once British Marines, part of the 30th Corps, take Port-en-Bessin. 1944 – Russian Premier Joseph Stalin telegraphs British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to announce that the Allied success at Normandy “is a source of joy to us all.” He renews promises to launch his own offensive on the Eastern Front, as had been agreed upon at the Tehran Conference in late ’43, and thereby prevent Hitler from transferring German troops from the east to support troops at Normandy. 1944 – German rearguards slow the advance of the US 5th Army and British 8th Army. 1944 – Fighting continues on Biak Island. A Japanese attempt to ship reinforcements to Biak is intercepted by the cruiser squadron commanded by Admiral Crutchley. It is forced to retreat. On the mainland, at the American beachhead around Aitape, US forces begin counterattacking. 1945 – There are reports that every able bodied Japanese man, woman and child is being given instructions in the fighting of tanks, paratroops and other invading forces. 1945 – On Okinawa, in the north heavy fighting continues on the Oroku peninsula. In the south, the US 24th Corps prepares to attack Mount Yaeju. 1945 – On Luzon, patrols of the US 37th Division reach the Magat river. The US 145th Infantry Regiment (US 37th Division) takes Solano and advances as far as Bagabag, towards the Cagayan valley. 1945 – The Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, says at a press conference that British forces would carry the full weight of military responsibilities in Burma and noted the these forces had been reinforced since the end of the war in Europe. 1951 – Paul Bobel, Werner Braune, Erich Naumann, Otto Ohlendorf, Oswald Pohl, W. Schallenmair & Otto Schmidt, last Nazi war criminals, were hanged by Americans at Landsberg Fortress. 1953 – U.N. and communist delegates at the peace talks signed an agreement on the exchange of prisoners. South Korea refused to accept the truce terms. 1958 – Navy and Post Office deliver first official missile mail when USS Barbero (SS-317) fired Regulus II missile with 3000 letters 100 miles east of Jacksonville, FL to Mayport, FL.
June 8th ~ {continued...} 1965 – A State Department press officer notes that, “American forces would be available for combat support together with Vietnamese forces when and if necessary,” alerting the press to an apparently major change in the U.S. commitment to the war. Prior to this time, U.S. forces had been restricted to protecting American airbases and other installations. The next day, the White House tried to calm the protests by some in Congress and the media who were alarmed at this potential escalation of the war by issuing a statement claiming, “There has been no change in the missions of United States ground combat units in Vietnam.” The statement went on to explain that General Westmoreland, senior U.S. commander in Saigon, did have the authority to employ troops “in support of Vietnamese forces faced with aggressive attack.” Later in the month, Westmoreland was given formal authority to commit U.S. forces to battle when he decided they were necessary “to strengthen the relative position of the GVN [Government of Vietnam] forces.” This authority and the influx of American combat troops that followed forever changed the role of the United States in the war. 1966 – Gemini astronaut Gene Cernan attempted to become the first man to orbit the Earth untethered to a space capsule, but was unable to when he exhausts himself fitting into his rocket pack. 1967 – During the Six-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty in international waters off Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed, was attacked first by Israeli aircraft that fired napalm and rockets at the ship. The Liberty attempted to radio for assistance, but the Israeli aircraft blocked the transmissions. Eventually, the ship was able to make contact with the U.S. carrier Saratoga, and 12 fighter jets and four tanker planes were dispatched to defend the Liberty. When word of their deployment reached Washington, however, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered them recalled to the carrier, and they never reached the Liberty. The reason for the recall remains unclear. Back in the Mediterranean, the initial air raid against the Liberty was over. Nine of the 294 crewmembers were dead and 60 were wounded. Suddenly, the ship was attacked by Israeli torpedo boats, which launched torpedoes and fired artillery at the ship. Under the command of its wounded captain, William L. McGonagle, the Liberty managed to avert four torpedoes, but one struck the ship at the waterline. Heavily damaged, the ship launched three lifeboats, but these were also attacked–a violation of international law. Failing to sink the Liberty, which displaced 10,000 tons, the Israelis finally desisted. In all, 34 Americans were killed and 171 were wounded in the two-hour attack. In the attack’s aftermath, the Liberty managed to limp to a safe port. Israel later apologized for the attack and offered $6.9 million in compensation, claiming that it had mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. However, Liberty survivors, and some former U.S. officials, believe that the attack was deliberate, staged to conceal Israel’s pending seizure of Syria’s Golan Heights, which occurred the next day. The ship’s listening devices would likely have overheard Israeli military communications planning this controversial operation. Captain McGonagle was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic command of the Liberty during and after the attack. 1969 – President Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet at Midway Island in the Pacific. At the meeting, Nixon announced that 25,000 U.S. troops would be withdrawn by the end of August. Nixon and Thieu emphasized that South Vietnamese forces would replace U.S. forces.
