1864: After pursuing the CSS Alabama for the last two years, Capt. John Winslow and the crew of USS Kearsage have finally trapped the Confederate screw sloop-of-war at the French port of Cherbourg. Capt. Raphael Semmes orders the “Stars and Bars” raised and sails his ship out to meet her unavoidable fate, and the vessel responsible for capturing and burning at least 55 American ships and taking 2,000 prisoners – without having lost a single man – is destroyed.
Capt. Semmes aboard CSS Alabama in 1863.
1888: Marines land at Korea, marching 25 miles to protect the Legation at Seoul.
1944: (Featured image) In the largest – and final – carrier-against-carrier conflict of the war, Adm. Raymond Spruance’s Fifth Fleet decisively defeats the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In two days, three Japanese carriers are sunk; two by submarines and one by air strikes. Meanwhile, American aviators inflict massively disproportionate losses – some 600 Japanese aircraft – in the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
Lt. (j.g.) George R. Carr shoots down five, becoming an ace on his first combat mission for the United States (Carr had flown previously with the Royal Canadian Air Force). Lt. (j.g.) Alex Vraciu shot down six Japanese warplanes in just eight minutes. Lt. Cmdr. David McCampbell splashes seven Japanese during two sorties. McCampbell will go on to become the top Navy ace of World War II, with 34 kills.
The loss of Japan’s experienced naval pilots devastates the Japanese navy. The remaining Japanese carriers are effectively useless following the battle and pilots turn to kamikaze attacks.
As troops push further into France, the 9th Infantry Division reaches the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, isolating the German defenders at Cherbourgh (the port where CSS Alabama shoved off 80 years ago). Meanwhile, a massive storm in the English Channel destroys a pre-fabricated “Mulberry” harbor at Normandy’s Utah Beach.
1945: As Japanese troops begin surrendering on Okinawa, four million turn out to cheer Gen. Dwight Eisenhower – the victorious Supreme Allied Commander in Europe – at a ticker-tape parade through New York City.
When Technical Sgt. John W. Meagher spots a Japanese soldier charging his tank during fighting at Okinawa, the soldier jumps off and rushes the enemy with his bayonet. He kills the explosive-armed opponent before the tank can be destroyed, but is knocked unconscious in the process. When Meagher comes to, he grabs a machinegun from the tank and begins a furious one-man assault. He braves incoming fire while dashing across the kill zone, destroying an enemy pillbox and killing its six occupants. Charging forward again, he reaches another position, and uses his now-empty gun to bash the Japanese machine gunners. Thanks to Meagher’s attack, the enemy defense is broken and his platoon takes the objective. Sgt. Meagher is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1966: When members of 1st Lt. Ronald E. Ray’s platoon are hit by a company of enemy soldiers in the Ia Drang Valley, Ray organizes a quick reaction force and makes his way to his soldiers. Ray spots an enemy position and destroys them with a grenade and rifle fire. When medics are evacuating a casualty, Ray silences another position that was targeting the Americans with another grenade. When an enemy grenade falls next to two soldiers fighting near Ray, he dives on the enemy grenade to shield his teammates. He survives the blast and is hit in the legs by enemy machinegun fire as he continues to lead his platoon, preventing its annihilation. Lt. Ray’s tenacity and willingness to sacrifice himself for his men earns him the Medal of Honor.
1968: When an F-4 Phantom crew is shot down deep inside North Vietnam, Lt. (j.g.) Clyde E. Lassen takes off on a night mission to rescue the airmen. Lassen makes several attempts to extricate the Americans from the fire-swept landing zone, depending on flares to illuminate the hazardous, tree-covered hillside. When a flare goes out, his rotors strike a tree and he manages to keep his helicopter from crashing. Although his chopper is running dangerously low on fuel, he makes the decision to turn on his landing lights, giving enemy gunners an easy target. The airmen are able to board the helicopter, and Lassen flies them off to safety, landing on a destroyer with just five minutes of fuel remaining. Lassen is awarded the Medal of Honor.
President Lyndon Johnson poses with four U.S. servicemen, two of them from the same small town in Georgia, to whom he presented the Medal of Honor. Left to right: Navy Lt. Clyde E. Lassen, Ft. Myers, Fla.; Marine Maj. Stephen W. Pless, Newman, Ga.; President Johnson; Air Force Lt. Col. Joe M. Jackson, also from Newman, Ga.; and Army Staff Sgt. Drew D. Dix, Pueblo, Colorado.
1982: Hezbollah terrorists snatch the president of the American University in Beirut (and former OSS agent during World War II) David S. Dodge. Dodge, one of the first Americans taken hostage by the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, is later released. Replacing Dodge as president of the university is Malcolm Kerr, who is shot and killed by Islamic Jihad in 1985.
1985: Marxist guerrillas dressed as El Salvadoran soldiers kill four off-duty U.S. Marines, two U.S. citizens, and several others in San Salvador.
2003: Special operations forces of Task Force 20, supported by an Air Force AC-130 gunship engage a column of suspected high value targets as they attempt to flee to Syria. A gun battle erupts between the commandos and Syrian border guards, killing several Syrians.
