1753: 21-year-old Virginia adjutant George Washington delivers an ultimatum for French forces to abandon Fort Le Boeuf (present-day Waterford, Penn.) as they were trespassing on British territory. Lt. Christopher Gist, Washington’s guide, would save the future president’s life twice during their trip through the Ohio Country.
1770: The British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre are acquitted. Future president John Adams is their lawyer.
1937: As the gunboat USS Panay and three Standard Oil tankers work to evacuate U.S. citizens and Standard Oil employees from Nanking, China, the vessels are attacked and sunk by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
USS Panay sinking
1953: (Featured Image) Maj. (future Maj. Gen.) Chuck Yeager pilots the Bell X-1A to Mach 2.44 (1648 mph), setting a speed record (for straight-wing aircraft on level flight) that still stands today. However, the X-1 tumbles out of control and falls some 50,000 feet in just over a minute. Yeager manages to recover and is able to land the aircraft.
Chuck Yeager
1985: As members of the 101st Airborne Division return from Egypt following a peacekeeping mission, the DC-8 civilian airliner carrying them crashes shortly after takeoff, killing 248 soldiers. While officials state the cause of the incident is ice accumulation, Islamic Jihad – the Hezbollah-associated group that carried out the deadly attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut two years prior – declares that they brought down the plane.
Memorial for 248 Task Force 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division Soldiers. Ft. Campbell, Kentucky
Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash site Gander, New Foundland, Canada
1992: Less than a week after U.S. forces arrive in Somalia for a humanitarian aid mission, Marine Corps Cobra helicopter gunships destroy a Somali armed vehicle, marking the first combat action of Operation “Restore Hope.”