June 8th ~ {continued...} 1970 – In a speech delivered in Hanoi, Norodom Sihanouk pledges Cambodians will fight with the Vietnamese Communists to defeat US ‘imperialism.’ 1982 – President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament. 1987 – Fawn Hall began testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings, describing how, as secretary to National Security aide Oliver L. North, she helped to shred some documents and spirit away others. 1988 – The judge in the Iran-Contra conspiracy case ruled that Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim had to be tried separately. 1990 – CDR Rosemary Mariner becomes first Navy women to command fleet jet aircraft squadron. 1991 – General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of Allied forces in Operation “Desert Storm” leads the National Victory Parade up Pennsylvania Avenue past the reviewing stand holding President George H.W. Bush and other dignitaries in the first such military parade held in the nation’s capital since the end of World War I. Among the contingents of military units are composite battalions of Air and Army Guard personnel who served in theater. 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. 1998 – In New Mexico the $77 million Sloan Digital Sky Survey was reported to be about to start probing the universe. 1998 – The shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America’s three-year space partnership with Russia. 1999 – The United States, Russia and six leading democracies authorized a text calling for a peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The G8 agreed to the context of a UN Security Council resolution to end the conflict in Kosovo. 2000 – In Greece Brigadier Stephen Saunders (53), a British diplomat, was assassinated in Athens. The November 17 terrorist group claimed responsibility, saying it killed Saunders because of his role in NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Iraklis Kostaris was charged with participating in the murder and Vassilis Xiros confessed to the assassination. 2001 – Five Cuban men were convicted in the US for operating as unregistered foreign agents. Gerardo Hernandez (36) was sentenced to life in prison on December 12th. 2003 – A coalition of US mayors meeting in Denver asked federal officials to bypass state governments and give them the money they needed to beef up homeland security. 2003 – Thai police, on a tip from U.S. authorities, arrest Narong Penanam, who tried to sell cesium-137 to make a “dirty bomb.” 2004 – John Ashcroft, US Attorney General, told Congress he would not release a 2002 policy memo on the degree of pain and suffering legally permitted during enemy interrogations. 2004 – U.S.-led troops backed by jet fighters and helicopters killed 21 Taliban militants, after rebels attacked a convoy in the mountains of southern Afghanistan. 2004 – Iraqi officials declared that the interim government has assumed full control of the country’s oil industry. 2004 – In Saudi Arabia an American citizen was shot and killed. 2004 – The UN voted 15-0 to accept a US and British resolution to end the formal co-occupation of Iraq on June 30th.
