1863: At 7:45pm, Union soldiers led by Brig. Gen. Truman Seymore launch a second attack against Fort Wagner, in Charleston (S.C.) Harbor. Spearheading the attack is Col. Robert G. Shaw’s all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Shaw’s regiment reaches the fortification walls, fighting hand-to-hand until they are driven back by devastating fire. The Confederates inflict 1,500 casualties on the attackers, killing several of the top Union officers, including Shaw. During the battle, Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor.
William H. Carney; First African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor
Sgt. William H. Carney
1918: When Marine Corps Sgt. Matej Kocak’s battalion is stopped by a German machine gun during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Kocak single-handedly advances on the enemy position. He charges forward under fire and drives off the Germans with his bayonet. Later that day, he organized a unit of French colonial soldiers and led a successful attack against another German machine gun emplacement. Kocak will die a few weeks after his heroic actions, but is posthumously awarded both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor.
1943: (featured image) Naval airship K-34, a K-class patrol blimp, spots the German U-boat U-134 off the Florida coast. Under cover of darkness, the airship approaches the surfaced sub undetected, then opens fire with its .50-cal machine guns. But when it passes overhead and attempts to finish off the U-boat with depth charges, the ordinance fails to release. U-134 shoots down the blimp, marking the only airship lost to combat during World War II. Nine of the ten crew members are rescued the following day.
1966: John W. Young, Naval aviator and veteran of the Korean War, and Air Force pilot Michael Collins blast off on Gemini 10 mission. The astronauts will perform a “space walk” and rendezvous with the abandoned Agena capsule left in orbit from Gemini 8.
John W. Young, Naval aviator and veteran of the Korean War, and Air Force pilot Michael Collins
