[Featured image: Pancho Villa (center) and Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing (right) in 1913. On this date in 1916, Pershing leads an expeditionary force into Mexico to defeat Pancho Villa. Behind Pershing is his aide, future general George Patton. (U.S. Army photo)]
1781: British Army forces under the command of Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis march toward a pyrrhic victory over Continental Army and militia forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene at Guilford Courthouse (near present-day Greensboro), N.C. Once engaged, the two armies fight for less than two hours. Tactically, it ends in a victory for Cornwallis, who drives Greene’s forces from the field. But British losses are heavy.
Cornwallis will purportedly say, “I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons.” When word of Guilford Courthouse reaches London, Parliamentarian Charles James Fox will declare: “Another such victory would ruin the British army!”
1916: As World War I rages in Europe, a U.S. Army expeditionary force under the command of Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing crosses into Mexico in pursuit of the bandit, Pancho Villa. Though Villa will not be captured (he will be assassinated in 1923), the expedition will serve as both a proving ground for new American weapons systems and a combat-campaign prep school for many of the officers and men destined for European fighting in 1918.
A 1st Aero Squadron Curtiss R-2 aircraft takes off from Columbus, N.M. during the Punitive Expedition, 1916. (USAF photo)
Accompanying the troops is the Army Signal Corps’ 1st Aero Squadron, Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois commanding. The aviators, crew, and their Curtiss aircraft arrive by train in Columbus, N.M. and will begin flying reconnaissance missions tomorrow, becoming the first American aviation unit in combat. Formed in 1913, the 1st Aero Squadron is the U.S. military’s first aviation unit, and today (over 100 years later) remains in service as the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron.
1947: Ensign John W. Lee, Jr. joins the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CV-33), becoming the first black commissioned officer to serve in the regular Navy.
Johnson, the Army’s 24th Chief of Staff (Reproduced from the Army Art Collection)
1965: Army Chief of Staff Gen. Harold K. Johnson, a survivor of the Bataan Death March during World War II and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross in Korea, reports to President Lyndon Johnson after a visit to Vietnam that Operation ROLLING THUNDER is having little effect. Johnson recommends that a division of U.S. combat troops should be deployed, as well as four divisions from the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Nothing comes of his SEATO recommendation, but in May, Johnson sends the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