June 9th ~ 1628 – Thomas Morton of Mass. became the 1st person deported from what is now the United States. 1732 – Royal charter for Georgia was granted to James Oglethorpe. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures. The British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12, 1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by (and named for) King George II. The Trustees implemented an elaborate plan for the colony’s settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan, which envisioned an agrarian society of yeoman farmers and prohibited slavery. 1772 – In an incident that some regard as the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, colonists board the Gaspee, a British vessel that ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island, and set it aflame. The Gaspee was pursuing the Hanna, an American smuggling ship, when it ran aground off Namquit Point in Providence’s Narragansett Bay on June 9. That evening, John Brown, an American merchant angered by high British taxes on his goods, rowed out to the Gaspee with a number of other colonists and seized control of the ship. After leading away its crew, the Americans set the Gaspee afire. When British officials attempted to prosecute the colonists involved in the so-called “Gaspee Affair,” they found no Americans willing to testify against their countrymen. This renewed the tension in British-American relations and inspired the Boston Patriots to found the “Committee of Correspondence,” a propaganda group that rallied Americans to their cause by publicizing all anti-British activity that occurred throughout the 13 colonies. 1862 – Battle of Port Republic, last of 5 battles in Jackson’s Valley campaign. The Battle of Port Republic was fought in Rockingham County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Port Republic was a fierce contest between two equally determined foes and was the most costly battle fought by Jackson’s Army of the Valley during its campaign. Together, the battles of Cross Keys (fought the previous day) and Port Republic were the decisive victories in Jackson’s Valley Campaign, forcing the Union armies to retreat and leaving Jackson free to reinforce Gen. Robert E. Lee for the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond, Virginia. 1862 – President Lincoln himself, after talking to pilots and studying charts, reconnoitered the eastward side of Sewell’s Point and found a suitably unfortified landing site near Willoughby Point. The troops embarked in transports that night. The next morning they landed near the site selected by the President. The latter, still afloat, from his “command ship” Miami ordered U.S.S. Monitor to reconnoiter Sewell’s Point to learn if the batteries were still manned. When he found the works abandoned, President Lincoln ordered Major General Wool’s troops to march on Norfolk, where they arrived late on the afternoon of the 10th. 1863 – Union mortar boats continued to bombard Vicksburg. From dawn until nearly noon, they poured 175 shells into the city as the Confederate position, cut off from supplies and relief, grew steadily more desperate. Heavy rains curtailed the mortar activity the next day, only some 75 shells being fired, but on the 11th the attack was stepped up once again and Ordnance Gunner Eugene Mack reported that 193 mortar shells fell on the river stronghold. Rear Admiral Porter wrote Secretary Welles: “The mortars keep constantly playing on the city and works, and the gunboats throw in their shell whenever they see any work going on at the batteries, or new batteries being put up. Not a soul is to be seen moving in the city, the soldiers lying in their trenches or pits, and the inhabitants being stowed in caves or holes dug out in the cliffs. If the city is not relieved by a much superior force from the outside, Vicksburg must fall without anything more being done to it. I only wonder it has held out so long. . .”
June 9th ~ {continued...} 1863 – As the Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, started moving northward to take the war to the Union (a move that would eventually end at Gettysburg, PA), General J.E.B. Stuart was tasked to use the Confederate cavalry to screen this movement from Union scouts. But the Federals soon learned of a large rebel presence in area around Culpeper Court House, near a train depot named “Brandy Station.” Two Union cavalry corps, numbering some 11,000 men were dispatched as a “reconnaissance in force” when it clashed with Stuart’s 9,000 man mounted force. This set the stage for the largest cavalry engagement ever fought on the North American continent. Perhaps the toughest fighting of the day occurred when the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry collided with 10th Virginia Cavalry. In a scene reminiscent of a movie there was a swirling, melee as sabers flashed and dust was kicked up by injured and frightened horses. The 10th Virginia was about to give way when the 9th Virginia Cavalry galloped into the fray and caused so much damage to the 6th PA that it pulled back to regroup. The type of combat experienced by these three units was repeated in numerous encounters over an area of several square miles as nearly 20,000 men and horses charged into each other much as waves clash onto a beach, only to recede to regroup and charge again. At the end of the day the Confederates held the ground but the Union cavalry, which up to this point in the war had proved ineffective against the rebels, held its own in most of the engagement. The number of Union dead was 852 while the Confederates lost 515 men. Thousands of horses were killed or injured and had to be destroyed. The 6th PA Cavalry was organized by Colonel Richard Rush in Philadelphia in July 1861, by raising new recruits and combining them with an existing mounted volunteer militia unit from Berks County. The men were issued ten foot lances then popular with European light cavalry. Known as “Rush’s Lancers” they were high-trained, which was enhanced by their assignment to a brigade of five Regular Army cavalry squadrons under the command of Brigadier General John Buford. By the time of the Battle of Brandy Station the Lancers had traded their lances for Sharps carbine rifles. However several veterans later regretted not having retained the lances as they would have been more effective in the melee than letting their opponent get close enough to use his saber. 1864 – Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, GA (Pine Mt, Pine Knob, Golgotha). 1870 – President Grant met with Sioux chief Red Cloud. 1883 – The 1st commercial electric railway line began operation Chicago. 1915 – William Jennings Bryan resigns as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States’ handling of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. 1916 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defense was born. 1918 – Under orders form General Erich Ludendorff, the deputy chief of the German General Staff, General Oskar von Hutier’s Eighteenth Army launches the fourth in a series of offensives. Ludendorff is aiming to unite two salient, carved out in previous attacks, in the Amiens and Aisne-Marne sectors. Hutier is to attack westward along the Matz River, a tributary of the Oise River, in the direction of Noyon and Montdidier. The commander of the Third French Army, however, General Georges Humbert, has been forewarned by deserters of the German attack and organizes his defenses accordingly. He initiates an artillery bombardment on the enemy assault troops shortly before their onslaught. This is still unable to prevent the Germans from gaining some 5 miles on the first day of their attack which is codenamed Gneisenau. French resistance intensifies over the following days and the attempted link-up between Hutier’s troops and the German Seventh Army under General Max von Boehn, which began an attack from Soissons on the 10th, fails. Meanwhile, French general Charles Mangin has organized a counterattacking force of three French and two US divisions. These strike the Eighteenth Army on the 12th, forcing Ludendorff to call off the operation the following day. 1931 – Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.
June 9th ~ {continued...} 1942 – The Japanese high command announced that “The Midway Occupation operations have been temporarily postponed.” 1942 – First Navy photograhic interpretation unit set up in the Atlantic. 1942 – The British and Americans appoint Oliver Lyttleton and Donald Nelson as heads of the Combined Boards for Production and Food. 1943 – World War II prompted sweeping fiscal changes in the United States, as President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress geared the nation for the rigors of wartime production. Along with reallocating vast chunks of America’s work force to the task of manufacturing military items, Roosevelt helped establish tight controls on wages, prices, and consumption. While most of these initiatives were brought to a halt shortly after the declaration of peace in 1945, at least one wartime fiscal policy–the Current Tax Payment Act — has had some enduring impact. Indeed, the tax legislation, which hit the law books on this day in 1943, paved the path for withholding on income taxes. In particular, the bill, popularly known as the “Pay As You Go Tax,” allowed Americans to taxpayers to withhold federal income taxes before getting paid their wages or salaries. 1944 – On the right flank of the invasion beaches, elements of the US 7th Corps capture Azeville in its northward drive toward Cherbourg. Other elements are moving west toward Carentan. The US 5th Corps, from Omaha beach, capture Trevieres. The British and Canadian forces of the British 2nd Army are heavily engaged by growing German reserves around Caen. Allied aircraft are now operating from forward landing strips in France. 1944 – Forces of the US 5th Army capture Tarquinia, Viterbo and Vetrella. Elements of British 8th Army advance toward Terni and Orvieto. A small amphibious force lands at Santo Stefano. Meanwhile, there is a substantial reorganization of Allied forces. Elements of British 10th and 13th Corps are regrouped while elements of the US 6th Corps, mostly, are withdrawn from the line for the invasion of southern France. 1944 – Marshal Badoglio resigns and Ivanoe Bonomi forms a new government. The cabinet includes Count Sforza, Professor Croce and Togliatti, the Communist Party leader. 1945 – On Okinawa, the Japanese forces defending the Oroku peninsula are cut off and surrounded by forces of the US 6th Marine Division. The US 1st Marine Division advance southward to Kunishi Ridge, one of the last Japanese strong points. 1945 – On Luzon, the US 37th Division captures Bagabag. The American forces attempt to block the routes into the Cagayan valley in order to isolate the Japanese forces concentrated in the Sierra Madre, in the northeast. On Mindanao, elements of the US 24th Division take Mandog, the last major strong point in the Japanese defenses. 1945 – Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender. 1948 – Israel became a state and was immediately attacked by her Arab neighbors. About 150,000 Arabs remained in Israel after the founding. Most others fled or were forced out. 1951 – Eighth Army commander Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet insisted that his forces occupy suitable ground in the event of a cease-fire.
June 9th ~ {continued...} 1954 – In a dramatic confrontation, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether communism has infiltrated the U.S. armed forces. Welch’s verbal assault marked the end of McCarthy’s power during the anticommunist hysteria of the Red Scare in America. Senator McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) experienced a meteoric rise to fame and power in the U.S. Senate when he charged in February 1950 that “hundreds” of “known communists” were in the Department of State. In the years that followed, McCarthy became the acknowledged leader of the so-called Red Scare, a time when millions of Americans became convinced that communists had infiltrated every aspect of American life. Behind closed-door hearings, McCarthy bullied, lied, and smeared his way to power, destroying many careers and lives in the process. 1959 – Launching of USS George Washington (SSBN-598), first nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine, at Groton, CT. 1961 – Diem requests US assistance in increasing the South Vietnamese Army by 100,000 men. In August, Washington agrees to finance a 30,000 man increase, but continues to postpone the buildup of US advisors, Diem also requested. 1963 – JFK named Winston Churchill a US honorary citizen. 1964 – In reply to a formal question submitted by President Lyndon B. Johnson–“Would the rest of Southeast Asia necessarily fall if Laos and South Vietnam came under North Vietnamese control?”–the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) submits a memo that effectively challenges the “domino theory” backbone of the Johnson administration policies. This theory contended that if South Vietnam fell to the communists, the rest of Southeast Asia would also fall “like dominoes,” and the theory had been used to justify much of the Vietnam War effort. The CIA concluded that Cambodia was probably the only nation in the area that would immediately fall. 1969 – President Thieu, in a televised news conference in Saigon, attempts to counter the gloom following his meeting with President Nixon by saying ‘this is a replacement, not a withdrawal. Withdrawal is a defeatist and misleading term.’ 1972 – In Military Region II, senior US advisor John Paul Vann is killed in a helicopter crash. 1972 – Under President Nixon, the number of USAF fighter bombers in Southeast Asia has tripled, the number of aircraft carriers has tripled and will quadruple (2 to 8), and B-52s are being quadrupled. 1972 – Part of a relief column composed mainly of South Vietnamese 21st Division troops finally arrives in the outskirts of An Loc. The division had been trying to reach the besieged city since April 9, when it had been moved from its normal station in the Mekong Delta and ordered to attack up Highway 13 from Lai Khe to open the route to An Loc. The South Vietnamese forces had been locked in a desperate battle with a North Vietnamese division that had been blocking the highway since the very beginning of the siege. As the 21st Division tried to open the road, the defenders inside An Loc fought off repeated attacks by two North Vietnamese divisions that had surrounded the city early in April. This was the southernmost thrust of the North Vietnamese invasion that had begun on March 30th; the other main objectives were Quang Tri in the north and Kontum in the Central Highlands. Although the lead elements of the 21st Division reached the outskirts of the city on this day, they did not represent significant reinforcements for An Loc, having suffered tremendous casualties in their fight up the highway and the two-month siege was not lifted. It would not be lifted until large numbers of fresh reinforcements were flown in to a position south of the city from which they then successfully attacked the North Vietnamese forces that surrounded the city. By the end of the month, most of the communist troops within the city had been eliminated, but the North Vietnamese forces still blocked Route 13 and continued to shell An Loc. 1985 – Thomas Sutherland, former Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home. He was released on November 18, 1991 at the same time as Terry Waite, having been held hostage for 2353 days. 1986 – The Rogers Commission released its report on the “Challenger” disaster, criticizing NASA and rocket-builder Morton Thiokol for management problems leading to the explosion that claimed the lives of seven astronauts. The Space Shuttle Challenger blew up as a result of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.
June 9th ~ {continued...} 1994 – In a bipartisan slap at President Clinton, the House of Representatives voted 244-178 for the United States to defy the international arms embargo on Bosnia. 1995 – One week after being shot down over Bosnia by a Bosnian Serb missile, and a day after being rescued, US Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady was warmly welcomed by his comrades at Aviano Air Base in Italy. 1997 – Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston gave up his fight to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his candidacy doomed by the clamor over his admission that he’d had an adulterous affair years ago. 1999 – Germany sent $18 million to the US Treasury for distribution to the survivors of the WW II concentration camps. 1999 – Yugoslav and Western generals signed a military agreement to end the 78-day NATO air war against Yugoslavia based on a demonstrable withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and a complete pullout in 11 days. 2002 – U.S. military officials reported that traces of nerve agents and mustard gas were found in three locations at a U.S. base in Uzbekistan. Later tests reported no contamination. 2002 – Iraq and Qatar signed a free-trade agreement to drop customs duties and ease the flow of goods between the two Arab countries, further mending relations damaged by the 1990-91 Gulf War. 2003 – As rebels bore down on the capital of Liberia, French helicopters rescued more than 500 Americans, Europeans and other foreigners. 2004 – G-8 Summit leaders at Sea Island Resort near Savannah, Georgia, called for Middle East reform and a broader role for NATO in Iraq. 2004 – An Afghan commander said that Afghan and U.S. forces killed more than 70 Taliban rebels in a seven-day operation in a mountainous southern district, including at least 20 militants who died in a single clash. 2004 – At least 20 militants were killed in a gunbattle with the Pakistani army in a tense border region where hundreds of al-Qaida militants are suspected to be hiding. 2014 – Following its large-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIS had seized control of most of Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq, a large part of the surrounding Nineveh province, and the city of Fallujah. ISIS also took control of Tikrit, the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate, with the ultimate goal of capturing Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The militants seized control of government offices, the airport and police stations. Militants also looted the Central Bank in Mosul, reportedly absconding with $429 million US dollars. More than 500,000 people fled Mosul to escape ISIS. Mosul is a strategic city as it is at a crossroad between Syria and Iraq, and poses the threat of ISIS seizing control of oil production.
June 10th ~ 1610 – The 1st Dutch settlers arrived from NJ to colonize Manhattan Island. 1639 – The 1st American log cabin at Fort Christina (Wilmington, Delaware). 1776 – The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence. 1805 – Wearied of the blockade and raids, and now under threat of a continued advance on Tripoli proper and a scheme to restore his deposed older brother Hamet Karamanli as ruler, Yusuf Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities with the United States. Article 2 of the Treaty reads: The Bashaw of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Bashaw of Tripoli now in the power of the United States of America shall be delivered up to him; and as the number of Americans in possession of the Bashaw of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and the number of Tripolino Subjects in the power of the Americans to about, One Hundred more or less; The Bashaw of Tripoli shall receive from the United States of America, the sum of Sixty Thousand Dollars, as a payment for the difference between the Prisoners herein mentioned. 1848 – The 1st telegraph link between NYC & Chicago was established. 1854 – U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, holds first formal graduation exercises. Previous classes graduated without ceremony. 1861 – The Virginia village of Big Bethel became the site of the 1st major land battle of the Civil War. Private Henry L. Wyatt was the 1st Confederate soldier killed in a Civil War battle. 18 Union soldiers were killed. 1861 – Lieutenant John Mercer Brooke, CSN. ordered to design ironclad C.S.S. Virginia (ex-U.S.S. Merrimack). 1862 – Norfolk Navy Yard set afire before being evacuated by Confederate forces in a general withdrawal up the peninsula to defend Richmond. Union troops under Major General Wool crossed Hampton Roads from Fort Monroe, landed at Ocean View, and captured Norfolk. 1862 – Pensacola reoccupied by Union Army and Navy forces. Military installations in the area, including the Navy Yard, Forts Barrancas and McRee, C.S.S. Fulton, and an ironclad building on the Escambia River, were destroyed by the Confederates the preceding day before withdrawing. Commander D. D. Porter reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles: “The rebels had done their work completely. The yard is a ruin. Abandonment of the important Pensacola coastal area had been in preparation by the Confederates for months after Flag Officer Foote’s stunning successes on the upper Mississippi made redeployment of guns and troops necessary. Flag Officer Farragut’s momentous victory at New Orleans precipitated the final evacuation. Colonel Thomas M. Jones, CSA, commanding at Pensacola, reported: “On receiving information that the enemy’s gunboats had succeeded in passing the forts below New Orleans with their powerful batteries and splendid equipments, I came to the conclusion that, with my limited means of defense, reduced, as I have been by the withdrawal of nearly all my heavy guns and ammunition, I could not hold them in check or make even a respectable show of resistance.” 1862 – Confederate River Defense Fleet C.S.S. General Bragg, General Sumter, General Sterling Price, General Earl Van Dorn, General M. Jeff Thompson, General Lovell, General Beauregard, and Little Rebel–made a spirited attack on Union gunboats and mortar flotilla at Plum Point Bend, Tennessee. The Confederate fleet, Captain James E. Montgomery, attacked Mortar Boat No. 16, stationed just above Fort Pillow and engaged in bombarding the works. U.S.S. Cincinnati, Commander Stembel, coming to the mortar boat’s defense, was rammed by Bragg and sank on a bar in eleven feet of water. Van Dorn rammed U.S.S. Mound City, Commander Kilty, forcing her to run aground to avoid sinking. The draft of the Confederate vessels would not permit them to press the attack into the shoal water in which the Union squadron steamed, and, having sustained various but minor injuries, Montgomery withdrew under the guns of Fort Pillow. Cincinnati and Mound City were quickly repaired and returned to service.
June 10th ~ {continued...} 1862 – Ironclad steamer U.S.S. New Ironsides launched at Philadelphia. 1863 – Rear Admiral Du Pont ordered U.S.S. Weehawken, Captain J. Rodgers, and U.S.S. Nahant, Commander Downes, to Wassaw Sound, Georgia, where it was reported that the powerful ram C.S.S. Atlanta, Commander Webb, was preparing to attack the wooden blockader U.S.S. Cimarron. A week later Du Pont’s wise foresight would save the day for the Union blockade there. 1863 – Confederate officer prisoners of war being transported to Fort Delaware on board steamer Maple Leaf overpowered the guard, took possession of the steamer, and landed below Cape Henry, Virginia. 1864 – Nathan Bedford Forrest’s legend grows substantially when his Confederate cavalry routs a much larger Union force in Mississippi. When Union General William T. Sherman inched toward Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 1864, he left behind a vulnerable supply line through Tennessee. Of utmost concern to Sherman was the Rebel cavalry under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a daring leader who gave Union commanders in the west difficulty throughout the war. Sherman insisted that Forrest be neutralized and ordered a force from Memphis to hunt down Forrest’s command, which at that time was in northern Alabama. On June 1st, some 5,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry troopers under the command of General Samuel D. Sturgis trudged out of Memphis in search of the elusive Forrest. But rain and poor roads slowed them, and a week’s travel found the Yankees only 50 miles from Memphis. Forrest had been preparing for an assault on central Tennessee, but Sturgis’s expedition forced him back to northern Mississippi. The Confederates spread out along a railroad between Tupelo and Corinth and awaited the Union advance. On June 8th, Forrest learned that Sturgis was moving on Tupelo. He carefully selected Brice’s Crossroads for its muddy roads and dense woods to mitigate the Union’s numerical advantage and called for his men to attack the leading Yankee cavalry, which would force the trailing infantry to hurry to the battle and fight before recovering from the march. The plan worked to perfection. Around 10 a.m. on June 10th, the cavalry forces began fighting, and the Union infantry made a five-mile dash in intense heat and humidity to aid their fellow soldiers. In the afternoon, Forrest orchestrated a series of attacks all along the Union front, which broke the Yankee lines and sent the Federals from the field in disarray with the Confederates in hot pursuit. The chase continued into the next day. Sturgis’s command suffered over 600 killed and wounded and over 1,600 captured—more than a quarter of the entire force. Forrest’s force suffered less than 600 killed and wounded, and the Confederates captured 16 cannons and 176 supply wagons. Forrest was never able to disrupt Sherman’s supply lines. However, the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads stands as his greatest military victory. 1871 – A landing force of 110 U.S. Marines came ashore on Korea’s Kangwha Island, a fortress island guarding the approaches to Seoul. The Korean Punitive Expedition was launched from an American fleet, which anchored in the Han River after the isolationist Korean government rejected U.S. diplomatic demands for an explanation of the fate of an American ship and her crew believed killed by the Koreans. In two days of fighting, the Marines and sailors captured the defensive forts on the Island, leaving 243 Koreans dead. Nevertheless, the expedition failed to open Korea to foreign trade. 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.”
June 10th ~ {continued...} 1905 – Japan and Russia agreed to peace talks brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt. 1915 – Girl Scouts were founded. 1940 – As President Franklin D. Roosevelt prepares to deliver the commencement address at the University of Virginia where his son is graduating with a law degree, Italy declares war on France and Great Britain. Rather than deliver his prepared speech, Roosevelt instead expresses his opposition to Mussolini’s move and calls on America to end its isolationism. This becomes known as the “Stab in the back” speech. 1942 – The carrier USS Wasp and battleship USS North Carolina accompanied by cruisers and destroyers pass through the canal to join the US Pacific Fleet after service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. There are now four American fleet aircraft carriers in the Pacific theater. 1943 – Operation Husky, Allied landing on Sicily. The landings took place in extremely strong wind conditions, which made the landings difficult but also ensured the element of surprise. Landings were made on the southern and eastern coasts of the island, with the British forces in the East and the Americans towards the West. Four airborne operations were carried out, landing during the night as part of the invasion; two were British and two American. The American troops were the 82nd Airborne division, making their first combat parachute jump. The strong winds blew the dropping aircraft off course and scattered them widely; the result was that around half the US paratroops failed to make it to their rallying points. British glider-landed troops fared little better; only 12 out of 144 gliders landing on target, many landing in the sea. Nevertheless the scattered airborne troops maximized their opportunities, attacking patrols and creating confusion wherever possible. The sea landings, despite the weather, were carried out against little opposition, the Italian units stationed on the shoreline lacking equipment and transport. The British walked into the port of Syracuse virtually unopposed. Only in the American center was a substantial counterattack made, in exactly the point where the US Airborne were supposed to have been. 1943 – The Combined Chiefs of Staff issue the Pointblank Directive to British and American heavy bomber forces in Europe. The document sets out formal instructions for the priorities and aims of the bomber offensive up to D-Day. The instructions reflect American thought more so than British but the guidelines are vague enough that both the US Air Force and British Bomber Command can continue their independent operations. 1944 – The U.S. VII and V corps, advancing from Normandy’s Utah and Omaha beaches, respectively, linked-up and began moving inland. The Utah and Omaha beaches are linked up by an advance of the US 2nd Armored Division (part of 5th Corps). The US 101st Airborne Division continues to be engaged around Carentan. 1944 – In a diversionary action, British aircraft from Illustrious and Atheling raid Japanese positions on Sabang. The intent is to distract Japanese attention from American forces approaching the Mariana Islands. 1945 – On Okinawa, fighting continues on the Oroku Peninsula, where the forces of the US 6th Marine Division have reduced the Japanese pocket to about 2000 square yards. Heavy Japanese losses are recorded in nighttime counterattacks. Meanwhile, on the south of the island, the US 1st Marine Division suffers heavy losses in the successful capture of a hill west of the town of Yuza. The US 24th Corps forces, to the left, launches a major offensive against the last Japanese defensive line, the Yaeju-Dake Line. Japanese resistance is evidently weakening.
